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"It's Evie's Party!"

That's what Eva said all day long on Saturday, as she enjoyed her birthday picnic with family and friends. Each time she said it, she sounded like she'd just realized there was a party going on around her.

TWO! YEARS! OLD!

Happy happy birthday, Sweet Girl.

The obsession continues.

Yesterday morning, Eva picked up a little back massager off of my dresser. (It's one of those old school Bath & Body Works ones with the little face.) She kept it with her for much of the day and right up until bedtime. I thought maybe she was branching out a bit from her duck fixation...until she said "This is a little guy. His name is Ducky."

Right. Ducky. Got it. How will I ever remember that name?

At the Park with Keegan and Sarah

(Photo courtesy of our new b/f/f Savannah—a little girl (age 10) who attached herself to us as we entered the park. She became enamored with Keegan and Eva and also my camera. That's why my photo library now contains approximately 15 shots of things like Savannah's left shoe. And one of Keegan's nostril.)

Eva's New Thing

Quaaaaaack! from Shannon on Vimeo.

Every day, folks. Every. Day. (For those who don't speak "Eva," she's saying "Quaaaaaack.")

Biology Lessons from Eva

On Saturday, just after she handed me a pretend duck:

Eva: It's a little baby duck!

Mama: It is? How can you tell it's a baby duck?

Eva: Because it has hands.

Little Helper

Last night, Mike and I were scheduled to work at the Volume One booth at an outdoor concert. But, truly, Eva did most of the work:

Happy Weekend to you all. Enjoy the solstice!

Great.

Yesterday, Eva realized that she could push a chair over to the counter, climb up on the chair, and reach a myriad of things that were once unknown to her. At our house, we now have a rule that states there is to be no climbing up to the counter unless Mama is in the room. We'll see how long that lasts.

Ducky's Bathtub

 

Daddy's Take on Things

For those of you who don't know, Mike works as an editor for a small local magazine in our city. He writes a column (called The Rear End) that appears at the end of every issue (bi-weekly). Naturally, the largest source of material for his columns is Eva....however, oddly enough, the people of Eau Claire as a whole don't want to read a bi-weekly column about how awesome our kid is. I know. Strange.

Anyway, he usually limits himself to two or three Eva-centric columns a year, and (just in time for Father's Day) his last column was all about our girl. So (also in honor of Father's Day) I thought I'd share it with all of you. Here at Bellyville, you don't often get to hear Mike's thoughts on parenting Eva, so here's a big old chunk all at once. Enjoy!

A Battle of Wits

OK, I’m going to talk about my daughter, so if you don’t like hearing about other people’s children, you should stop reading, close the magazine, and go do something cool like play in your rock band (which I’m sure is amazing and completely original and as soon as you finish recording that CD I’ll totally buy it, man—seriously, I’m excited.). So, stop reading, guys. I’ll wait.

Great, now that all those dirty, child-hating punks have put down the magazine, let’s get down to business. Here’s the deal: without my even realizing what’s been going on, my daughter has gotten too smart for me.