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Eva the Bard

When Eva was just a tiny baby, I began telling her stories. At first, it was simply me narrating whatever I was doing in my daily routines (so I could talk with her without running out of material). That morphed into Mike and I telling her stories about things that had happened in her life. Significant events like once when the camera fell behind the couch cushion, or that time when the smoke detector started beeping. She would ask to hear stories like those regularly—and she usually wanted to hear them about 15 times in a row. (Probably because they generally began "Once upon a time, there was a fabulous girl named Eva...")

As Eva's grown older and her imagination has evolved, the stories we tell have grown to include favorite characters like Ducky and Blankie. I began encouraging her to help me tell a story by giving the major chunks of a sentence and letting her fill in the details, kind of like toddler Mad Libs: "...there was a fabulous girl named____. And she lived in a ____."

Eva and I usually tell these stories while we're running errands or eating lunch, and lately she's been trying out her own story telling skills. Just the other day, she told me this gem:

Evie went to Ducky's house, and he was in his one-two. And we saw his kitties and they purred and purred and purred. And he said quack.

Now, I understand this about as well as you do (A one-two?? What?), but it's a start. And that makes me so, so happy. And proud.

Yesterday, I recorded a bit of our lunchtime conversation because I don't ever want to forget what it's like to have my two-year-old tell me a story, just for the fun of it. You can watch below, if you'd like. I tried to repeat most of what she was saying, because I have a feeling it's unintelligible unless you're her mother. Enjoy!


A Duck Story, By Eva from Shannon on Vimeo.

New Shirt, by Mama

Smelly.

For the past few weeks, Eva's been on a "noticing smells" kick. She asks us regularly to tell her what certain smells are, which is extremely entertaining because she's a bit confused as to how to phrase her question. Instead of saying "what's that smell?" she asks "what does Evie smell like?"

It never stops being funny.

"Playing Toys" with Daddy

(How do you like Mike's new sippy cup?)

Friday Grab Bag

Oh, friends. The things that have been coming out of Eva's mouth lately. She's a nut, I tell you what. (Wow! Poetry bonus!) I have approximately 76 little scraps of paper floating around in my personal space—in my pockets, on counters, in my purse, in the little cubby hole in the car we use for CDs—because Eva keeps saying these...things. Things a two-year-old should not be saying. And, naturally, I feel an obligation to share them with you good people.

So I write them down. Only by the time I'm finished writing, she's half-way through another gem. Hence the 76 scraps of paper.

I get an email newsletter each week containing Fun Facts About Your Two-Year-Old!, and I just chuckle to myself because, according to my helpful email, "The typical 24-month-old knows about 50 to 75 words and is working on the next big milestone: stringing them together into phrases and sentences. Two-word noun-verb sentences are typical at 2: 'baby sleep' and 'want milk.'"

Ha.
Hahahahahahahahaha.

Oh, internet. That's so cute. "Baby sleep." Maybe next time you can send me a little something on, say, how to get my kid to STOP talking for five minutes? Mama has a headache.

On to the Eva quotes!

A few days ago, riding in the car, Eva pipes up..."There's ducks to feed. <sigh> Evie has to do EVERYTHING...feed the ducks, play with toys, give the duckies duck food, drink water, quack..."

Yesterday morning, again in the car, a few minutes after she pointed out a crane at a construction site..."There's ANOTHER crane! Oh my. Those cranes are EVERYWHERE."

Last night, outside with Mike..."Evie-chick's got ducks going on in the backyard. Yeah."

Aaaand just a short while ago, as I sat down to write this post..."Evie's got some tinkle going on."

Also! Bonus!

A video from last night's Volume One concert, at which Mike spent the majority of his time catching Eva as she threw herself off of a rock. Good times.

The 476th time in a row. from Shannon on Vimeo.

Weeeeeeekend! Enjoy it!

So far, the potty training is going really well.

(Before you go and get all grossed out: that is a brand new toilet seat. Fresh out of the package. And it's only the bottom half of it. She's just a little confused, is all.) (You may also be interesting in knowing that approximately 30 seconds after I took this picture, the seat fell down around her neck and Mike had to help her squeeze her head back out of it. There were tears. I won't tell you whose.) (This whole potty training thing may take a bit longer than anticipated.)

Riding with Keegan

Yesterday, Eva got to take a ride with her buddy Keegan in his new Burley. This was a momentous occasion, not only because Eva had never had a bike ride before, but also because she sat veeeery close to Keegan.

And she didn't even freak out!

Eva's got a bit of trouble with other kids. Namely: she doesn't like them to come within 3 feet of her. I don't want to get into a big discussion here about what exactly that might say about her psyche (I'll leave that up to her future therapists), but it's worth noting that above you'll see photographic evidence that Eva was able to sit next to Keegan, with their arms TOUCHING, and still manage to smile.

Progress!

Personally, I think this has everything to do with the fact that the other day Keegan made Eva her very first mix CD (which is to say, Keegan's mom and dad made Eva her very first mix CD.) And it's made up of practically all duck songs! So Eva colored him an extra special marker scribble page, and Keegan's dad hung it on the refrigerator, and now they're BFFs forever and ever amen.

The Newest Member of Our Family

Can you BELIEVE we went all the way to my parents' house for a three-day weekend, part of which involved a wedding and a reception that my kid danced at, and we didn't bring the camera? Can you???

Grrr. I'm still kicking myself. Seriously. People. Eva loves to dance. (She was even doing the whole "throw your hands up in the air" thing during "Shout." In time to the music!) And we forgot our freaking camera. I got a few shots with my mom's camera, and maybe someday she'll actually move them off the camera and onto her computer, and then all she has to do is figure out how to email them to me and then I can show them to you. Maybe? (No pressure, Mom. And no offense either.)

Anyway. I do have a picture of a fish! And my kid!

That there fish's name is "Ducky Pip Daisy Fish." He was part of Eva's birthday present, and she named him all by herself. Of course, we have to keep him way up on her dresser with cheesecloth on top of the bowl so the cats don't drink the fish water (ew.), so she can't exactly feed him or even really see him unless someone lifts her up; and obviously, she's too little to clean his bowl or otherwise take care of the thing...but she loooooves him soooooooo much. She pretends to carry him around in her little cupped hands and feeds him flakes and gives him kisses and basically does everything she could have done with a stuffed fish.

But really, what fun would that be?

Sorry for the absence yesterday. I didn't mean to mess with your constancy.

Tall Like Her Mama

Eva had her two-year check-up yesterday. My tiny baby has somehow become a three-foot-tall, 32 pound little girl.

Huh? Wha? When did all that happen?

She's such a little bundle of energy (and WORDS. So many, many words. All the time with the words.) that she keeps me in kind of a whirlwind state throughout our days. I don't exactly have a lot of time for reflection as of late, but sometimes (When I'm laying awake at night worrying about what exactly I'd do if our house caught on fire or a tornado hit us or a crazed murderer broke through our door. What? You don't do that?) I'll let my mind wander a bit, and I'll indulge in a few melancholy moments, remembering the perfect little baby she was, and how quickly time seems to be passing by. And I get that heavy ache in my heart. You know the one.

But then she does something so perfectly, innocently, exactly two-years-old. Like yesterday. When she came up to me and gave me a leg hug and said "Mama, you're such a nice lady."

And then I decide that she is exactly the perfect age. The best age yet.

Happy Weekend to one and all! We'll meet back here on Monday, yes?

I've got to tell the Food Network about her.

Yesterday, I overheard Eva talking to herself as she was playing with some of my measuring cups and spoons...

"Evie's going to make Quack Cookies. Yeah. How do you make Quack Cookies? Well, we need ducks and sugar and ducks. It's pretty good!"