Saraquarium

Evy’s vocabulary is exploding, and it’s hilarious!  New examples of Evy Speak:

My Didi - This means anything that belongs to Evy or that she wants.  It can be candy, a blanket, a stuffed animal, ANYTHING!  It’s so cute that the whole family has adopted it and we all use it.  “No, Evy, that’s not your didi, that’s Mommy’s didi.” 

Wadee - This means water.  Sometimes it sounds just like “ready,” which she says right before jumping off the furniture or plunging out of your arms.  If I hear this I grab on tight to her and look for her cup of water at the same time.

Rossi - This is the sweetest story ever.  “Rossi” means “Sorry.”  Last night Evy was sitting in my lap scribbling with a pen, when she overshot the paper and wrote up my arm.  She said, “Rossi, Mommy.” and KISSED MY ARM.  Of course I melted into a puddle right then and there.

 Nature has equipped Evy with a new gift - the ability to live with no sleep.

She has been up at 4am or 5am for this whole week.  Mommy is dragging.  Daddy is dragging.  Evy is not dragging.  She wakes up with a smile and a song and a twinkle in her eye!

SITCOMs - (Single Income, Two Children, Oppressive Mortgage) What yuppies turn into when they have children and one of them stops working to stay home with the kids.

Each evening when we get home from work and daycare, there’s a sensitive 20 minute time period when everybody has to decompress, change clothes, have quality Mommy time, unpack the baby’s bag, refill the baby’s bag for the next day, have a snack, and start dinner.  It’s a lot, and it’s critical that it’s handled with utmost care and efficiency.

Usually the routine is for Evy to sit down with a little snack while I rush into my sweatpants, dump out the baby bag, start dinner, and then sit down for a cuddle before I’m missed.  It is tough to keep everyone happy, and get out of my work shoes at the same time.

The new fenced in yard has helped.  The last few days I’ve opened the kitchen door into the back yard and let Evy wander in and out while I work.  However pretty quickly Evy decided she wanted Mommy to go outside, too, and pulled on my hand, saying “C’Mon, c’mon.”  And of course that is irresistible, so dinner didn’t get started and things just fell apart.

So last night I got the brilliant idea of giving Evy some candy to keep her occupied while I quickly did my chores.  It worked.  Beautifully.  She happily bounced around smiling and eating her Smarties, talking to me as I worked.  Everybody was happy.

Until 20 minutes later, when we were sucked into a black hole to a place where the ground was on fire and manhole covers fell from the sky.  Well, not literally that bad, but almost.

Evy wouldn’t eat dinner; she wouldn’t play, wouldn’t calm down, and wouldn’t be comforted.  All she would do is sit on the kitchen floor pointing at the counter and scream for more candy.   

“Myyyy caaannie!”  filled the house until bedtime.   Be forewarned:  Don’t bribe toddlers with candy. Ever.

Of course it’s all Mommy’s fault.  Of course it happened in the car in heavy traffic.

EVY WENT PEE PEE IN HER POTTY!  EVY WENT PEE PEE IN HER POTTY!

Evy sits on her little pink potty before bath time each night, not for any special purpose other than getting used to it, and familiar with the routine.  But the other night - SUCCESS!

I think we were both surprised by it.  She looked up at me like, “Wha-?”  when it happened.  Then, of course, Mommy turned into a cheerleader.  I started singing “Celebrate good times, c’mon!  Woo-hoo!  We gonna celebrate your potty with you.. C’mon now, celebration…!”

Then we called Daddy in and celebrated all over again.  She looked in the potty and said “pee pee” and wrinkled her nose.  But all in all, it was a happy time, and now Evy knows what to do!

Yesterday Evy was bitten on the finger during a baby altercation at school. The day-care’s policy is to simply report the facts, without indicating who actually did the biting. So we usually don’t know if it’s a repeat offender or a one time crime of opportunity.

However, yesterday when I picked her up, the first thing Evy did was point at a little innocent looking blonde baby girl in her class and say, BITE. Then she showed me her finger, pointed again to the same girl, and said again, BITE.

Of course all I could do was soothe Evy with a kiss on the finger and some sympathy, “Aw, no, you have a boo-boo? Oh no, I’m sorry! Are you ok?” *kiss kiss* (This works like a charm.)

Today I am wondering if Evy was telling me the little girl bit her, OR if she was telling me that she has plans to bite that baby. We’ll know tonight! :o)

Evy can say bottle, diaper, belly, and paci. The only problem is they all sound like “bah-bee”

Occasionally she’ll expand and call something else entirely bah-bee. Last night she cooed lovingly to her toy, “oh, bah-bee, bah-bee.”

Of course Mommy always knows which bah-bee she wants; it’s all in the nuance.

It’s time to start potty training Evy, and I am clueless.  Luckily Web 2.0 is here to make sure I start with the right tools.  Everyone seems to agree, this is the best baby potty.  What did I do before User Reviews?

Stand by.

Must have.