Adventures of Eva Diva

I am so fortunate to have wonderful family to watch Eva while Andy and I are at work.  I am even luckier to have a professional photographer for a mother-in-law to document everything I miss.  Here is a little of what Eva has been up to lately:

My little clone. . . . 

     

13-15 Months

These past 3 months have gone by crazy fast.  Obviously, I'm behind on my blogging! Summer class came and went, and now fall classes are in full force!  We tried to transition Eva to one nap a day when she turned 1 year old, but it just wasn't happening. Little one seriously needed her sleep!  She was miserable.  When we tried to keep her awake long enough before her first nap, she wouldn't sleep long enough to make it worth while.  So instead of putting her down for her second nap, we'd hold her off until bedtime.  She'd be so crabby and tired that we'd put her to bed a half hour early, but then she would wake up even earlier in the morning.  That wasn't too bad, but then she'd want to take her first nap all the earlier the next day because she had woken up so early.  Then we'd try to hold her off to that first nap until later, and it was just a mess!  Up until about the time she turned 14 months, she was still a 2 a day napper.  Now she is almost exclusively down to one nap a day, and it's pretty amazing.  I get to get a lot more done in the mornings before nap time, and we get to enjoy a lot of outdoors time as well before the sun gets too intense.  

Our little girl is so spunky!  She is so opinionated and active.  This girl never sits still!  She is always running around corners, grabbing things off tables, wanting to be chased... it's never ending!  Sometimes it's tiring playing all day with her, but it's also so much fun.  She can say a few more words now, and she understands even more.  Sometimes I'm amazed when I will ask her to do something, and she will do it.  It kinda freaks me out.  Apparently, I need to start watching my French a little more carefully now.  She can respond "uh-huh!" to our questions, and she will shake her head no when she doesn't want something.  We've been working on her telling us when she's "all done" with her meals.  She knows how to do the sign, but for the most part she lets us know in her own non-polite way.  Basically, she just starts picking her food off her tray and throwing it to the dog, or flinging it off her tray in big swipes.  Luckily, we have a dog, so he cleans up any mess she makes on the floor.  She has also learned how to sign for "please," and it's the cutest thing ever!  Since she knows how to say thank you, I won't teach her that sign... but I kind of think it would be adorable if she knew how.

She has learned dozens of animal sounds/moves, I need to start capturing them on video.  I say sounds/moves because some animals I can't think of a noise to go with them, so I just make up something.  I'll do a hand movement or a gesture so she knows what I'm referring to.  Otherwise, she stares at me or points at the animal until I come up with something clever.  My favorite ones that she has learned to mimick are:

1.  Rhino:  She will point her finger and stick it on her head like she has a horn
2.  Turtle:  She will knock on her head three times, as if she were knocking on its shell
3.  Moose: she puts her hand up by her ear like she has antlers
4.  Whale:  makes the Dorie whale noise
5.  Manatee:  she says "moo" because manatees are often referred to as sea-cows
6.  Walrus:  She puts her finger up to her mouth and says "tusk tusk tusk"
7.  Puffin:  she says "puff puff puff"

Above is a picture of us on one of our daily runs.  I was recently training for the KT82, which was an 82 mile relay trail run.  It may sound crazy, but it was seriously so much fun.  Eva enjoyed all of our runs, and so did my doggie Apollo.  I also just finished my second Tough Mudder which was a blast as well!  Otherwise, our days have been spent stacking blocks, doing flash cards, playing with her fake food in her shopping cart, riding her rocking giraffe we named Ichabod, playing at the park, fake cooking in her play kitchen, and running errands with me.   She is such a joy to have around, and she does so many cute things all the time I can hardly stand it.  Sometimes, I just look at her and can't help but smile because she's so stinkin adorable.  I love my little munchkin, even though she's a feisty one.  Below is a pic of me and the hubby before we ran the Tough Mudder.

We started working on trying to teach her not to do things or else there would be a punishment.  It's definitely a work in progress.  She likes to pick on me.  I think it frustrates her when she sees me being able to do things that she is unable to or can't.  So sometimes she'll come over and hit me.  Other times she'll pull my hair, shriek at me, pull down my shirt, or try to stick her hands down my shirt.  Not really sure why she likes to do that.  She's definitely going through the hitting phase, so we've been showing her how to be soft, telling her to say sorry, making her give us cuddles, and as a last resort a time out.   It's starting to get better, but when she is super tired and cranky, the hitting comes out. The time outs aren't really effective yet, but someday I hope they will be.  Trying to establish a routine and a consistent consequence for her actions, but we'll see how she reacts when she gets a little bigger.  The looks on her face when she knows she's done something bad is priceless.  Sometimes she gives you a smarty pants smirk, like "what are you gonna do about it?" And other times, when you give her a stern look, she'll start crying before you even say "no."  It's really hard not to laugh sometimes when I'm trying to be serious and teach her not to do something.

    

These two, are seriously best friends.  She loves him so much.  And he, well... she's his constant food source.  So he likes her too.

Those thighs....

We took Eva to the zoo for the first time last month.  Her favorite part was of course the water fountain.  She was briefly entertained by the animals.  We even went to the children's petting zoo part, and all she wanted to do was put her hands in the mud that was littered with goat poop.  Needless to say, that ended real quick. 

We have spent so much time outside lately.  Despite my dislike for cold weather, we are LOVING the crisp fall air.  I broke out Eva's Uggs the other day... she loves them!  She always asks to put them on when they are out.  This girl knows her fashion already.  Oy vey! 

Lastly, her chalkboard photo.  These are going to come about every 3 months, but I will try to update more often.  

Taking pictures is hard work....

Happy 1st Birthday, Eva Charlotte!

My baby turned 1 today! Every day she brings me so much joy.  I am so sad she is past the infant stage, but I am excited for the days to come.  We have so much fun together, and we adore each other.  She's definitely a mommy's girl, but when dahdah comes home, all is right in the world.  I can't believe I have a one year old.  The weeks just fly by.  Time already flies by the older I have gotten, but when you have a kid, it's like warped speed.  I sometimes miss the days where she was a cute little booger who was helpless and needed me to do everything for her.  But it's amazing owning a mini-toddler.  She can open drawers and cabinets by herself.  She knows how to close doors, shut our refrigerator and dishwasher, attempts to climb in her high chair when she is hungry, knows how to sign for more when she is still hungry, point at objects she wants us to get for her, play by herself, push buttons on toys, feed herself, and drink out of straws.  She's her own little person, and definitely a go-getter.  She is the best at mimicking sounds, although sometimes I feel like she is making fun of me.  She will randomly fake laugh, that sounds just like mine.  *facepalm*  She also coughs at you, after you cough, or will clear her throat after you clear yours.  It's so funny, but slightly embarrassing when she does it in public to other people.  

We spent the fourth of July mostly at the pool, but we ended it with good food and family at my parent's house.  The weather was so lovely, so we spent a lot of time outside that day.  We didn't get to see any fireworks, but we were lucky and Eva slept right through all of the commotion once we were back home.  

Eva learns new tricks every day, and she never ceases to amaze me with what she's picking up on!  Here are some of our favorite tricks that she does for us:

1.  Super: she flings her arms behind her like she's trying to fly like "superman."  She used to only do it sitting down, but she can do "super" standing up as well now

2.  Yoga: she literally does downward dog.  It's the cutest thing ever.  I don't even know how she figured out how to do it.  All we say is "do yoga!" and she bends over and does downward dog! My brilliant little girl.

3.  Dancing:  She can now dance while sitting down, crouching, and standing. 

4.  She can also point to several different body parts.  She knows where her teeth are, her hair is, and where her little chubby foot is.  

5.  Her latest obsession is with ceiling fans.  You ask her where the fan is in any room, and she will look up and point to the ceiling.  She loves them! 

6.  She loves to play with phones.  Real ones, toy ones, land lines, cell phones, whatever.  She picks them up and holds it to her ear and says, "this is..."  It melts my heart.  Someday, she's going to amaze me and say, "this is Eva!"  She's close, but not quite there yet.

7.  Lastly, Eva is obsessed with water.  We've spent a lot of time at the pool lately, and she has an absolute blast.  She loves to wash her hands in the sink, take baths, play with the hose at my parent's house, and guzzle down her sippy cup full of water.  I'm telling you, this girl is crazy for her water.

Of course, I can't forget her chalkboard photo... or my attempt at one.

So it's pretty much impossible to get a good posed picture of Eva these days.  She always wants to be on the go, doing something! So trying to get a good picture of her laying on the ground next to her  chalkboard was a lost cause.  I couldn't let her cry on her birthday, so we compromised.  From now on, I imagine her chalkboard photos will be different! 

 I wanted to share a collage of all the chalkboard photos I've taken so far! Goodness how she's grown!  Sometimes, she doesn't even look anything like she used to.

Speaking of taking good photos of Eva, I am so excited to share our cake smash session photos with you guys!  My mother in law is seriously so talented.  She beautifully captures the moments that are so special that you never want to forget them.  Honestly, it was too hard to choose which ones to share, so I'm sharing a lot of them!  But there is just too much cuteness, I couldn't not share!

Happy Birthday, Eva Charlotte.  You are my world, and I love you more than I ever could have imagined.