8/23/06 - Little Person

Eva is definitely her own person. Her little expressions and idiosyncrasies are so adorable, and it's fascinating to watch her blossom into a little individual. She loves music and will start to boogie whenever she hears some playing. Once we were in a store where they were playing hip-hop, and the sight of her jamming away in her stroller got the clerks, and everyone standing in line, laughing. I love the way she taps her toes in her car seat whenever I turn on the radio. How she crawls up to me, throws herself in my arms, and tries to squeeze the life out of me with a strong baby hug. The way she laughs watching the "Baby Einstein" puppets, or home movies of her playing with Daddy. How she always tries to shove both hands full of food into her mouth at once, a true two-fisted eater. That she claps and squeals whenever she's proud of herself for doing a new trick, or when someone does something she thinks is funny.

It's hilarious that she gets as giggly as a 12-year-old when she's tired. I love how she starts waving "bye-bye" to people whenever she decides she's ready to leave. When she pretends to read out loud to herself, and babbles in sweet baby talk to us. How she has started constantly adjusting her glasses, pushing them back into place with her chubby hands. It's such a grown-up gesture for such a tiny person. I love the way she cuddles close to me when I rock her to sleep, slow dancing to a lullaby CD in the gentle glow of her night-light. All these little baby behaviors will someday be a memory, but I will cherish every one.

Averting Disaster

Eva's favorite activities right now tend to be either messy or downright dangerous. She loves to feed herself, so this morning I gave her oatmeal with a spoon and then made myself toast. By the time I turned around, she had given herself a full oatmeal face mask, including hair, ears, eyes, and under her chin. I decided to try an edible play-dough recipe made with peanut butter, and she loved playing with it, smashing it up between her fingers and tasting it, of course. Later we went walking along the beach with my friends, and when we stopped to let the kids play in the sand, Eva went straight for the closest cigarette butt and put it in her mouth. Then there are her home hobbies, like trying to stand up on everything from the changing table to the highchair. If I open the fridge or kitchen cabinet, she'll hurry over and start grabbing anything within reach to investigate.

She likes to pull things down from high areas that are now within her reach. I can't leave a glass on the kitchen table because she'll grab the placemat it's sitting on and pull it down. She'll find my dishtowels and wipe the floor with them. She likes to climb around under the table and chairs in pursuit of the cat, stopping along the way to pick up any morsel on the floor that I missed as a stale snack. In the office upstairs, she'll pull papers off the desk, empty the bookshelf, take papers out of the trash to play with, then try to fiddle with the keyboard or mouse I'm using. In the living room, she wants the remote control so she can push the buttons and play with the TV. Then she likes to empty the magazine rack and play with all the pages. In the bathroom, she goes straight for the toilet paper to unravel and shred the roll. Nothing is safe from her inquisitive hands.

Going Blank

One of the lingering effects of having a child is your brain short-circuiting at inconvenient times. For instance, every night when Dave gets home, he usually asks me "what did you guys do today?" Suddenly, for the life of me, I can't recall what I did all day. Now, I know I didn't spend it sitting on my butt because I'm worn out, and I haven't had time to watch my favorite show for a week. But for some reason, I'm drawing a blank. On a typical day I'll tackle a thousand small tasks around the house: emptying the trash cans and diaper pail, wiping down the bathroom countertop, replacing the toilet paper roll, folding and putting away Eva's clothes, throwing another load of whites in the wash, emptying and reloading the dishwasher, washing and refilling Eva's sippy cups, restocking the diaper bag, putting meat out to thaw for dinner, making a trip to the store, putting the groceries away. All this in between feeding, changing, dressing and entertaining Eva all day, not to mention the time it takes me to finally get her down for a nap, and maybe getting a chance to sneak in a shower. When I take the time to really think about it, my day is very busy, full of the typical things that have to get done. So why is it, at the end of the day, it's all a blur and I can't think of one thing I've accomplished?

Summer Season

July was unusually hot this year, but August has been unseasonably cool so far. It actually feels like autumn, my favorite time of year. Some schools have already started classes. I know we're due to warm up again soon, and September is usually the hottest month of the year, but for now I'm enjoying the much-needed break from the summer heat. I've been getting tired of just throwing my hair into a pony tail to get it out of my way, so I decided to have my friend Rachel (a hair stylist) cut my hair. We went over to their house for dinner, and our husbands watched the kids while she cut, colored and styled my hair in her kitchen. I decided to go really short, and with the weight gone, my hair is so curly that people think I had a perm. It's actually naturally curly, you just can't tell when it's long, and the highlights Rachel gave me make it look even better.

8/16/06 - Baby Steps

Eva's finally walking! She's been pushing herself up to a stand for months, but would always sit herself down again. This week she finally started hazarding a few steps. At first it was just a shaky shuffle forward, but as her confidence is building, so is her skill. I back away from her, hold out my hands toward her, and she toddles over with a big grin on her face before throwing herself in my arms. It's her favorite a game, and gets her giggling like crazy. Walking isn't yet her preferred mode of transport; if she wants to get somewhere, crawling is still a lot faster and easier. But it won't be long before she permanently joins the world of the bipeds!

Five Years

David and I celebrated our 5th anniversary on August 11th. Our friends babysat while we went out for a romantic dinner. It's amazing to think how quickly five years have flown. Neither of us can really believe it. And now we're a family of three. That makes time fly even faster! I'd have to say that as much as I enjoyed it when it was just the two of us, I enjoy being parents together even more. Sure, we have a lot less couple time than we'd like, but we're both in love with our daughter, and wouldn't have it any other way. We're still the best of friends, and we make a pretty good team, too. I get to see Dave's softer side a lot more now that he's a Dad. He dotes on Eva, and she's got him tied around her little finger. I see how hard he works to provide for his family, and the pride he takes in introducing Eva to people as "my little girl". The joy in his face when she greets him in the evenings with an exuberant "Dada! Dada!" He's the perfect family man, and I'm blessed to call him mine.

Neighbors

You never really know your neighbors until you have kids. There's the kid up the street who likes to rev his engine in the parking space outside our front door (hasn't he ever heard of a muffler?); the new neighbor with the 10 year old who decides to bellow on her karaoke machine at 10pm; the guy next door who smokes on his back patio, even though he knows the ocean breezes blow the smoke into our windows, and all the teenagers on the block, who seem to find the house across the street the best place to yell, squeal and hang out. It’s a miracle that Eva gets as much sleep as she does!

Teach Your Children Well

Discipline at this age can be kinda hazy, because they're simply not old enough to remember what's off limits, or restrain themselves if they do. This is a self-centered age, all about discovery and exploration, and they have no concept of limits, self-control, or other people's feelings. Eva wants to get into anything and everything, and she is not mature enough to learn how to curb her impulses. I'm a firm believer in letting children learn from the natural consequences of their actions, but Eva's still too young to remember what those consequences were and avoid doing it again. For instance, this week she lost her footing while trying to climb the stairs and fell down three of them (thank God they’re carpeted!). Only a few minutes of crying later, she wanted to climb them again and was upset that I wouldn't let her.

They say that you primarily have to distract and redirect a toddler's attention until they're old enough to understand what is and is not acceptable. I use that strategy as much as possible, though sometimes it doesn’t work. When I'm changing her diaper, for instance, she doesn't want the toys I give her to keep her occupied; she wants to get up! And no matter how I try to distract her while loading the dishwasher, nothing is as interesting to her as dirty silverware. I usually try to wait until she's in her highchair or napping, but sometimes when the sink is overflowing, I just need get it done. This week she grabbed a steak knife from the washer and wouldn't let it go, so I finally had to slap her little hand. It didn’t hurt her, but she looked surprised and dropped it. I know a lot of people frown on that, but you gotta do what you gotta do to keep your children safe. That knife would have caused a lot more damage than the temporary discomfort I caused.

8/10/06 - Little Entertainer

Now 14 months old, Eva loves being the center of attention. When spending time with friends or family, she likes to show off and get laughs. She'll point to your nose, make a sign, or say a word and then enjoy the applause. Then she'll join in the clapping and laugh hysterically. Once she noticed the "eww!" reaction she got while trying to pick her nose, she started doing it repeatedly in front of our friends as a fun game. This week she tried twice to take a step without holding onto to anything, and both times ended up with a face-plant into the couch. The second time gave her rug-burn and a bruise on her chin, but at least she’s branching out.

She's starting to develop her parent's weird sense of humor, too. A few days ago we were taking a walk and I strolled right through a huge spider web. When I spotted the spider dangling next to my leg, I started jumping around, trying to get rid of it and slapping the web off. Eva watched me from her stroller, thought it was hilarious and belted out a huge belly laugh. A couple days later we were in the car when another vehicle pulled out in front of us, and Dave had to swerve to avoid hitting it. Our hearts racing, we suddenly heard a loud giggle coming from the car seat. What a daredevil!  I was copying our home movies to video for her Grandmother, and Eva was giggling incessantly while watching scenes of her and Daddy playing together. Every night we read a couple storybooks, and always finish with a photo book called “Good Night, Baby.” Lately, about halfway through the book, she starts making farting noises with her mouth. I don’t know what it is about this book that sets her off; maybe she thinks that’s what the baby in the picture is doing…but it’s happened several times now, always at the same page, and I’m beginning to wonder! LOL!

Ever Have One Of Those Days?

I don't consider myself a conspiracy theorist, but sometimes you just gotta wonder if the world's out to get you. Tuesday morning Dave accidentally locked his keys in the truck while it was running, just as he was preparing to go to work. We lost the spare six months ago and never got a replacement because Ford charges $125 for computerized keys. It ended up costing $150 for the locksmith to come out, open the truck and make a spare computerized key, which I guess is a bargain. But add that to the $150 it cost to replace my glasses and the $250 for a new hard drive and data restoration when our computer crashed last month, and I'm beginning to see how quickly emergency expenses can add up.

Later that afternoon our sink started backing up with dirty water from the dishwasher. When I tried running our clogged garbage disposal to try and clear the blockage, the pipe joint under the sink burst and gushed gallons of filthy water all over the kitchen floor. I had to put Eva in her highchair to keep her from crawling through it, clean it up with Dave's wet/dry vacuum and then spray the whole floor with Lysol. I couldn't use the kitchen sink and had to put a bucket under the pipe in case I forgot and ran the water. And now the icing on the cake: I had just gotten Eva's diaper off when she decided to pee all over herself, her clothes, and the changing table. I had to throw her in the tub and clean up yet another mess before trying to make dinner. Needless to say, I just threw in a frozen pizza!

Cooling Off

This past week has finally given us relief from the heat, hovering in the 70's. It even rained twice, and at night it's been cool enough for me to put Eva to bed in long pajama pants. During the day, Eva's summer clothes are often a bit too cool, so I'll bring a jacket. I hesitate to start buying her fall clothes because August and September are usually our hottest months, and who knows what size Eva will be in October.

August has barely started, but already it's "Back to School" season in the stores, with all the fall fashions out in fall force. When I was a kid I hated that, because it only reminded me that summer vacation was nearly over. I see a lot of styles that I like for myself, too, but for some reason I hesitate to buy any non-nursing tops. Although Eva's daytime feedings are reduced only to naptimes (and sometimes not even then, if she falls asleep in her car seat), I'm still in the habit of wearing nursing tops all day. I guess it doesn't make sense because the purpose of a nursing top is to be discreet in public; but if you only nurse occasionally at home, what does it matter? I guess the real reason I'm avoiding buying clothes is because I will probably be pregnant again in the near future, and then I'll have to focus on maternity clothes again. I hate spending money on clothes I'm not sure I'll be able to wear.

Online Community

With my mother's group temporarily on hiatus, I've started haunting message boards on MySpace and a website called Connecting Moms, discussing everything from chocolate to politics to motherhood. Besides laughing at the universal struggles of being a mom, I've had several opportunities to share advice and encouragement with others who were struggling, and found that very satisfying. I know God puts people in my path, even in cyberspace, who He wants to reach out to, and that's cool.