Chatty Eva

Eva is becoming more independent every day, wanting to do everything herself. She drinks from a regular cup now, and helps me fold towels and burp rags, and unload the dishwasher. She's got eagle ears when it comes to the cookie jar: she can hear the lid coming off a mile away, and immediately comes running asking for a cookie. Her grasp of language is really maturing, too. She can finally say her name clearly, after months of "wawa" and "ewa". She puts words together in sentences now, like "down, please" or "baby sister crying". She loves to watch the "Little Einsteins" or "Dora the Explorer" on TV, following along with actions like clapping, and repeating their vocabulary words. Her favorite DVD right now is a sing-along Mary Rice Hopkins concert with hand motions. She sings, dances, and tries to follow along with the motions. She's become quite a little parrot, and you never know what's going to come out of her mouth next. The other day I was driving along when I heard "C'mon, Eva!" from the back seat. It was the last thing she'd heard as I tried to get her into the car, and she kept repeating it for the next half mile. Later she climbed up on the dining room table, and before I could say a word, she looked straight at me and barked "get down!" I hate to be predictable, but that's exactly what I was about to say, and she knew it. She likes to bring you something and say, "Here, for you!" Often when we're trying to get out the door, Dave will shout "let's cruise!", and Eva will come along behind him, yelling "let's cruise!" over and over again.