First snow of the winter

Evie gives a us a little tour of our backyard after the first snow, and we talk about some animal tracks.

Evie Talks

Evie has been chatting up a storm lately, just within the last month we've seen a huge surge of words and phrases from her. She's getting better at her consonant endings, and 2 and 3 syllable words are commonplace now. She's also using sentences so much more, and has picked up a lot of hilarious phrases that she uses regularly. Here are some cute things Evie's saying these days...

• "Look at me!" although she says it "Yook at me!" which is even more cute.
• "How bout...?" she uses this when she's trying to bargain with me about getting something she wants. Like I will tell her no shows right now, and she'll say "How bout... Bubble Guppies?"
• "Follow me!" and "Come on!"
• "Right back"- I love this one because it shows how much she's grown. She used to say "Baa" with a finger up, which was her version of "be right back". Now she has two out of three words and I love it!
• "One sec" This is a new one, but she uses it correctly when she wants me to wait for her to finish something, it cracks me up :)

She's also getting great with people's names, and her dance class has really helped expand her vocabulary. She loves dance so much that she talks about it constantly, asking when we're going to dance class, tell me she's practicing and putting on a "ballet show". She also has learned a few of the ballet terms, like shasay and pirourette, and uses them correctly. And here's a little video of her saying my favorite word of hers. ;)

Mommy and Me Dance Class

In September we started a dance class at a local studio here in town. It's just 45 minutes once a week, a mommy and me class that teaches some basic tap and ballet moves, along with basic rhythm and coordination. I thought it would be fun since Evie loves music and I always wanted to take dance when I was little, so I'm so glad that we're able to do this for Evie.

Well, I had no idea how much Evie would LOVE her dance class. :) It makes me so happy to hear her excited squeals when I tell her today is dance class day! She asks all the time when is dance class, when we drive by the studio (which we do often) she recognizes it immediately and wants to go. At home, she talks about "ballet" all the time, telling me she's practicing and putting on a ballet show. She wears tutus more days than not, and has picked up a lot of the ballet terms Miss Jen is teaching the girls. To hear my little girl- who just six months ago only had about 20 words- use words like "shasay" and "pirouette" makes me grin everytime! 

I think she prefers the ballet moves and style because she talks about it more, but she definitely loves to wear her tap shoes. ;) She's getting really good and following directions from Miss Jen, and I'm so impressed at her coordination. The school has the little ones perform in one of the recitals at the end of the year (with mommies!), and I'm already looking forward to it. I think dance class will be a part of our routine for a few more years at least. :)