Reflections on 366 Days

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Remember a year ago when I decided to take a photo of Evie every day of 2012? Well- I did it! Mostly anyway. ;) Check out Evie's 365 Blog to see a review of the year, one picture at a time.

Evelyn Clara: 20 months old

Another month has gone by- and now 2012 is on it's way out too! Time is flying by, and Evie is making every day a joy. :) She's 20 months old today- I can't believe she'll be 2 years old in just 4 months!! When I was pregnant with Evie, about 10 of my friends were all pregnant too. We all had babies within 6 months of each other, and this month the first of this round of babies turned two. Now over the next few months they'll all be two and we officially won't have "babies" anymore. It's a little sad to think about, but it's so fun watching them all grow up together!

Playing the piano at Grandma Roy's house

We had a very busy month full of lots of activities, including a lots of playdates, a trip to the Science Museum, a cookie exchange, this years first snow, a couple new baby friends, and more. Evie is such a good girl, she's really growing up and becoming a toddler. She has been behaving so much better at meetings lately- the past couple weeks we've been making it through most meetings without having to get up!! She loves to go to the Kingdom Hall to see her friends Emma, Henry, Lisette, Lauren, and Katie. During the meeting, she colors, looks at books, and her favorite busy activity is stickers. Her favorite part of the meeting is when we sing songs- she stands and holds her song book just like Mom and Dad and pretends to sing- it is the cutest thing you've ever seen! She also loves to sit with Aunt Allison and Uncle Matt, or Nana and Grandpa- she always sits so nice for them.

The ball shoot at the Science Museum

Evie's absolute favorite part of the Science Museum- the water table!!!

At home, Evie loves to play with her babies still. She sings to them all the time, wrapping them up in blankets and rocking them. She sings and hums a lot now, which makes me happy. :) She also loves to dances, and spin and run in circles all the time! She still loves reading books- she never gets sick of Dr. Suess!! Evie's getting more physical in her play lately- she wants to run and jump on us and be tickled and roll around on the bed now.
She still loves "shows", including Doc McStuffins, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Fresh Beat Band, and Super Why. She also is OBSESSED with Finding Nemo lately, so she asks for that a lot.

Making snowballs

Evie said Grandpa ("Gam-papa"!!) for the first time this month, and it was the sweetest thing ever. :) She loves to spend time with my dad, both at the Kingdom Hall, and when we visit their house. She takes him by the finger and leads him around the house, and loves to snuggle in his big chair with him. Other new words include juice ("joo") and Mickey Mouse ("Mou Mou"). I can't remember if I've mentioned this before, but she's also been saying "cheese" for the camera for a couple months now on command- it's adorable. :)

Daddy and Evie walking in the backyard

We got a 2 week break from teething, and now we're working on the top canines- boo! But she's a trooper and we're getting through it- hoping for more snow in January so we can take Evie sledding!!

Videos Take Two

Okay let's try this again! Blogger isn't great with hosting videos, and there was an issue with the one I posted the other day, so I put it on YouTube so hopefully this works better. Also, I'm adding another video- this one is Evie doing the hand motions to a song we sing at story hour at the library before we read a book. She is pretty stinkin' cute! :)

Pajama Party Fun!

 Today we had a pajama party at our house with all of our little friends! The kids (and some of the moms) came in their jammies, and we had snacks and watched Finding Nemo and made one tiny blanket fort. I had grandiose plans of building a big fort with the kids- but in reality they're too young for that I think. They'd rather run around the house chasing each other. ;) And that's just fine with me!

The mad dash to get to the popcorn!! It was so funny how the kids swarmed the bowl :)

Watching the movie and enjoying some popcorn

Micah showing off his popcorn!

At one point we had 3 or 4 kids in the crib jumping like monkeys- so fun!

There was also hot chocolate involved- I know, I'm crazy.

Logan had his heart set on a fort, so he got one at the end of the morning! Evie and Ruby decided to have a tea party in there. :)

Evelyn Clara: 19 months

It has been an admittedly rough month for us- but it definitely flew by as always. :) Evie is growing and changing and doing really well, but we are facing some toddler challenges. Evie was teething for pretty much the whole month, and this set of teeth was possibly the worst teething experience so far. Poor girl was miserable, chewing on her fingers constantly and being very clingy and fussy, which is not our usual Evie at all. Those teeth have finally in (bottom canines) and so we had our old Evie back for about a week- and now she has a wicked cold. :( Oh well, such is life with a 1.5 year old!
Not much development in the language category either this month, which added to our challenges. It's hard because as Evie gets older she has more opinions and wants, but since she can't really communicate them to us, we hear a lot of whining and moaning. Tantrums are also showing up when she doesn't get her way, but thankfully they're not too bad and not too often. :)

On our way to Toronto for a girls trip with Nana and Aunt Allison

In happy news, Evie has become a huge lovebug!! I don't know if it's left over from her clinginess while teething, but I'll take it because it's awesome. Evie was never much of a cuddler, but all of the sudden she loves to cuddle, and give hugs and kisses to pretty much everyone. She blows kisses very well too, and is great at waving and saying "Bye!!" She loves people, and it is so sweet to see her give out hugs freely to all of our friends at the Kingdom Hall. Another cute thing she's started doing is putting her arm around people- and when she pats your back you just want to melt. ;)
Evie's imagination has been taking off lately, it is the coolest thing to watch. She plays with her kitchen on a daily basis and loves to prepare meals for me and for her dolls. She's great at pretend eating and drinking, and she feeds her baby dolls very well. She's also done a few things where I can tell she's pretending something in her head- but she's just using her hands, no toys or anything. It looks like she pretends to pick toys up and put them away in the toy box I think? I'll have to try and get a video of it.

Gardening at the Explore n More Childrens Museum

Evie's favorite books these days are Dr. Suess x1000!!! I read Hop on Pop and Green Eggs and Ham at least 4 times a day, and I'm pretty sick of them. ;) But she loves it, so I carry on. She also still really likes The Circus Ship and The Very Hungry Caterpillar. A new one we've added to the rotation is If You Give a Mouse a Cookie.
Songs we like to sing are the ABCs, Row Row Row Your Boat, You Are My Sunshine, and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Evie is less fond of baths these days, but she still loves water and bubbles, and loves to pour liquids into cups and bowls. She has mastered going up and down the stairs walking and holding just one finger, and can put a straw in a juicebox all by herself.

Being a cheeseball in the garage while Daddy works on his truck

 I'm hoping for a healthy and teething-free December... and I can't wait to play in the snow! :)

Evelyn Clara: 18 months

I am just now realizing that I didn't blog here at all this month- sorry!! It was a crazy busy month, if you want to see some of the things we did, check out Evie's 365 blog.

In October, we started a library class at the Orchard Park Library with Miss Laurie- Evie loves it! We read a story, and then sing a bunch of silly songs with fun hand motions and sometimes a noise maker, and Evie has a blast. Then we do a craft- which Evie may or may not be interested in doing, depending on her mood.
One thing Evie is ALWAYS in the mood for is coloring. She loves loves loves to color these days- I put her crayons and paper in a basket that she can reach, and she pulls them out all by herself, plops down on the floor, and colors on and off all day. We also are starting to explore painting, and she seems to like that too. I'm trying to get more crafty with her, especially since winter is coming and we'll be in the house more.

Evie's grandma from California came to visit this month to meet the new baby in the family- Evie's cousin Evan. We spent a lot of time with Eric's family visiting baby Evan and doing fun things with Grandma. We are getting good use out of our zoo membership, and it's so fun to see her get more excited about the animals every time we go. The older she gets, the more she seems to notice. :)

We are still working on Evie's vocabulary- according to research, there is a big surge in language development between 18-24 months, so we're thinking things will pick up for Evie soon. She has started to repeat things occasionally, but definitely on her own terms and pretty sporadically. She is definitely getting more expressive though- my favorite thing that she says now is "whoa" with the funniest face when she's surprised about something. :)

Evie has started climbing in a big way- she wasn't really interested in climbing until just about the last month, but now she's mastered the kitchen chairs, the chairs at the Kingdom Hall, and she's working on the couches.
Evie's favorite activities include: coloring, playing with her dolls, playing in the sink with bubbles, helping mommy cook, bathtime, playing with friends. She is such an affectionate girl, she loves to give hugs and kisses and she does so freely, which makes me really happy. :)

Evelyn Clara: 17 months

She's so grown up- I can't believe how fast time flies!! Summer is over, and now it's time for autumn. Evie had a great month, she is growing so fast and learning so much. You can really see how much her comprehension has improved, she follows directions really well and understands what we're telling her all the time now. She's a great little helper when it comes to cleaning up- she's so good at putting toys away! Evie also loves to help "wash dishes" now, aka play with a sink full of water and bubbles. ;) She's also into coloring.

But probably her favorite toys these days are dolls- she loves her babies! We have a doll-sized high chair from one of Eric's aunts, and we got her a little doll stroller, so she takes good care of her baby dolls. She pretends to feed them, takes them for walks around the house and outside, and gives them lots of hugs and kisses. She's started sleeping with a doll or two for naps and bedtime as well. It's so sweet to see her imitate all of the things we do to take care of her- she even puts diapers on the dolls when she gets a hold of one! :)

Evie has added a couple new words to her vocabulary, including Elmo ("Melmo") and Emma ("Memma"). She loves to run in circles lately, and then drop to the floor in a fit of giggles which is super fun to watch. :) She also has started showing interest in the potty, so we bought her a little potty that she likes to sit on fully clothed. We're going to start real slow with the training thing, just to see if she's ready.

We're so excited for lots of fun activities this fall- we've started a story class at the library on Friday mornings, and so far Evie seems to really like it. We plan to go to Letchworth for some hiking, and visit a pumpkin farm and the cider mill. Plus I think Evie will really enjoy playing in the leaves this year, since she can run and jump in piles now! She is amazing, and we love her so much.