I just realized it has been awhile since I've posted an Eva update. I missed her 18 month mark and now have let 19 months slip by too. This is what our precious Eva has been up to:
Here she is playing one of her favorite games. She loves things with lots of small pieces, and loves to scatter them everywhere. I feel like I'm constantly picking up toys and books. Time to learn the "clean up" song!
She has this adorable cheesy grin that is hard to capture on camera. Her sense of humor is really starting to shine.
Another favorite activity—drawing. Not long ago I showed you her artwork on one of our new doors. I do have to watch this one because she will walk up to any wall and start coloring. For some reason it is so much more tempting than paper! The vertical surface of this easel is perfect for her. By the way, did you notice we might have a lefty on our hands? I don't know why this surprises me so much, but she is the first one in our family.
She trucks up the stairs as she pleases, but is much more timid coming back down and usually prefers to be carried.
Therefore, the gate at the top of the stairs is more for the pets than for Eva. We like to keep the cat out of the basement since she has an affinity for sharpening her claws on and snagging our new carpet.
Eva loves to say "meow" to the cat and is quite gentle with both of our pets.
Her hair is getting longer, isn't it? I bought some cute little barrettes for her, but she won't leave them in. She loves to have me put them in, but immediately takes them back out and hands them to me to put in again. I tire of that game after about 4 times and give up.
She is still such a slow teether with only 8 teeth. Her eye teeth aren't in yet, but recently she has had some definite teething symptoms and I can feel a molar coming on.
Eva's vocabulary increases everyday and she will mimic everything. I love that she still babbles in her own language quite a bit also. She knows EXACTLY what she is saying and says it with so much inflection and expression, but we just nod and say "really"? She just loves to holler "Abby", but she uses that name universally for both of her sisters. Sarah is just too hard to say!
I looked back at my last Eva post a bit more than 2 months ago and saw that it was when she finally started walking. Now it seems like she has been walking forever. I was concerned about her feet pointing out, but it seems to have corrected quite a bit. Her hip x-ray was good, so we will just continue to monitor it. Her pediatrician noticed a bit of a shake/tremor when we were there also. It is very subtle, but since we have noticed it a little bit too we are going to play it safe and meet with a neurologist to rule out any nerve/muscle related issues that could have affected her late walking and stance. We have to wait for availability with a doctor from another city that only comes once a quarter, so our appointment isn't until April. There seems to be no other developmental issues or reason for urgent concern, so we will wait!
These photos were taken over the course of one of our ordinary mornings. Every day I count my blessings and marvel at how great it is to spend this time with her at home since I didn't have that privelege with our other two. I don't get much done in the morning as I follow her around, but I try not to fret about it. We tend to spend a lot of time in the basement to stay out of the remodeling mess. After lunch time I put her down for a nice long afternoon nap, and that is when I can really go to town and get something done. Today it was painting light fixtures—more on that later. I'll be back to remodeling updates next time!