Figuring things out

Now that Evie has surpassed the one year mark, she seems to be learning in leaps and bounds.  Where I used to be certain she had no grasp on what I was saying, I can now tell she not only understands me, but actually decides whether or not to follow through on that understanding.  For example, when she throws food off her tray at meal time, we ask that she help us pick up what she threw at the end of the meal.  Sometimes she listens as I ask "Evie, will you please put that sweet potato in mommy's hand?", squats down, places it in my hand, and smiles.  Other times she squats down, looks like she'll put it in my hand, and eats it.  Others still, she won't even make the effort.  She just looks at me and wanders off. Already asserting her independence.  Fantastic.

Chatterbox

She apparently also receives more phone calls than either Will or I do.  At least, she's always on the phone.  That's one concept she has perfected--in preparation for her teenage years.  She grabs one of our phones, or a toy that resembles a phone, or a banana, holds it to her ear and just blabs on and on.  It's when she is the most talkative.  Sometimes she hands one of us the phone, as if to say "the person wants to talk to you now", then eagerly awaits when said person once again wants to speak to her, reaching her hand out in anticipation.

I'm sure the downstairs neighbors love this toy

It's a lot of fun to watch as she is learning the concepts.  One of her birthday presents was a wooden block suspending wooden balls above an xylophone.  Within just one day of playing with it, she has figured out how to use the hammer to pound the balls so they fall onto the xylophone.  She has another toy that is a shape sorter, and while the shapes are a bit complex to figure out, it certainly isn't stopping her from trying to put each item into a slot.

Climbing a slide, dad behind her 

On the playground, she watches the older kids intently as they run from place to place, climb up slides backward, bounce on rocking horses, etc.  Then, she imitates them.  Her current favorite is attempting to climb the slide backwards.  She's actually pretty good at it.  She just hasn't figured out yet that she needs to get out of the way so other kids can come down.  We'll get there.