Go play a lil bit

Evie's vocabulary seems to be growing exponentially, and new sentences and phrases are pouring from her mouth.  Our most favorite is her bed/nap time stalling request: "no nap mama. I go play a lil bit." You can't help but to crack a smile every time it escapes her lips.  And that's at least twice a day, usually more.  She has now realized she can change the context and if she's bored or lonely because Will or I are otherwise occupied, she comes and tugs on a pant leg and says "Dadu play a lil bit.  Mama play a lil bit."  Hard to turn down that request.  Sometimes she even throws a "peese" in there to add an extra coat of sugar.  Our other current favorite is "He ya go" or "There ya go".  Usually said in place of thank you but also whenever she wants something or is giving one of us something.

The ONLY thing I could get Evie to wear the other day

Evie has asked to wear
this dress every day, despite
temps in the 40s

Of course, with more words comes more ways to say no.  Getting ready in the morning has become a huge battle, and my plan to give her choices to smooth things out is no longer fully effective.  For example, I'll ask her if she wants to get dressed before or after breakfast.  "After!" she replies with enthusiasm.  Fine. We head downstairs and eat a lovely breakfast and then come back up to get dressed. "No get dress. NO DRESS. NO SOCKS. NO UNDIES. NO NO NO." Running from her room, she'll often shut her door for emphasis, leaving me inside contemplating my next move.  I try approaching her calmly saying she chose to get dressed after breakfast, and that time is now. It becomes a game to her as she attempts to run away from me and looks over her shoulder to make sure I'm chasing behind.  I am not. It's not a game to me.  It's freaking annoying.  Per advice from some of the other moms at school, I'm amending my policy on getting ready in the morning.  The choices can be about what she'll wear, but not when she'll put them on.  The newest house rule is Evie may not go downstairs until she is fully dressed.  Day one of the new rule started today and it made for a much easier morning.  We'll see how this goes tomorrow.

The language development is also quite clearly two way (though there are many times when she pretends not to understand -- especially any phrase including the word no).  The other week Evie had an ear infection. We put her on amoxicillin and she broke out in a rash all over her face and body.  It looked terrible.  Like the measles, really. And since those are going around, I was worried about taking her to any normal activities because I didn't want to scare the other parents/be running around explaining it was an allergic reaction.  So, one morning I took her to a pancake house for a special treat.  I felt bad she'd been locked up inside our house not really doing much of anything.  At the pancake house, a nice older man sat down at a table next to us.  Evie smiled a huge grin at him and said "hi!".  He looked her way, and got a bit of a startled look, and then said hi back.  I could tell he was trying to figure out what had happened to her face.  There were some teenagers in the booth behind us and she popped up to say hi to them, and they just stared at her.  It absolutely broke my heart.  Evie has been so blessed to always get smiles and hellos returned to her, and she seemed a bit confused as to the looks and lack of responses she was getting.  As our brunch wore on, Evie continued to try to get the older man's attention.  He would respond, but not for long.  Finally, he actually said to me "what happened? What's on her face?"  I was almost shocked that he had the gall to ask.  What if it had been a burn or a birth mark?  What if Evie always looked that way?  I started to reply, but Evie beat me to it "Cheeks red. Pink medicine."  She knew what he was asking, and she knew it was caused by her medicine.  I furthered, "she had an allergic reaction to amoxicillin" and he said "Oh, so that will go away? That's good."  I know he was just being honest, but I still felt defensive of my little girl. She was so clearly aware of what we were talking about.  Fortunately, blueberry pancakes and crayons proved a worthy distraction.

Nana and Grandpa arrived today and Evie was so excited to know they were coming.  Before they arrived, every time the door opened and she heard the tell tale beep she would go running and say "Nana! Grandpa!" and was sad to see it was only Will or I.  Tonight, as Nana was attempting to take Evie up to bed, Evie's new phrases continued to erupt.  "Take a sip mama tea. Pffff. Hot. Too hot. Okay, bye bye mama!" Then, as she left the room I was in, I hear "Ok. Just one more sip. Hot tea. One more. Peease" and she came trotting back in. She left again, and then a few steps further I hear "Oh. Just a one last sip." I say "No, Evie, no more tea. It's bedtime" and she replies "Ok. But, hug. One more hug."  I know the stalling tactics will one day get old, but at least for now they remain pretty adorable.