Meow, meow, meow; Life is but a dream

Evie has started to sing a few songs.  Mostly when she thinks we're not listening.  Though sometimes she demands an audience.  That only seems to be the case when singing Row Row Row Your Boat.  The others, perhaps, she sings in private because she's less confident about the words.  With Row Row Row Your Boat, though, she thinks she has it nailed.  It goes as follows:

Row Row The Boat

Evie was adopted by an older girl on the beach.
They played for hours!

Gently Down the Stream
Meow, meow, meow
LIFE IS BUT A DREAM!

Will and I love it.  I almost hope she doesn't learn the real words.  This is a much better version, in our opinion. 


Another current Evie-ism is to announce when she's been laughing, crying, or whining.  If she's been
upset about something (i.e. she got in trouble), she often runs to me after she's finished being upset and says "Mama, I crying.  I whining." and then forcefully wipes the tears from her eyes and asks for a hug.  If she's been laughing, she'll state "Mama, I laughing. It's so funny! You laugh too!" though she often can't tell me what she's been laughing about.  Nonetheless, I'm appreciating her play by play.

I remember when not so long ago I was worried she wasn't acquiring language fast enough.  Now people are telling us that they're amazed by how much she speaks and understands.  I agree. She just came running in to the office to tell me "I say good night. I give hug and kiss.  Good night mama!" Repeated the performance three times, each time getting a little closer to her bedroom and then spinning around to tell me goodnight again.  Earlier today she was getting something from under the kitchen table and she said to herself "Be careful of your head. Don't hit it. Be so careful," as she's given herself quite a few bruises on the temple in previous attempts to get things from under that table.  Last night we had a babysitter and Evie was able to recount for us all they did.  It's a lot of fun to see her putting her experiences into language.  Except when it's not.  Like when she wants to announce proudly in public if she tooted (or thinks one of us did).

On Gigi's float

Evie and Gigi/Bridgie

 

Last week was the fourth of July and one of the first times we've been in Chicago (or Evanston) for the holiday.  Our new neighborhood throws quite the party, beginning early with an everyone-participate parade.  All the kids decorate bikes or scooters, and the parents get into it to. Our neighbor build his daughter and her friends a mini float.  Once Evie saw that was an option, her decorated push car was no longer cool enough.  She wanted to ride on the float with the big kids.  Luckily for her, the big kids were happy to have her on board.  The parade ends at the neighborhood park and they sell hot dogs and other food, drinks, and even beer (though I'm pretty sure they do that under the table since the name of the beer on the poster board with prices is "other drinks").  Then the festivities pause for a few hours while people go to watch the city parade, and everyone rejoins for a block party one street down from ours.  Everyone brings various things to eat or drink and just hangs out as long as they feel like it, or until their kids need to go to bed.  Evie was in heaven.  The long table was full of things like cookies and candy and fruit and marshmallows, etc.  And she could reach.  Having never seen candy before, she at first ignored it and was thrilled by all the fruit.  But when she saw all the kids gathered around the candy, she figured she must be missing out on something good.  And that was the end of that.  Evie gobbled up fistfuls of Mike n Ikes, Swedish Fish, and Gummy Bears.  She also consumed about 5 cookies.  She could not be deterred by offerings of chicken, pizza, or even cheese sandwiches.  And if I didn't want to drive myself completely insane, I just had to let it happen. Or so I realized after trying unsuccessfully to limit the amount of candy she was pouring down her throat.  I figured it was a one time occasion and not worth the battle.  She eventually gave up and made her way over to a water igloo. She realized she could grab a cup and pour water for herself and the rest of the party.  She started bringing everyone little glasses ("one for mama, one for dadu, one for Michael, one for baby Mikey, one for Evie...").  It was actually harder to drag her away from that activity than it was from the candy.  Thinking we'll have to put one of those in the backyard for an afternoon when we've run out of other ideas.

And with that, I'll say Evie is right, life is but a dream.  We're loving this summer so far in the new 'hood and though the occasional trip back to the city makes us think we miss it, overall we realize just how lucky we are to have found this new home.