La dee, da dee, we likes to pah-dwe.

Evie's third birthday pah-dwe was a smashing success.  She was all smiles and no tears, no "it's my party and I'll cry if I want to" from this little girl.


I was worried the amount of people would be overwhelming to her, but she was a suprisingly gracious little hostess, saying hello to each of her friends and greeting them with hugs.  There were kids from all different areas of her life (school, my friends kids, the neighborhood, etc) and she did great mixing with each of the different groups.  At one point she actually turned to me and asked where Aaron was.  He is a little boy from school.  She had somehow managed to take inventory of the 20+ kids that were there and noticed he was missing. She also was thrilled to get to eat her pink and purple cake as made by Whole Foods--since they're the only baker in town who uses natural rather than artificial food dye.  We learned the hard way after Halloween and a few birthday parties that when Evie eats foods with artificial dyes she completely loses her

mind and starts biting, scratching, screaming, etc.  Evie certainly throws tantrums other than after eating food dye, but those that happen after she has eaten it are above and beyond.  (As a side note, it is appalling to me that the U.S. still puts artificial dyes in kids food.  It has been banned in most countries, and in the countries it hasn't been banned in, foods containing artificial dyes are required to say "may cause hyperactivity in children"... but, I digress).  So, she knows she is allergic but asked if there was any way she could still have colors on her birthday cake.  She was over the moon to see she had a colorful cake--and a mondo piece at that. 

In fact, Evie has been pretty enjoyable to be around ever since her Nana and Grandpa were in town.  For over a week, she skipped naps to take trips with them around the city and she loved every minute of it.  She soaked up all the attention and was the sweetest and most charming little girl we'd seen in a while.  Of course she had her moments, but they were few and far between.  We also took her to a Japanese steakhouse while Nana and Grandpa were here.  Although she was exhausted, she loved the show and once she got over being a bit scared, was clapping and smiling.    

Easter Sunday

The same week, Cora turned into a champion sleeper and started waking up only once (max twice) a night for a quick feed. A dramatic drop from the 4x per night she had been waking up.  I give Nana all the credit for this when by accident I happened to be out of the house and Cora woke up. Nana went in and calmed her back to sleep, and that was apparently the only message Cora needed: "Oh, waking up doesn't equal nursing? Well then, whats the point?" We also have successfully moved her out of the rock n play and into the crib full time.  She is still swaddled, but with one arm free.  She uses that arm to twist herself all over the crib.  Next step is letting both arms out, but she seems quite unhappy with that idea.  As I sit here, Cora just took a 20 minute nap instead of her normal 1-2 hours, which seems to be as a result of me trying to let her sleep with both arms out.  Sigh. 

Evie wanted to share her lollipop

April 15th came and went, and Will was out of town this year.  The girls unfortunately didn't sleep too well the night before and thus weren't their best selves for me.  Perhaps that served as a welcome distraction, I'm not sure.  But, that evening after I put them both to bed, I had a few friends over to enjoy a bottle of wine.  It ended up turning into an evening of laughs and too many drinks, but we had a great time and it was exactly what I needed to end the day.  The next morning my head was not thankful for the drinks, and when Evie came into my room "dressed" and wearing undies, leg warmers, arm warmers and socks, I simply suggested she add a dress and told her I'd meet her in the kitchen.  I walked down to start coffee and found Evie in a skirt and tee shirt, eating frozen fruit directly out of the freezer.

Frozen breakfast

Helping herself to food is starting to become her M.O. and I'm not sure how to curtail it.  She drags her chair over to various parts of the kitchen and gets out the pretzels, cookies, crackers, etc.  She opens the freezer to get fruit or frozen yogurt squeezers.  She opens the fridge and scoots over the chair to reach cheese or yogurt.  I guess this is her way of showing me I have no control.  I refuse to become the mom who watches her every move and tells her no to everything she does.  I recognize the behavior to be unsafe and have told her that it makes me nervous that she might fall when I see her doing it, but ultimately she's going to do it behind my back when I'm nursing Cora or taking out the trash, or starting a load of laundry, so I may as well not make a big deal of it and turn it into a "thing".  Fortunately, (or unfortunately) she is quite nimble and really can do all these things rather gracefully.  When our new kitchen cabinet arrives, I plan to move a small amount of healthy snack foods into an area that's easier for her to reach so she can safely help herself. 

Evie's actual birthday, showing off her dress at school

Licking frosting for her cupcakes