Cute hair

This weekend Evelyn visited Sydney. They got along splendidly. Evelyn called her "syd-syd," which sounds more like "tid-tid." They chased each other around houses and playgrounds and restaurants, squeaking. From Sydney, Evelyn learned about pigtails. This morning she even let me put pigtails in her hair. She grabs them and says, "Cute." Yes, Evelyn, those pigtails are super cute!

Daddy Work

Yesterday Eric returned from another work trip. Whoo, Evelyn was glad to see him. Nana reports that she tried to play nonchalant, but it was clear she was excited. She announced "all done" with her dinner and, once down on the floor, dropped into her fighting stance. Eric is teaching her to wrestle. She whoops him almost daily.

First sentence

Last night Evelyn peed on the floor, saying "ssss." I said, "aaaah! You peed on the floor!" She repeated "pee on f'oor. Aa pee on f'oor." Yes, Evelyn, you peed on the floor.

It doesn't really count as her first sentence because she only repeated it; she didn't make it up. Still, it'll be good for teasing her later. Right, Samantha?

Power Out

Last night we had a crazy windstorm. The power went out around 7:15 and stayed out until the slightly-wee hours of the morning. Evelyn didn't mind the dark much, but she did mind when the TV refused to play her Elmo movie. We read lots of books by flashlight. She enjoyed the circles on the ceiling when we point the flashlight upward. Her favorite shapes are Circle and Oval. "O-wa," she calls, when she is looking for the Oval piece to her shape puzzle.

No Fall

Yesterday Evelyn slid off her bed and landed on her face on the floor. Ow! After some cuddling and a munch, she ran back to her bed and climbed up again. "Be careful," I told her. "Don't fall." "No fall!" she yelled. "No fall! No fall! No fall!" (It sounds more like, "No paw.") She repeated that mantra for a long time, and she did not fall off the bed again that day.

She has also learned the word "Bonk." When she bonks her head, she tells us "Bonk head" (which sounds like "bah hea") and smacks herself on the head. Sometimes the smack hurts, and then she says "head" again and cries, and smacks herself again. We can stop the cycle by saying, "Oh, you bonked your head" and kissing it.

Laurenzilla

Last night Evelyn had a friend visiting. Lauren is a few weeks older than Evelyn. The two girls enjoyed playing together. Evelyn especially liked sticking stickers all over Lauren's chest and back.

There are a few new pictures up at Evelyn's picture page (gasp!).

The things you find in a baby's mouth

This morning Evelyn grabbed something off the floor and popped it into her mouth. I chased her down and dug it out, and it was... a tooth. Not one of her teeth - they're all accounted for. It is a small, yellowish molar, very worn down. Where did it come from? We don't know!

Trip to Kentucky

Over the 4th of July, we all went to Kentucky to visit family and friends. Evelyn liked Pa-Paw and Granddad, although she seems to call both of them Pa-Paw. She loooooved Pa-Paw's motorcycles. She played in a ditch and a creek and two pools. She met a mean dog ("me dah") and four nice dogs. She saw many trucks and planes. She rode the neighbor's concrete lawn animals. The porch duck tipped over when she tried to ride it.

She especially enjoyed visiting Robby and Lisa, where they had a just-right pool with water up to her chin, a swingset with a slide, four cooperative dogs including one Peanut, a basketball hoop, and Brandon. Brandon is nine years old, and Evelyn loved playing and swimming with him.

On the car trip, Evelyn enjoyed listening to Sesame Street classics and They Might Be Giants. In particular, she loved a 20-second segment of one of TMBG's songs. The lyrics go "Mop. Mop. Mop Mop. Mop Mop Mop Mop. Mo-o-o-o-o-op." Then we had to rewind it back to second 0:42 and listen to "Mo' mop." Repeat fifty times.

It was a lovely, low-key vacation. Evelyn explored two neighborhoods and a mall. We relaxed and chilled. We set off a few fireworks in the street. Evelyn liked the lights but not the noise, and she was fascinated by the smoke. ("'Mo. Hot 'mo. Bye hot 'mo.")

Dance

Evelyn does a dance that she learned from Sesame Street. She claps her hands, stomps her feet, turns around, touches her toes, pulls her ears, flaps her arms, stretches up high, and all falls down! "It's a very simple dance to do."