Leaps and Bounds, More Learned Tricks

At the school playground yesterday, Evie began walking up the steps to the slide... on her feet! She usually crawls but this day was one for taking actual big-girl steps. It was later continued today by going up and down the steps to the house - alone! Wow!

Evie says "hot!" and blows on her food. The really funny part is when it is clearly NOT hot and she does it anyway. She then sideways glances and giggles wildly. I think Evie is beginning to understand the art of obvious humor. She does things like this to see if you are paying attention... and then shakes her head like a monkey with laughter. Its great. Its like Vaudeville.

She knows "cheese!" but not really in the sense of taking a picture. When you take a picture you have to tell her to smile and her smile is not worth asking her to smile. She closes here eyes and juts out her lips with teeth clenched... she looks like she's straining. Its better to catch her off guard.

Current vocabulary: Doggie, Puck, Pwee (please), meh-meh (Moo Cow), muh-ma (mom), da-da, dish (What's this?), dat (I want that), cheese, chews (shoes), zocks (socks), pap (pacifier), hot!, two (she counts 1-6 by always saying "two"), uh-oh, wow, whoa!, happy, hi.

At the park, Evie can go down slides by herself. She is starting to learn how to hold on to the chains on the swing. She picks up trash (of course!).

Evie knows how to turn on and off light switches. How to close doors. How to pick up things mom drops or hand over things mom/dad ask for. She knows when to wait if we are outside (don't run off!). She will help clean up her toys in the bathtub and stand waiting to be wrapped in a towel afterward. She knows how to wash and dry her hands after meals (with help, of course). Evie can point out almost every body part (ex: taps her teeth when you ask where her teeth are and stomps her feet when you ask where her feet are). Evie understands how to get specific things like coats or shoes and will then race to the door when you suggest going outside. Evie signals she is done eating by steadily lining up the rest of her food off to the far right side of her placemat. She will shake her head 'no' whenever I suggest eating anything she ate just last week (we seem to be getting pickier as we get older). Evie will get messy but likes to have her hands cleaned off. Evie still hates anything put in her hair.