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November 23 — 3:47pm
“Two and a Half”
Here are the things I want to remember about this age: Eva’s cheeky giggles, her over-excited-snorting giggles, her pretend snoring, the first time she said ”I missed you, mummy” when I came home from work from work, and when she said it again after I got out of the shower, and those random first-in-the-morning sentences, like “there is a moose in my ear”, and finally the endless games of chasey up-and-down the hallway in the 30 minutes before bed every night.
Eva has matured so much over the past 6 months. Her new-found concepts of sharing and swapping are now making trips to the park and play dates easier. And although Eva is still strong willed, she is no longer face-palming other kids and is better at sharing and waiting her turn.
This maturation has resulted in Eva making some real friends. It’s amazing to watch how much joy Eva gets from her developing friendships. Before the kids would play mostly independently in the same room and every so often accidentally play together. Now, Eva is excited about seeing friends and days later will retell stories about the games they played together: chasey, hiding in her teepee and dressing up. Eva still talks about hers and her friends halloween costumes from October.
Eva’s make believe play has gotten so much more imaginative and involved. Her toy animals are often involved in complicated dramas such as taking over the pirate ship, playing hide-and-seek in the rocket ship, or just meeting-and-greeeting each other on the street.
Though we started with the best intentions to not let Eva watch too much TV, she still watches too much for my liking (even though it is usually no more than an hour a day). Her favourite shows are Play School and Charlie and Lola. Charlie and Lola is definitely her first commercial obsession. She has a number of the books and will go through them on her own. She loves the cartoon but thankfully they have not usurped her love of the books.
Another development we have noticed is a real jump in her language ability. She can now narrate complex stories, speak in longer sentences, uses prepositions, and has such a large vocabulary that I couldn’t tell you how many words she knows. She also recognises all of the letters in the alphabet and even has a dozen or so sight words that she knows. Eva can count to ten, but unless counting pieces of chocolate, usually omits three and four.
She also loves to sing. Her favourites are Baa Baa Black Sheep, Happy Birthday (including the hip hip hoorays), and I’m a Little Teapot (with actions).
Physically, Eva is getting more and more agile and steady. And she is JUMPING! That deserves to be in all caps because she is doing so much of it. Now that Eva has finally hit this milestone, she loves nothing more than to jump on our bed.
She also loves dancing. Most evenings, she makes Johnny crank up the music, dictates which songs are played (Temper Trap’s Sweet Disposition, Slow Club’s Two Cousins and Mumford and Sons’ The Cave are must-hears), and they both dance around for half an hour. Eva tries to do the Charleston like the guys from Two Cousins, and at other times they pace around the coffee table imitating different animals.
Eva thrives on asserting her own independence: whether it be using the step-stool to turn the tap on and washing her own hands and or simply completing a jigsaw puzzle by herself. This independence can be rather tricky as most of our requests are met with a resounding “no”, at which points negations begin. Just getting Eva into the car after a trip to the park can often take as long as the time spent playing in the playground!
But despite her headstrong ways and determination to be self-reliant, she is still as affectionate as ever. She loves “big” cuddles, and she loves “little” cuddles, and she loves group hugs, and really really loves “sandwiches” hugs.
