mexico

we returned a few days ago from our holiday trip to playa del carmen with larry's family. we had a great time, although it was sad that gran fell and broke her hip and as such dick wasn't able to be there (and rita came a day late). we loved the condo where we stayed, and larry and i are already having daydreams of returning for a month sometime. it was surreal for me being there, as the other time we visited i was 5 months pregnant. i kept being reminded of my thoughts then of the abstract "baby" and being simultaneously confronted with the reality now of eva's presence. eva had a great time, especially at the beach. i've seldom seen her happier in her little life than she is at the beach (not unlike her great grandma eva, who wanted to return in her next life as a beach bum). that little girl just runned and splashed would have stayed all day if we'd let her -- as it was, she ended up with more of a tan than is generally desired for a baby :). eva was a trooper, despite not feeling very well due to her four canines that are torturing her and also the trials of her newly potty-trained status, which is not easy while travelling. so, she wasn't her usual sunny self, but no matter. it was wonderful being in such a fabulous location with family. quite a trip.

as always seems to happen, upon returning home we're all three sick. and i'll not go on about this, but let's just say diarrhea and potty training are not a lot of fun together. as all moms know, it's hard to care for someone else when you're sick, the house is a mess, and my car is a lemon. so i'm not in the best frame of mind this week, but i think we're about to turn a corner. transience. that's what we'll go for here.

eva's in to lots of new fun things. she picks up anything that could masquerade as a bag or purse and says "bye bye" and marches off. she talks about and asks about her friends all the time (wuvuh/river is the current favorite, but she also plays peek-a-boo with a photo of ella.) she is stringing things together into sentences ("mama bye-bye car" or "papa night-night" or "hi dog-dog toes"). she plays with her baby dolls, pushing them in a stroller or laying them down to sleep in her rocking chair. and as of yesterday, she wants me to give them milk (not settling for through-the-shirt pretend milk, she wants the real deal -- and she's not into feeding her own babies, i guess taking on the big sister role of just sharing her own mama's milk). she continues to be very into necklaces, requesting "nonnies" from gran on the trip -- nonny nonny nonny (but then today she said "neckie" and i'm a bit sad. i'll miss "nonny" a little). she's adding consonants to the ends of more words, resulting in some head-turning language, such as truck (but she starts it with an "f") and clock (minus the "l"). she gets more jokes -- today i had her upside-down on my back saying "hey papa, do you know where eva went?" and she giggled and after a bit said "back!". she's obsessed with stars (like atop our tree) and spoons and outside -- it used to be "ahtz" but is now "aht-side", and she says it countless times a day.

i know there are more things i was intending to remember, but that's all have right now. she's definitely hitting more of that toddler behaviour (like single-mindedness and tantrums) but is also getting to be really fun, and it's exciting to see more and more of her thoughts and personality emerge.