holiday

welcome to 2007! we had a really nice christmas in college station. eva seemed to love being there with family, especially sarah ("yawa", daughter to "don" and "keen"). they were so cute together, playing and giggling and mimicing each other. they would call for each other up and down the stairs first thing in the mornings, and loved taking baths together in the evenings (after we said night-night to sarah, eva would cry potty when she didn't have to go as a ruse to get me to take her to that bathroom). we took them to see the christmas light displays in the parks, and they ran deliriously in circles for as long as we let them. we went to the park, dressed them in their matchy christmas outfits from gram and took them to the mall, and in general had lots of fun.

this is a photo of eva playing with her new doll for the first time. i wanted to make her a doll for christmas, but it's not quite done in time, not that she minds. we had some yarn hair issues, so for the time being she is without hair, and without a name. anyway, i'm happy that she likes it, and right away had the doll go night-night, have milk (from me of course), walk around ("walk walk walk, bebe"), and gave her a hug and kisses. i added ears, nipples, and a belly button missing from the pattern, since eva likes to point out those things. and, while she still has no hair, she now has a dress -- but of course my naked-loving baby insists "off off!" with the clothing.

eva just woke up (again) so i need to go -- larry's giving it a try while i finish up, and depending on her mood it may or may not work. i'm feeling really worn out lately, like everything seems twice as hard as it actually is. i need to just work it out, as i know intellectually that everything is the same as it was a week ago, when i was marvelling at my beautiful daughter, my great husband, my lucky life... so, it's all perspective. so i'm doing what i can to turn it around. sometimes that's easier said than done. anyway, i feel like i'm brimming with things i want to write about eva, her new tricks and such, but i can't mange to do it. maybe tomorrow.

aha, larry's back, eva's asleep. nice. he's trying to do a ton of work for a deadline so i feel bad, but sometimes i just don't have it in me.

eva's talking a ton lately. i know i always say that, but language acquisition is so fascinating when you see it up close. she's in a verb phase, it seems and likes to point out running, walking, swimming, flying, jumping, bouncing, barking (guess who?). flying cracks me up, as in the "flying lights" (fireworks) she saw and loved like you would not believe at first night, our new year's celebration downtown. (by comparison, the last time she saw fireworks in july, she labeled them by signing "bird" and "light"... kind of interesting, i thought.) she's stringing together more words and concepts ("boo mama belly" "more cook tower"), and more frequently, which greatly aids in my understaning what she's trying to tell me.

i recently noticed that she's basically done signing, and has been for a while (these things are subtle, sometimes i forget to notice). she still signs for "more" along with saying it -- for emphasis, i guess :) -- and will sign for one or two other things (airplane, i forget what else) along with the words. but i don't think there's anything that she signs that she can't also say at this point. kind of sad, signing was such a big part of our communication for so long, it's a bit sad to see it go.

and speaking of things that have gone away, i noticed in mid november that she stopped sucking her thumb. she was still doing it in late october in north dakota, but a few weeks later, it was down to about once every couple days. now i can't remember seeing her do it in a long time. kind of reinforces the point to me, there's no point in worrying about this type of thing. it will likely resolve on its own, and even if it doesn't, it's likely that the worry will cause greater grief than the problem itself ever would have.

explaining that "more cook tower" comment above... eva got a learning tower from gram and grampie for christmas. it's a sort of super-cool stool, basically a raised platform surrounded by railings on all four sides. the idea is that she can be safely at counter-height to watch/"help" me cook or clean or just see whatever is going on. that way, i get more done and she is happy. it's been a huge help already... i can clean the kitchen while she chants "cook cook" and bangs around on her wooden spoon and pots and pans. also, she ends up eating more, because she snacks while i'm making dinner, so that's a nice bonus. she runs into the kitchen and clings to it saying "tow-uh" over and over. it's a big hit.

today we got eva's stocking in the mail from my mom, it's an embroidered christmas tree with beaded ornaments and trim, including many vintage beads and buttons and a charm from my grandma edna's charm bracelet. it's beautiful and i love that my mom has continued the tradition of stockings-by-grandmothers. (we all have painted stockings from my grandma eva.) someday i'll make them for my (theoretical, no pressure) grandkids, too. i think that's a really nice tradition, and it makes me happy.

larry just said "are you writing a blog entry about how much you love the wii?' (the nintendo wii is his new video game system, and it is pretty cool, i must admit. i'm much better at swinging-my-arm virtual bowling than actual bowling, too.)

i think that's more than enough for today. i stopped, started up again, and then there was no stopping me. i'll just leave it unedited, as is.

hurray 2007. like last year, i expect a year that will seem to fly by and be full of big changes (where'd this kid come from again? she's now lived in three different calendar years, weird.)