susie taco?

lounging, originally uploaded by Kristy and Eva.

several weeks ago now, eva kept saying something that my brain interpreted as "taco" (really, more like "tahkoo"). it took me a while to recognize first, that she was saying this often, and next, that she said it when handing me something. after that bit of detective work, i figured it out: thank you!

oh, duh. it's not like i've been saying that to her daily for most of her life or anything! and, of course, i say it most often when she hands me something, as in "eva can you give mama that pointy-death object you've found there? thank you!"

around the same time i deciphered what sounded like "susie" (or, eventually, "scusie"). first, some background: months ago, eva used to squeal "ehhhh!" at the dog when she wanted the dog to move out of her way. i encouraged her, "if you'd like the dog to move, say 'move lemma'", it not having ocurred to me at the time that she would generalize this beyond the dog. soon, it was "move, mama!" and she was telling her friends to "move!" on the playgroud as well. *sigh* good one, mama. so, starting more recently, i've been attempting to modify my grand advice to "excuse me, lemma" (it's always the do g she needs to move, i guess). thus came "scusie, lemma" -- but also "scusie, chair".... oh no, that overgeneralization got us again!

today we had two little language milestones. first, she finally *finally* said her name! for months, it has been clear that she could say it, and looks all sly when you ask, but has refused to cooperate in our trick pony attempts. well, on thursday jenny eeked an "eee..." out of her, just the one syllable. then this afternoon, while looking at a photo slide show on larry's laptop, she said as the photos flipped by, "mama!.... flower.... papa!.... eva." she said it just like that, but with a lot of distinction between the syllables, eee. vah.

i've often wondered how she would say her name (like when she was two months old and i wondered what her voice would sound like). her little friends said it so many different ways, i can't even remember them all -- efah, weva, aiya, evvie, ebah. maybe eva was just waiting until she could say it the way she wanted to say it? that's more or less what she did with walking. (where's the impulsiveness, dammit! i don't know what to do with this looking-before-leaping business, so foreign to me... that comes from larry, i guess.)

our other little milestone of sorts was today at ella's party. she had been drinking water out of a paper cup, but i was helping her (she does it on her own with a straw, but without one she tends to drench herself pretty quickly). later, she wanted more water, and i poured some and started to help her. she backed away, looked straight at me, and said "*i* do!". oh, okay then. i asked if she wanted to drink water herself, and she grinned and nodded so happily. she carefully took a sip, and looked back up at me with this look of accomplishment on her face. she proceeded to walk all around the party clutching her cup, stopping every now and then to take a drink. (later: "mama, coat a wet. drink water, coat wet." true, true.)

i'm loving it, she cracks me up.