Happy Birthday Little Mouse!

Has it really been a year? I cannot believe how much sweet Evie has grown and changed over this past year.  Even just this month has been full of changes.  I feel like Evie has gone from a baby to a “big” girl before my eyes.  She is tough and independent, but still such a sweet little girl.  I love that she will run around and get muddy in the yard, play tackle football with Charlie and Clint, and then squeal when she sees her doll and give it the biggest, sweetest hug.  Her physical development is outpacing her mental development right now, so she keeps me on my toes.  She can climb up anything, and does frequently, but has very little judgment with regard to edges or heights, so if I don’t stay close to her, she takes some bad tumbles (just today she fell off some playground equipment at the park).  Evie is similar to Charlie in the fearless department--probably as a result of watching him.  She loves to slide and yesterday shot down a big slide at the park head-first.  I started running for the slide when I saw her getting ready to dive and caught her just as she flew off the end.  So scary!

She is starting to talk more and more, and now reliably says "tada!" (her first word), “Dada,” “bye bye,” night night (“na ny”), “ball,” thank you (“da do”), banana (“nana”), duck, and finally "Mama," and tries very hard to imitate other words and sounds.  Evie is surprisingly good at imitating sounds (and has been since she was very tiny).  She can match the pitch of an entire sentence--she doesn’t get all of the sounds right, but the pitch and inflection is perfect!  She waves bye bye, claps for herself when you say “yay!”, gives a very vigorous high five, “dances,” tries to bounce in the bounce house, and gives very wet, very sloppy kisses. 

Little Mouse's squeaks have gotten a bit louder lately, and she is showing off her feisty, opinionated side.  She gets very angry (loud, red-faced, out-of-control screaming) if you take a toy or piece of food from her (particularly banana peels, for some reason) that she wants.  Charlie and I have learned to tread carefully around her, and he really doesn't like me to make her mad.  I took something away from her the other day and she screamed, causing Charlie to admonish me: "Mommy, you are hurting Evie's feelings!"

Charlie and Evie are continuing to be so cute and fun together.  Although the 18-month split was really hard for me when Evie was a newborn, I must say that I am LOVING it now.  They play so well together and I have been having so much fun watching them giggling and playing (and fighting, of course) together.  Charlie has been enjoying Evie's birthday toys as much (or more) than she has, and they have been busy, busy playing with all the new stuff.  Their favorite toy is still their tent and tunnel.  They will play in there for as long as I will let them (they usually get cut off when the tent goes rolling across the room...with both of them in it :).  They laugh so much in the car--I feel so lucky to have sweet Charlie to make Evie laugh and squeal during long drives.  He loves to run over to her carseat to "talk to Evie" when we get home as well.  It looks so cute to see him patting her and them giggling there together.  Charlie has even started sneaking in her room to play during nap time.  Evie loves her sleep and is not a big fan of being woken up, so I have got to figure out how to nip this in the bud!

Evie is recently--finally--coming around to the idea of sitting and reading a book.  She has a hard time sitting still long enough to read, but if it's an interactive book and you go through it very fast (turning pages is her favorite part), then you might be able to keep her attention for the entire book (or at least the first 75%).  She loves Pat the Bunny, Pat the Cat, Tails, Moo, Where is Spot, and Little Mouse.  She has recently gotten in the habit of going to find the book she wants, lugging it over to where I am, and then positioning herself in my lap to read.  It is so sweet, and I love that she is finally wanting to read together.  Hopefully this will continue--and her attention span/ability to sit still will increase a bit! :)

All in all, this has been a crazy, busy, sleepless, fun, wonderful year.  We feel so blessed to have this little lady in our lives.  I want to always remember this time in Evie's life, as she is just at the cutest, sweetest age right now.  I love the way she leans her head on my shoulder when she's feeling shy or tired, the way she crinkles up her nose and snorts when she's giving her biggest smile, her sweet, tiny voice, her unsteady walk, her bouncy dancing, and the determined way that she approaches any task (she will continue trying to climb up something for as long as it takes, and will scream if you try to stop her).  Evie, we can't believe how you have captured our hearts!

How big is Evie?

SO big!

[Actually, she is:

Height: 30.75 inches (90%)
Weight: 20.3 pounds (40%)
Head: 18 inches (70%)]

Little Miss Priss, wearing her "princess" (her tutu, as Charlie calls it).

 We have a Mum Mum addict on our hands.  God help you if you try to take one of these away from her.

 A tutu and a mower...such a perfect combination for the Mouse. :)

 A few more shots in her party hat... (she wasn't loving it when I took these, but it grew on her by her birthday, as you will see in an upcoming post :).

Love you to the moon and back, Miss E!