Kisses and Hugs

I love having a little girl.  I was pretty sure when we found out we were pregnant that it would be a boy, and honestly I'd always wanted a boy first because I wanted one of each and I think older brothers are pretty swell (at least mine is).  But I'm so so glad that we have a little girl because she is the sweetest thing.  I'm sure little boys have plenty of sweet moments, and I really don't mean to gender stereotype.  But there's just something about sweet little girls that melts my heart and I'm so glad I'm a mama to one of those sweeties.

Evie has learned how to kiss and will often initiate the kiss herself.  She'll lean over from her high chair at a restaurant, or come up to you if you sit on the floor while playing with her and kiss you.  Typically it's on the lips, and often it's with her mouth wide open like she might take a bite out of your face, but it's cute nonetheless (though, I admit, if it weren't my own kid I'd probably be grossed out by it).  She will also give kisses to her stuffed animals and dolls.  In fact, this week she was playing with her doll and held it up on her shoulder and started patting it on the back, just like I do with Evie.

I mean, does it get any cuter?!

Evie was fortunate this week to get to see both Granna and Grannadaddy again.  They came up on Thursday so that Seth, Dad, and I could go see a movie that was only happening that one night, and Granna came to babysit.  We are so fortunate to be close enough to be able to see each other often, and I don't know if I mentioned it enough, Mom, but thank you so much for doing that for us.  Grannadaddy came with me to get Evie from daycare and then they got to spend some time reading together.  Then we met Seth at Opry Mills for dinner and Granna took Evie back to the house while we went to the movie.  Evie had a good time playing with all her toys and taking selfies on Granna's camera.  And she apparently went to bed without a fuss, so I think a good time was had by all.

Reading with Grannadaddy - I love the excited look on her face.

On Friday it was reported to me that Evie took not one, not two, but 7 steps all by herself at daycare.  I knew that she would basically just take off at some point.  She's just the kind of kid who likes to master a skill before she starts using it regularly, I think.  The teachers say that they often catch her stepping around when she thinks no one is looking, and she immediately goes back to crawling or squatting once she's caught.  I'm sure we'll have a walker soon.

Even if she's not full-out walking, she sure does have some good climbing skills!  She climbs all over the stairs, the back of the couch, her toys, the bed...  I caught her trying to reach some toys in her toy bin the other day. 

Clearly we need to enroll her in gymnastics.

One of my favorite moments from this week happened while feeding Evie her scrambled egg for breakfast one morning.  It was straight out of the pan and she wanted it NOW! so I broke off a piece and started to blow on it to cool it down.  When I put it down on Evie's tray, she picked it up, put it to her lips and "blew" on it (more like she just let some air out of her mouth, but she still got the concept).  It was pretty precious.  And it reminds me of a story about Evie's cousin Addie.  It had been explained to her that we blow on food to cool it off.  When Addie was younger (I want to say around 3, but I may be off in my timing), she and her parents and Grandma Jeanne took a trip west and stopped at Old Faithful.  When the geyser went off, she said she wanted to go touch it.  One of her parents told her it was too hot, to which she responded, "Can't you blow on it?"  Out of the mouths of babes.  I look forward to funny moments like that with Evie.

Evie seems to have picked up just a little bit of congestion from daycare.  She and the rest of the kids are passing something around, I guess.  On Tuesday, Evie had kind of a rough evening.  She did not want to go down for her second nap of the day and she was wheezing when she woke up.  Fortunately last night she was much better (and even better this morning), but she was so out of it when we went to wake her up for dinner after her second nap.  Here's the position we found her in:

Seth called it her gorilla pose, with her arms hanging down past her knees.  

We're having such a great time being parents.  I know it's not for everybody, but it's definitely for us.