Eden's vocabulary has expanded exponentially over these past three or four months. It started with; Mommy, Daddy, Bellwa, Be, Feweesh, nite-nite, bath, wing (swing), cow, neigh-neigh, milk, eat, more, me-me (pacifier), Pets (wonderpets), baby, KaKa (Erika, her nursery teacher), hairpain (airplane), oohbuh (school bus), dir-du (dirt digger, ie backhoe), truck and a twice daily request for "eieioow" (our version of the sing along song which goes like this; "grandma and grandpa have a farm, e-i-e-i-o". EVERY day on the way to daycare and on the way back, she would shout out; eieio!!?? eieio!!?? I couldn't sing it enough, I thought this phase would NEVER end.
And then one day, it did. She asked for, "eieio?!" and I didn't get any further into my routine than, "grandma and grandpa have a farm" before she shouted, "ALL DONE!, ALL DONE!!" Suddenly, it occurred to me that she couldn't STAND to hear me sing any more! For about a month, she would not let me sing the song and surprisingly, I was a bit disappointed. But alas, that phase has ended and we're back to singing about grandma and grandpa's farm and now it's better than ever because she sings along with me.
Our night time routine includes a bath and reading books before going night-night. Most days, Eden requests, "teeth, teeth". She is supposed to be brushing her teeth but really this is an opportunity for her to eat her toothpaste. I figure whatever keeps her interested in putting a toothbrush into her mouth is good enough.
It's funny to think about how we've progressed through our library of children's books. First there was the touchy-feely book that Eden was absolutely obsessed with, for about FOUR months. We read this FOUR page book to her over and over and over to the point where I found myself hiding the book under the couch pillows. Then we thankfully graduated to the, I Spy, books. Reading these books to Eden absolutely shocked me. I would read and point out objects on one page and ask her to find them on the second page....and she found just about every single one of them the very first time I read the book to her. I didn't believe it at first because when she points at something, it isn't so clear what exactly she is pointing at because she points with her entire hand. However, after reading the book to her a couple of times, it became very clear she knew exactly what she was looking for. In fact, one night I pointed out a cowboy hat and she was quick to correct me, "no mama, no cow. HAT!"
We're now on to Elmo. Thank you Bernadette and Jack. We have read every chapter of the Elmo book at least 10 times. She quickly learned all of the Sesame Street characters. She doesn't yet know that it is a show on TV.
It is sad to admit that the majority of the one-on-one time that I get with Eden is in the car, on the way to and from daycare. However, it is during these long trips that we say good morning to the cows and neigh-neighs, spot birds, school buses, dirt diggers and airplanes and have sing-alongs. It turns out that these are the moments when she is still just long enough to focus on forming words and babble away. Some days she will list all of the people she knows, including the other children in her room, her teachers, KaKa,Nonda and Kahki.
On our way home, I would ask Eden, "Did you have fun today?" Her reply, "Nooo". "Did you go outside today?"," Nooo..." Now she tells me that she does have fun at school.
I try and make the commute relaxing for her by providing a sippy full of milk and always having a couple of "cookies" on hand. I also take this as an opportunity to give her her vitamins. I chop them in half so I can offer one in the morning and one in the evening. I made the mistake of pointing out to her one day that I was offering her a "purple" vitamin (I have no idea how to describe how she says vitamin, all I can say is that it a stream of amainamonamow sounds, none that relate to any object other than the vitamin). Apparently, I made too big of a deal when she responded to me handing her a purple vitamin with a robust, "purple!". Now, all she wants is a PURPLE vitamin. If you know anything about Flinstone's chewables, they are a mixture of purple, red and orange pellets. Over the past two weeks, we have depleted ALL of the purple halves. Realizing there were only 3 or 4 purple halves in the jar, I tried to pump up the excitement over the red or orange vitamins. Many tears have and continue to be shed over the purple minaminamon.
Just about all of Eden's cousins were there this year! Top left to right: Tristan, Evan, Connor, Madison, McKenzie, Will, Carson; bottom left to right: Trent, Cameron, Chloe, Peyton, Ashton, Cassidy and Brayden and Eden are in front.
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