Eva's Birthday Post

Well, she finally turned three on Wednesday.

And in addition to beautiful, she is also impossibly tall and strong and competent.  She clears her own plate from the table and can put on her own clothes and shoes (when she feels like it) and draws figures with limbs and eyes and backstories.

Look mommy I drawed a picture of me giving you a hug!  Look at that (points to lines below figure) that is the kitchen all around.  I am giving you a hug in the kitchen!

 She can run and jump like a little athlete and is pretty good at jumping on one foot.  She can walk by herself down a balance beam, and has no problem getting up and down from the kitchen bar stools.  She still flings herself about and knocks into things and wails hysterically when she bumps herself.  For about 5 seconds.  Then recovers and it back at it, flailing and spinning and being her boisterous self.  She informed us about two weeks ago that she is finished sleeping during rest time, and instead she will play quietly in her room like Noah.  So far, most of the time she does.

 She recently caught the princess bug.

Me and Bawbie we're both princesses!

But because she has an older brother the story lines are not about finding a prince yet, instead about fighting bad guys with her super ice frozen power.  She does like to have princess dances, but there is no touching allowed.  When daddy and mommy attempt to dance together at one of these events they are sharply reprimanded, and instead everyone must dance in an Eva-approved manner (i.e. slow twirling and the occasional ballet-like move).

That kind of dancing is toooooo silly

For her birthday dinner we went out to Cabots and got ice cream sundaes for dessert.  Over her ice cream, she calmly informed us "when I grow up, I'm going to change my name to Dave."

I think Dave is a nice name, don't you?

After our initial astonishment she explained "remember Dave was a worker?  And he made us a new kitchen?  Remember that!?"  

I don't think Dave the worker is a reader of this blog, but apparently he made a big impression.  Especially considering our kitchen renovation was finished about two months ago.

In my defense, we do really love the new kitchen

She has two best friends at school: Natalie and Owen.  Her only response to what she did at school today is "I played with Natalie and Owen."  This has led to some awkward conversations with other parents whose children apparently like and talk about playing with Eva, but whose names I have never heard.

Eva is smart and sassy and can count things and sound out many letters and is completely disinterested in the sort of party trick where I ask her a question in front of another grown-up and expect her to show off.  She is a great little show-off when she wants to be "Look, Jesse's daddy!  I can jumping on one foot!!"  But my request to show the pediatrician this skill at her checkup is met with a totally blank stare.

hmmmm... shall I charm the adults today or instead refuse to speak?

My sweet special girl, she knows her own mind and remains fiercely in charge of herself and I hope this is always true.

I may be small, but I am in charge of myself and this chicken.

Happy birthday Eva, we love you.