Evie has never been much of an eater.  Starting her on solids was a major challenge.  We used to try to get her to eat all of these different foods but she hated everything so much and she could only manage about 9 oz. a day.  She detested all kinds of food, even delicious foods like applesauce.  What kind of kid dislikes applesauce?

She has always eaten better at daycare, so much better in fact that I have sometimes suspected that they are lying to us about it.  How could she miraculously eat twice as much, especially when we started intentionally sending the worst food that she hated and she still ate it.

Starting about tuesday of this week, someone flipped the switch.  Suddenly, we can’t come up with enough food.  Today she ate about 19 oz.!  And even still she was signing “more” all day (which she does to tell us she is hungry)  I don’t know if it is a sudden grown spurt, finally a carryover from her daycare eating, the fact that she cut her 3rd tooth and that is the magic number for chewing, or my awesome skills at making up food eating songs.  For example, at lunch today:

Daddy give me yummy ham, fa la la la laa, la la la laa
Eat-a-roonie yes I am, fa la la la laa, la la la laa
Donnez-moi a hammy spoonful, fa la la, fa la la, la la la
Nevermind I guess I’m too full, fa la la la laa, la la la laa

Eh, maybe that’s not the reason.  Anyway, whatever the reason, we are not complaining!

Evie has unveiled a whole host of new tricks lately.  She said “Ma ma” for the second time (or “mom mom”).  She sort of took her first step on 7/7.  We’re not counting it as walking exactly, it was more of one step and then a fall.  But the intention was there.  She’s done that a few times since then. Today she started to sign “book” but she has a little trouble differentiating that from “all done.”  She has started saying “No” but I don’t think she knows what that means yet.  She has been saying banana (or “na na”) or at least repeating it back when you ask her if she wants some.  She says “Daddy” more consistently, like sometimes when she is handing me things.  She has definitely gotten the sign for “milk” down and she uses that one spontaneously.  She rocks and dances on command.  She will stick out her tongue when asked and, for you 4th of July campers, she now sticks her tongue out when you tell her to be “silly”. She likes to “meow” when she sees cats or pictures of cats, and if you sing “Play the drum” from her music class she will find her drum (an empty coffee can) and start to play. Her favorite thing to do is to walk pushing something that is about the right height, such as a laundry basket or her music table thing, but especially the step stool. She sometimes goes to the bathroom on the potty. She likes to pick out books for you to read and when she has a favorite she makes you read it over and over again.  She can climb the stairs all the way from the bottom to the top.

Signs she knows: All Done, More, Milk, Book

Things she can do: Wave hello / bye bye, clap her hands, flush the toilet, drink from a “big girl” cup all by herself, feed herself finger foods (what little she will eat), look at books by herself including turning the pages

Things she can point to: light, door, window, fan, books, Nala, ball, drum, mommy, daddy, grandma, grandpa, Anna, jump-a-roo, cereal, spoon, high chair, baby, belly button, toes, mouth, hair, ears, ring, necklace, watch, cat

Things she doesn’t really do anymore: High Five, So Big, Shake her head “no”

I’m sure there are more things, but I forgot.