And a happy New Year!

Vacation is slowly winding down.  I’m still waiting for all that free time I was supposed to have to materialize.  It all went so fast and yet I hope I can still remember everything that happened.

So the main event was Christmas obviously.  Ooh boy did Evie clean up.  It took hours for her to open all of her presents. Even with a break for breakfast, by the end she was lying on the floor lazily opening presents with one hand.  My dad almost ruined Christmas because after she opened the giant Elmo from him she almost couldn’t be coaxed away from it and back into opening more presents.  We had mentioned that it would be nice for Evie to get some dress up clothes, and she got some pretty awesome stuff.  When I think back to the fun we had with our simple dress up stuff, I can only imagine how much she will enjoy her fairy wings, cape, eye patch and full viking regalia!  She got some custom-made necklaces which she insists on putting on and taking off of everybody (including her stuffed animals) about 100 times a day.

Our family room had been fairly empty, but that is not the case anymore.  There were some big ticket items down there including a slide to help us through the winter months and a kitchen set, table and chairs.  Evie just loves all of this stuff.  She used to be alright with playing downstairs, but now she positively loves it.  “Downstairs” is the first thing she says in the morning and the last thing she says at night.  She likes to send “Baby Elmo” (so designated now that she has “Elmo Big”) down the slide.  She loves to wash her hands in the play sink and make “supper” in the stove and “cocoa” in the microwave.  It didn’t occur to me that we would need dishes, etc. but it actually worked out because she had a sort of a picnic set that she hadn’t used much that had all kinds of dishes, which ended up being perfect for the kitchen.  I think it is the first time I can really say she was using her imagination and playing pretend.  It is very heartwarming to watch her “making supper” and serving it to Elmo Big at the table.

Unfortunately, all the good cheer was dampened a little bit the next day when Evie and I each got our first ride in an ambulance.  Apparently Evie slipped on the hardwood floor and fell directly on her head.  I say apparently because I was actually in the shower at the time.  I remember hearing a loud sort of screaming / croaking noise or something from Evie and thinking, “Is she upset or is she just being silly?”  Anyway, for a couple of reasons (including random vomiting) we decided to take her to the hospital.  However, when we opened the back door, we realized there had been a really bad ice storm.  After a couple of falls (including some by firemen, but that came later) and the realization that the car was a solid block of ice, we decided to call an ambulance.  To make a long story short, she ended up being fine.  But it was pretty scary for a little while there.  I can’t decide if it was scarier being in the shower and not seeing most of it and getting little pieces here and there, or if I would have actually seen everything first hand.

Anyway, we made it through all of that with no scars other than psychological (I am a lot more worried about her falling now) and next up was a trip to WI.  One funny thing that happened there was that my Grandma’s Christmas tree was on a remote control and my mom was trying to trick Evie and saying “Abracadabra!” and turning the tree on and off.  So Evie picked that up and eventually figured out how to use the remote.  She would stretch out one arm toward the tree, hit the button on the remote with the other arm and say, “Abadabra!”  The other funny thing she started doing was, whenever we put on her coat to go outside she would start insisting we were going to “target”.  I guess we shop there too much!

One fun thing we did while we were there was to go to my cousin Marci’s house.  We don’t see my dad’s side of the family all that often, but it was really great to see my cousins Marci and Aaron and their respective daughters Molly and Maggie and McKenna.  I think Evie really had fun playing with a bunch of little girls more or less her age.  I wasn’t sure if I would still have much to talk about with my cousins, but it turns out parenting can be the common denominator.

One more Evie story for the road.  She has really started picking up little things you say so you really have to be careful around her.  I learned this the hard way when she started gleefully shouting “Daddy bastard!  Daddy bastard!”  You don’t want to encourage it, but it was really hard not to laugh!