With Eva three years later, I had more personal foundation and less worries about breaking her. I've come to appreciate that children come pre-programmed. I can coach, but who they "really" are was already determined by God. And fortunately or unfortunately, I had less time to dot on Eva and as a result, she seems much more patient and self soothing for it. She'll play by herself for long stretches.
She's not afraid to explore and we've been happy to oblige. We see how important discovery has been to Ellie's development. We see how much Ellie wants to do "real" things (use real tools to fix things, real things to clean, real cookware to cook, etc) and how hard she's willing to work to learn. So with Eva, we've done a lot less baby proofing. Yes, there's been more finger pinching but she's learned quickly how to navigate around the real world.
We had a big party to celebrate her first year. Being a couple days post, the chaos of hosting 50 people has already vanished and I'm left with the wonderful memories of all our family surrounding us. We had Grandma and Grandpas, Aunts and Uncles, Brothers, Sisters and Cousins of multiple generations. How blessed are we.
As for Miss Eva, here are some observations of who she's become over the year. You came into this world at 8:39pm, 7lbs 1oz, 19.75ins and have grown to over 23lbs and 30.75" (I think it's funny that in both cases that she's .75"...those precise doctors). She has six teeth (the first four on top and two bottom). She is very close to walking. She just has to want to do it. She uses walkers with one hand but hasn't shown much interest in trying to go without. She still loveeessss all animals. She's squeal with whole body excitement when she sees any outside and will hug and kiss the stuffed kind all day long. She sleeps with one or more small ones and is comforted by their presence. (And sleeps well...two naps during the day and 12 hrs at night.)
Food is just not a "thing" for Eva. She doesn't seem all that interested in it. So it seems like I'm offering food to her all day long. We're cutting back on milk in the hopes that it creates more desire in solids. We're also feeding her more table food in the hopes that we don't create another picker eater. One that only seems interested in what she ate as a toddler.
Ellie and Eva have a traditional sibling relationship. Ellie loves to be the older, wiser one. She loves to tell Eva what she can and can't do. She picks all the better things for herself. And for the most part Eva is only too happy to oblige. She adores Ellie. But she also has started to hold her ground when it comes to objects that she possessed first. She'll grip the item trying to be snatched and hold on for dear life while objecting with high pitched screaming. It's an often a successful effort with "sister" releasing or an adult intervening. As parents, we are often happy to see the little fighter coming out. The world of childhood is a tough one and it takes some standing up for ones self.
But the flip side of the Ellie and Eva relationship, is that Ellie will totally love on and protect Eva if we're outside of the house. I think Ellie still struggles with sharing our house and it's contents. She did "own" everything for the first 3 years of her little life.
Eva is a happy little person that loves to be around people. She'll forgo eating and sleeping if people are around. I'm excited to see more of her little personality come out this next year. I see her desire to communicate more and more so I know it's not far away. Love you little Eva.
