This weekend you spent lots of time with Daddy, including helping to make pizza dough for our lunch. Weighing out the ingredients, mixing them together then kneading dough ready for it to rise. You are a great cook, and can tell us lots of the ingredients needed to make things, even if you aren’t yet patient enough to understand that things do take time to cook. You already know and understand such a wide range of things that it feels like there aren’t enough things in the world for you to learn. Your language is developing wonderfully and you have started to use new phrases like ‘join in’ and this week have learnt your surname. Your imagination makes me smile and laugh. I asked if you were going to fly planes when you were older and you told me that yes you are, but not in the sky, in space! To the cheesy moon! You are imaginative, joyful, expressive and opinionated.
Oh my goodness Evie, you have learnt to crawl! Not necessarily with all limbs moving in a coordinated manor but who cares, you can get from A to B. Nothing can stop you from getting to where you want to be and you even managed to go backwards and wedge yourself under the sofa the other day. Of course your brother thought it was hilarious and had to copy you and he shouts ‘Evie funny’.
Greedy Evie is here to stay. You want to try everything and bend over backwards, literally, to get what you desire. You are open to new tastes and textures, everything must be sampled. I’m never quite sure how much you’ve had, but you are happy and content. I need to get you weighed to check how you’re getting on, but I suspect that the introduction of food will have helped your previous centile languishing.
Ever determined you strive to get the things that take your fancy, through a combination of reaching, rowling, shuffling and spinning around. That beautiful smile of yours gets broader but those teeth of yours are causing us some broken sleep. You had started to have a pretty standard routine of falling asleep in daddies arms around 7, sleeping in your cot at 7.30pm and then waking for a feed around 10/11. You had your first swimming lesson this week, and despite being rudely awoken and abruptly thrown into your swim suit, you took to the water with your usual big smile and flurry of kicks. It was lovely to take the time just the two of us, you are such a water baby and it is magical to see you in your element. I get the feeling I’ll be sitting by the pool side for many years to come.
Here you are stealing some beans from your brothers plate, after eating your very first meal out at a restaurant in London. People literally stopped to say hello to you, to see you sitting up in your high chair. They were amazed by you and couldn’t help but stare. You were just concentrating on making your way through chicken, cucumber and beans as if your life depended on it. I am only feeding you 4 times in the day time now and I can feel it won’t be that much longer that you will want your milk. It feels bitter-sweet to see you gaining your independence, grasping these new skills with vigour. Your daddy can’t stand to see you grow up, he wants to cuddle you all day and ensure you’re never a teenager!
As the nights aren’t so dark any more, I caught a lovely shot of you splashing in the bath. We love bath times here, lots of chatter and giggling between you and your brother. It’s an ordinary activity that we will no doubt do thousands of times before you grow big enough to just do it yourself. I can barely imagine those days right now but I know soon I will find myself there, with a little girl and no baby. Already there is talk of weaning, and suddenly I find myself feeling like I’m falling behind on the time scales. Then I look at your ever growing face and realise that it all happens naturally, you have all that learning within you.
I think it every week but you are just growing in every way, so quickly. We say something, you repeat it and then somehow you know it. You can remember it, even call on it at a later date. You have started using more connective words, ‘and’ ‘ has made its first appearance as well as your first “Aneurin”. It kind of seems crazy that it took you 2 years to know your full name. That will serve us right for giving you such an unusual one I guess, but at least you have an interesting story to tell people. You are happy, boisterous, busy and love to make us laugh. Anything you do that raises a smile you do over and over, trying to get the same reaction. Everyone says how happy you are, what a beautiful smile you have and we take it for granted. You are of course difficult in equal measure, because you never do things by halves.We’ve had a busy first week of the holiday, crossing off items on the to do list and generally keeping busy as a family of 4. I’m desperately trying to catch up on myself, I know I’ve been neglecting the … Continue reading
living arrows 28 & 29/52
July 21, 2014 by Jenni Clutten | 0 comments
Your determination and spirit make me so proud. You have a thirst for learning, taking everything in with all your senses, you do nothing by halves. You can pull up to standing and drag yourself across a room, just with the strength in your arms. It was a bit of a killer last week, as you have only taken cat naps before wanting to explore more. You fall asleep in my arms full to the brim with milk, I wait and carefully transplant you to your cot before I exhale. Then, as I quietly race down the stairs and turn to the kitchen, I place my fingers on the kettle. I hear your call and return back to my place on the sofa where you promptly fall asleep, I remain stuck underneath you. Sometimes it makes me frustrated, there are just so many things to be done, but other times I just stare down at you knowing that tomorrow your hair will be longer, your eyes will be bigger and I won’t be able to get yesterday back.
We laugh daily at your theatrical nature, recounting your version of events with your eyes, words and body. I cherish our little chats, especially as you start to remember friends and family and understanding the passing of time. I told you the story of little red riding hood from my memory a few weeks ago and you often ask ‘story mummy’. The story has changed quite a lot now, but the current version involves Nye, who is bringing a buzzby cake to his grandma, the wolf steals it, Grandad says ‘shoo away wolf’, then he says sorry and has tea and cake. When not chatting, you are ‘making cakes’ in the mud outside, offering out stones and rolling out play dough. It’s safe to say you like cake!
Water plays a major part in our life, it is always such a great way of keeping you happy. You make up your own games and sing songs, making up tunes and words if you can’t quite remember them. You love to splash yourself and shock yourself with the cold water, screaming out with joy. Today you sang humpty dumpty like we do at your swimming lessons and jumped into the bucket. You so want to splash that you jump in when you sing ‘wall’ because you can’t wait for the ‘fall’. 
A blissful moment of silence in what has been an exhausting week. I barely dared to press the shutter to capture you, terrified that I would disturb you. You continue to grow up, strong, enquiring and happy (when you’re not causing havoc by refusing to settle in your cot). You are most vocal at the dinner table. When the food runs out, or others are eating without you, you crumple your nose up and inhale and exhale deeply to show your dissatisfaction with the situation. You do it so often now that Nye does impressions of you, laughing to himself saying ‘Evie talking’.
In your daddy’s arms is where you like to spend your time. He carries you round in the crook of his arm, and even has you sitting on his knee whilst he eats his dinner (one handed.) You two are bestest palls, he knows how to settle you and gives you a thousand kisses a day. When you smile your whole face lights up and your dummy just drops to the floor as every muscle extends into a gummy grin. Your happy disposition amazes us, you rarely fuss or complain you are just contented and we feel so lucky. You are now gently settling into 3 nap times during the day and we are trying to put you down in your cot so you can get used to your own room. Admittedly, at night we miss you when you aren’t snuggled up next to us in bed, but you soon return for your food.
Ah my little Evie you are so different to how I remember your brother I can hardly believe it. It reminds me how amazing nature is, all the endless possibilities that arise for character and temperament. They are right when they say no two babies are the same. You just love to sit up or be on your tummy, spreading out your arms and legs and determinedly holding your chest and head high. This week I felt the winds of change, you will no doubt be on the move in a month or two. Can it really already be time for you to start practicing those first moment of independence? You’re already grabbing for things and playing with your hands with purpose, what will be next?