Evelina's 4 Year Interview

It is interview time again!! Remember Evelina's 3 year interview last year?  It is fun to see how she has grown and changed (just a little).

Some of my thoughts:

1. I apologize in advance for the poor video quality.  
2. What's up with all of the references to space aliens?  Clearly, one of her friends at school is obsessed.   
3. The child enjoys talking about poop as often as she can.  
4. Nose-picking is gross, why do they all do it?  
5. In the past (week), whenever I ask her what she wants to be when she grows up, she has said "a teacher", "a dentist", or most recently at school, she told her teachers she wanted to be "mommy" when she grows up.  
6. She is a goofball!!  

Evelina's 3 Year Interview

I've seen cute questionnaires for toddlers all over recently so I thought it would be fun to ask Evelina similar questions each year on her birthday to see how she changes year to year.  This is the first installment....hopefully I remember in years to come. 

 

A few disclaimers:  

1. Turn the volume up, it is hard to hear all of her answers. 
2. I thought she was finished eating when I started recording, I guess I was wrong.
3. Daphne was right next to her, and seriously the quietest baby ever.   
4. Yes, that is a burp at the end. This 3 year old has some lovely manners I tell ya. We need to work on that.  

Counting the Old Fashioned Way

Silly Crack Up

Children's laughter has to be one of my favorite sounds on earth. 

A Good Spot to Read

This weekend we are tackling potty training.  Evelina has been peeing on the potty for months now but I don't think Chris and I were really ready to take the potty training plunge yet.  This weekend we don't have anything going on so I thought it would be the perfect weekend to make the transition to underwear.  So far it is going okay.  She's had a few accidents and leaks but for the most part, she makes it to the potty (after we ask her about 1000 times if she needs to go).  Pooping on the potty is another story though.  The first time she actually pooped on the potty was last week at school and we have yet to have a successful #2 this weekend.  She had said she needed to go, so on to the potty she went (after bribing her with Caillou on the iPad if she was successful).  I left her with some books and went away to give her some private time.  She started reading Thomas and Friends Blue Mountain Mystery to pass the minutes.  She had no idea I had come back upstairs to spy.  Chris and I love how she licks her finger to turn the page. Hilarious...she learned it from her teachers at school. Oh, and in case you were wondering, no success on the poo front. 

Swingin'

It was finally nice enough yesterday to let Daphne have her first ride in the swing.  Evelina was so excited to be swinging next to her little sister.  She kept telling me how much fun it was and she wanted me to push Daphne higher and higher (um, don't think so!!).  Daphne seemed to enjoy it. 

Daphne's First Food

We plan to wait until Daphne is 6 months before officially starting her on solids, but I thought I would give her a little taste on Easter...just for fun. She seemed ambivalent about it.  We had asked Lina over the last weeks what she thought Daphne would do when she first tasted food, she said she would cry.  She neither cried not hated it.  You can't ask for much more than that!!  She had a blend of butternut squash and oatmeal.  Carrots would have been more appropriate for the day but I hadn't whipped up any yet. 

Apologies for the shaky camera, I was trying to shoot the video and feed at the same time while Chris was taking some photos.  I also can't forget to mention that Evelina can't be missed in this video.  We have a fresh one on our hands, especially when she wants ALL of the attention...which is pretty much 99% of the time. 

Some Daphne Baby Giggles

Getting Daphne to giggle can be tricky.  She is a tough nut to crack that one, but when she does break out, it is the cutest.  A few nights ago, Evelina really had her going with her sound effects so we tried it again yesterday.  Daphne loves laughing at her big sis.

PS:  Please don't mind Evelina's bed head (nap time can be intense) and the fact that she looks like a boy.  She's been picking out her outfits lately. 

The road to mobility...

...has begun
 


Of course she rolled about 6 times before I took the video yesterday evening and today she wouldn't roll once!!  

Chat Session with Daphne

Our days are always filled with Daphne chat sessions. I just can't get enough of this little one. It is amazing to think that Evelina was just the same and now we can actually have a full conversation with her. So cool how language develops. 

Somersault

After months of trying, Evelina finally has the confidence to do a somersault all by herself. Chris isn't thrilled with it though.  Such a protective Papa, he would prefer she use a mat. 

A couple of other videos that I took over a month ago but forgot to post. 

Evelina putting her coat on.  Hallelujah to one less thing we have to help her with these days...and thanks to school for teaching her!! 
 

Daphne stretching. I just love watching her stretch in the morning, it is adorable.  And, man, she is so much bigger now!!

Practice Breathing

It would appear that Siby was doing some practice breathing (and some other jerky movements) the other night during TV-watching-time.  

 

Clean Up, Clean Up

Evelina finds great delight in helping us "clean up" and she really enjoys her kid-sized broom and mop. She was assisting me after breakfast the other day while attempting to sing the clean up song: "Clean up, clean up, everybody, everywhere. Clean up, clean up, Evelina do your share."

 

"I chase seagull!!"

One of Evelina's favorite activities at the beach last week was chasing seagulls. When she would see one close by, she would shout "I chase seagull!!" and then get up and go. This one had half a brain and flew away.  

Evelina Sings the ABCs

I was finally able to convince Evelina to let me take a video of her singing one of her favorite songs. I've tried to sneak up on her but she always catches me and wants to see herself via the phone.  So, this time around I told her if she sang for me, she could watch the video.  Worked like a charm!! She can be so easy to reason with...sometimes. 

Evelina Likes to Move it

Evelina absolutely LOVES the "I Like to Move it" song.  Her teachers play it at school and she loves to dance and "back it up" endlessly.  She requests the song to be played in the car over and over, and when we found the corresponding video on YouTube, she was hooked. 

 

Ah, the girl never forgets.  This is the train video she kept referring too. Pretty boring, but to a gal who LOVES trains, this is heaven.

Evelina's New Playset

Last week, Evelina's new playset was delivered.  Her reaction was a perma-grin complete with lots of yipps.  Just taking it all in.  She LOVES it....especially the "wee", aka, swings. 

Papa Home

Many times, Evelina is eating dinner when Chris gets home from work, and most evenings, as soon as she hears the garage door open she starts saying, "Papa Home" over and over and over and over.....  I wanted to try to catch it on video so I could show Chris how cute she is, but alas, she decided to change her routine...of course, since I was recording.  Instead, we had a little conversation in "Yup's".  Her teachers think is so hilarious that she says "yup" instead of "yeah" like most of her buddies.  We think she is the cutest whether she is saying "Papa Home" or "Yup" or whatever!! 

Jumping Monkeys Concert

Yesterday we brought Evelina to her first concert, Vanessa Trien and the Jumping Monkeys at the Center for Arts in Natick.  We all had such a fun time!!  In true Evelina fashion, she was a little unsure at first but once her favorite songs were being sung, she was up and about "dancing" in the aisles.  Cuteness at its best.  

It was dark, but here is a little clip of the string bean.  


We will definitely be taking her to another Jumping Monkeys concert soon.  There were kids of all ages there and everyone looked like they were having a blast.  

Evelina's next show, Sesame Street Live in April!!  

The Ball Popper || Part II

Back when Evelina was around a year old, she LOVED the ball popper.  It would always keep her busy, but it made Chris and I go insane.  There was no way we could listen to the songs one more time, not to mention, we wanted Evelina to play with other toys, so down to the basement it went.  

Over the weekend, we were watching some of Evelina's old videos with her (she loves watching video of herself!!) and as soon as she saw the original ball popper video she demanded the popper be resurrected from the basement. We were not surprised that her love for the popper continues.