Update

I'm living so in the moment that I have forgotten to document how life is going with little Eva. Well, she is very tall, the size of a 3-year-old, says our doctor. She is starting to potty train, some days she is like a big kid, other days she's all diaper. She talks up a storm (English and Italian, a nice mix). She loves to wear hand-me-down clothes if they belonged to her cousin, Astrid. She adores her dog. She rides a bike with no pedals and wears her "motorcycle gloves" which she does not know how to put her fingers into. Her favorite food is spaghetti. Her favorite t.v. shows (I know I said I wouldn't be one of "those" kinds of moms) are Peppa Pig and Pippy Longstocking. Her favorite books are Goodnight Moon and HUG. She loves to give hugs and kisses. She says MOMMY NON VOGLIO! when it is time to change her. She is into princesses (thank you, gramma Tatiana). She still goes to Pika Poka for half a day and spends the other half with gramma Tatiana. Her favorite songs are Happy Birthday (to Eva) and the alphabet song (A, B, C, D, Eva Cheese, H, I, J, K...). Yesterday she played with snow (without gloves) and declared "It's not even cold."

Our friend Amanda's puppies

We almost took home all ten of them and their mommy yesterday.

By the way, that is Eva now. She just turned two. What a sweetie pie.

Empathy

Today I was walking to the bathroom to take a shower and I hit my knee REALLY hard on the coffee table. Ouch!

Eva heard me yell (I tried to keep it clean!) and came over and asked me if I hurt myself (in Italian). I said, yes, a little bit. And she looked so worried. So I said, Well, you can kiss it, that might help. And she bent right over and did just that.

What a feeling. I realized that little two-year-old Eva has a sense of empathy. Gosh, I know a lot of adults who don't have that.

What a happy  day.

Eva's First Bilingual Moment

Yesterday Eva did the Italian wave, which is opening and closing your hand with the palm facing you (picture squeezing a foam toy while giving blood) when I said "Eva, say bye bye!"

I have never associated the Italian wave with Bye Bye, mostly because it is purely Italian, and therefore more adapted to CIAO CIAO.

SHE made the translation. This was significant because it was the first time I noted that she connected meaning to words. She says mama all the time, but has not yet decided that it is me. Maybe that will be next.

Sugar Photo Album update!

For more pictures of 8-month old Sugar, try here!

Eva's Passport is here

In the race between the Italian passport people and the American Consulate in Rome, in a surprising twist, Italia won! The Consulate said it would be 3 weeks but it's turning out to be six. The Italians said 3 weeks, and this morning, exactly three weeks after the request, I have her passport.

Now we can FINALLY look for tickets to the States in August. Send us good vibes for a decent price and not too much travel time.

The Food Thing

So I've figured out something about Miss Eva the Diva. She will eat anything, just so long as you let HER FEED HERSELF. Tonight we went out for pizza with some friends. I knew I could give her the crust of my pizza with some tomato sauce (the doctor, and I have a good one now, said so), and she could eat that mushy orange junk from a jar (no time to cook today, and they make those jars for a reason!) but I decided to order a plate of grilled veggies for her. It turned out to be a huge plate, by the way. There was zucchini, egg plant, yellow peppers, and red peppers, and (surprisingly) a dollop of mayonaise in the center.

Well, I waited for the veggies to cool a minute and gave her a big slice of zucchini. She gnawed on it and ate it all, skin included. Then a piece of egg plant, then more zucchini. She wasn't too interested in the red or yellow pepper, no big deal, Sweetie ate those. But the thing is, if she can get her paws around it, she puts it in her mouth and likes it. It's as if all that work of picking it up, or grasping it when I give it to her just makes it all worth it.

The only veggies (besides the peppers, and I didn't insist) she didn't eat were the ones I cut up into little pieces that I could put on a spoon and feed her.

A little independent lady, this Miss Eva is!! BTW I give her big chunks of food all the time. I read that after 6 months they are supposed to eat chunks, not everything all mashed up and pureed. And thank god. Because I am not the mash up and purée type. She bites off (she has not teeth, but today I felt two little bottom bumps) from the peach directly, eats a half of an apricot at a time, and eats half bananas at a time too.

If I have something mushy to spoonfeed her, I have to give her the spoon and let her pull the food off with her fingers and try it, then she will accept it from a spoon.

Trying out new foods every day with her is lots more fun than I had expected...