the ball dropped
I knew I had not posted several months of Elvie’s mostly updates, but I have to admit I was shocked to see these updates haven’t happened in six months. Six months! To say this pregnancy has been rough would be an understatement. Sorry, Cakey-Girl, for leaving these undone for so long.
Here is a quick recap:
Elvie Kay entered into her second year still completely toothless. Around 14 months two little teeth popped through her bottom gums. About three months later, she got two on the top, but lopsided; they’re the two top teeth on the right side of her mouth. Not sure why that happened, but I imagine it has something to do with thumb-sucking as a similar thing happened to Anselm.
She started walking at around 15 months. This makes her the second fastest walker; Ephraim was the earliest, at 14 months. Both Clive and Anselm were 19, almost 20 months.
At seventeen months her verbal abilities seemed to really blossom; she became much more communicative, easy to understand, and started putting small sentences together.
Her hair is suddenly quite long, but like Elizabeth Bennet’s love for Mr. Darcy, it “has been coming on so gradually, that I hardly know when it began.” Nevertheless, she has enough to make her bow headbands a hassle, and I’ve started just putting hair clips in her hair instead. Of course after I type this I realize that she is still wearing a headband in these photos. Just take my word for it.
eighteen months
Elvie Kay turned eighteen months on the 3rd of September. At the time we were still traveling in Florida. I did not take any pictures the whole time we were there. This is probably a good thing since a botched sunscreen job while we were there made it took like someone had punched her in the eye, poor thing. In reality no one would be able to punch her, I think, though she has certainly landed a couple on her own.
She’s a chatty thing and won’t hesitate one moment to let you know what she’s wanting. After months and months of asking her to say “Mama” (to which she would always respond with “Daddy!”) I now have achieved my desire; achieved it to slightly regret it, since it’s always “MOMMYYYYY” to whom she directs her demands. She has an incredibly sweet, light little voice when she’s just talking, but those Mommy‘s are always uttered at Level Ten. Then once she has my attention, she poses her request in the same sweet half-whisper which is somewhat oddly juxtaposed to the glare she’ll give if you tell her no. She gives an excellent stink-eye.
She is no milquetoast; her brothers harass her and she harasses right back. She is particularly good at goading Anselm, which is appropriate as he is rather fond of goading her also. Since they share a row in the van, there is quite a bit of back-and-forth that goes on between them anytime we are driving. Most of the exchanges are good-natured. Some are not. All are loud. I warn him frequently that he may want to back off just a little–she is only five or six pounds under his weight and is well on her way to being able to whoop him.
She loves tiny things and is particularly adept at finding tiny things on the floor. Fortunately she also loves bringing said tiny things to me (“MOMMYYY!”) which is a clear improvement over her now-abandoned practice of putting said tiny things into her mouth instead. She is still a food scavenger, though, and tiny things on the floor that are actually forgotten pieces of food are really a favorite of hers, despite my best efforts to discourage such depredations.
She’s a determined walker, and she swings her arms and her backside when she walks, and the more determined she is in her direction the more her arms swing, and if she has something in her arms then her backside swings more instead. She has a funny dance she does with her shoulders and she sings when she does it. Sometimes she just dances, looking at me expectantly to do the same, like in the mornings when Daddy is reading the Bible or when she’s supposed to be eating her dinner but is actually just tossing tiny pieces overboard so she can crawl under the table and scavenge them later.
She’s enjoyed learning to say everyone’s names, and will call everyone by their name except for Ephraim. When I ask her to say “Ephraim”, she only smiles mischievously and stays silent. I think she is not quite confident in her ability to say it yet and attempts to distract from this fact by flaunting her charms. I am aware I am making her sound quite artful through all these descriptions, but if you have had the pleasure of her company for more than a few moments (and it is a pleasure–she’s hilarious) you get a real feel for her wily little personality.
Her eyes, I think, have finally settled into a dark green. They’re still blue-grey on the outside and golden in the middle. I realized the other day that I really didn’t think any of the pink clothes she has complement her eyes very well. This may seem a silly thing to note, but as the sole girl in the midst of (soon to be) four boys–and with a mama who has pink hair–well, it was a bit of a wistful moment on my part. What can I say–I like pink. But we’ll steer clear of it for her, I suppose. Oh well, Cakies, it was nice while it lasted, anyway.
She loves babies, and gets very excited when she sees one. She loves to rock her dollies, and I caught her the other day walking around with a Power Rangers action figure against her shoulder, patting his back and singing Baby Mine to him. I ask her what she’s going to do when she’s got her “own” baby at home. I’m willing to bet her first impulse won’t be to poke his eyes!
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