Ta Da!

Eve will stop whatever she's doing to smile and clap whenever you say "ta da!" AND... she took her first unassisted steps yesterday! She's been toodling around furniture and standing unassisted for a few weeks, and days, respectively, and yesterday I was folding laundry (speaking of which, mine eyes have seen the glory, and it's the bottom of a laundry basket! Hallelujah, I think I'm caught up!) while sitting on the loveseat in the living room, and she was playing between the laundry basket and the coffee table. Somewhere in there she decided to turn from the table to me - and instead of dropping to her bottom like usual, she took 2 definite, wobbly, hurried steps to my leg! Frickin' amazing.

I swear she's trying to say "Baxter." And "Brewster." And Pat thinks she told him "thank you." She is mimicking anything and everything, including matching and out-screaming me and her sister. I've never heard a kid with such a set of pipes.

Watch your toilet paper if Eve comes to visit. She's very adept at spinning oodles off the roll into a lovely pile on the floor. Picture it:

Saturday afternoon. I'm in the kitchen. Josie is in the living room. I haven't heard Eve for a few moments, and ask Josie what Evie's doing. Josie looks around. Spots Eve in the bathroom, unrolling toilet paper. "OH NO, Mommy - look what Eve did. NO NO, Evie!" Eve hightails it from the bathroom, hoping that if she's not caught at the scene of the crime that it can't be pinned on her. She's quite sneaky that way. BUT she forgot that she has WADS of toilet paper in her mouth. Slightly incriminating. Pat intervenes. Attempts to dislodge wet, gooey paper from Eve's chompers. Josie decides to become a rhino and begins to ram her head into Pat and Eve. Why? Who knows. Pat removes toilet paper from Eve's mouth, but there's still more. "How much toilet paper is in your mouth??!!" he exclaims, all the while getting rammed by Josie's head. Meanwhile, I'm just leaning against the sink in the kitchen, taking it all in. :) Ahh. Good times.

Josie and Pat went outside to play for a while after dinner Friday night. The nice neighbors were outside, so they went to say "hi." Apparently, Josie was sitting on the steps at the side of their house when she says to Darlene, "Look! My lion... ROAR!" while lifting up her dress and pointing to the lion on her diaper.

Anyone have any advice for getting toddler back on board for potty-training? She was doing so well, and now, not so much. No interest anymore. Do we up the anty in the bribe department? It's just very frustrating when you know that she CAN do it, but just doesn't want to.