Sassafrass

Evelyn has reached a new level of personality.

I laugh all day long at the weird stuff she does.

That said, our time out chair is getting plenty of use these days. Its hard because I feel like I don't know how to be a mother to a toddler. With babies, you respond to their needs and wants, which for the most part are fairly clear. But I've learned that recently, even with a toddler who can communicate quite well, that I don't always know how to respond when my child bites me, or hits other children, or throws her cereal bowl on the floor in anger. I don't know how to help her when she gets easily frustrated at her inability to open something or figure out a puzzle. She often reaches a boiling point so quickly that I can't come up with a response fast enough to remedy the situation. Its also hard when you know what they want and you can't (or won't) give it to them. Candy at 8 AM, scissors, permanent markers, tube of mascara, etc. 

All of that said, I love being a mom to a toddler.

Its erratic, spontaneous, and sometimes frustrating, but I've never had so much fun. We do weird stuff all day - we take our wands and "Bibbity Bobbity Boo," the whole house, turning things to magic. We play hide and seek with her stuffed animals (its so amazing how we always find them!). We sing songs while launching princesses off the couch. We try on all of mom's shoes and then make kitties try them on too. And we jump and twirl and bounce and run all day. 

Of course all that fun stuff is riddled with some major sassafrass from the Evster, but its still a crazy good time. 

See what I mean?

Also, my house is a perpetual mess (and I don't really care).

She insists on wearing her crown like this.

She will then make me get a headband and do the same thing.

(Crowns and headbands are synonymous)

Aunt Chelsea came down to stay with us for a few days (and for her birthday!). We felt like all the Easter candy, basket finding, and egg hunting was a lot for one day, so we colored eggs a few days later.

Ev loved it and even took a few bites of some hard boiled egg.

"Yo ma, I'm gonna chuck this egg in some dye so it splatters all ova ya favorite rug. Love ya."

Best egg of the night - Chelsea's trendy, yet awesome ombre egg.

Birthday girl.

I just need to give a shout out to Chels for hanging with us on her most holy of days. Sadly, all the cool people were out of town, so she didn't really have a choice, but we really had so much fun with her. She was a good sport to hang with us when she really could have partied somewhere else.

PS Ev can now sing "Happy Birthday to You," and its adorable.

This girl has no fear!

A typical "not like a regular mom, but a cool mom" moment.

(I have a LOT of these)

Best friends!

Every mom (or dad, babysitter, nanny, etc) knows that silence is almost always a bad thing. Whenever it gets really quiet I know that one of two things is happening.

1) Ev is pooping in a corner somewhere

2) Or she's doing something sneaky

She is obsessed with my wallet. She will pull it out of my purse, find a nook and pull EVERYTHING out. (I bet you can't guess what she's getting for her birthday) 

Sadly/Amazingly, Ev knows which card is the Costco card. I let her show it to the person at the door and hand it to the person checking us out. She always holds it up and shouts, "Costco!"

She rules our roost and its completely my fault. 

Its hard to say no to the Queen of Sass, but I'm slowly learning to put my foot down and teach her manners. I sometimes feel bad for Ev because I'm making A LOT of mistakes here. I hope she can survive my parenting and grow up to be a happy well-adjusted girl.

As long as she's not pooping in the corner in twenty years, I'll chalk that up for a win.