Eva in November

We have had a very busy November here in the Kershaw family. In fact, I just asked Travis what we've done since Halloween, and frankly it feels like Halloween was just a weekend ago. Her love for Disney princesses has done nothing but grown this month. Last month she was stuck on Cinderella and that darn cat Lucifer, and this month she turned to Beauty and the Beast. I never understand why she chooses that one because she gets scared when Maurice gets lost in the woods, when Belle gets locked in the dungeon, and when Belle gets attacked by the wolves. Regardless, she loves it. Her favorite scene, just like in Cinderella, is when Belle and Beast are dancing. She is truly a girlie girl.
She is also growing up in sneaky, subtle ways. She is getting better and better at eating with a spoon, though I'm told she still doesn't eat very well on her own at Judy's house. She's getting more and more expressive when she's jabbering to us, and she likes to say "hi" and wave to her toys  before she plays with them. She doesn't say a lot of phrases yet, but she does use her words more and more. Her terrible two tantrums have gotten better and better ever since the epic tantrum of Disney love.
I suppose I need to include that story. Despite Eva's deep affection for Disney, we try to limit the amount of TV she watches every day. If she had it her way, she would marathon throughout all her favorites all afternoon long. When I talked to her pediatrician about her love for TV in October, he gave his opinion about why he thinks it's a good idea to keep TV to a 1-1 1/2 hour limit a day, adding,"I don't know a lot of 18 month olds that will sit still through an hour and a half of television without leaving the room or playing with toys anyway." My response? Our child can without a struggle. She gets immersed into the movies she watches and barely moves to drink from her sippy cup.
Fast forward a few weeks. We finished her movie for the night and she lumbered into the kitchen and reached for the top of the fridge (where we've been forced to keep the movies because she knows how to put them in and start them) and we gave her the bad news: we're all done watching movies for today. She starts begging. We don't back down. Thus began a 55 minute crying frenzy, complete with spinning herself in circles on the kitchen floor, her hands ever-vigilant in the sign language "please" position begging, "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeease" for the movies she so desires. Had it not been for Travis talking me down from the crazy ledge around minute 25, I probably would have backed down. But finally, she exhausted herself. The screaming silenced as she crawled into my lap, wrapped her tear soaked hands around my neck, and passed out. Although she still occasionally stomps her feet and cries when we tell her we're done with movies for the day, she always gets over it in a minute or so after that night. Score one for our parenting. Or, to be specific, Travis's parenting.

She's still not the most social toddler in the world. She doesn't understand that she can't order other toddlers around and gets very angry when they are in her way or playing with the toy she had her eye on (or didn't have her eye on, until now...). She is playing with the other kids more and more at Judy's house though, so I think we are making small steps in the right direction.

She is getting very good at coloring, quickly finding the right hole for her shapes, and building towers with legos and her nesting boxes with Daddy. She still loves to dance to commercials, the end credits of Tangled, and the alphabet song. One of her favorite things to do is to stand on the counter and gaze with a drool-covered grin at her snacks, trying to pick just the right one. She's getting smarter and smarter every day, and it's so fun to step back and watch it all happen.