guess what?

Evangelina's language abilities have exploded of late, & at times we find ourselves arguing with our 2.5 year old as if she were a 5 or 6 year old girl, complete with her own expressive rebuttals & explanations.

 

One thing that she's said a lot in the last few weeks is "Guess what?..." before she tells us something.  We think she hears us say it a lot (probably mostly to & from Jadon), & our guess is that it means to her, "Hey, listen to this!..."

 

Just about 3 or 4 days ago (I wish I'd written it down immediately as I've forgotten what she said exactly), I heard Evangelina mistakenly use an irregular verb in the past tense according to the regular verb rules.  She was talking about Jadon, & said something like "Jadon already geted it" or "Jadon already gived it."  It really stunned me because it means she's understanding that there are rules in grammar, & she over-applied a regular grammar rule to an irregular verb.  My understanding was that this kind of error was mostly committed by 4 & 5 year olds!  Oh our little precociously expressive girl!

Earlier today (12/24), Evangelina was bending over close to Jadon who was playing with his toys. Afraid she would mess up what he was trying to build, Jadon yelled out, "Stop Evangelina! Don't touch my stuff! Don't touch my stuff!" Indignant, Evangelina hit Jadon's head & clarified, "I hug you!"... & proceeded to hug her brother.

our daughter is going to ace the SAT (tongue-in-cheek)! i let her play a bible quiz game on our tablet, which gives multiple choice questions & smiley faces for correct answers happy faces & sad faces for incorrect ones. it amazes me that even though she can't read the questions, she somehow knows that if she gets a sad face she has to pick other answers until she gets a happy face & goes on to the next question.already a good test taker!

as i was pulling evangelina out of the car next to a pickup truck, she said, 'doggy.' i looked around & into the truck's empty bed & said, 'doggy? there's no doggy.' she then looked at my face, started looking around, & said in a sing-song voice, 'doggie... come here doggie...!'

...man!

One morning this past week while getting out of the car at her school, Evangelina asked me to hold her.  When I did, she said, "Thank you, man Daddy!"

finally not crying when going to school!

This past week was the first time Evangelina didn't cry when going to school (toddler daycare)!  (a bittersweet change)

Daddy! Peethah (Pizza)!

Just now, Evangelina was drawing next to me when she suddenly & persistently pointed at her drawing & said, "Look, Daddy!  Peethah [Pizza]!  Peethah [Pizza]!"  What had she drawn, but a triangle!  She was referring to her experience of triangular pieces of pizza!

our little fish

In the last few days Evanglina has been "swimming" a lot (in pool & ocean), far more than she'd ever done in the past.  She is getting good at it, & has become quite confident in her her abilities to kick, keep her balance, & holding her breath.  How proud we are of her, & thankful for God's kindness even in this.

MY thank you!

Yesterday as we were getting into the car, I carried Evangelina into her seat, after which she very kindly said a sweet "Thank you!"  Jadon, buckling into his own seat next to her, thought it'd be funny to mimic her with a "Thank you!" as well.  Evangelina, who has quickly learned to be vigilant to protect her own possessions & rights, became upset at her brother, & with her curt voice retorted, "NO!  MY thank you!  MY thank you!"

when we play soccer, evangelina's very intuitve about it, &while she's very right footed, she's able to kick with her left foot & even uses both feet to trap the ball. several times i've noted her spontaneously rolling back the ball using the bottom of her foot.

evangelina's taken a liking to walking backwards these days

We're sitting in front of Capital Express eating our chhoa-peng when Evangelina calls out 'Angry Bird! Angry Bird!' while pointing at a sparrow hopping around at our feet.

her first 4-word sentence!

Today Mommy & I heard our 23-month-old girl clearly say her first four-word sentence: "No play piano Mommy" when she wanted JJ to play with her on the carpet instead!

language development

Also, that same day Lina spontaneously (& happily) said, "Nummy!" for the first time while eating vegetable baby food!

Hello, Lina!

Evangelina's language development has really been blossoming lately!  Two Sundays ago while we were out at Kang Kang in Temple City of all places, she said her own name for the first time (beyond saying 'me'!), referring to herself repeatedly as "Lina" with a smile.  I guess with all the possible nicknames for her (my preferred one was "Eva" said with Spanish pronunciation), we're going to have to go with the one she's chosen for herself!