toddler moments

• The way she calls oatmeal "opa-meal" and snuggles "huggles" 
• Looking at a magazine together, she sees an ad for a mop. "Broom!" she says. "That looks a little like a broom, but it's a mop," I say. "Mop," she says. "Mop mop mop mop mop."  She won't let me turn the page, just keeps looking at the photo and saying "mop mop mop" with big ephasis on the p- "ma-puh!" Total joy in the discovery of a new word.
• When I'm one place but she'd like me to be in another: "C'mere! Come on! Mommy c'mere!" and then little hands around my leg, pulling me to the place where she wants me. This should be annoying, but I love it.
• She falls asleep singing and wakes up singing. This is not an exaggeration. The soundtrack to our lives these days is her little voice singing Old McDonald, The Wheels on the Bus, Itsy Bitsy Spider, Twinkle Twinkle, Over the Rainbow, the Hello Song, Goin' to Boston and whatever song they sang at school that day. Sometimes she makes up songs entirely, or plugs in her own lyrics to the tune of one or her favorite songs."Time to take a naaaaaap!" is a classic.
• If you ask her the name of anything- a doll, stuffed animal - she will reply "Happy!" There is something so pure and sweet about this. All of her babies are named Happy.  I'll be sad the day her answer changes. 
• I was sick on Monday and in an effort to protect her from my germs, I didn't see my sweet kiddo at all (big thanks to Patrick for taking care of both his girls). The toughest moment was around dinnertime when I heard her downstairs begging to "huggle Mama". The next day, after I picked her up from daycare, she held my face in both of her pudgy hands and said "Mama feel better? Mama happy now." And gave me a big smooch. 
• The delighted way she greets us with "Good morning, Daddy! Good morning, Mommy!" no matter what time of day it is. Another greeting: "Here's Daddy!" as if we misplaced him somewhere around the house.
• Words that start with L in English start with Y in toddler-ese:  Lap = yap, llama = yamma, love = yuv, light = yight. 
• Her lyrics to Rockabye Baby: “When the bow breaks, the craisin will rock”
• Typical Evy dialogue (monologue, really) "Mama hurt. Mama go boom. Mama hurt knee. Need ice. Evy get ice. I sowwy, Mama. Mama feel better now."  This is entirely made up- in most cases, no one has gone boom. The big moment is always applying "ice" to whatever injury needs tending.
• I opened the front door to check the mail the other day, and it hadn't come yet. "Hm, no mail yet," I said. She looked around, spotted our towering pile of mail and said, "Here's the mail! Not outside, inside! Here's the mail, Mama!"  Silly silly me for looking outside when we have so much mail inside!
•  The way she talks to the cat. "Hi Ca-vin. How are you?"
• Her newest phrase: "Hi guys!" said, of course, with unbridled enthusiasm.