Oh the joys of having a one year old who NEVER stops moving!! Thank goodness for Tylenol for aching muscles and University for preparing me to cope with less sleep. Evie is a moving machine now and boy is she fast. She's also a bit heavier now, so the constant picking up has made my arms look better than Cameron Diaz at the Oscars. Seriously, I'm super strong. Evie has also started talking. Here is a typical conversation:
Me: Evie, Are you hungry?
Evie: No
Me: Do you want to go out side?
Evie: No
Me: Do you want to stay inside?
Evie: No (runs away)
Me: (chasing after her) Do you want to jump on the couch?
Evie: No (spinning in circles)
Just in case she you think it's that she only understands German at the moment, that conversation goes as follows:
Me: Bis du fertig?
Evie: Nein
Me:Wollst du mehr?
Evie: Nein (throws everything off her tray)
Seriously, you can't win. "No" and "Nein" are the words of the day. It's actually quite funny because I'm not convinced that she actually knows what "no" means each time she says it. Because sometimes she says it in this cute little girl "noooeeooeo". The other thing she has learnt is "hello". But, she has her own unique Evie way of saying it; "Helooooooooooo". She says that all the time, EXCEPT when she's supposed to say hello to someone. None of this is to say that she doesn't speak otherwise, on the contrary, she constantly speaks. It's just not in words that I (or the rest of the English and German speaking world) have come to understand as of yet.
Otherwise things are going well in London. Evie went to her first Valentine's Day party and made Daddy a card. Pancake Day (Shrove Tuesday) rolled around again and Evie got her sweet and savoury crepes (pancakes to you Brits). She is a huge fan of them. I spent the day running around London making sure that the 3500 handmade organic crepes we served in our schools were happily received. It was a ton of fun all around.
My work has been fantastic the last few months. We are making great strides in our quest to bring people around to healthy, freshly prepared school meals and I've been getting a lot of great ideas from my colleagues in the US, who are admittedly having a harder time, but getting things done nonetheless. I have been working on some exciting new things and that's why I've been a little quiet in the last couple of months. I hope you'll keep an eye out for some great new changes after the Easter Break :)
So, what's in a name? I can hardly speak about names without mentioning the giant elephant in the room, my name. Even though Ian and I are married, I chose to keep my last name. It doesn't bother me in the slightest that Evie and I don't have the same last name. I am very well aware that she is my daughter as I carried her for 9 months and 2 days (I will never let her forget those 2 days) and I have the scars from childbirth to prove it (another thing she won't get to live down). As I wear a wedding ring (most of the time) everyone kind of assumes I'm married. If they didn't know, I would tell them. Strangers being unsure if I'm married isn't high on my priority list of things to worry about. I kept my name because I like my name. I have a very common first name and my last name has always been what made me stand out. I've had it for almost 35 years and I'm kind of used to it and everything I've ever done professionally and personally has included that name. So, I wanted to keep it and I did. If someone wants to call me Mrs. Galbraith, I'm not going to stand up and shout about my feminist right. However, the reality is that most people that know me are more likely to call Ian, Mr. Teichman. Something I'm sure, he could care less about. I don't recommend trying this though, unless you're Spencer.
But, that's not really what I had intended to speak about with regards to names. I think when you have a child, everyone wants to know what your children will call each Grandparent/ Great Grandparent/Aunts etc. While you're pregnant, this is the last thing you think about (you have that whole watermelon coming out of a lemon hole thing that consumes you). Some people really fret about this. I can't imagine why. I mean just take may case for example. When I was younger, my Great Grandmother came to live with her daughter, my Grandmother. Most of my family is of German descent and is VERY tall. My Grandfather was over 6 feet tall and my Grandmother used to be over 5'6" which isn't too shabby for a gal. My Great Grandmother however, was minuscule. She was maybe 4'10" with heels on. She was very tiny compared to everyone else around me. So, I started calling her little Grandma and everyone (my parents, aunts and uncles, etc) started calling her that. Now, that would have been fine, she was old and little and very sweet and it was a sweet thing for a baby girl to do. However, that's not where it stopped. If she was to be Little Grandma, then there of course had to be a "BIG" Grandma. So, I started calling my Grandmother "Big Grandma". And then the rest of my family started calling her that too. The poor woman. My Grandmother is so dignified and proper and not in any way physically "Big", but she had to endure being called Big Grandma for years! My Little Grandma died when I was 6 or 7, that's a long time for a woman to be referred to as "big" by her entire family! She often tells this story of one day after my Little Grandma had died, she and I were shopping in the grocery store. I had gotten separated from her and was a bit scared. So, I screamed at the top of my lungs "BIG GRANDMA!!!!!". Just in case you're unsure, I should mention at this point that I am very loud. My lung capacity is gigantic and years of singing, cheer leading and well, just being American have left me with the ability to project my voice to the edges of football fields and over crowds of quiet French people. It was loud and my poor Grandmother had to come shrinking over to find me. Later that evening when we were home, she told me that it was OK if I just wanted to call her Grandma from now on. I'm pretty sure that I still called her Big Grandma, at least intermittently, for at least another 2-3 years. So, I TOTALLY understand why Grandmas are a bit worried about what their Grandchildren will call them.
Evie is very lucky, she has two Grandmas, a Grandpa and two Great Grandmas!! How cool is that? Her English Great Grandma is going by the uber cool "Gigi". Her American Great Grandma, well thankfully she doesn't get called "Big Grandma" anymore, will probably be called "Grandma E" as to be honest I can't come up with anything else yet. But, I'll keep working. So, the Great Grandmas and the Grandpa are taken care of. But, what about the Grandmas? This is the most critical of name choices. It seems that they both really like Grandma. So, they both can be called that. I'm pretty sure we'll be able to keep it straight. But, just in case, my Mother in Law has come up with the BEST way to tell them apart. My Mom is coming to visit on Tuesday and of course, with any impending visit we talk to Evie about who is coming. So, in doing this my Mother in Law came up with "Grandma America". I think this is just awesome. First of all, it sounds like Captain America, awesome. It makes my mom sound like some super hero Grandma, again awesome! And it puts America in there, which always makes me super happy.
So, I think we have successfully come up with some fabulous names. Well, that is until Evie starts speaking properly and then decides to call them whatever she wants. Let's hope for their sake I can steer her away from the likes of "Big Grandma".
