Hurricane Eva...

Okay so I'm starting to sound like a broken record - headlines read... "EVA attacks again". You would think I was referring to an October hurricane hitting the Texas coast or something... but no, just my little 20 lb. ball of fire. I wish she would start talking some, I truly think a large percentage of her bad behavior is b/c she doesn't have the verbal skills to express herself correctly. Not that expressing herself correctly would always change the situation but I think it would help - that's also the feedback I'm getting from other mom's here at work. It's strange really b/c when I think back about Grace she said "no" all the time, in fact I often hear that is the first word some children say - Eva's never said "no". It might be better if she just shouted, "no-no-no-no!" all the time rather than acting out.

So here is the latest in the Eva saga... we drove to JoAnn Fabric to look for some fabric to make curtains for the girls playhouse. While we were there Grace wanted to push the cart... so of course Eva wanted to push the cart to - using the handles like Grace did. Not easy when you're like 2' tall! So I would have to hold her in the air, while trying to make sure the cart went straight - just wasn't working out. So I set Eva on the floor to let her push the cart while walking, but she didn't like that either b/c Grace stood behind her pushing as did I. So we tried to shop w/ both girls cranky about who go to push.

Grace decided she wanted to sit in the front of the cart (yeah! one child making things easy or so I thought). Eva then decided to go after anything at eye level, not being able to push and carry her I put her in the larger part of the cart - just trying to make our way to the register... apparently Eva didn't want to be there. So instead of saying "no" she starts slapping at Grace's back - the only part of her visible to Eva in the larger part of the cart. Then Grace screeches, and starts crying real tears... saying, "Eva scratched me!" Grace often exaggerates how much something hurts - which is why I was AMAZED she got her ears pierced so easily (Daddy says she's just like me - determined when she wants to be)... the tears subsided so I just worked on making our way out of the store.

When I was putting Grace in the car I saw her back - and felt awful. Eva had scratched her hard enough to bring blood to the surface - like a cat scratch (not bleeding, but broke the skin) so of course it hurt! My baby:-( I got out my first aid kit to put medicine and band-aids (aka: ban-ban's) on her wounds... when Grace said, "I shouldn't have a sister" - I thought she said I should so I said, "honey you have one". Grace said, "I shouldn't have one, she just hurts me." I felt terrible - I let Eva hurt Grace, and I feel like there is something I should be doing for Eva to correct this. I'm at such a loss....

Luckily Grace moved on, and made buddies with Eva again - but who knows how quickly the weather will change and Hurricane Eva eye will make landfall.