The Wonder that is Everleigh

Everleigh entered the world in an unusual fashion. I had two days of promodral labor where I was certain she was coming, but she wasn't. After two days, I went in to the birthing center, certain this was it. And my midwife repositioned her, and sent me home with two Tylenol P.M. and a pool donut to sleep in so she would stay in the right position. Labor continued through early the next afternoon but I finally slept. Around 2 or 3pm the next afternoon, labor stopped. I had a nice long heavy sleep, woke up feeling good, and went down to start making dinner. A few minutes before 6pm, the mother of all labor pains hit. I KNEW there was no turning back. But they stayed a nice 8 or 9 minutes apart as they moved lower and lower. Mike, having excellent training, reminded me that we didn't need to worry until they were 5 minutes apart. About 9pm, I told him that we did need to worry, because I could tell where she was and she was low. At 9:45pm we arrived at the birthing center. The midwife told me I was almost done. My mom, Mike, and I laughed. HA! I knew labor was long and it was fast and furious at the end. I was in a hot tub nearly two hours later when I told her I did really need to push, even though I knew it wasn't time. She responded with, "You were fully dilated when you arrived. You go for it!" And about 10 minutes, Ev shot into the world like a cannonball. (Her sister named a doll "Cannonball" in her honor.)

Lately, I've noticed that this seems to be Ev's pattern.

• She was absolutely devoted to her pacifier and I feared she would never give it up, even lamenting it was going to take forever to get rid of it two days before she threw it in the garbage and never looked back. 
• She was napping nearly two hours most days right up until her 3rd birthday, when she quit napping cold turkey and no amount of cajoling or having her sit on her bed for more than an hour has convinced her to ever resume.
• She started occasionally choosing to wear underwear sometimes last year. But she was always very forthright about not wanting to be potty-trained and asking to wear diapers most of the time. I was patient. Two months ago, she was done with diapers. We had two diapers left and I showed her and asked her if she wanted to wear panties and give up diapers completely. She said, "yes." (I still have those two diapers.) She did not look back, becoming the first of my children to be night-trained the same day she was day-trained. She is also fiercely independent. We have to catch her going in order to help her. This sometimes makes for a mess when we miss that she has gone on her own. I will sometimes hear the toilet flush and run in to find her on a stool washing her hands. She tells us she doesn't need help with anything and I frequently have to hold her up so she can see her back end in a mirror (with evidence that she needs a little assist) before she will accept help.

This girl is an original!

I wonder sometimes what I should brace myself for. I've identified her as most likely to elope with a perfect stranger and I have no doubt that her independence will carry her far from me someday. I may not love that idea, but I do love this girl.