Videos and Update

This is a funny, short video of Evan falling off a swing.

 This is Evan jumping around when he is crazy at night.

Evan watching the opening credits to Super Grover. He is obsessed with Grover on Sesame Street. He calls the whole show "Elmos" but he isn't his favorite. He likes all the puppets and tells me "no abby" when Abby comes on. That part is an animated cartoon and he hates it. He makes me fast forward it or grabs the remote himself and tries.


Evan Update: He is doing so well with his gross and fine motor skills. We still need to work on bringing things towards the midline and stabilization but he has come a long way. Right now we work on jumping, kicking a ball and stepping up without holding on to something. He also needs help with using fingers to eat instead of the pads of his hands. The solution to this was to make him hold a spoon or fork in both hands.He still will abandon the utensils to shove food in his mouth with the back or palm of his hands. He is a strong eater and likes to eat fast. He'll try anything too.

He is talking really well and using two word sentences. He can count to 8 or 10 depending on the day and loves to show it off. He recognizes the letters; O, W, B, P, I, E, A, and N. Everyday it seems he picks up a new letter. He has always loved books and reading though. At one years old he pretended to read all the time with his finger on the individual letters. I was surprised when he started to tell me the letters he was seeing. He knows his colors; blue, red, green, orange, pink, yellow and sometimes white or purple. I have always reinforced colors at the end of the sentence, like "That car is red," etc. and he picked up colors easy. He tells me when things are heavy, light, or soft. He asks "why" when we tell him to do something. He also has started to follow 2 step directions as long as they are simple. We can't believe how smart he has gotten. I'm always shocked by how much he picks up and what he copies. One day I was making mash potatoes and he wanted to help. I let him stand on the chair and mash while I put milk and butter in. He mashed really well and then said, "hmm..." reached into the drawer to grab a fork, scooped out a bite and taste tested it. He then told me "peppa" and proceeded to put it in. He has been so funny everyday and we can't wait until Christmas when he sees what Santa has brought me.

First Snow

We had a lot of snow the past few days and it has been so cold. Evan is really loving going outside but the first time he saw my car covered he was terrified. He says, "no, no, no!!!" and then he refuses to touch it. We had to try going outside the next day once the snow melted away on the sidewalk. Here are a few videos I have of him trying outside. The first one Evan is saying "mia, mia" and scrunches his eyes up because I've been saying "smile" and he started to copy. The second video is Evan taking his first step in the snow.

 Parent fail moment!

 Don't look to close at my nose, as Evan would say, "nasty!" I have so many pictures of Evan and food because his life revolves around eating time. He eats blueberries at least once a day and I just put them on his tray frozen. He is obsessed with them.

Loving Kitties

Evan loves kitties. Too bad it is just one sided most of the time. Here is a play by play of him finding kitties. We literally just pulled up to the house.

 I'm going to get a kitty.

 They don't know I squeeze extra tight yet.

 Got one!

 I'm not letting this one go.

 This kitty is getting really slippery.

 Grandma better teach me how to hold it better.

Come on out kitty, I promise to be nice and feed ya!

I have a few videos of Evan with the kitties. I would like to think that how he picked them up in the video wasn't typical but for the next few days he kept torturing and laughing at those kitties. Finally one scratched him and he was a lot nicer. It was one of those lessons he had to learn the hard way.

I'm always having a good time!

 I'm a big boy on my new ride.

 Uh oh! How do I do this?

 It's steady now, thank goodness.

 Spoke too soon!

 Let's paint the cement with water!

 How about I just sit with this mop at the family reunion on this toddler swing?

 Mommy, I soak my toast with juice.

Squishy and good like I love.

How about you show all these nice people how I love my toast and Grandma's jam with extra juice on it. 

Evan's First Kiddy Pool

Last summer Evan hated water. He hated the splash park, he hated touching water, and he hated his bath. He has come along way to liking water and as long as we don't push him, he will try on his own. We are working on putting head on the water or near the water so that someday I can rinse and wash his head without using a rag. Especially on days that he rubs a hotdog in his hair. He smelled awful forever with that! This video you can hear Evan say "Good Job" after he puts his head near the water. This is something I say to him all the time for trying and it is funny that he is starting to say it for things like throwing diapers away and cleaning floor with a rag. He has been cracking us up.

 Holding his breath because he sat down and he didn't like it.

 This is how he played most of the time. Standing in it or playing in it from the outside.

 He got a chocolate cookie when he was done.

Evan's Breakfast

Except for weekends when Daddy cooks breakfast Evan eats the same thing. He has oatmeal with almond butter, cinnamon, and almond milk. He loves it. When he first started eating it he would say, "um, um" every few seconds. He now expects it and says "um, um" when he sees me put his bowl in the microwave to heat up the oatmeal and melt the almond butter. He helps me stir it when it is done and blows on it to cool it off. I use to have him sit at the table for breakfast but he is so messy I put his chair in the middle of the kitchen with his tray and dump his oatmeal on it. He just throws the bowl if I give it to him. Now that he is trying to feed himself I get more done like dishes and stuff while he is strapped in. Here is a video of Evan in the morning.

Summer fun!

Evan has been traveling. He spent a few days with Grandma and Grandpa P. and then we headed to my sister's house. Here are what he does all day long.

 He was watching Daddy shear the sheep.

 He really liked the hose after a little bit of warming up to it. He spent most of the time just staring at it.

 This was one of his favorite things. He didn't like the puppy too much when it was awake but when it was sleeping he loved it.

 All boys like to dig.

This is at my sisters when he only ate the spaghetti sauce. My brother in law served a mission in Italy and he makes the best sauce. It is the best canned sauce I have ever eaten. Evan was eaten it straight out of the jar cold.

 This was his first ride that he took by himself. He kept leaning back on my arm and it was really hard to get him to sit straight. He didn't seem too impressed with it and I'm sure he likes riding with daddy better.

Here is a short video with him and the spaghetti sauce.

Videos of Evan

These will be really boring if you aren't close family or friends. I love to watch Evan with Alex when we go to the horses or cows. Here are some videos of Evan being really excited about going. He also says "neigh" for cows and horses and call all animals "kitty."

Here are some random pictures from that day or earlier. This one is how Evan watches Elmo and eats his apple.

 Here he is with Bear the dog. He loves dogs and kitties and just wishes they loved him as much as he loves them. Most of them run and I have yet to get a picture of Richard and Evan together.

This is Evan's new thing. Temper tantrums. He was pretty upset I wouldn't let him go under the trailer and play. He has started to go limp when he is mad and to throw himself on the floor. It has been really entertaining.

Here is is with Bear again.

These last 2 are funny. Evan sat in his toy container and then he was stuck. The last one he is mad because I wouldn't give him the camera, not because he couldn't get out. 

Climbing, Bloody Nose, and First Haircut

 Evan has been climbing everything he can get his fat legs on. Of course he always thinks he can climb much higher than he really can and will even try to use his head for more leverage. This is his favorite spot to climb because I put his chair up against the wall so it doesn't swing back for him. From there he tries to get on the couch. As you can still see, his spoon goes with him everywhere.

 This is a sad picture but he only cried for a little bit. Evan's big head always gets in the way of him having fun. He was trying to shut the TV cabinet and thought he could let go of the wall and walk. He isn't too steady yet so he went face first into the wall. Of course the bang was followed by complete silence as he couldn't breath because he was crying so hard. When I picked him up his nose hadn't started to bleed yet. I had his blankie and was holding him while he was hugging it and noticed blood on it. He let me hold his blankie up to it to stop the bleeding and then I took a picture of him smiling like nothing had gone wrong. Poor baby.

 Alex has been bugging me to get Evan's haircut. I wanted to wait until first birthday and I just love baby soft hair and didn't want it to go away. He had been looking really shaggy for awhile so I relented and let Alex cut it. Evan had no problems with the clippers as long as he got to hold the comb. He looks like such a big boy now that I'm really sad about it. I can't believe he is turning one in a few weeks. He still only has 2 bottom teeth.

Here is a short video of Evan walking with his walker. We go back and forth all day long. It is a little wiggly because I'm not too steady with the camera.