Christmas Tree

We put the Christmas tree up last weekend. I knew how that was going to go so there are no breakable ornaments on the lower branches.

Right. I underestimated what "breakable" meant. After a little help in the beginning, I did most of the decorating myself while Evan was napping. He broke two glittery snowflakes within 15 minutes of being awake. The tree is now surrounded by baby gates. Classy.

This ornament had a picture of him from last Christmas inside it.
He was slightly amused. 

They don't taste good. (These are the ones he broke.)

Mama's Little Helper

Tree in Jail

Thanksgiving

We visited West Virginia for Thanksgiving. Evan did great on the drive both ways. We've figured out that the trick is to travel during nap or bedtime. I worried because this was his first roadtrip in his forward facing convertible car seat. It's far less reclining than his bucket seat so I was worried about how he'd sleep. He slept pretty well except I kept looking back and cringing at the stiff neck he must be getting. David assured me that stiff neck was an old person thing. I'm not so sure I believe him.

We got to WV around 5 on Wednesday, Thanksgiving Eve. We spent some time with Grandma Janet and Grandpa Mike before heading to dinner at our favorite hole-in-the-wall with Rayan. Rayan, my bff from high school, had never met Evan. We had a fun dinner getting caught up. Evan was super cute but refused to eat anything but french fries for dinner. A healthy start to a healthy trip. Not.

Evan and Cosby reuniting

Thursday was a busy day of visits. We started the day at Grandma and Grandpa Jackson's. Evan got to play with his cousins, Mckenna and Landon. Well, not so much Mckenna. She's a jealous little girl and didn't want much to do with Evan. He had a blast with Landon though. Landon is a great cousin. He mad Evan laugh and laugh and laugh. I got very few pictures this trip (too busy chasing crazy man around) but was glad I got a couple of these cousins-- the only two boy cousins.

I'm usually very happy to be in Ohio but it's times like these (and when we get to see Michaela!) that I wish we were closer to family. I would love Evan to have cousins around to play with all the time.

Our next visit was to David's family. There were a lot of strangers (to Evan) there. I was shocked how he warmed up to everyone. It was only minutes before he was running all over the house. The funniest part was when Evan went up to Ed (not Grandpa Ed, cousin? Ed) and stood in front of him staring while he was eating. And then he signed "please." Ed gave him a bite of brownie and Evan proceeded to attempt to climb onto him-- a complete stranger. Apparently he's over his Stranger Danger issues.

Our last stop of the day was my Aunt Karen's. There were a lot of strangers there too (even strangers to me.) Evan wasn't fazed. He played with the strangers, ran all over the house and practiced his step climbing which resulted in lots of help from everyone.

He was mostly super cute everywhere we went. He's so good in public and around new people. Grandma Janet and Grandma (Mamaw?) Barbi both got to see the other side of Evan though. He's not all rainbows and sunshine.

As I said, I got very few pictures. In fact, the two above are pretty much it. I love this video though. My intention was to capture a glorious reunion between Evan and Cosby after Cos returned from his walk with Mike. Cosby was far less enthused than Evan. I love the end though-- just Evan and Papaw, strolling and shootin' the shit. <3 Too bad Papaw wasn't wearing his T-Rex Racing pants too. Hehe.

Just Some Stuff

A few little stories...

Lots of mommies are very... cheesy(?)... overly sentimental (?)... I'm not sure what the right word is, but I'm not it. I always read on blogs or Facebook posts or hear in person things like, "Your messy house can wait; spend time with your kids now." "They grow up so fast; treasure every moment." Blah, blah, blah. Well the other day, Evan was playing in his room while I was folding and hanging his laundry. And by "playing", I mean opening his drawers and slamming them with all his might with his fingers just millimeters away from being broken off. In an effort to save his precious little fingers, I grabbed a bottle of bubbles I saw in the closet and blew a few to distract him. And then I put them away. And then he whined and whined and whined. It occurred to me that this was precisely the moment the mommies were talking about. I was supposed to forget about those unmatched socks and blow some bubbles with my kid. So, I did. And, those socks sat there for nearly a week. And no one died because of it. So now... maybe I'm cheesy mommy too? No, probably not because I didn't post on Facebook about it.

.................

I cannot even express how psyched I am that Evan has begun to understand and follow directions. So far, we have:

"Put ____ away." (Your books, blocks, pajamas...)
"Leave it here." (Pacifier in his bed, which is the only place he's allowed to have it.)
"Close it." (Drawers, doors, cabinets...)
"Give this to Dad or Laika."
"Get me your ____." (Shoes is the one he knows best.)
"Can I have that?" (This works surprisingly well for things that aren't his... like when he gets hold of the remote or my cell phone.) 

.................

He's starting to understand hugs and kisses. If you ask him for a hug, you better watch out. Apparently that means run full force at me and crash into me. It's fun and sweet if you know it's coming but maybe not so much if you don't. And a kiss? Wide open mouth directly at your mouth. *Ahem*... I'm a little curious who taught him to kiss that way!

.................

He loves music. We have a sing-along DVD that he listens to every night. If he's throwing a fit, I sing a little song and he mellows out. If he's in the car or in a store and he hears a good tune, he bops his head... or should I say a good ditty... 'bout Jack and Diane. Yeah, he was bopping like crazy to some John Cougar Mellencamp the other day in the craft store. I was laughing so hard people were looking at me like I was crazy-town. Of course, as soon as I got my phone out to get a video, he stopped.
.................

Maybe the most random of all-- he dips! It's such a strange thing for us to be so excited about but it's so cool. For some reason it makes me see him as a real person...because real people dip. I'm referring to his food. We put a little BBQ sauce on his plate with his chicken nuggets (David's homemade chicken nuggets-- he's such a Martha Stewart) to see if he'd dip it himself. Oh, yeah. He was all over the dipping. First his nuggets, then his sweet potato fries, then his fingers. The kid loves to dip!

Oh, these two...

.................

I found a fantastic idea online... Scan or take pictures of kids' art or other projects and make a photo book out of them yearly or as necessary. That's so much better than my mom's box upon box upon box method that she had when we were growing up. So, here are the first items for the book...

The end.

Or, as Evan says at the end of a story, bye bye!

Crazy Hair, Singing, Reading and a Blankie

This week was spirit week at daycare. (I'm really not sure why??) Tuesday was crazy hair day-- my favorite day. 

We've finally broken out some of the Baby Genius DVDs that Evan got last Christmas. Up until very recently, he had absolutely zero interest in the TV-- even things we wanted him to watch. One of the DVDs is a visit to the San Diego zoo. It's just a bunch of video of different animals. He's pretty interested in it. But what he really loves is the Favorite Sing-Along Songs DVD. He makes all the animal noises with Old McDonald's Farm, he does the dance for Itsy Bitsy Spider and he pretends to eat Apples and Bananas. It's all quite adorable. I have some videos that I'll post later, but for now here he is getting into some sing-along. 

This is still his favorite thing though...

And sometimes I call him Linus (ironic that he's wearing a Snoopy shirt.) A blurry, but funny set: 

Laika was sitting on it

It's not even his blanket. It's just a throw that I keep in the living room for my cold feet. He loves pulling it around though. 

Outside Time

With the cool and rainy weather, it's been hard for us to get outside. But, that's how I keep Evan from going completely nuts-o in the evening. It's been a challenge, that's for sure. When it's cool but not rainy though, we just bundle up and go out. I'm not a fan of being outside when it's cold. I'm less of a fan of fighting with whiny baby all evening long. So, we bundle and go. 

So excited to do some exploring

He stood at the fence for a long time, shaking it and yelling for Laika (?). 

Oh, how I love this handsome boy! 

Trick or Treat!

Evan celebrated his second Halloween this week. It was cold and gross outside so we didn't do neighborhood trick or treat. Plus, our neighborhood sucks (full of old people and no kids) so we'd have to go elsewhere. Plus, trick or treat is 6pm - 8pm and Evan goes to bed at 7pm. Plus, he doesn't get the concept. Plus, he's not allowed to eat the candy. So, yeah. No neighborhood trick or treating. 

We did have office trick or treating though. Always a good time. Here are some crappy cell phone pictures to document the good times. 

My cubical neighbor admired my boy while
eating his rice cake and turkey sandwich.

Tracy taught E how to take candy...

and put it in his sack. 

Tracy is such a good friend. She loves Evan like he's her own kid. Well, maybe her own grandkid because she spoils him rotten. She was our first stop and Evan's sack was overflowing because she kept giving him more and more and more. That's definitely a grandma move.

 

Kim and Bob introduced E to some WPAFB
Educational Outreach Office aliens.

Mid-hallway break to check out his loot.

We tried to get a couple good shots when we got home. We weren't terribly successful. 

Quick trip outside... but the astronaut quickly turned into an elephant.

I got his costume on my trip to NYC. Since the Intrepid Museum got the space shuttle, they had tons of NASA stuff in their gift shop. It was cheap and Halloween was done in August. Score. 

Halloween was fun. He wasn't as into it as I would've liked...and David never is... but there's always next year.