Month 10

Dear Evan,

In the past 30 days, you've changed from our precious, sweet baby boy to Evan the Terrible. Isn't it supposed to be the Terrible Twos? This is apparently the Terrible Tenth Month.

You started your first month by learning to transition from crawling to sitting. It's a super handy skill. Now, you can crawl to the front door and sit yourself up for a few minutes of traffic watching. You can sit up in your bed and project your loud, angry cries into the hallway where they can be heard better by me and your dad.

In the second half of the month, you started standing up on your own. So now, you want to stand on everything. If I'm sitting on the floor with you, you climb on me to get leverage for standing. Furniture, the dog, the edge of the bathtub (that didn't end well), your crib, baby gates, toys, the side of the pool... it's all fair game.

"Oh, hey guys! Look what I can do!" 

"I can totally stand up in here, right?"

"Hold still, Laika. I just need to stand up." 

You've been quite moody this month. On one hand, you've been super smiley and your belly laughs brighten up our days. On the other hand, you have no problem letting us know when you're mad. You arch your back and throw screaming fits. You even bit me out of anger once. 

You've been having some troubles at daycare. First, with pinching faces, pulling hair and biting. Later in the month, you decided to dominate the other babies by crawling on top of them and just laying there. Yep. You use your massiveness to crush the other babies. Lovely.

You're into everything. We started the month using an ottoman, a clothes basket and an end table to block off parts of the living room. It wasn't long before you were easily pushing them out of the way or finding ways around them. You seem to have a magnetic attraction to things that aren't yours.

"I could be playing with my toys,
but I'd rather climb through here." 

"What? Am I supposed to be peacefully rocking in here?
What do you think I am, some sort of baby?!" 

"You think these pillows are baby proofing. Not!
They just help me reach the knobs up here!" 

"Sweet! Laptop cords!" 

Your curiosity drives me crazy but I also love it. Your attention to the world around you makes me think you're really smart. It probably means you'll continue to get yourself into trouble but hopefully it means you'll be super inquisitive like your dad. We promise to do our best to challenge your brain and help you learn and explore new things.

This has been a month of outside activities-- bike riding, swinging and swimming. You haven't been a fan of the bike riding-- mostly because of the helmet. You took a while to warm up to the swinging but you love it now. I love, love, love sitting at your feet and pushing you high while you laugh out loud. You love splashing in the swimming pool and will be starting swim lessons next month.

My favorite development of the month: kissing. Making a kissing sound is a better description, I guess. I think it's the first thing that you'll really echo. I like to send kisses back and forth with you all the way home from daycare.

Mwah! 

It's been a challenging and fun month.

I love you, Evan the Terrible!

Mom

A Haiku for Laika

Beagle. Doberman.

Kind and patient man's best friend.

Baby jungle gym. 

Swimmin'

Evan went for his first swim this weekend. At first, he wasn't so sure about it. 

And then he just wanted to reach out and grab handfuls of grass to eat. 

But he warmed up to it eventually.

We came inside afterward and had some blackberries. It reminded me of a summer day at my grandma's, except Evan didn't have to pick his own berries.

Daycare

As far as we can tell, daycare is like Vegas. What happens at daycare, stays at daycare. We get invited in from time to time to read stories or attend a dance party. When we drop Evan off, it's quiet; babies are arriving;  parents are discussing details with the caregivers. When we pick him up, it's super quiet. Usually, babies are napping or eating or playing quietly.

Evan and his GF play on the farm

Evan and friends return from a 2x2 stroll
(the baby beside him is 5 months older than him and
she's NOT a small baby-- Evan's a monster)

We took those pictures. From time to time, we get pictures in Evan's cubby that give us a glimpse into what really happens at daycare. 

Sometimes Evan gets to play outside. 

But sometimes he has to sit at the window
and just wish he could go out.

One day a really big dog visited. Cole loved the dog.
Evan, apparently, was not as thrilled. 

So they made him do the dog
agility course. 

And there was the one day when they
put Evan in the hallway in a box.

And the day that they made him
audition for the Blue Man Group.

The caregivers sometimes interrupt
Evan and GF in the middle of a make
out session.

Sometimes they put a cape on Evan
and see if he can fly. 

The caregivers sometimes make him
make up rhymes for the other babies.

Sometimes, he's a green haired
cross dresser. 

And when he's bad, they make him
wash the toys. 

Back in the Groove

We haven't really changed our lives that much since having Evan. That's not because we're the type that refuses to change their lives for a kid. It's because we led incredibly boring lives to begin with. Some things have fallen by the wayside though. And lately, I can feel it all getting back to normal. And it makes me happy.

My garden last year was total suckage. I had good intentions, but in April, I could not predict how much I would not want to be weeding and fighting the heat when I was 17 months pregnant in July. And how could I have known that I'd want to sleep instead of harvesting tomatoes and cukes in August and September when my bundle of joy was keeping me up all night? My veggies hung on their plants and died. Oh, the starving children in Africa while I was letting perfectly good vegetables go to waste in my backyard!

A couple weekends ago, Evan and I hit up Lowes and I got the plants for my garden this year. I got all the usual stuff and I can't wait to pick it and share with Evan this year. And maybe, just maybe, I can get 1 year old Evan to do some cherry tomato harvesting for me. Maybe.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I love cycling. However, I haven't been on a bike in so. long. Being pregnant and having an infant has made me the Queen of Lazy over the past year and a half. Last weekend, David and I got on our road bikes, with Evan's trailer hooked onto David's bike. We only went about 8 miles, but it was so good to be back on the bike. We stopped at a park for some mid-ride swinging.

Geared up with Cheerios for the long ride

Just a swingin' 

Swingin'

And on Saturday, we have a babysitter so we can play a round of par 3 golf. It'll be good times for me and David but I'm thinking that's not one that we'll be taking Evan along for for quite a while.

Evan the Bully

Yesterday when I picked Evan up from daycare, I got this message from Ms. Betty:

"Evan would not leave the little babies alone today. No matter how many times we redirected him, he kept crawling to them to pull their hair and pinch their faces. Then, he went after Whiney Boy to bite him."

(They didn't call him Whiney Boy, by the way.)

Also, within the past couple weeks, he's bitten me several times. First, I was standing in the living room talking to David and he just crawled over and bit my ankle. Yep. I literally have an ankle biter. Then, he was trying to get into trouble so I was holding his hand to keep him from crawling. When he figured out that it was me holding him back, he turned around and bit the top of my hand.

What have we gotten ourselves into?

My First Mother's Day

It was a great day. David went way overboard.

After a few minutes of snuggling and kissing (that's his new thing) with Evan, David took him away while I slept in. I didn't really sleep in, but I did lay in bed and watch HGTV all by myself. The two of them joined me later for breakfast in bed-- (made from scratch) pancakes and sausage and a big ol' Spongebob mug of coffee.

Then he brought in flowers and cards from each of them. And then, gifts. Did I mention that he went overboard? They got me some scrapbooking stuff. David has an incredible knack for getting me awesome things that I don't think to ask for. Now if he can just get me the space and time for the scrapbooking that I want to do. That's much trickier.

The rest of the day was pretty leisurely-- got some house cleaning done while David occupied Evan, went to the grocery store alone, napped for a few, Evan FaceTimed with both grandmas and we had our usual Sunday dinner-- Evan's favorite, spaghetti.

My first Mother's Day gift from Evan

Breakfast in Bed
(those are David's hairy arms and legs, not mine!)

Mother's Day flowers from David and Evan

Remarkably similar flowers from Mom and Mike