Dear Evan-14 Months Old

Dearest Evan-
When I look at you my heart skips a beat! You bring so much joy to our lives. It is so much fun to watch all the new things you can do and enjoy. You are a kind and gentle person. You can tell all ready by the way you look and react to the world. You are so friendly and engage people openly. You will sometimes look at me if you are unsure of them and if I look as if I trust them and tell you its ok, you will continue to see what the person is all about. We went to a class today with Brandie and Sofia. It was a music/movement class. Today was the first day that you just took off away from me. You were so comfortable exploring on your own. It was so wonderful to see. You had fun going on the slide and exploring a large tractor, helicopter and car. You as always love pounding on the drums. I watched you grab a crayon off of an easel and used it to draw on its huge piece of paper. It was as if you had done it a thousand times before.

You have such a love for the outdoors. You love rocks. You see them on the ground on our walks and point to them. You brought one home. We call it your pet rock. When we play outside I have to becareful to really watch you as you love putting rocks inside your mouth! We have been busy this month learning about the sense of smell. We pick flowers along our walks and we each smell them. You will hold one up to me to have me smell it and then you will take a huge sniff too. Today we were at the bluff and you walked over to a huge flowering bush and bent down to take a huge sniff of it. You learn so fast. You blow me away at how you take everything in and remember it. You will point at so many things when we are out walking. You will hear a plane or a truck and quickly point to them and say "Truck, truck, truck!". A plane over heard is so exciting to you. You will point at it and just watch it as it goes by or wave you arm back an forth showing how a plane goes by.

We are learning the parts of the body. You are quick to point out Mommy and Daddy's noses. You can pretty much point to our nose, eyes, ears and mouth. You haven't found your own yet. You can build a tower out of blocks or cups. You love stacking them up and only have trouble with the pieces staying place when they get too tall for you to reach. We love to practice animal sounds. We read so many books a day. You have a big basket of books in each room of our home. You go to the basket and reach in to pull out books that you want us to read. You bring them to Daddy and me now. We read each one carefully with you. We can ask you so many questions about each book now. "Where is the kitty?" "Where is the ball?" "Look there is a whale! and you will make a blow sound out of your mouth.

You love to cover your head with my hat, a towel or a blanket. You grabbed my hat the other day and put it over your face and started to walk the living room giggling. You are walking full-time now. I maybe see you crawl once or twice a day now. You are getting so strong and stable. It is amazing to see how fast you got a hang of this skill. You get on and off sofas, chairs and beds without assistance now.

You love to eat. I love HOW you eat. It is so much fun exploring foods with you and there really isn't much you won't eat. You are getting really good with a spoon and feeding yourself. You eat everything we eat no more separate meals for you!

Your feelings are really starting to be so communicated. You will pout when you aren't happy about something and need my help. You will giggle in expectation when you see you like something I am about to offer you. You will fuss when something isn't going how you would like it. The phone at the house is your favorite toy. You play it like a musical instrument all day long. The cordless handset need to fit into its socket just so or it won't stand up. You will keep trying to have it sit up and if it doesn't cooperate you get so frustrated. But when it goes in just right you are so proud!

We have you taking a bath in the big bathtub now. You love the bath. I think it is probably one of your favorite times of the day. You walk to the tub and try to put your leg over it to get inside. Daddy usually gives your bath to you. You choose toys our from your toy basket and throw them into the tub before you get inside yourself. You splash-splash-splash!! You cackle! You do make this new laugh now that is so happy. It truly is a cackle!

You are down to one nap now. You go to bed between 7:30-8:30 depending on your naptime that day. I am so grateful for our days together. The go so fast. We start off each day with breakfast and play or go for a walk until nap time. After nap, we will do lunch and then depending on the day we will meet up with friends or go to the park or do an errand. You don't mind the car anymore. You love seeing me and seeing out the front window. We make noises to one another like playing with our lips and then we giggle!

I love you Evan.

Love,
Mommy