My 4th Birthday Party!

This sign was your pride and joy of the day. You loved it and picked it out to display for your party.
Cakes are serious business in our family! We love a good cake and this one is by far the most tasty and beautifully represented than I think I have ever seen. You were thrilled! We started your birthday as farm theme and then by request it went to construction trucks. The theme became construction trucks and farm animals!

You are such a good helper!
Waiting for your guests to arrive!

We had your party at "New Gym" (as you call it!). You love the place. They awarded you a medal for being the birthday boy.




Happy Fourth Birthday E!

What do you love?

What do you love? E says: Trucks. Food. Drinks. Trees. Water-Fun to play.

Learning to say thanks

Today Evan received some stickers on our stoop when we arrived home. We guessed they were from our neighbor Monica. E loves Monica and they are buddies. He stayed with the stickers for a long time looking at them. I ran into the kitchen and started to prepare some food for dinner. A few minutes later Evan called my name and said, "Momma, I want to go up and See Monica and say thank you for my stickers". We ran upstairs together to find her. I praised him a few times tonight what a big boy he is by asking to say thank you for his gift. I was so proud.

What to Do with Money

Lastnight, Daddy got home from a consultant job. He got paid in cash. He handed them to Evan who immediately thew the money over his head and started rolling in it giggling! We cracked up. How did he know this is what one does with money?? We would pick up the bills and Evan would take them back and did the whole thing over and over again. It was like he had seen someone do this before or had been told how to do it.

Beach Time with Dada

My Water Boy

Evan is truly a water baby. He LOVES water. Bath time is his favorite time of day. We will say, "Hey Evan it is your bath time". And he will stop whatever he is doing and walk over to the bathroom door saying "baf, baf, baf" under his breath. He doesn't stop saying, "baf" until he reaches the tub and then it is a shriek of happiness and straining to enter the tub. Tonight I noticed he has started to do this floating on his belly while he is kicking and moving his arms around all the while keeping his face and mouth above the water. This boy was swimming! He loves the ocean and he loves fountains. We have a fountain right outside our door and one down the block that we do see on a regular basis. He loves watching gardeners spray the hose. We always stop and watch the water. I MUST get this boy into some swimming lessons this summer not so much to learn to swim but just for the opportunity to be in the water and splash around!

Evan Walks

So Much To Say

I love it when Evan...

Wakes up and wants to play with the window shade.

Tries to bite our noses.

Points at everything and anything of interest.

Makes a panting sound everytime he sees a dog.

Makes a butterfly "sound" by gently waving his arm back and forth.

Looks up at me from his carseat by turning his neck all the way around.

Laughs while he is quietly reading books by himself.

Sees a cat and yells "Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee"!

Calls every bird he sees a duck. "duckduckduckduck"!

Pinches my neck for comfort.

Pats my chest while he is nursing.

Is completely fascinated by my face. I hope he stays this way forever!

Eats everything I give him. He is such a GREAT eater.

Is hungry he smacks his lips.

Loves to put everything on top of his own head.

Is tired he comes and gets me to take him to bed by laying on my shoulder.

The Ultimate First!

Today Evan and I went to our afternoon park visit. It was a beautiful day there on the bluff. Evan was busy trying to eat rocks and sticks. This is his favorite new thing to do. I try to substitute real food for the rocks and he eats it and then goes back to the rocks.

Evan was pushing his walking truck around and exploring the bluff. There is so much to see and my little man wants to take everything in and see what it is all about. He was pushing his truck and stopped to look over at me. When he looked at me I kneeled down and held out my hands and asked for him to come to me. HE WALKED FOUR STEPS RIGHT INTO MY ARMS! I threw him up in the air and hugged him. When I looked at his little face he was clapping and smiling. He had such pride in what he had done. He knew what an amazing thing he had just done. His reaction was so precious! Our lives are about to change in such a big way. I can't imagine him walking all over the place.

The Very Hungry Caterpillar

Evan loves books. His favorite for some time now is The Very Hungry Caterpillar. He turns each page and studies each one. His little fingers go over each character and touch each cutout. The best is when we get to the last page. As soon as that page is turned, he "Ahhhhs" and "Oooooos" as the beautiful butterfly is revealed. We can read the book multiple times in one day and he will still have the same excitement when he sees the butterfly. Tonight, he was paging through the book and as he approached the famous last page he laughed with the anticipation of the page about to be turned to reveal the beautiful butterfly.

Good Night Sun

Tonight Evan and I went to the bluff for some fun. We played ball, kicked the ball, played with a dog named Marilyn(after Marilyn Monroe), chased some other dogs and investigated what is on the other side of the fence. Evan loves to go and look at the plants on the other side of the fence. He holds himself up there and grabs the leaves of plants on the other side.

After all of the excitement, the sun was about to set. I grabbed Evan and sat him on the fence rail in front of me. We at there watching the sun go down. We had such a nice day. I pointed to the sun and said, "Good night sun!". Evan pointed to the sun and then looked up at me.

I Sway...

You sway. WE SWAY!!
Today at breakfast, Evan looked at me and started to sway back and forth as he was smiling. I looked at him and started to sway too. He started to laugh and then I started to laugh. This went on again and again.

This became the game of the day today. Whenever one of us would sway the other would laugh and start to sway too.

Humor

Where is it that we learn or receive our sense of humor? Evan is blowing me away with how he expresses his style of humor. He isn't even 10 months old yet and all ready knows his own humor.

It comes across when Daddy is playing with Evan's favorite stuffed animal and is making him crash into the floor. Daddy is good with sound effects. By the time that monkey crashes and yells out a yelp, Evan is full of giggles. How does he know that is funny?

Tonight when I was giving Evan a bath, we were sitting on the tub edge and Evan was on my lap. He was starting to get a little fussy as it was clearly bedtime. I was trying to entertain him while the tub was filling up with water. I threw in a green rubber duck into the tub. He and I watched the duck as it swam around the tub. Evan now playing with the shower curtain had lost interest in the duck. A few minutes later, we both looked down to find the duck head down and frantically being pummeled with water. Evan was giggling each time that duck came back up to the surface to be hit again with the water.

There are times that I am driving the car and hear a giggle from the backseat. I look at my rearview mirror to see my son in his carseat with a smile on his face. I love that he all ready entertains himself with his own funny thoughts. I would love to know what he is thinking!

The Ocean

Run Mommy! What are we waiting for!?

The water is cold on my feet but the sand feels nice.

The ocean must of felt so massive to him. It does to me and I am five times taller than he is.

I like this place.

Sand feels good.

We took Evan to the ocean for the first time today. We have been waiting for a cooler, Fall day when the sun wouldn't be so strong. We also wanted him to be big enough that he could take it all in.

We carried Evan down the Montana stairway in the Ergo. He rode down on his Daddy's back. It had been so nice and chilly on Saturday. As we walked, I soon realized the heat had returned.

It was high Noon and as we pulled Evan out of the Ergo his excitement was all to apparent! He grabbed my hands and was saying "Oooooooo"...."Ooooooo" as he was running towards the water's edge. We reached the wet sand and he stopped to look at his feet. Then, he continued to race right towards the water. It was an amazing moment. He loves the ocean. He is so fascinated by it. I can't imagine how big it must seem to him!

A Perfect Day

Today was a great day. It started with missing music class (again). Naps are just not working with getting to class by 11:15. Since Evan was all ready asleep when we reached class, we turned around and headed to Malibu. The Malibu Pie Festival was happening today.

We walked the small festival and shared various pieces of pie. Our favorite was a chocolate pecan orange pie. It was delicious. I wanted to share the pies with Evan. He was so excited to see the balloons blowing in the wind. It was a cloudy, overcast day. It felt like Fall and made our day even better. We walked around the shopping area and stepped into a toy store. We bought Evan a new ball. It is blue with yellow spots. He loves it. We walked back to the eating area to get some lunch. The center of the eating area is a playground. We placed Evan in an infant swing and he loved it. He loved watching all the other kids playing too.

Once we started lunch, we noticed that there were people handing out red beachballs to the crowd. Evan received his second ball of the day.

We walked back to the pies as we were so hungry for dessert after lunch (not!). After watching a pie eating contest and viewing the winning pies we headed home. Evan and I sat in the backseat playing with his feet and kicking the new balls into the seat.

After our journey home and an overdue nap, we walked to the store to get some food. We carried Evan in our carrier and felt the cool air on our faces. It started to sprinkle and I thought this is Evan's first rain.

On the way home from the grocery store, food and balloon in hand, we all had smiles on our faces. It had been a much needed family day.

After bath and book tonight, Evan still had so much energy to spend. We sat him on the floor and watched him open and close the bedroom door. It is one of his favorite things to do. He sat up and crawled a few feet. We were waiting to see him lay down and do the famous army crawl that we are now accustomed. He didn't stop crawling and boy can he go fast now that he knows how to be up on his knees! Right then, in front of of us, we watched our baby go from army crawl to full on crawling. I have said it before and I will say it 10,000 times more....they grow up way too fast.

New Things

Evan has started to get frustrated if he isn't standing up. He depends on me helping him to stand. Everyday now, my little boy looks at me and says with no words..."Mommy help me, help me to stand!". He says this in various ways but mainly grunts and tiny whines. The reward is as soon as I offer my hands he gets so excited he can hardly stand. He now walks holding my hands. Every now and then as we are walking, he will stop to look up at me and give me the biggest proud smile. I melt each time I see this little face of such pride and excitement.

On Saturday, we went on a picnic with some friends at a park here in SM. It was a cloudy overcast day. It felt like we were living in San Fran. We bundled Evan up in his blue hoodie and made our way to the park. He is getting more adventurous and crawling off the blanket and sitting in the grass. We were all looking at him and I noticed the his rolled up sleeves had unrolled themselves. There my little boy was clapping his hands and watching the fabric of the hoodie go back and forth. I have been teaching him to clap since he was born. It was so fun to see him learning to clap.

It is an amazing thing watching your little boy learn. The lesson or the new trick happens so randomly. It just clicks and they start to do it like they have always known how. "It" happens on a Tuesday night before bed or first thing on a Thursday. These special new things make everyday so special.

The Look and Feel of Cotton..

Evan has a new favorite thing. He loves fabric. Any kind of fabric. He loves the shower curtain. He holds it and shakes it with both hands. We now have to keep the bathroom door closed because it isn't a safe place for him. But when we are in there he will come crawling and calls out in excitement as he reaches the tub.

I took him to a friend's house who had beautiful linen drapes. Evan was quick to stand next to me and grab them. I have made his own playtime drapes by draping blankets over a chair. He goes nuts!

Doggie!

Evan is in love with dogs. Whenever we see a dog he gets so excited and makes "ooo...ooo...ooo" noises. In the afternoons when we are at the park, it is all about dog watching. I can now just mention the word "doggie" and Evan turns to look and find the dog. I can't wait to go and get a dog with him one day.

Happiness Is...

Playing "Where is baby" in a mirror

Going to the mailbox to find mail to eat.

Playing ball.

Mouthing the bottom of a cold beverage.

Looking up at trees.

Being thrown in the air.

Holding a blanket.

Talking to Enya, Fee Fee and Milo.

Visiting my little sailboat painting after a diaper change.

Watching the neighbors going up and down the stairs outside and getting their attention.

Facing out while I go for a stroller ride.

Plastic water bottles.

Mommy singing "I had a little frog, his name was Tiny Tim..."

Daddy arriving home for the day.

Waking up in the morning.

Measuring cups and spoons.

Watching other babies and kids.

Being carried.

My sippy cup of water.

Playing "Peek-a-Boo".

Bouncing.