Daddy's Horde:

June 6, 2009
Evan is 37 inches tall now.

Diana, her father (staying with us while Diana recovers from her gall bladder removal), and I converted Evan's bed into a Youth Bed w/ Guard Rail this week.  The transition from crib to bed has gone much more smoothly than I ever would have anticipated.  He stays in his bed all night and sleeps.  Some mornings he stays, and some mornings he ventures off.

This morning (Saturday morning! yay!), he arrived in our bedroom while we were still in bed.  He climbed up between us and slept with us for another hour.  It was superb.

A very, very funny thing happened the other night.  To laugh as hard as I did, you have to understand that I don't hesitate to give Evan kisses.  I'll even kiss him on his lips, if he likes.  Also, when Evan has "booboos", Diana or I will kiss the booboo to make it go away, much to his satisfaction.

The other night, we gave him some pepperoni pizza to eat.  I wasn't paying too much attention when he came up to me suddenly and asked me to kiss him.  "OK," I say.  He gets closer and says "Kiss mouth?" .... I'm thinking this is... strange... that he's so explicit in his request, but I say... "OK."  He gets even CLOSER and says, frustrated, "KISS... TONGUE!?" -- at this point I draw the line!  "Whoa!" I say, our noses practically touching at this point -- haha.  His mouth was wide open, and he was exposing his tongue as flatly and as availably as he knew how. Ahhh!!! Tongue in my faaaace!

 Turns out he wasn't liking the feeling his tongue was getting (either a bit burned because the pizza was too hot, or maybe the spicyspicy of the pepperoni was getting to him), and he wanted Daddy to "kiss the booboo" -- on his TONGUE!!  I laughed and told him he was on his OWN... that tongue kissing would have to wait a while, and that Daddy wouldn't be involved!  hahaha -- man... I laughed so hard when that happened.

In other news, we have a water table in the backyard now (and patio furniture -- yay!) where we can play in the water during the summertime.  He really enjoys playing back there.

March 15, 2009
Evan's now to the point where he can repeat just about any word he hears and wants to say.  It's wonderful watching him explore the language, including his beginnings with complete sentences ("Daddy, <inaudible> <inaudible> maw joos, peez!").

I've got an "evan" playlist in my song collection.  It includes Laurie Berkner and Harry Connick, Jr., and I encourage Evan to sing along.  I get silly, sometimes, with the "crooner" tracks, and Evan just giggles and giggles at me.  He's started to "sing" with me sometimes, drawing out the words he knows.  It's really, really cute.

Evan likes to play in the front yard, and I always tell him to not go in the street.   He got close a few days ago, and he stopped, looked back at me, and said, emphatically (just like I always do): "Don't - go - in the street!" -- haha... I laughed to myself and then overtly praised him.  It was awesome!

December 14, 2008
Evan has made progress with "Thank You".  It's still not as consistent as it will be, and it often comes out as (a very cute) "Sanks", but I think he's starting to get it.

This week, the Moon has been among the larger and brighter in my lifetimes.  Evan enjoys the Moon a great deal, and he's OK with telling me when the "Moon gone" due to my turning the car such that it leaves his window.

Evan stood in front of a mirror today and introduced himself to himself.  It was very cute.

November 23, 2008
There was a time when Evan said "Thank You" (or "go ku", to be more precise) after receiving anything.  We were so pleased.  Some time later, we noticed it had left his vocabulary entirely ("please" has been consistent -- sign language at first, and now speaking the actual word, trailing "s" and all).  We've been pushing its adoption strongly ever since.  Grandpa offered him a potato chip today.  I looked over, about to remind him to thank Grandpa, but Evan did the deed all on his own before I could even say anything.  I couldn't hear exactly what sound he made, but the meaning was unmistakable.  How wonderful.

In the evenings, typically after dinner but before bedtime (his last playful push for the day), Evan and I run up and down the long hallway in the back of the house.  He giggles and giggles wildly as we chase each other up and down, up and down.  He yells "again!  again!".  I'll hide in a side room, or behind a doorway, sometimes, when he's not looking.  He's getting much better about learning where to look.

We've settled on a school choice for Evan.  He would graduate high school from the same campus on which he started preschool.  We've submitted Admissions paperwork to the school, and I'm hoping Evan is accepted.

There's so much I could write here about how much Evan is maturing and learning each day.  It's hard to keep up, really, with all of the things he's doing for the first time.  It's an absolute joy, even in the unpleasant moments.

November 3, 2008
Evan's first serious fever happened last Thursday.  It started around 2PM, and he finally went to bed at 2AM.  We kept an eye on him, as his temperate ranged from 101F to 103.3F, spending more time between 102F and 103F than anywhere else.  The fever broke by morning, and he's been just fine ever since.  The theory is that it was tooth-related, if not a spider bite (he had a bite-looking mark on the right side of his face when he woke up that day), but that was a tense time.

Yami visited last week (having her around during the fever was helpful).  It was fantastic getting to watch her with Evan, even though he was VERY low-energy during the fever, which left him with little interest in "new people".  We're going to see her again at Thanksgiving, so he'll have more "high-energy" time with her then, I'm sure.

The list of words that Evan has learned in the last few months is both too long to list here and short enough to leave so much to be desired.  He gets frustrated when he can't communicate what he means, and it's so exciting to see his spoken vocabulary grow on a seemingly daily basis.

We've started playing in the backyard.  He mostly just walks and runs around, exploring the space.  He usually takes one or more balls outside with him, and I'm teaching him to KICK! the ball.  He still (gleefully!) prefers to reach down and push it with his hands while he's running, but he's very excited with the results when he does actually kick the ball.

One of the first things Evan ever took an interest in was the ceiling fan.  Just a few months old, lying on his back, the fan blades turned endlessly, and he loved it!  So, he's long been familiar with the "fan" -- it was one of his earliest words.  Jump forward to present day: he's been spotting -- and talking about -- planes in the "sky" (another recent word).  It's great fun.  Anyhoo... we were in the backyard, and a helicopter crossed fairly low over the house.  He immediately and proudly pointed at it and yelled "plane!!".

I picked him up, pointed with him, and said "no, no, that's a HELI-COP-TER!!".  We watched it go over the house.  It was just about out of view, and he was still in my arms, and he turned back to me and explained excitedly: "I saw the fan with the lights!!".  The kid is a giggles well that never dries up.

August 10, 2008
The family is in Ocean Springs, MS today to participate in the ordination service for Yami's becoming a Lutheran pastor.  Luncheon at 1230, service around 1400, and then a reception, after which Yami is free to join us for some family time tonight (current plan, weather-permitting: a walk on the beach).  Uncle Richard and Aunt 'Lana (and cousin Erin) will be there, too.  Yami, Gambi, Grandpa, Aunt Mary (who we're now calling "may-may" -- I doubt we spell it that way), Mommy, Daddy, Uncle Richard, Evan, and Yami all had dinner together last night at "Al Fresco's".  We had a good time, and I'm looking forward to today's events.  I'm very proud of Yami.  :)

And to my neighbors in this hotel: my apologies for all the noise my 21-month-old is making in this room.  I'm sure you can appreciate the satisfaction that comes from holding a full water bottle over his head and thrusting it onto the ground several times in a row.  I take credit for his not banging on your walls with his palms in frisky delight.

Evan says "I know" a lot.  He says it with such brevity of sound that I'm tempted to spell it "I kno".  He says it in just about any scenario you can imagine.  When you tell him not to touch something: "I kno".  When you're unbuckling him from his car seat: "I kno".  When he's telling you that the glowing disc in the sky is "thuh moo" ("n"s are still a distant goal): "I kno".

I thought about it last night while going to sleep (it was quite the challenge to get him to sleep in this new, relatively cramped hotel room space), and Diana said this morning that she wondered what he was communicating when he says "I kno".

Yami tells me that I used to say "tiddle-lee-ping" (another incorrect spelling, I'm sure -- but definitely a one-syllable pronunciation, if you can manage it... it's said very fast) when I was Evan's age.  She's never told me it meant anything, and I've always imagined I said it all the time.

But Evan makes "noises" all the time that sound like actual words, even at times when the "words" are out of place.  And so we wonder what he's meaning.  It's natural to think he has the vocabulary down when he says his "words" at moments when they would make sense, but there are too many times that he's off, so maybe he's just trying noises out to see what works.

--

I wrote the above before Yami's ordination, which went swimmingly today.  I'm very proud of her and what she's doing.

Afterwards, Yami, myself, Mom, and Evan (and Grandpa, Erin, and Mary Beth) visited the beach here.  It was Evan's first time in any ocean/salt water.  Yami walked him around quite a lot, and Mom got lots of pictures.  He found a shell in the water, which he proceeded to "chase" around the waves by throwing it in front of him and then searching through the waves for it.  We helped him find it with each throw.  It was fantastic, really... the whole experience.

Evan saw the moon (dusk was approaching) and enjoyed the warm ocean breeze (as did everyone).  It was a big day for him, today, what with the ordination and the ocean, and he's done a great job.  I'm very grateful to his Aunt "Meme", who watched him in the church nursery during Yami's ordination.

Diana managed everything very well today, too.  Overall, this was a fantastic day.  Tomorrow we meet Yami for breakfast, and then we return home.  Nothing like two nights in a hotel room to make you appreciate your own house, but I'm so glad we came here for Yami's ordination.  It's been a very good trip.

July 6, 2008
I noticed in my calendar the other day that Evan's first step was on November 8, 2007.  He's come a long way since then.

Diana's been telling me for over a week that he's been saying "Thank you", but I've not heard it.  I finally heard it today.  It really sounds nothing like what you'd expect, but he's definitely got the idea.  "Please" is still proving to be quite the challenge, but I think we're close (problem is, I've thought that for two weeks, at least).  "Thank you" happened verbally instead in sign, and I'm wondering if "Please" will be the same way.

We went to visit Diana's family and mine this weeken d, so Evan got to see a lot of loved ones who don't get enough time around him: Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Holly, Yami, Gambi (and Grandpa), Aunt 'Lana (and Chris), and Aunt Libby.

He traveled very well, and we got great reports from Diana's parents and (my) Grandma that he was obedient whenever we weren't around and he was in their care.

I had a great moment with him tonight while I was putting him to bed.  We were in the chair, rocking, and we were pointing around the room, saying the names of things.  He pointed at his changing table and said "Door".  I said, "No, that's not a door."  Then it occured to me that he was saying "Drawer"!  So, I corrected myself: "Oh!  Yes!  That's a 'drawer'", taking time to sound it out.

He made a noise as if to say "Oh!  I see our confuuussion!", and then repeated himself: "Drawer!", this time changing the start of the word ever so slightly, as if to differentiate from the noise he'd made the first time.  I congratulated him, and we continued to move around the room and say different things.

You close one door, and another drawer opens, I guess.

June 28, 2008
I'm cleaning my office up a bit, and I've found a calendar that Diana kept in the months after Evan was born  It's not the only thing in which she's noted important dates, but it's cute..  I don't know how long this calendar will last, or where it might get stored down the line, so I'm just going to note a few events she took the time, then, to note in this calendar:

2006
Nov 21: Two-week checkup
Nov 30: 1st "Tummy Time"
Dec 18: 1st smile
Dec 22: First trip
Dec 22: First picture

2007
Jan 9: Two-month checkup
Feb 14: First laugh
Mar 8: Four-month checkup

June 27, 2008
I'm about halfway finished watching a 9- or 10- hour documentary named "Carrier", which details the experience of the Navy personnel aboard the USS Nimitz in and around 2005 and the Middle East.  Certain personnel are showcased more than others, and the documentary shows the service personnel not only as professionals, but as people.

One young man, 21 years old, has a pregnant girlfriend back home.  He's nervous about the stability of the relationship, not only with the girlfriend, but with the child to be.  He has difficulty getting her to email him during his deployment.  Finally, she writes, and she includes ultrasound pictures.

The camera showed a profile (side-angle) shot of this kid's face as he stared into the computer monitor showing the first pictures he'd ever scene of his yet-unborn kid, and I empathized with him suddenly.

Early Evan UltrasoundI remember the first time I saw the ultrasound pictures.  That.... THAT... was a flood of emotions.  Joy.  Fear.  Envy (that she had him, and I didn't).  Impatience.  Selfishness.  DESIRE.  While it was muted, I think the fear was the most exhilerating, and that's certainly what I connected with in the face of this kid in the documentary.  Sometimes, a certain part of you doesn't know what you've done until you see the results.  First before fear, for me that day, was joy.  Evan continues to be a blessing, and I hope the same for the fellow in that documentary.

June 19, 2008
I walked Evan around the backyard some tonight (carrying him) after his bath.  A low-flying, slow, loud, and seemingly large commercial airliner passed near the house, and it was the perfect opportunity for me to show Evan what "cars in the sky" (I call them this to him when I don't use the word "plane", as I did tonight -- hoping it helps him understand what he's hearing and what he's not) look like, and how they move.  He was, for sure, amazed and delighted, soaking in the imagery with his huge eyes.  We backed farther and farther across the yard, to keep the leaving plane in sight as long as possible, and finally waved at it saying "bye!".

Evan's been difficult to put to sleep for the last few weeks.  We've had a lot of people passing through the house (including overnight guests), and his bedroom stays better lighted later into the evening, and so he's just been off his rhythm, I think.

Tonight, I decided to sit with him for a bit longer than I normally do (90 mins, while my typical time is 30-40 mins), to give him plenty of time to become calm and still (he went down very calmly when I finally left).

We spent a lot of time looking at the sky, through his window.  I kept waiting for the Moon to rise, but it never did.  He's recently discovered joy in gently pounding my chest and saying "dada".  I return the action and emphatically say "EVAN".  We went back and forth tonight for about a minute, his grin growing bigger with each exchange.

June 17, 2008
We're having a hard time with Evan throwing food when he's no longer interested in it, so we're learning new techniques there.  Still no please or thank you (well, "thank you", in so many words, has happened a few times), but I feel like either could pop out with shocking clarity at any moment.

Today was the first time I saw him walk backwards.  That was fun.  We were playing chase, and he chose to keep the front of his body towards me as he slowly crept away, calculating with each step the likely distance to the walls which came together to form the corner in which I had trapped him.  It was fun to watch him, picturing the space behind him, trying to remember what it looked like before he turned around to keep an eye on his predator.

Uncle Matt surprised Grandma and Grandpa this weekend.  They were here for Father's Day, and he showed up unexpectedly (from middle Tennessee, where he lives).  He appeared just an hour or so before Evan's bedtime, similar to when Richard showed up one night recently during a trip to Memphis.  And, just as with Richard, Evan did warm up more to Matt the next day.  It's very satisfying watching Evan learn who his uncles are, and I wish he had more time with each of them.

Mozart crawled into the other half of my lap this evening while I was holding Evan for storytime.  Evan likes to put his head down on "Momo"'s purring body, and tonight was no exception.  I talked to Evan about the happiness that has to be in a cat before he'll make that "purring" noise (Mozart and I purred back and forth to show Evan the noise I was talking about).  I told Evan that, just like we laugh and yawn when we're happy and comfortable, cats make their own noises when everything is right.

June 7, 2008
19 months old today!  WOW!  I've been meaning to write here for a few weeks.  More has happened lately than I'll be able to recall now.  Evan's vocabulary has certainly improved over the last month.  Here are some words that he's speaking so far (sometimes without all of the consonants -- "t" especially): mama, dada, car, sky, moon, fire (always when looking at fire trucks -- Thanks, Aunt 'Lana!), floor, ceiling, fan, light, ball, bear, nose, toes, uh-oh, bye-bye, "Momo" (our family nickname for Mozart -- our larger and more Evan-tolerant cat), door, drawer, tree, bath, bottle, and motherboard.  Ok, just kidding about that last one.

Some words he comprehends but has yet to say: window, wall, stack (he can follow this instruction with two objects), hair, fingers, knee, wave (the verb), shirt, bedtime, nap, sleepy, plane (he likes to say "car" when he hears them out the window, but he did today point up and say "sky" when one passed over the house), music, dancing, splash, peek-a-boo (just say it to invoke the action!  Fun for hours!), singing, humming, close (he can follow this instruction with doors and drawers), trash (aka "icky"), Snoopy (the Evan-size plush toy in his bedroom), ears, belly-button (he's actually said this a few times, come to think of it), Paddington (Cat #2), run (as in "or Mommy will get you with her tickle fingers!!"), up/down (though he still gets them reversed sometimes), book, chair, couch, dog (he says "wooh, wooh!!" -- "f"s are tough, still), grandma, grandpa, and several characters in the books we read at night.

He blows kisses now (very, very cute), and he's been waving for some time.  It's proving rather challenging to get him to say "I love you" and "thank you", but it's fun to constantly challenge him with new things.

I picked Evan up out of his crib this morning, lifting him high above me -- placing his head directly into the path of the spinning fan blades.  They're rounded enough, and the fan wasn't on its fastest speed.  Evan's fine, but he was understandably startled when it first happened.  I was not happy with my carelessness.  I've caught myself before almost doing that.

I pay Sleeping Evan a visit each night before I go to sleep.  A couple of nights ago, he woke while I was looking in on him.  As we sat together, putting him back to sleep, he found a very bright star out the window, and we debated for some time as to whether or not that was "moo" (The Moon).  I argued against.  Her argued for, and strongly.  I cherish our quiet times together before he sleeps.

May 10, 2008
Diana's parents and sister are spending the weekend with us.  I woke up this morning and gave Evan his bottle, and then went back to sleep (typical Saturday morning).  When I woke up again, it was to Diana's mother cooking breakfast in the kitchen.  She told me that Evan was "with Grandpa" watching a movie (he's got a portable DVD player that he uses when he's on the road).  I snuck back to the guest bedroom, and, sure enough, Evan's all snuggled up under the covers with Jack watching "The Great Race" (that may be the only movie that player's capable of playing -- haha).  Jack was telling him all about what was happening on the screen.  Evan's a sucker for bright lights that plug in (just like his Daddy).  :)  It was great fun to see them sharing that moment.

Alas, Evan's "up" now, so I'm going to go say good morning and share some breakfast with him!

May 2, 2008
Evan and I were riding in the car today, and we were listening to Harry Connick Jr's "It's Alright With Me (a cover of Frank Sinatra's 1960 offering by the same name, which, interestingly enough, was a cover of Cole Porter's original "It's All Right With Me" from May 7, 1953 -- almost 55 years ago to the day!).  There's a run about halfway through the track in which the trumpets just go nuts for about a solid minute.  Evan heard it and just started giggling and giggling.  He tried a couple of times to "sing along" to the trumpets, but it just wasn't working for him -- he found it much more worthwhile to "giggle along".  I enjoy telling him about the different instruments in the music we listen to.  "Piano!"  "Sax!"  "Daddy has no idea what that is, but it sounds neat, right?"

May 1, 2008
I was putting Evan to bed last night, and I placed him in his crib, after storytime and singing, like I always do.  And, like I always do, I said as I left the room (always walking out of the room backwards, facing him until I've left the room): "Goodnight.  Sleep tight.  I love you!". And then it happened!  He came back with "lumm yu".  HA!  How exciting!  Dido said he'd said it to her earlier that day!  That's fantastic!

April 26, 2008
I really enjoy singing with Evan, and I think he enjoys singing with me.  I put on Harry Connick Jr. this afternoon and crooned with him a bit.  He sort of mumbles along (not that I do much differently), and I sometimes stop suddenly, so I can hear him go solo for a few measures before realizing Daddy's not singing like he was a moment ago.

I pushed him in a shopping cart today.  I think I've done that before at the grocery store, maybe with Dido, but today felt like the first time I've done it when I was alone with him on an errand.  He really didn't care for it at first (I typically just carry him everywhere, bouncing him about in my arms as I walk around), but he took to it after about 30 seconds of us moving from aisle to aisle.

We sent "Aunt 'Lana" a birthday card last week.  Well, I sent it, but he helped me pick it out at the store.  I basically picked up four or five cards and gave him his pick.  The card we chose talked about not understanding words, which seemed like a good choice with Evan involved, even though I'm sure he understands more than I realize at this point.

Speaking of understanding, I told him to shut the drawer in his bedroom today, and he certainly did it.  He didn't want to, but he understood, thought about it, and turned around and shut the drawer he had just opened (before throwing the clothes around the room -- yay!).  That's still new enough to me that it's fun to watch!

He's been pretty fussy for the last week or so.  Dido thinks maybe his teeth are bothering him.  He's got four on top and bottom and two (or four?) molars now.  Wow!  He went with she and me to the dentist this week.  He was really quite good.  Everyone there loved him.  :)

We talked to Yami on the speakerphone today!  :)

February 3, 2008
I've spent a lot of time with Evan this weekend. Lots of interaction. It's been a blast. More "firsts". I guess I might as well stop calling them that, as it's going to be "firsts" primarily for the foreseeable future.

This morning, he was playing (approaching naptime, soooo......) and got irritated when his (5" diameter) ball wouldn't fit in his (3" diameter) cup. The (1.5" long) firetruck fits? Why won't the ball fit? THE BALL SHOULD FIT!! He really started to whine, so I went over and sat down with him and explained that the ball won't go into the cup because the cup isn't big enough. We talked about it for a minute or so, and I think he got it (but was never just really happy about it), content to move along and play with something else. At one point, he shook the cup violently with the firetruck in it, bouncing the toy truck about loudly inside the plastic. When the firetruck flew out, he was surprised. Learning about consequences is fun!

Last night, Diana and I joined her parents and sister, and our friend David, at a fancy dinner out (celebrating a couple of accomplishments among the group). Evan came along, of course, and behaved well enough until about halfway through the dinner. All in all, we kept him up 2.5 hours past his bedtime (dinner took much longer than we anticipated) -- it was eventually reflected in his behavior during dinner. I felt a little guilty, putting him through that. Again, all in all, he did well, but I can say that's the first dinner we've taken him to which demanded enough work from me to keep me from really being able to enjoy the meal.

Evan's learned to bounce his ball (and almost throw it, really), sing the "row, row, row" of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" when you ask him to "sing", and I conitnue to be pleased, for the most part, with his decision making skills when it comes to remembering and respecting what boundaries we've created for him (no trash can, no wires, etc, etc). His use of sign language at the dinner table continues to be intermittent, which is surprising more than disappointing (it's just odd, as he's rather consistent with other things he learns).

More teeth are coming in (2-4)! It's becoming more dangerous to send the pointer finger in after things he's put in his mouth to our surprise (but we keep fighting the good fight, of course)!

I watched a kid's TV show with him yesterday. Puppets and singing and lots of colors and lights. Fun, fun. I think it captured my attention more than his!

January 21, 2008
Two great moments in the last couple of weeks. Both firsts.

I had some back pains last week and needed to pick one of Evan's bottles off the ground while I was holding him. Normally, I'd bend down, with Evan in my arms, and pick it up. But, that day, I just wasn't up to it. I set Evan down, pointed to the bottle, and asked: "Where's your bottle, Evan? Can you bring me the bottle?" He looked at my finger, looked at the bottle, and then walked right to the bottle, picked it up, and brought it to me and put it into my hand. Man, now THAT was great. I'll have him mowing the lawn in no time.

A few days before that, I got the first response from Evan's sign language. For about six months, Diana and I have been using a few words with Evan via sign language, and he signed "all finished" at the end of one of his recent meals. It was great! Diana was out to dinner with a friend. I called her right away, and he's done it a few times since. It's just fantastic to begin the two-way direct communication with Evan.

Yesterday, after walking around the house for hours, and without any noteworthy fall or injury, Evan started falling to the ground anytime he had to put weight on his left foot. He never seemed upset, or in pain, but he'd take two steps and then fall. He'd look frustrated once he fell several times in a row, sometimes, but I could tell it was because he didn't want to be on the ground, not because he was in pain, really. This went on for about 90 minutes. Diana and I watched him carefully, but it went away on its own, without him ever being upset.. Hopefully it won't return.