Chores

Evan is busy growing up and being a good helper. He loves to feed Ernie, even if his aim isn't that good, and he helped take out the garbage today. He was more than happy to carry the trash bag to the back door. It sure makes chores more fun when you have a happy little helper. Thanks, Evan!

Pfft!

It's true - be careful what you teach a kiddo! Mike was teasing me at dinner, so I stuck my tongue out at him and made raspberry sounds. Evan thought it was hilarious, and immediately tried it himself. He was spitting like a pro in seconds. Not 15 minutes later, he used it appropriately too... He was standing in a chair, so I asked him to sit - after all, chairs are for sitting! He turned, looked me square in the eye, and blew a big "Pffft!" How do we un-teach this one??

Body Parts

Evan's been working hard at school. Not only does he know the sounds animals make, but he can identify a lot of body parts! He'll be singing Head, Shoulders, Knees, and Toes in no time.

Animals

What does a cow say? How about a fish? A cat? And a duck? Evan knows them all!

Valentine 2010

Happy Valentine's Day! There's lots of love in this house, and we're so lucky to have each other. The day started with a massive heart-shaped blueberry muffin, and ended with chocolate-frosted cupcakes. We all got various cards and little gifts, and thoroughly enjoyed a happy day together. Evan dressed up in his red sweater and red pin-striped shirt to school yesterday - he was definitely looking spiffy for the ladies! Here's wishing you a day filled with love.

Dancing Fool

It's always a dance party in our house. Evan loves it! Here are just a few of his dancing moves. The first clip is back in August, when he was only 10 months old - you can see his love to move started early! The rest are from this weekend. The opening ceremonies of the Olympics provided plenty of music just perfect for dancing.

More Snow Photos

Snow Days!

The blizzard of 2009-2010 continues. At the end of December we got 18 inches of snow. It had just barely melted when we heard the forecast for February: Snowmageddon! It started Thursday evening and pretty much hasn't stopped. We have shoveled countless times, work has been canceled for 4 days (plus 2 weekend days) straight, and everything is white. I think there's been close to 30 inches total here in Charlottesville, but in DC it's even worse. It's been a very heavy, wet snow too, and we've lost many trees and bushes here in our yard and neighborhood. The power has been out countless times, but only for up to 3 hours at a time. (That's way better than my work friends in Silver Spring: one was without power for 48 hours, and many have had it even worse.)

Around here we've decided to make the most of it. Like a good east-coaster, we went to the stores on Thursday and stocked up. We have plenty of food and toys and books, so it's been a fun sort of vacation! Evan's tried pilates (the ball was great fun until he fell off), tried out his new froggy boots in the snow, helped daddy shovel the driveway, played chase with a very happy Ernie--he just loves the snow--, pretended to be a robot by putting a bucket on his head, and splashing around in the bath. He's a pretty sleepy little man when it's finally time to curl up at night. Here's to more fun times the rest of the week!

Feeding Myself

Evan has been practicing, and he's now a pro at feeding himself. If you load the spoon for him, he'll gladly take hold and put it expertly in his mouth. He barely makes a mess, and hasn't yet missed! Mr. Independent is growing up.

Climbing Part 2

In a January post, Evan showed off his skills climbing onto the Ottoman. It's wide and low surface made for great practice to what has apparently been his ultimate goal: the chair! Without any warning this evening, Evan gave it a go, and succeeded. He's been sitting in this chair (Mommy's chair) ever since he was born - it's been a sleeping place, a relaxing corner, a book reading place, and a photo spot. Now it's just plain Evan's place! Mommy's going to have to work hard to get her chair back...!

Shape Sorting

Sorting is a developmental skill. Depending on what's being sorted, it can build recognition of "sames," color distinction, and problem solving. Evan has always enjoyed playing with his box of shapes, and just recently become interested in sorting the shapes through the appropriate hole in the box's lid. He's pretty good at it too, for the easy shapes like circle and square. The "X" and triangle and star, however... those are harder.

When he ran into these harder shapes, Evan decided to go about it his own way - if it doesn't seem to fit, he takes the lid off the box and throws the shape inside! Same result... different method. I don't know if I should be embarrassed by how quickly he gave up or proud of his problem solving ingenuity!