Mama's a Star!

One of Evan's favorite words is "mama". When he sees me, he says mama, which obviously makes me happy. But when he hears Rick come home, Evan goes to the stairs and says "mama". I thought Evan was brilliant when I showed him a picture with me in it and he said, "Mama!" But then he pointed to himself and said mama again. The best story, though, happened in the grocery store. We were waiting in the check out line, and Evan was looking at the covers of all the magazines. He pointed to one with some beautiful blonde actress and said "mama". Of course that made me feel great! However, a few days later we were at a different store, and he pointed to another magazine, but this one had a picture of an older man on the cover. Then, you guessed it, he said "mama" again.

Back to Work

Where did the summer go? The new school year started last Monday. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Evan is going to my friend Toni's house while I am at work. I was very worried about how he would do separating from me in the morning, and especially how he would nap in someone else's house. Good news is, he is doing great! He has not cried yet when I've left him in the morning, but he does get upset when I pick him up in the afternoon - he doesn't want to leave! Of course a small part of me wouldn't mind him being at least a little upset when I leave, but it really is great that he loves it there so much!

Last weekend we headed down to Effingham for Rick's cousin's wedding. Evan and I were not able to go to the actual wedding since it was in the middle of his nap time, but we joined the rest of the family at the reception. Evan did not do well at first. The room was very large and very crowded, so he became very clingy to us and quite crabby. As the night went on he became more comfortable and was soon interacting with and smiling at all the people around him.

Evan telling grandpa he wants to go outside

Evan and Uncle Brad

Goofing around with Aunt Lisa and Mike

You can't see it in this picture, but outside the window was an adorable little girl around 2 years old. She and Evan were smiling and "talking" to each through the window. Then she started knocking on the window, and he was knocking back at her. It was so cute!

Sleepy Boy

You know it's time for a nap when...



I thought I'd never see this day happen!

Our Own Mastercard Commercial

Digital camera - $200

Pink purse - $25

A picture to use as blackmail later in your son's life - priceless

More Summer Adventures

Last week Evan and I were very busy. I go back to work in a week, so I'm trying to spend as much time as possible with him (while also trying to get my classroom ready for the school year). On Wednesday I met up with my friend, Toni, and her two boys, Chase and Cole, at a children's museum in Oak Lawn. Toni is going to be watching Evan this year while I'm working, so we've been trying to get the boys together so Evan doesn't have a complete breakdown when I leave him at her house. We've never left him with anyone except family members. So anyways, the children's museum was really nice. It was just a large room with different activity areas - grocery store, water play, blocks, trucks, etc. The boys had a really nice time, and it's definitely somewhere to visit again on a rainy day.

Cole and Evan in the infant area

Evan watching Chase go through the tunnel

Evan LOVES playing with phones

and Cole does too!

Trying to get a picture with all 3 boys

On Friday we went to Brookfield Zoo with my friend, Missy, and her neighbor and cousin's family. This was our second trip to the zoo this summer, and Evan was much more intersted in the animals than our visit last summer. Brookfield Zoo is huge, so we were only able to see a few areas on this past visit.

Really, Evan was much happier to see the elephants than how he looks in this picture.

Evan really liked watching the rhinos - I think because they're so big and you're able to get fairly close to them.

Evan & Missy getting close to the stingrays.

Evan in the children's petting zoo. He loved watching the goats, but unfortunately I didn't get any pictures.

The Wiggles, Live!

This afternoon we took Evan to see The Wiggles, Live in Concert. We had great seats - we were in the first row of the second section on the floor, right in the middle aisle, so we could see the stage perfectly. Before the show started, Evan was having fun just watching all of the other kids around him. Once they turned the lights down and the show started, Evan's eyes were glued on to the stage. The Wiggles sang all of their most popular songs plus a few nursery rhymes from their newest DVD. It really was a great show, and they did include some adult humor too (the guitar player started playing Stairway to Heaven, some of the dancers mocked MC Hammer, and they made some references to the Beatles). Evan didn't dance to the music like he normally does at home. I think he was just completely overwhelmed by it all. We're hoping they tour again next year, cause we think Evan would get so much more out of it when he is a little older.

I took tons of pictures, so here's just a few...

Evan acting silly waiting for the show to begin

Staring at the stage once the show began

Toot toot, chugga chugga big red car - The Wiggles making their entrance

Anthony (the blue Wiggle and the cutest one) with Captain Feathersword (the pirate)

We bought Evan a Captain Feathersword hat and "sword" after the show. Evan NEVER keeps hats on his head, but he kept this one on! It even fell off his head and he put it back on himself.
At the end of a long day

Monet in the Making

Evan is always asking to go outside, but once we get out there, he's not sure what he wants to do. So, using my skills from being an Early Childhood teacher, I bought Evan some paint brushes and started painting with water outside. My students have always loved doing this, and Evan was no exception. All you do is fill up a cup with water, and let them "paint" the sidewalk! There's no mess other than a little spilled water, and the pictures disappear in seconds. Also, make sure to look at Evan's "rock and roll" outfit.

The next picture was taken this morning after Evan woke up. Usually in the mornings as soon as I hear that Evan is awake, I take a quick shower (since it's my only chance for the day) then get him from his room. He enjoys that bit of alone time, and I usually hear him chattering away in his crib. A few times I've gone in his room and he's taken one or two books off the shelf next to his crib. This is what I walked into this morning...