A Dancing Lion

When Evan goes to my parents house, they usually play a CD that has children's songs on it, including the Hokey Pokey, Makarena, and the Chicken Dance. Here's a video of Evan, still dressed in part of his Halloween costume, dancing to the Hokey Pokey.

My Own Shy Lion

I will forever have a memory etched in my head of when I was a preschooler in one of my ballet recitals. I wore a lion costume and sang a song that went something like this: "I'm a shy lion and though I keep trying to make people think I am not. ... and growl and growl a lot." That definately describes Evan during parts of the day today. Rick took the day off of work and brought Evan to my school after my parties were over. When he arrived at school I was very happy to see that he was wearing his lion costume. We were nervous about him not wearing the costume, so several times this week we put it on so he was used to wearing it. We stopped by the school office first to show him off to the secretaries. He immediately clung to my leg and was hiding behind the tall counter. He kept peeking around the corner, trying to keep a serious face, but kept breaking into a little smile. We continued throughout the school, stopping to talk to several other staff members and students, and then headed in to visit his friend Carter, who was also an adorable lion this year. Unfortunately by the time Evan came to school, Carter had already taken his costume off since he had gotten there earlier in the morning. They did have fun swinging and popping bubbles in the occupational/physical therapy room. Evan also had fun playing in my kitchen area at school and with the play grocery cart in another teacher's room. He didn't want to leave!

Once Evan woke up from his nap this afternoon, we dressed him up once again (without any fussing!) and we drove to my parents' house. When we first went into their house, he was very shy and clingy again, but after a few minutes he was back to his happy self. We went trick or treating to a few of their neighbors' houses. He didn't want to hold out his pumpkin bag for the candy, but he did say thank you to them! When we were walking back to their house, though, he did carry (well, actually dragged) the bag with the candy in it. We then headed to Rick's brother and sister's apartment where Evan had his first taste of candy corn. After 2 pieces of candy, he was on a sugar high and was running back and forth through their apartment. He was exhausted once we came home and did not resist when it was bedtime. Maybe we'll be lucky and he'll sleep in tomorrow!

Having fun on the swing

Setting the kitchen table

Dancing down the sidewalk

Going to the "Wheeee"

Evan loves going to the park. We keep trying to teach him to say "park" but to Evan it's the "Wheee." He actually notices the park when we're in the car just driving by. Any time we put him in the stroller to take a walk, he thinks we're going there (which most of the time we are). Evan went through a brief period of not wanting to go on the swings, but now it's the first thing he runs to. We're not looking forward to the winter when we can't take him to his favorite place!

Evan saying "Up up"

He does say "Wheee" when he's on the swing
Peek-a-boo
Feeding the dinosaur some leaves
Going down the big-boy slide

Blast from the Past

Friday night Carrie and I re-lived our childhood and went to the New Kids on the Block concert here in Chicago. We were both HUGE fans when we were younger and never had the chance to go to a concert back then, so when we heard they were getting back together and going on tour, we HAD to go. Since Rick had plans with one of his friends, I dropped Evan off at my parents' house Friday afternoon for his first sleepover there. (I am very thankful to say he did great there!) Then I drove up to Steve's parents' house to pick up Carrie, while Steve and Brett were able to stay there and visit with their family and friends. We then made our way up to Rosemont for the concert. When we made our way into Allstate Arena, we noticed that many of the people there had found their old New Kids shirts, buttons, and other paraphernalia and were proudly displaying them. Other people went all out and crimped their hair and wore neon, plastic jewelry. We felt like we were back in 6th grade! Needless to say, the concert was AMAZING! They sang all their old popular tunes and mixed in a few of their new songs. By the end of the night my voice was hoarse from screaming so loudly, and my ears were ringing from listening to the thousands of other 30 something year olds screaming along with me! After the concert we headed back to our house, picking up Steve and Brett along the way.

Carrie and I waiting for the concert to begin

My first love, Joey McIntyre

The next morning after I picked up Evan, we all went to breakfast then spent some time together before they had to head back to Indy. Right before they were going to leave, we put Brett (who is now 6 months old!) and Evan on a chair to take some pictures of them together. They kept looking at each other and smiling! Then they started having a little conversation between them. After a little while, we took Brett off the chair. Evan moved himself to the other side of the chair, then kept pointing to the empty place next to him and said "Baby." We sat Brett down next to him again and they started another conversation. It was SO cute! Looks like they're becoming buddies pretty quickly.

Our handsome boys

"Look Evan, I have a foot!""I have a foot too!"

Here is the link to a video of them talking to each other. I had trouble posting the actual video on here, so you'll have to follow the link to YouTube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFcFBgxzsMs

Halloween Warning

I received the link to this video in an email this past week along with another written email about this warning that is out about candy potentially tainted with melamine. I don't know how credible it is, but I don't think any of us want to take the chance with our children.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=R3dbBQPIFf0

Lake Katherine

Back a few weeks ago on Columbus Day, I went with Evan and my parents to a place called Lake Katherine, which is a nature preserve. I had just taken my students there on a field trip the week beforehand, and I thought Evan would love going there. In the nature building they have small animals such as snakes, fish, a guinea pig and a ferret. They also have a man-made waterfall and a huge lake with a trail going around it. The day was beautiful and the trees were just starting to change colors. Evan enjoyed looking at the waterfall and walking around the trails near it.

At the top of the waterfall with Papou

Feeling the cold water

Stopping to smell flowers in the herb garden

So excited he found a stick to play with!

A Toddler's Perspective

This morning I left Evan in the family room for just a few minutes to run upstairs to brush my teeth. This is what happens when a toddler figures out how to turn on a digital camera and what button to press to take a picture...

Looks like his hair/face in the upper left corner

Definitely his eye in the upper left corner

Our Yearly Pilgrimage

Ever since I can remember, at least once a year we would make a trip out to a place called White Fence Farm, which is a restaurant that is famous for its fresh fried chicken. The word restaurant is really not the correct word to describe it though. In the waiting area there is an old car museum, along with collections of all sorts of things... dolls, music boxes, holiday decorations, etc. There are also some games to play - a really old foosball table, a "fortune teller" like in the movie Big, and kids' rides like you would see in front of KMart. Last weekend we went there with my parents to celebrate my 30th (yikes!) birthday. Evan had a blast riding the kiddie rides, and he ate more food than he's probably ever eaten at once.

As soon as Evan saw the big chicken he kept saying "Ticka, ticka" (chicken, chicken).

Evan with Yiayia and Papou

Look at that grin

A Day at the Museum

Last weekend my friend Jen, who I've been good friends with since our freshman year at Butler, came to visit. Saturday morning Jen and I took Evan to the Museum of Science and Industry. The first area we visited was the Idea Factory, which was a kids' play area. Evan had a great time in there. They had the same Little Tikes house that we have at home, and he immediately went in there first. I had to laugh, since we drove all the way downtown for him to play with something he already has at home. He did explore other activities in the play area. They had a pretend pirate ship, an area with soft, colorful mats to crawl over, and a water area with tons of colorful, plastic balls. We visited some other exhibits in the museum, but I think Evan could have stayed in that area all day. We saw baby chicks hatching out of their eggs, and Evan kept pointing to the chicks saying, "Chicken, Chicken." Evan also showed a little interest in the electric toy train and the airplane display. Besides those, he was content in anything that had buttons he could press. Unfortunately all the pictures I took are just of Evan. We tried to get some with us in it, but Evan was not exactly cooperative that day.