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