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...

One Moment in Time

Evan and I just had one of those rare, extra special mommy/son moments. It really was something I would love to keep to myself (no offense to all you avid readers) but this was something I want to remember, and since I don't keep a journal, this is the next best thing. I was putting Evan to bed this evening. We had just finished reading a book, and I had Evan on my lap with his teddy bear and was rocking in the rocking chair. We were both rocking quietly, and he looked up right at me and smiled. It wasn't his usual smile, but one that just showed how content he was. I can't really describe it. I smiled back and cuddled more with him. He looked down for a second, then looked back at me the same way as the first time. This went on a few times. Then he turned his body and sat up to look face to face with me, and again looked right at me and flashed that same smile. Life really couldn't get any better!


Earlier in the day we had fun playing together. What's nice is that Evan is finally playing like a little boy. He's pushing cars around, riding his little truck, and throwing the basketball into the basket. This morning we played with this animal train he has. We would put the animals in the train, press the button for the train to go, and then we would wave and say Bye Bye to the train. Evan got the biggest kick out of it. He kept saying "again, again" (one of his new words by the way), and he would bring me the pieces, we would set them up, and send off the train.





A few nights ago, Evan created almost an obstacle course out of some of his toys. He would go into his tent, crawl under it, crawl under his musical table, then run around and start all over. That gave me the idea to make a little fort for him this morning using some of his toys and blankets. He didn't enjoy it as much as I thought he would, but he did crawl through a few times.

Pictures from the other night

Evan investigating the fort we built

Finding the door to the fort

Playing at the Park

Tonight Evan and I ate dinner at my parents house since Rick was out of town. After we ate, Evan, my mom and I walked down to the park. Evan was very hesistant at first (as usual). He was content just climbing up and down the stairs and walking around on the equipment. When he finally realized how fun the slides really were, we couldn't get him off! The whole time we were there he was chattering constantly, and VERY loud too.

Here's a video of Evan crossing the bridge on the playground equipment:

Going down the slide with some help from Yiayia

Our New House

No, we're not moving into a new house (unfortunately). But we did buy Evan a Little Tikes house for the backyard. It's the Picnic on the Patio one in case you're interested. In the past few weeks he has really enjoyed playing in other people's play houses, so we decided to splurge a little since the toys we have for outside are scarce. Rick put it together today, and we brought Evan outside after his nap. He had a huge smile on his face! Inside the house is a play stove with nobs that turn and some play food. He immediately starting playing with everything.

Cooking some hamburgers on the stove

Enjoying a "home cooked" meal

My aunt also gave us a sandbox for Evan, which we put next to the playhouse. Surprisingly he really didn't want to play with the sand. He liked putting the toys inside the bucket but didn't like putting his hands in the sand.

Keeping Busy

All day long Evan is busy, busy, busy. One of his favorite things to do, which keeps him entertained while I'm cooking dinner, is to play with our bags and cans of coffee and a few candles (obviously unlit) from a table in our living room. This is his routine... takes the coffee out of the kitchen cabinet, places it on our stairs, then puts the candles next to the coffee, then places all of that on the table in the living room. It really makes me wonder what he is thinking.

Evan has also started to enjoy coloring. Actually, he spends most of his time taking the crayons out of the box and putting them back in, but he's starting to get the idea of making marks on the page.

I have now mentioned the Wiggles in several posts (and I'm sure you'll see it in many more too). Now Evan has started to look through our DVD collection trying to find his Wiggles DVD. He'll pull a DVD off the shelf, look at the picture, then put it back if it's not the right movie.