Baby Boy Growing Up

Evan's growth and development seems to be on hyper drive lately. Just last week he was saying his first word, now he is saying several words, crawling so fast, starting to cruise, getting a tooth, turning pages in books, and learning to "throw" a ball. It is beautiful to see. What makes it all the sweeter is how much fun he seems to be having. He is so pleased with himself for each milestone, letting out little squeals of joy and precious baby babbles. Through it all, Evan remains a easy going, calm baby. I think we can now say with some confidence that Evan is an "easy" baby. He is also just as precious and loving as can be.

Birthday Boy

After weeks of anticipation, Benjamin turned 3 years old today! We had his party on Saturday at My Gym. I don't think it could have been any more fun, and I'm not sure how we are going to top this one. It was a fun crowd of folks including Carly, Phil, Juliana, Sarah, Bryn, Juily, Katherine, Roman, Pranit, R.J., William, Gavin, Mamaw, and many others. Benjamin did an excellent job at playing the birthday boy. The games included a puppet tent, bubbles, and the roller coaster ride. I'm pretty sure that most people were having a great time, and it was so much fun that I think we were all exhausted from laughing.

Benjaminisms

Benjamin has been hilarious lately. The other day he made up a game and had me try it. I clearly wasn't doing very well and he said, "I'm better than you". Trying to teach him appropriate social skills I said, "Well, that's not a very nice thing to say". He then said, "I'm better than you, please". I had a good chuckle and he later seemed to realize that this was pretty funny.


Ok, this one is pretty hard to describe in words, but I will give it my best. Benjamin was showing me with his arms that he loved me very much. He opened them so wide and said, "mommy, I love you this much, I love you around the whole world". Then he opened his arms up just a wee little bit and said, "Evan I love you this much". Clearly, love is quantifiable for a 2 year-old.


He is such an amazing child, and I am NOT biased!

Duck

Evan said his first word yesterday! He said, "duck". I was watching an educational video with him and when a duck came on I said, "duck, Evan, duck". Then I could swear that he said "duck" too. I thought maybe it was just a mild hallucination since I had limited sleep the previous night. Later on we were playing and I showed him a toy duck. After I said "duck", he repeated me! What a surprise, I totally didn't expect him to say a word so soon. Of course, he has been saying mama and dada off and on, and says "buh" for things that start with a b. I am so proud of my little baby moose. (by the way, I call him my baby moose).

Brothers

Now that Evan is getting mobile, he can start to play with some of Benjamin's toys. Benjamin has had a mixed reaction to this. For the most part he tolerates it very well. Although he is not eager to share, he usually does not scream "mine" or react in any other hostile way. He typically moves away from Evan, and if Evan continues to pursue him, Benjamin will find Evan an alternative toy to play with. I've encouraged Benjamin to interact more with Evan. Sometimes this is not done out of the desire to foster their relationship, but to distract Evan when he is fussy and I need to get stuff done. The other day I asked Benjamin to show Evan some animals in a book and Benjamin replied, "I can't, I'm busy eating my grapes". I sure hope he didn't learn the "I'm busy" response from us!


Benjamin has also been very loving toward his brother at times. He has spontaneously hugged him and told him that he loves him. He has also told Evan "its okay" when Evan is upset. Benjamin has shown signs of looking out for Evan like a big brother should. When Evan kept dropping his toys in the car, Benjamin made sure we knew that we should install a gate to prevent this from happening. I'm not really sure how this would work, but the intent and concern was definitely felt. I can just tell that these two are going to be good friends and I look forward to seeing their relationship continue to develop.

9 Months Today!

Y
es, Evan really is 9 months old today. He is showing us his personality more and more every day. Now that he is more expressive and mobile, he seems to be really loving life. That makes a mama very happy. Mind you, it is not all pure enjoyment, as sometimes he can be quite a handful. Lately, it is hard to feed Evan because he keeps grabbing for the spoon and it becomes a game to get it into his mouth. I've taken to getting out two spoons, one for me to feed him with and one for him to play with. He is also in the "Drop 'Em" phase, where he thinks it is fun to drop everything at the dinner table, including his spoon, my spoon, all types of food times (puffs and Cheerio's mainly), and his teething biscuit. The last two times in the bath, Evan has not wanted to sit. Instead, he crawls in the shallow water as if he is swimming. It does not bother him to get his face wet and he usually ends up with a bubble moustache. Of course, there is the usual difficulty of the baby wanting to pull up on all things that are, or are not, stable. He must be watched at all times.  

Evan wants to be part of the action. No matter what Benjamin is doing now, he always wants to be a part of it. This has started to be frustrating for Benjamin, as Benjamin is not used to having to share. Just tonight Evan was joining Benjamin in all activities. He wanted to see Benjamin's drawings at the art table, he enjoyed playing with the trains, and he was right there for the nightly book reading. You never would have known that Evan had a stomach bug today. He woke up sick for his 9-month birthday, but ended up having one of the best days of his life. God bless you Evan!