Adorably mispronounced

Watching Evan learn new words gives me so much joy. The acquisition of language is a slow, steady process and very entertaining! Here is a progress report:

the repeated double syllable:
fah-fah (fire)
bah-bah (fig bar)

mispronunciations:
wi-wee (windy)
a-mah (grandma)

where did he come up with it:
mee-noh (nipple) - guess who taught him that word?
mee-mee (blanket)

Keep up the good work, Evan!

My little stunt man

Sometimes when Evan is playing, I catch glimpses of possible future vocations. The other day, he was riding his Lightning McQueen car and fell off by accident when he was trying to turn it. He thought this was fun, so he fell off a couple more times in a very slow, deliberate, graceful way. I wonder if he might have a future career as a stunt man.

Merry Go Round

Beware the quiet boy

If you don't hear him running around, playing with his toys or talking to himself, he is probably doing something he shouldn't be doing. Like climbing up into his high chair, climbing on top of the table, or climbing onto the CD storage boxes to flip the switch for the fireplace. That's right, we have a future Mt. Everest climber on our hands.

Nite-Nite, Baby Jaguar

Evan's favorite pretend play these days involves putting Diego, Mama Jaguar, and Baby Jaguar down for nite-nite. He lays them down - could be on top of the trash can, could be in a kitchen draw, could be on the futon shelf - and then proceeds to cover them up with a "blanket" which is actually a small pink washcloth. And then he says, "[jibberish, jibberish, jibberish] nite-nite. [jibberish, jibberish] cuggle {jibberish]." He'll make a great daddy someday.

The wonder of it all

I feel like I want to record every new word I hear Evan say, but I know that's not practical. I still don't know how my cousin, Tanya, was able to estimate that her daughter, Emi, knew 200 words at one point.

As I have watched Evan grow up, there is a part of me that believed he would reach the next developmental milestone, whether it was crawling, walking, talking, or whatever. But when I was waiting for it to happen, I secretly wondered if my kid would be the only kid who never crawled, walked or talked. Maybe it just wouldn't happen for Evan.

And then, sure enough, it happened just like everyone said it would...just like everyone else's kid went thru it. And even though every other kid went thru the same stage, I watch Evan learn new words or be the kid who says hi to everybody on the playground and I'm completely amazed. So amazed that this incredible transformation is so common that it does happen to every child.

Lost in Translation

Whenever I put Evan's fleece sweatpants on, I say "soft" and Evan tries to say the word, but prounounces it "fah." So today, I tried to get him to pronounce the "s" sound. "Can you say, ssssss?" And he said, "ssss." Then I said "sssssoft" and he said "fah." Then tonight, when I was telling Mark about the incident, Evan ran by and said, "sssss-fah!"

Here Me Roar!

We took down the audio file link in the header of Evan making noise when he was a baby. Here it is, back by popular demand:

Evan Beck

Evan New Year's Video

Sorry for the poor resolution; I used my cell phone to capture the video.

New Year's Resolution

I feel horribly negligent about not posting more blog entries of Evan's first 2 years on the planet. I am resolved to post more regularly about all the Memorable Moments with the Everyday Evan.

Here is a quick snapshot of what Evan is up to these days:

- He has a pirate ship with special effects, one of which is the captain laughing. Evan imitates this by saying, "ha, ha, ha"

- Whenever he saw Santa Claus during Christmas time, he would say "ho, ho, ho" (variation of the above)

- Whenever he sees a plane - and sometimes a bird - he says "pa-pa" (after all, grandpa flies an airplane)

- Usually, when he sees a bird, he says "caw-caw"

- He asks to brush his own teeth. Imagine that! Of course, I have to help him finish up with a proper brushing.

- He can identify colors

- He can blow kisses and give high fives

- Whenever he gets ahold of a rag or a paper towel, first he wipes his mouth, then he starts wiping down the nearest table or countertop or toy or whatever.

- favorite TV show: Go, Diego, Go (or, as Evan likes to call it, Go-Go!)

- favorite evening activity: hopping ("hop, hop" - We think he got this from a Diego episode)

- He can fill in the blank when we read a couple of his books "hand picks a _____" (apple - from Hand, Hand, Fingers, Thumb) "wock, a-wock, a-wock" ("rock and rock and rock to sleep" from The Going To Bed Book)

- Some of Evan's words:
"mama/mommy" "poppy" "pa-pa" (grandpa) "nani" (grandma) "teeth" "bath" "shoes" "book" "out" "down" "up" "pull" "hot" "cold" "more" "fees" (please) "home" "apple" "nana" (banana) "bea" (beans) "cracker" "guh-guh" (yogurt) "cheese" "on" "off" "hi" "bye-bye" "nite-nite" "car" "hop" "dah-dee" (doggy) "bee" "cuggle" (cuddle) "moon" "lap" "hand" "feet" "back" (as in, help me put something back) "uh-oh" "wow" "ticka-ticka-ticka" (tickle) "knock-knock" (with the hand motion too!) "wellow" (yellow) "puh-puh" (purple) "five" (as in five more minutes) "bubble" "keys"

- Some of Evan's animal sounds:
"moo" "caw" (bird) "meow" "ruff-ruff" "reow-reow" (baby jaguar) "nay" (horse)

We had a pretty uneventful New Year's Eve. The most exciting thing we did was record Evan on our iPod and play it back for him. He kept asking for "more, more". He absolutely loved hearing the sound of his own voice. I made champagne cupcakes, then Mark and I headed for bed at 11:10pm. But, surprise, surprise, Evan let us sleep in until almost 8:00am! What a treat. He even cuddled with us for a few minutes. Pure heaven.

K~