Evan Beck

Holiday Parade

2011-12-10T22:25:00.001-08:00

Holiday Parade
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Japanese Garden

2011-11-27T20:51:00.001-08:00

Japanese Garden
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Bench

2011-11-27T20:50:00.001-08:00

Bench
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Evan: Photographer

2011-11-06T14:33:00.001-08:00

These are two of my favorite photos that Evan shot today.

Xmas Coming!

2011-11-06T14:27:00.001-08:00

They're getting ready for Xmas at the Simi Valley Mall. Evan wanted to capture the moment!

Trees Beware!

2011-11-06T12:11:00.001-08:00

Giddy Up!

2011-11-06T12:08:00.001-08:00

Little Shutterbug

2011-11-06T11:58:00.001-08:00

Children's Hunger Fund

2011-08-25T15:21:00.001-07:00

Children's Hunger Fund
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Lego Walle

2011-08-07T20:46:00.001-07:00

Lego Walle
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Books

2011-08-07T20:44:00.001-07:00

Books
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

2011-08-01T04:33:00.003-07:00

Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Let's Go Oakland!

2011-08-01T04:33:00.001-07:00

Let's Go Oakland!
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

2011-08-01T04:32:00.001-07:00

Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Evan

2011-08-01T04:31:00.001-07:00

Evan
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Cast Away

2010-05-21T23:17:00.000-07:00

All those times that Mark half-jokingly warned Evan not to jump on the bed because he might fall and break his arm....well, it finally happened. Tonight, Evan experienced a new milestone of boyhood: getting his first cast. Poor thing fell off the bed this morning and had been wimpering on and off all day because he was in pain. But I had no idea it was broken. I was even thinking of waiting till the next morning to get it checked out depending on how Evan felt. Thankfully, Mark came home and strongly suggested we go tonight. We spent 3 hours in urgent care and received great care from 2 wonderful doctors who were Oh So kid-friendly.

The gentleman who put the cast on was chatting with Evan, trying to amuse/distract him. He told Evan that he was being brave like a Ranger.

He asked Evan, "Do you want to be a ranger when you grow up?"

And Evan answered, "No! I want to be an abstract painter!"

I said, "Betchya never heard that one before!"

"No, I certainly haven't," he said smiling.

That's ma boy!

Evan Beck on Subway

2010-01-23T18:28:00.001-08:00

Evan Beck on Subway
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck

Pirate

2009-09-26T18:06:00.001-07:00

Pirate
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Sweeter

2009-07-26T01:24:00.001-07:00

Evan Beck
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Brawler

2009-07-26T01:23:00.003-07:00

Evan Beck
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Runner

2009-07-26T01:23:00.001-07:00

Evan Beck
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Jumper

2009-07-26T01:22:00.001-07:00

Evan Beck
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Fighter

2009-07-26T00:45:00.001-07:00

Evan Beck
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Sushi, Cameras, Family

2009-07-20T19:16:00.001-07:00

Sushi, Cameras, Family
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

California Science Center

2009-03-14T17:19:00.000-07:00

Train Ride with Evan and Poppy

2009-03-02T07:43:00.000-08:00

Listen in on a train ride with Evan and Poppy. Click here!

Lunch with Evan and Poppy

2009-03-02T07:41:00.000-08:00

Click here to listen to Evan and Poppy sharing lunch at their favorite Argentinian cafe.

High Five!

2009-03-02T07:40:00.000-08:00

Will Evan get High Five right? (Psst...it's an audio file).

Evan Questioning Poppy

2009-03-02T07:39:00.000-08:00

Click here to listen to the many questions that Evan has for Poppy.

Mama Loves Evan

2009-03-02T07:18:00.001-08:00

This is the night-night song that Kimberly sings to Evan. Click here to listen to "Mama Loves Evan".

The Sweaty Song

2009-03-02T07:05:00.000-08:00

Here's a great little song that Evan improved the other night before bed!

Click here to listen to the "Sweaty Song".

I heard this SEVERAL times today while playing the "letter game"

2009-01-15T19:25:00.000-08:00

also known as Scrabble:

"I know! Maybe.....hey, come on, come on."

Wake Up Sleepy Sun

2009-01-11T20:19:00.000-08:00

On our way home from dropping off Mark at the airport this morning at 6am:

"Mama! The moon is waking up the sun!"

"That's right! What does the moon say to wake up the sun, Evan?"

"Howdy-blowdy! Really loud sound!"

And I Quote...

2009-01-11T20:17:00.001-08:00

These are some of the things that have been coming from Evan lately:

"What you said?"

"That's not true!"

"I'm going to scrape the Spanish out of your heart!"

In Our World

2009-01-09T20:18:00.000-08:00

"I helped you find the water. I'm finding you some things. Finding you some things in happening in our world."

After I spilled some water and couldn't find where it had dripped.

Fish Pond

2008-12-29T11:44:00.001-08:00

Untitled
Originally uploaded by Mark Beck.

Leap of Logic

2008-11-11T19:43:00.000-08:00

Today I was telling Evan that we had to return our books/movies to the library, but we wouldn't be able to get more books because the library would be closed for Veterans Day.

"What's Veterans Day?"
"On Veterans Day, we celebrate soldiers who fought in wars. So, that means that places like libraries and post offices are closed."
"Mama, why did the soldiers close the libraries?"

Squeaky Clean

2008-11-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

We just got back from Evan's first dentist appointment at Balboa Dental Group and I'm happy to report it went off without a hitch! Everyone did a great job of making Evan feel comfortable by taking him on a little tour and showing him all the instruments and explaining what they were going to do before they did it. But, I think what made the visit so successful was that they played Bee Movie while Evan was sitting in the dentist chair getting his teeth cleaned and poked and scraped. He hardly paid any attention to what they were doing to his teeth. He was very cooperative and didn't get scared once. What a blessing!

Halloween...Super Fast!

2008-10-31T21:03:00.000-07:00

Evan dressed up as a multi-era pilot this year. He had a "leather" cap with goggles and fighter jets on his bomber jacket. We went to my Dad's neighborhood to go trick-or-treating as usual. We hit the streets for about 10 minutes and Evan said, "let's go back to Grandpa's so I can eat my candy." No complaints out of us! Short trick-or-treating, less candy to keep Evan away from.

Win-Win.

It's a Grand 'Ole Flag

2008-10-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

Just to show how politically aware my soon to be 4 year old son is: He was putting a Trader Joe's patriotic sticker on a piece of paper and said, "This is Barack Obama's flag." His father is so proud.

"All by my own"

2008-10-15T19:55:00.000-07:00

Evan cleaned his room this morning ALL BY HIMSELF - without me having to ask him - in preparation for his friend, Hosea's, visit. He even put away all the little toys so that Hosea wouldn't choke.

There are moments when Evan is quite the helper. He's been asking to help me make the bed and fold towels, the small washcloths actually. He folds them into a nice neat square and then stacks them in a nice neat pile. He even sorts them by kitchen towels and bathroom towels.

What a sweetheart.

How does YOUR garden grow?

2008-10-14T19:54:00.000-07:00

"Mama, why does my penis grow like a flower?"

Why indeed.

Lovely, Lovey, Love

2008-10-05T19:52:00.000-07:00

How does Evan say, "I love you"? Let me count the ways:

"I very love you."

"Mama, I love you."
"I love you too, Evan."
"I love you too, Mama!"

"What does love mean?"
"I don't remember."

"I love you all the way to the ______ and back."

First Overnighter at Grandma & Grandpa's

2008-09-12T20:00:00.000-07:00

Evan was so excited to stay over at Grandpa's house "all by my own" as he put it. When I picked him up the next morning, Dad said that he ate mostly bananas, watched a lot of TV, and told him when he was tired and wanted to go to bed. But he didn't want to sleep in Dad and Susan's room. He wanted to sleep in his own room by himself.

The boy is growing up. Sniff, sniff.

Evan Beck

2008-09-01T14:02:00.001-07:00

Air Force One

2008-07-13T15:28:00.000-07:00

Evan and I went to the Reagan Presidential Library, and got our photo taken on Air Force One today.

Learning Curves

2008-04-04T23:01:00.000-07:00

Evan's fascination with letters continues. Today I peeked in on him arranging his Hot Wheels cars into the letter "P". Then he wanted to try other letters so I helped him arrange them. Now that I'm thinking about it, I probably should have let him try other letters by himself first before I took over. Oh well. I really do want to continue to nurture his love of learning that is apparently such a natural drive in young children. I wonder what I will catch him learning next.

Mama's Little Helper

2008-04-02T09:29:00.002-07:00

I have been trying to involve Evan more in my daily household activities. He can sort his own dirty laundry into lights and darks and sort his clean laundry into types of clothes (pants, shirts, etc.). More recently, I have been having him help me prepare our meals. So far, he's proved to be a good egg scrambler, orange peeler, and peanut butter spreader. I think it's been good for relationship building and for giving him the opportunity to develop new skills.

This morning, he was standing on the stepstool next to me helping me prepare our breakfast. He put his arm around my shoulder, rested his head on me and said, "We love each udder." How precious is that?

He Posts, She Posts...Eventually

2008-04-02T09:29:00.001-07:00

You can always tell who's blogging about Evan. Mark usually posts photos and videos with no verbal description. I usually post only verbage with no photos. It works for us.

So, here is another post where I feel guilty about how long it's been since the last time I recorded some cute, smart, adorable, or amazing thing my son has done. What I should really do is just keep a Blogger window open all the time, so that when inspiration hits, I can just come to my computer and write it down. Yes, that's the ideal. As a recovering perfectionist, I'm working on letting go of that expectation. We'll see how it goes.

Anyway, enough about me. Evan wrote his first letter yesterday: M. It happened very naturally when we were coloring together. He wanted to spell my name (Mama). So I started writing M - A and then he took his crayon and mimiced my M! Totally unsolicited from me! I was completely amazed

By Myself

2008-03-01T11:44:00.001-08:00

Meow

2008-03-01T11:40:00.001-08:00

Wake Up!

2008-03-01T11:36:00.001-08:00

Hop Hop Hop!

2008-03-01T11:29:00.000-08:00

Who's that?

2008-02-24T09:41:00.000-08:00

Uh Oh!

2008-02-24T09:39:00.001-08:00

Toot Toot

2008-02-24T09:17:00.000-08:00

Preschool Grammar

2008-02-12T23:21:00.000-08:00

snizzers (noun) - an instrument used to cut
snizzing or snitting (verb) - the act of cutting with snizzers (of course!)

Evan At the Zoo

2008-01-13T14:27:00.001-08:00

Evan at the zoo. listen

Powered by Jott

Pink Slip

2008-01-05T23:14:00.000-08:00

Where it all began.

Happy New Year!

2008-01-01T08:51:00.000-08:00

"Lots of screwses!"

2007-12-25T23:24:00.000-08:00

This is what Evan said when he opened up his Christmas present which was a Home Depot toolbox.

Evan Christmas 07

2007-12-25T09:28:00.001-08:00

From the mouth of Evan

2007-12-13T23:26:00.000-08:00

"Where'd that come from?"

"Oh, hi Mama!"

"What you doing?"

"Ah, freak"

How old will you be?
"Young!"

Evan Playing in the Sand

2007-12-09T07:34:00.001-08:00

Thanksgiving and Noni

2007-11-22T16:26:00.000-08:00

Lost in French Translation?

2007-11-22T13:50:00.000-08:00

Here's a clip of Evan's site using Google translator from English to French.

Excuse You

2007-11-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Evan Watch Evan

2007-11-22T10:49:00.000-08:00

On Holiday

2007-10-23T14:00:00.003-07:00

Plastic Window

2007-10-23T14:00:00.001-07:00

Lomo Fisheye

2007-10-23T13:59:00.001-07:00

Evan Rocks!

2007-10-21T10:43:00.000-07:00

The Tube

2007-10-11T08:34:00.000-07:00

We don't watch a lot of TV, but we do have our favorites. For Evan, it's Go, Diego, Go! and Blues Clues. For Mama, it's Oprah and TLC's What Not to Wear. Evan knows Oprah's name and her face. Whenever he sees O Magazine, he says, "Oprah!" and points. The other day, I was watching the end of WNTW with Evan on my lap and he said, "All done...Stacy and Clinton". They really are like little sponges, soaking up stuff that we don't even realize. I laughed hysterically and Evan just smiled as if to say, well what do you expect?

Pumpkinliner

2007-10-07T14:14:00.000-07:00

Evan Photo Video

2007-10-01T21:06:00.000-07:00

Lunch!

2007-09-03T21:00:00.001-07:00

Airplane

2007-09-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Boo-Boo Buddy

2007-08-31T13:11:00.000-07:00

I took Evan to the mall today to play and he made a little friend. He was going down the slide and accidentally kicked someone who went down right after him head first. The little boy was holding his head (but he was smiling and laughing too) and Evan bent down very gently to try to kiss this little boy's boo-boo. Well, this kid was just having too much fun and couldn't be bothered to let Evan soothe his wounded head. He wanted to play with Evan instead. So, for the rest of the time, they ran around together, imitating each other, going up and down the slide sometimes even holding hands. It was so precious to see Evan looking another kid in the eyes and smiling and laughing and playing with another child. I had a a pretty big smile on my face.

Two for 2

2007-08-30T10:26:00.001-07:00

Evan went poo-poo in the potty twice this morning! Completely on his own. I'm not setting myself up with the expectation that he will never have another poo-poo accident again, but at least he is exhibiting the willingness to try! And that is very reassurring.

He has been accident free for the past few days because I am being really consistent with taking him to the potty every half hour. I think that's been helping ALOT. He is continuing to go potty in public restrooms as well, so overall, I think he's starting to master this potty training thing.

"Mmmm....spicy"

2007-08-26T13:32:00.001-07:00

This is what Evan says when I give him a short strand of minty Satin floss to play with while I floss my teeth in the morning.

Yes Man

2007-08-26T13:29:00.000-07:00

Over the past several weeks, Evan has been responding to questions with either a head nod and/or the word, "yes" instead of repeating the last thing we said. Of course, he learned "no" many, many months ago, but it's taken him a little longer to master the affirmative answer. It's really cute to hear my little boy say "yes" so sweetly.

No. 2

2007-08-22T11:42:00.001-07:00

Well, Evan made poo-poo in the potty for the first time today! Yeah! I have been so anxious about this next step. I really need to place more faith in his internal clock because he learns things at his own pace, in his own time. He was the one who asked..."poo-poo in the toily?" this morning without any prompting or coaxing from me. Yesterday, we spent about 35 minutes in the bathroom reading books as I waited for him to TRY and go poo-poo before nap time. But he couldn't (or wouldn't) go.

This lesson applies to the regression phase that he's entered now with going pee-pee in the potty. He's getting lazy and not asking anymore to sit on the potty and he's more resistant to sitting on the potty at all. It helps if we read a book. But this is when I really lose my patience: when he's having a temper tantrum and he stands up and pees right in front of me. This is what happened right before he asked to go poo-poo this morning. I did not respond with gentleness, kindness, and respect. Later, after we had cleaned him up, I asked for his forgiveness and gave him a hug. I'm not sure if his 2-year old little heart understood what I was saying, but I think it's still important for me to model asking for forgiveness when I hurt his feelings.

Winkle, Winkle, Little Wocket

2007-08-21T20:03:00.001-07:00

Evan has been learning the words to Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and can sing along very well. During cuggle time tonight, he was singing the song all by himself over and over again. Then he went into silly mode and the song digressed into Winkle, Winkle, Little Wocket followed by an explosion of giggles.

Soggy Bottom Boy

2007-08-21T12:19:00.000-07:00

The potty chronicle continues...

We've had some major successes with potty training. Evan has been consistently asking to "sit on toily!" Yesterday, we were at the grocery store and he told me he needed to go pee-pee and he was able to hold it until we made it to the restroom! Amazing.

He has been consistently having accidents as well - maybe 1 or 2 a day. I'm kind of wondering if the novelty is wearing off and he just doesn't want to have to stop what he's doing - playing or watching TV - to do his business. So, I have gone back to prompting him about every 20 or 30 minutes. Even if he says no, I still walk him over to the potty and sit him down. He usually goes - but under protest.

I'm really trying hard not to be discouraged by these accidents. I know that my attitude has more to do with my own struggle with perfectionism than with Evan's behavior. And I really don't want to project that onto him. So, I'm trying to stay positive and handle his accidents with detached efficiency rather than getting upset and judging them as setbacks. I'm sure this is completely NORMAL when kids are learning to use the potty.

The important thing is that he understands this is his new lifestyle, not just a temporary thing.

Potty Routine

2007-08-18T19:55:00.001-07:00

We've got our potty routine down to a science now. Evan comes up to me excitedly and says, "Sit on toily! OK! Let's go!" Then we run over to Evan's bathroom nook which I set up in a cabinet in the kitchen. I pull over one of his small chairs and sit down, pull out his blue potty, pull his pants down, and he sits down. He likes to watch himself (of course!) and I have to watch him to make sure that he doesn't splatter pee-pee all over the place. When he's done, he says, "toily patoh" (toilet paper), he wipes his penis, puts it in the toilet, stands up, and I put his undies back on.

Then we walk over to the sink, pull over the step stool, and I say, "get 'em wet, soap 'em up, rinse 'em off, and....dry 'em off." He gets down and I take the little potty bowl upstairs and dump it in the toilet ,wipe it out with toilet paper, come back downstairs, place it back in the potty, put it away, and wash my hands again.

It takes less than 4 minutes now!

All done!

2007-08-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Well, in typical Evan form, he got the hang of potty training in only 2 days! What a blessing! He only had 2 accidents in the morning and was consistently asking to sit on the toily the rest of the day. By the third day, he was accident-free. I know that accidents will happen from time to time, but he definitely GETS IT!

This really feels like the last frontier of toddlerhood. Granted, he's only about halfway potty trained because he still goes poo-poo in his diaper (or sometimes in his tighty-whities like this morning), and he still wears a diaper to sleep. But this is a HUGE milestone for him and I'm just so glad to be over the hump.

P Day!

2007-08-15T20:00:00.000-07:00

I decided to strike while the iron's hot. I just got back from my weekend in San Francisco and Evan went pee-pee in the potty a few more times for Mark over the weekend. So, I went out and bought Evan some big boy undies, a potty seat for the big toilet and a little potty for downstairs. I brought up some toys and DVDs and books and decorated the bathroom like we're having a party. I wrapped up the undies and placed it on the toilet.

This morning, I woke Evan up and told him, "It's potty day! Today's the day that you're going to practice going pee-pee- in the potty like a big boy! Come open your present!" I got him out of the crib and took him to the bathroom. He slowly ripped off the wrapping paper and took a look at the 3 pairs of Diego underwear and 6 pairs of white Fruit of the Loom briefs that I bought him. "You get to go pee-pee in the potty today!" And he said, "No! No pee-pee in the toily." Not a good sign.

We spent all morning in the bathroom. We watched Finding Nemo and Cars (twice) and I sat him on the potty every 15 minutes. I pumped him full of apple juice and water and gave him 3 M&M's every time he went pee-pee in the potty. He was reluctant at times. He was defiant at others. He was excited at other times. All in all, he had more successes than accidents.

But by the time we went downstairs for lunch, I was physically and emotionally drained to the point of tears. It was just so hard to maintain a postive, upbeat, encouraging demeanor in the face of blood-curdling screams, being slapped in the face, cleaning up pee-pee puddles and wrestling him onto the toilet.

I couldn't believe that he actually took a nap because he was so pumped up with sugar and had no outlet to expend all that energy. But, by God's grace, he did go down and I got a break. I talked to my cousin, Tanya, who was the one who had told me about this method of toilet training and she could completely relate. She said I was doing great, I was on the right track, and it sounded as if Evan was really getting it! And that was half the battle right there. The rest was just practicing it and reinforcing it.

So, I felt better after we talked. And when Evan woke up from his nap, we hung out in the bedroom and watched Diego and Cars again from the bed. It was a lot more comfortable. And, after awhile, Evan was asking to sit on the toily himself.

By the time he went to bed, I was completely exhausted. But I think, all in all, it was a very successful day!

Potty time!

2007-08-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

Evan went pee-pee in the potty for the first time today - completely unsolicited! I was getting him ready for nite-nite and he was in the bathroom with me while I was going potty. And then he said, "Evan sit on toily." So I said OK, took off his diaper, and sat him on the toilet seat, hanging on to him so he didn't fall in. I wasn't really expecting him to do anything since he's only asked to sit on the toilet a handful of times. But I asked him, "Are you gonna go pee-pee?" And then we both looked down and he started to pee! I gave him some toilet paper and he wiped his bum. I told him he needed to wipe his penis. Again, he wiped his bum. So I took the toilet paper and wiped his penis, got him off the potty, put his diaper back on and we washed our hands together.

Then I called downstairs to Mark, "Hey Babe, you want to come up here and congratulate your son on going pee-pee in the potty for the first time?" And he said, "Wow! Yeah!" and he came upstairs and we made a really big deal over him. We were clapping and cheering and he just went nuts. He was jumping all over the bed and wiggling around. He was like a little tasmanian devil. He just couldn't keep still. He was obviously very pleased with himself. This is the first new milestone in quite awhile, so it is SO exciting!

"Stuck in the mud"

2007-08-06T19:52:00.000-07:00

One of Evan's favorite books right now involves a Red Tractor pulling various and sundry animals and people out of a mud pit. Now everything is "stuck in the mud." His toy train gets stuck in the mud. Diego gets stuck in the mud. His blue truck gets stuck in the mud. The other night, Evan sang me a couple songs before nite-nite with this reoccurring theme:

"monkey, monkey, monkey, feet, stuck in the mud"
"doggie, doggie, doggie, stuck in the mud, fall down!"

"Giant!"

2007-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:00

Evan isn't afraid of monsters under his bed, but he does pretend to be afraid of the "GIANT!" He was introduced to the giant thanks to the Children's Bible story about David and Goliath. Ever since, he says the word with a grave sense of dread and a gravely deep voice, cuggles up to me in bed and holds on for dear life. (No complaints out of me!) Then, when he's sufficiently scared himself, he says, "Giant all gone!" One day, he went so far as to say, "Giant...go to work...in the car."

Catching Up

2007-08-01T07:38:00.000-07:00

There is A LOT of catching up to do with Evan's growth over the past 6 months. I've been writing little snippets on scraps of paper and quick entries in my journal, so now is the time to get it in the blog! I didn't always keep track of the dates, but here goes:

~ Super Evan! I tie my big handkerchief around his neck and he runs around with his arms behind him like he's flying.

~ Evan's Entourage: monkey-doggy-airplane (spoken as one word - these are the stuffed toys he sleeps with...although doggy is MIA these days), 2 plastic helicopters, 1 green airplane.

~ 3 question quiz for Evan: What's your name? "Evan" How old are you? "Two" (tries to show 2 fingers) Do you prefer PC or Apple? "Apple" And so begins the indoctrination.

~ Why do kids look suspiciosly at a bowl full of broccoli and refuse to take a bite. But they will stick their finger in their nose or in their ear and then, curious, stick it in their mouth?

~ more adorable mispronunciations: "wavoo wrinkles" (water sprinklers), "vivee truck" (delivery truck)

More Circus!

2007-07-22T18:50:00.001-07:00

Circus

2007-07-22T18:49:00.001-07:00

We had a really good time, although we were all kind of tired because none of us slept well the previous night. Evan didn't take a nap before hand, so when we first walked into the Staples Center, I think he was a little over stimulated. It was dark, with a lot of bright stage lights and loud. I sat him on my lap and he patiently watched the first half of the show, but didn't really show a lot of signs that he was enjoying it.

At intermission, we went out to the lobby to get some snacks. Evan had a chance to run around a little. And when it was time to go back inside, Evan didn't want to go back. We led him back into the auditorium anyway and tried to keep him interested, but he was fidgety and crying. So Mark took him out to the lobby to let him run around a bit more. I went out to check on them and asked Evan, "Don't you want to come back and see the rest of the circus?" To which he replied, "No Show! No Show!"

So, we went ahead and left early and Evan fell asleep in the car almost instantly.

We bring up the circus every once in awhile and ask him what he remembers seeing and he says, "tigers, horses, zebras." That about sums it all up!

Kimberly & Evan

2007-07-11T21:03:00.001-07:00

The Boy is Resourceful

2007-06-22T15:06:00.000-07:00

I took away Evan's toys as a consequence of NOT putting his toys away when asked. All he has left to play with is the furniture. So, he's rearranging the chairs and piling up the pillows. It's funny, but I'm not sure if this consequence is working.

ABC song

2007-06-18T15:04:00.000-07:00

Evan is learning the ABC song. He can sing it all the way to the end, but he does leave out some letters and and combine some other letters like "too-v" (t, u, v). It's so amazing to hear him sing songs.

First Performance

2007-05-16T15:01:00.000-07:00

Evan performed his first concert for me this afternoon. He got out his keyboard and slid it across the room to where I was laying down. then he started pressing down on the keys and get this - SINGING!

I thought I recognized one of the words as "pasta." I asked, "Is that the pasta song?" and he said, "pa-ta song." And then I said, "More! More songs!" And he played /sang another one, this time with the word, "rain." "Is that the rain song?" I asked. "Rain song."

And then I tried to get him to recreate the moment so I could record it on my iPod. But Evan was only interested in the iPod and it turned into this power struggle. Bottom line: Evan sang me a song and accompanied himself on the keyboard. And it was AWESOME!

Evan's Grammar Rules

2007-05-05T08:25:00.000-07:00

Drop the first letter or part of the word:
"wah" (draw)
"sheen" (machine - as in "loud sheen")

Add "d" sound at the end of words ending in "n"
"oceand" (lotion)

If you don't know the word, use a filler like:
"nunga-nunga-nunga"

Words ending in "er" are pronounced "oo":
"wavoo" (water)
"showvoo" (shower)

Repeat words for maximum impact:
"tra-trash man"
"shoo-shoo" (Cheerios)

Replace the first letter of a word:
"lapes" (grapes)
"loh-loo" (love you)

This and That

2007-04-17T14:57:00.000-07:00

One morning during our cuggle time, Evan asked to play with the plastic case that I keep my earplugs in. He kept pointing to it and I picked it up and said, "What, this?" Ever since then, when he wants to play with it, he asks for "this."

"Mama, sit"

2007-04-06T14:53:00.001-07:00

This is what Evan says when he wants me to play with him. His favorite activity lately is building tall houses with his Mega Blocks. We build the foundation together and then he brings me more pieces says, "else" as in, here's something else to balance on top. When it falls over, we just start again and build a new house.