So Much Going On

This past week was a trying one.   E was not in the best of temperaments.   His fifth tooth is almost popping through and he has been extremely fussy.  Hoping it comes through quickly.   

E is mimicking almost every move we show him or ask him to do.   It's cute.  His latest move is to throw a ball.   He attempts to throw it to Dex and when he does, Dex doesn't chase it since it only rolls about a foot.   Poor Ev, he just looks at Dex, Dex looks at him and that's that.   Evan also likes to help in the folding laundry chore :0)  He likes to take the clean clothes out of the laundry basket, and once I fold them, particularly the rolled socks, he throws them into the laundry basket.  Some make it, and some bounce off the rim.    

Aside from E's new skills, Grace, Evan, Catherine and I tried a class at Gymboree called Play and Learn.   It was a lot of fun!  We sang songs, tumbled on the mats and jungle gym equipment, and blew bubbles.   We had such a great experience that Gracie and Evan are signed up for the same class in March.  We also went to Fantasy Kingdom a fun extra big play space with all sorts of exploratory toys, tunnels, and slides.  E had a good time.  So much that he took a super long nap (over 2 hours) that afternoon that I think we'll be adding that place to our weekly or bi-weekly activities :0)

Yesterday we had Evan's friend, William's first birthday party.  They had it at Family Grounds...our most favorite hang out!  All our friends were there to celebrate!  It was a fun time...wish it could have lasted longer.   

A busy week lies ahead, we aside from grandma visiting, we have a first birthday celebration party for all the kiddos that turned one in the last 2 months for our Big City Babies play group, the flooring guy coming to fix the wood floor, Family Grounds, Bubbles, a My Gym Trial class, and most importantly, DATE NIGHT (well really Date Day) on Saturday.   A much needed time that we haven't done in well over 2 months!

Oh... and tomorrow our home will officially be on the market!!   I have mixed emotions about it, but since we are in no pressure to move, I don't feel that uneasy overall.   

Getting too big too fast

LOTS of new things that Mr. E has mastered this week...ha!   He is now saying "Mama"!!!  It's bitter sweet...love hearing it but not a million time over :0)

When E hears music he starts to hum, well sort of, it sounds more like a hmm as he bounces to the beat.  He's also imitating what we do.   He claps when we clap, pounds the ground, mimics movements that we make or what the kids in our play group do, it's too cute.  He's starting to shake his head side to side as if he was shaking his head no.  He hasn't associated the meaning of it yet, but I am sure that will come soon enough...ha ha.  He's totally his mommy's child....he likes to organize things over and over again!  His latest is taking stuff in and out of containers and or moving things from one container to another.  Of course, this is all probably a developmental thing, but it's too similar to my ways :)  

Aside from all Evan's new developmental milestones, we had an eventful week.  On Monday we visited E's great grandparents and even got to see his cousin, Grace, Aunt Lori and Uncle Tom.  We ate lunch with them, talked and played.  Tuesday Ev and I tried a Mom & Tot Yoga class at Bloom Yoga.  It was lots of fun.  Our friends, Carly and Shayla, joined us in our new adventure!   We are going to go at least once a month since both E and I enjoyed ourselves.   Thursday was fun...we went to Gigi's Play house.  It's new to the city but not new to the surrounding suburbs.  Gigi's is a play space for children with Down Syndrome.  It also allows for children without Downs to interact with children with it.   We met a little guy named Conner.  He was 2 years old.     Of course, E's still a bit young to interact with him but it was the whole concept that I be engaged in.  Friday we made up our Bubbles class that we had missed on Thursday because of Gigi's Playhouse play date.  The instructor was comparable and Evan seemed to  like the class as much as our regular Thursday class.  Yesterday Evan and I went out to see my friend, Anne Marie's, new home in Elgin while Daddy worked on a project.   We had fun play time with Anne Marie's friend's 1 year old son, Christian.  E kept taking Christian's pacifier.  It's funny...E doesn't even like pacifiers.  But what's not their's is always what they want, right?!?!  Today is Mommy Day and Daddy and Evan Day ;0)  While Dave and Ev spend some quality time together, I'm going to a Cardio Dance and coffee with a close friend and then to Hot Vinyasa Yoga later today!

Only 6 weeks until our little man turns one!  

Weekend Fun

Aunt Callie and Uncle Matt came for a visit on Saturday.   It was a lot of fun!  Cal and Matt played with Ev while we caught up on our day to day happenings.   Uncle Matt played the guitar for E and E tried helping him strum a tune.

Today Dave, Evan and I headed out to Glenview to check out a new kids place called Make A Messterpiece.  What a cute and creative hangout for kids!  I wish they had these kinds of places when we were little.  I could have hung out there all day and played.   They had a play area for kids 2 and under so that's where we hung out (see pics).   We tried to get E to make a messterpiece by painting on paper in his smock...but. that. didn't. happen.   He's a little too young for the arts component :0(  Maybe next year when he's older.  

Ev's tooth is completely through his gum!  No more B.R.A.T. diet, whining, diarrhea, or hanging on my leg :0)  Thank goodness!  It was wearing a little thin.  He's back to himself and rearing to go!

E's 4th Tooth

Another tooth!   Now E has four...two top and two bottom.   Of course with the eruption of a new tooth (well... at least in Ev's case) comes lovely bouts of diarrhea, drooling, and plenty of WHINING!!!   Today we had 4 poopy diapers, 3 outfit changes, and one bath.  The one bath today was an improvement from yesterday 2 baths.  E got a bath immediately after he woke up when I found his pjs bleeding a lovely shade of brown and green, and one relatively close to bed.  We usually bathe Evan around 5:30 and put him into his pjs, he was in and out of the bath by 4:30 thanks to an explosive diaper shortly before that.  It was not a pretty sight.  Glad this tooth has finally cut through.  I am hoping for it to completely emerge within the next day or so, so the whining will stop and he will be more comfortable.  I hate seeing him in uncomfortable :0(

Managing the cold Chicago weather

Despite the cold wintry Chicago weather, I have been trying to keep us busy with lots of fun and 'new' activities.  Our latest adventure was a new music class at Bubbles.  Ev wasn't too sure about it at first, he sat in the room and just took it all in.  After the instructor started playing the guitar and singing songs, Evan finally began to warm up but didn't really get comfortable until the last 5 minutes of class once he saw all the tumbling equipment.  Not that he didn't appear to like it, I just think he wasn't too sure what it was all about.  The last class we took was a swimming class, so this music class was, let's say...a. bit. different :0)

We also went to our favorite play place hang out, Family Grounds Cafe, with our friends last week.  We got a monthly membership there and will go every Wednesday for 2 hours of play.  The place is so popular that there is usually a waiting list.   You can imagine why our little man likes it sooooo much!  That is also why we decided to get the reserved Wednesday play time.

On to Evan's latest accomplishments!  So much has happened since my last post.   (I guess you can say I am a bit behind...oops!)  E's latest and greatest act is standing on top of his musical table (check it out on the right).  If we had space for a jungle gym in our house, it would be perfect for him.  He loves tumbling over things.  He still likes crawling with things in his mouth and would rather crawl than walk.  Looks like his walking days are still a ways away.  Thanks goodness...I am in no rush for that!

E's is babbling a lot and saying "dada" "ha", he's making the "m" sound, but still doesn't say "ma ma".  He's also saying "la la", "ba ba", and "ga ga".  Some times he sounds like he is trying to say "Dexter" but those sounds are all too complex, so I think I may just be hearing things ;0)
In addition to his talking, he is putting things into containers and pulling/ dumping them out.  The funniest of all things he likes putting into something... is his dirty diaper into the baby diaper genie garbage can.  As I am holding E, E holds onto the diaper, I step on the foot pedal, the lid opens and E drops the diaper into the opening of the garbage can.  After he makes it in, I take my foot off the pedal so the lid closes, then quickly push on the foot pedal again so he can look inside and see that it's gone.  Then we give each other a HIGH FIVE!   He is all smiles!!!  It's too funny!  You've got to see it!

WOW!  In rereading this post, quite a bit has happened in 10 days...I think I need to update every 2 days versus once every 2 weeks.  Too much to remember :0)

Some things I forgot to add in my previous posts...

With all the excitement of the holidays, I forgot to mention Evan's new developmental markers.  As of late, he's been crawling while carrying one of his toys in his mouth...lol...I wonder if he learned it from Dex.  He also has been crawling while holding objects in his hands, walking with one of his two walkers, and using his other standing toys as walkers even though they are not intended for use as walkers ;0).

Over the last two weeks, he has tried some new foods, ham, chicken, mango, peaches, kiwi, cantaloupe, honey dew, acorn squash, pitas, green bean casserole, baked sweet apples, Pillsbury Cheese biscuits, and mashed potatoes-all of which are solid, not pureed, and are cut into pieces.  He is no longer eating pureed foods, and actually hasn't been eating purees for about a month now.  He'd rather feed himself :0)  Mr. Independent E!!!  I tried pasta with him a few weeks back but he didn't much care for it.  Can't blame him because I made it plain.  I think I may add EVOO and parmesan cheese to it and see if he takes to it.  Of all the foods, he most definitely favors the meat, potatoes and breads...I wonder who he takes after (wink...wink).

E's has 3 teeth now.  The fourth is trying to pop through.  He's been drooling a lot within the last 3 days, gnawing on his hands and toys,  has the start of a diaper rash, and is more fussy than usual.   Hoping it just pops through already so we can pass by this irritability phase.  Enough already!   Unfortunately I know that it will only continue until he gets all of his teeth.  Ugh!  It makes me wonder, how the heck do some babes not even get phased by new teeth coming in...really, can that be?!?!

We kind of laid low for New Year's this year.  Dave, Evan and I met some of our city friends and their little ones at Bubbles for some New Year's Eve Baby and Toddler Party.  It was fun!  Sadly enough, I forgot my camera so I don't have any pictures.  That evening after Dave put Evan down for bed, Dave and I watched a movie ordered in, drank some wine, and in our attempt to stay up for the count down, passed out by 11 o'clock.  Amazing how things change ;0)  Today, our friends, Jen and Steve, had us over for a little New Year's Day college game day party.  Evan and Tyler played while Jen and I caught up, and Dave and Steve talked and watched the NW game.

Looking forward to a relaxing weekend, enjoying Dave's last couple days of vacation before he has to head back to work on Monday :0(