Disorderly Conduct

It has become very obvious to me lately that Evan dislikes anything that's too neat or tidy. When he discovers a laundry basket full of folded clothes, he takes every item out one by one and tosses them on the floor. He opens dresser drawers and pulls out everything within his reach, and he purposely knocks over stacks of books and pulls his photo albums out of their storage crate. And in these particular photos, he'd just discovered the cabinet in which I store my cardigan sweaters. He took one look at those three piles of neatly stacked sweaters, and well, you guessed it...

Halloween Parade

Evan's daycare had a Halloween Parade today in which all the little kids got decked out in their costumes and took a stroll around the center's parking lot. I held Evan's hand and we made the full loop, with him taking tiny little steps in his big ole monkey feet. Needless to say, it was a looooong walk! He loved it, though, and when it was time to go home and he had to trade in his freedom for a car seat, he was one Mad Monkey!

Carrots as Hair Gel?

I placed some ravioli squares and some mushy cooked carrots on Evan's high chair tray the other night so that he could feed himself his dinner. He ate all of the pasta but just stirred most of the carrots around with his fingers. The next thing I knew, the carrots were in his hair! He started deliberately rubbing them through his hair from the top of his head down. Once he was finished with his masterpiece, he got all upset. It's not clear whether he decided that he didn't like having a head full of carrot juice after all, or if he was just mad because he had nothing left to 'paint' with.

Mooching Nana's Peach Milk Shake

Zzzzzzzzzzz

Cool Dance Moves

Talking on the Phone

The All-You-Can-Sleep Buffet

Getting It

We've noticed recently that Evan watches his videos with much more understanding now, and he laughs at all of the appropriate times. Here he is totally cracking up over the silly antics of a tiger puppet in the Baby Einstein video "Numbers Nursery." This scene makes him laugh every time.

Walking on the Sidewalk

Big Slide

Pumpkinville

Scary October

Phew, we have had a really crazy month so far. I took the first two days of Oct. off to take Evan to his new daycare center to help him transition from a small in-home daycare to a big center with 10 kids in his class. He seemed to really enjoy himself while we were there. On Sat. Oct 3rd, the 3 of us went to a pumpkin festival and petting zoo. Evan enjoyed looking at the animals and going on the hayride. His Dad also took him down a big slide, but he didn't have much of a reaction. Tom enjoyed it, though.

Then Evan's first official day of 'school' went well and he was totally hopped up with adrenaline when we got him home that night! He was literally running around in circles and laughing like a lunatic. He didn't sleep very well that night but we assumed it was from all the excitement of his day. However, the very next day he got sent home with a fever. The following day the doctor confirmed that he had Hand, Foot and Mouth disease, which 5 other kids in his class had been diagnosed with on the same day. Poor little fellow had a tough time with it. He had big red rash splotches all over his body and blisters in his mouth and on his hands and feet. He wouldn't eat much of anything and seemed to feel terrible. We had to keep him home from daycare for a week and he became very clingy to both me and Tom. I rearranged my upcoming vacation (supposed to be Oct. 19-23) to Oct. 12-16 and my parents change their plans so that they'd come a week earlier, too so they could help out with Evan. And on the first day of my vacation, I got a horrible sore throat and ran a fever, and discovered blisters on my hands and feet the next day! So even though Hand, Foot and Mouth disease is supposed to be a "Child's Virus" for children 10 and under, I managed to get it too! Someone pointed out that with odds like that, I should play the lottery!

Well, it's a new week now and the sun finally came out again after an eternity of rain, so things are looking up. Evan's had a good week at daycare so far and we're both close to being blister free! I'll say it again... PHEW!!