Huh...?

Say anything, and I do mean anything, to Evan these days and he will immediately respond with a "Huh?".

Me: Evan, what would you like for lunch?
Evan: Huh?

Me: Are you ready for our next adventure?
Evan: Huh?

Me: Good morning Evan.
Evan: Huh?

I'm not sure why or how this began, but it is driving me crazy. Like nails on a chalk board, I cringe every time I hear him utter it. Occasionally for effect he will also add: "What's that? I can't hear you." or "I no understand you." Did I teach him this? Pat is quick to say yes. Sadly, I probably did. However, in my defense, Evan talks a lot, all the time actually, (which by the way is not a Girvin trait) while I am eating, changing Eli's diaper, checking my email, driving the car, going to the bathroom it doesn't matter. Since he talks every waking minute, it is impossible for me to always give him my full attention, and sometimes I can't always understand what he says. So I must throw in a "huh?" now and again. If that is the case then I am on a mission to reform myself, and purge the word "huh" from my vocabulary - and hopefully Evan's too.

Evan or Eli?

I was looking through some photos of Evan at 4 months and I was struck by how much Eli looks like him at that age. Can you guess who's who?

weighing in

Eli went for his 4 month check-up on Thursday, where he weighed in at an impressive 16 lbs 5.5 ozs and 26.5 inches tall, which puts him in the 90th percentile for height, 75th for weight. In 4 months time he has grown 5 inches and nearly doubled his weight!

In addition to his impressive growth we learned that he has an "auxiliary nipple" (that's medical speak for a third nipple) and that his eyes are going to be brown.

His hair is still dark red, although less fuzzy than when he was born. Judging by his hairline, I think he is going to have a fuller head of hair than his brother. I also think that he is looking more and more like Pat everyday... but we'll see.

Physically he is getting stronger and his motor skills are improving. He has recently made a sport of rolling over. As soon as you lay him down on his back he immediately flips onto his stomach. This makes diaper changes a bit more work, but it is fun to watch him wiggle and squirm on his belly. He has also recently fallen in love with his Whoozit toy (which never interested Evan). He coos and giggles and screams with delight while he plays. He's a lot of fun to interact with and his giggles make my day. He watches his brother like a hawk - which could be trouble - but for now it is very endearing to watch a brotherly bond forming.

Rolling over...

Eli is really starting to become his own little person. He is entering a very fun and exciting stage of development. As a matter of fact, he rolled over for the first time today!

Last week I put him into his jumper for the first time and he loved it. He's not exactly jumping yet, but he seems to be getting stronger and more confident moving around and bouncing. It's fun to watch - and convenient. We keep it in the kitchen, so I can get things done without having to wear him in the Bjorn carrier all the time. Not that I mind, but he is heavy!!

He has also recently discovered that the best way to observe something closely is in his mouth. Fingers, rattles, thumbs, and his favorite toy - a little soft lion. I keep the lion on the little jumper tray where he then tries to suck on it while he bounces. Inevitably the lion falls and Evan comes running (often leaving the dinner table) to pick it up for him. "Here you go Eli." It's very sweet.

Eli for his part can't get enough of his brother. Whenever Evan talks to him he smiles and laughs, which delights Evan. In the car Eli almost always keeps his head turned toward Evan and watches him intently. As I see how sweetly they interact with each other I think, one day they are going to get into lots of trouble together...

Beach Love

The forecast had called for rain, but Sunday turned out to be a beautiful beach day. So we packed up the van and headed for Hampton for what turned out to be a fun and relaxing day. After we had settled in Evan and Dad made some excellent sand castles. Then we headed to the rocks to explore the tide pools. As we were looking at crabs and "waterfalls" and finding rocks to throw, a little girl came over to show us her snail. At first Evan didn't want to be bothered, but as she was imparting her wisdom of snail life cycles to me, Evan decided to greet her: "Hi!" he said "Wanna hug?". As I suppressed my laughter, the girl, clearly confused, looked at him blankly and then wandered off without a response. Unperturbed, my little Romeo found the perfect throwing rock and went on his way.

athlete extraordinaire

Anyone who has spent more than 1o minutes with Evan knows that he is quite coordinated for his age. At 34 months he is already a pretty good athlete, and his repertoire of skills keeps expanding. His latest is playing catch with his new kid sized baseball glove. The glove is a bit big for his hand, but it doesn't really matter. He can catch the ball if you underhand it from a short distance, and he certainly has no problem with the return pitch.

Tee ball is another favorite. A neighbor was giving away the tee ball set, so we walked over and grabbed it. It has turned out to be one of our greatest acquisitions ever. He can hit balls happily, and usually by himself, for long periods of time.

His current favorite game is called "hit the pitch". This involves one of us pitching a soft plastic ball that Evan attempts, and usually succeeds, to hit with his "indoor" baseball bat. I'm guessing here, but I'm willing to bet that I toss at least 100 pitches a day, probably more, and this does not include all of the pitches from Pat in the evening. The beauty of this game for me is that I can pitch while nursing, although I do occasionally have to duck or shield the baby from hard hit line drives. Just this afternoon I got beamed between the eyes, and poor Eli has also been hit once or twice by balls that have been deflected off things like the lamp, the picture frames, or the window. Nothing is safe when he is hitting. Thankfully the ball is very soft, and our living room is Evan proof.

Daddy's Little Helper

Evan woke from his nap on Saturday ready to help Daddy in the yard. Of course putting pants on was not an option. Pat was digging a new garden at the foot of the driveway. Because the area was covered in gravel the area had to be excavated several feet before the top soil could be added. So armed with his Elmo underwear and his purple beach shovel Evan climbed in to the hole to help daddy.
Once he tired of digging, Daddy sent him to water the garden. A job he loved. I mean what could be better than watering the garden in your underwear on a hot day? The one problem with his watering technique is that he forgets to move the hose. So if he's not reminded, one little basil plant will get several gallons of water and the thirsty zucchini plant will get nothing. And because he is stubborn, sometimes a gentle reminder to move the hose on to the next plant is met with a loud "NO!"; which illicits a threat to turn off the water, which in turn gets him to happily move on to the next plant. He's learning though...

Camping!

Last Friday we went on the first ever Kaplo family camping trip. And boy did we have fun. In one of Evan's favorite episodes of Bob the Builder "the team" goes camping and roasts marshmallows on a camp fire. He talks about it all the time, so I knew Evan would enjoy camping out "just like Bob". I just couldn't have known how much he would like it. His happiness and excitment were contagious.

We had a beautiful water front campsite at Pawtuckaway State Park (just 30 minutes from home), and the weather was perfect. The first order of business was not setting up the tent, but throwing rocks in to the water. The shore was down a short, but steep embankment, so Evan needed an escort for his rock throwing exploits, which delayed the set up of camp but was well worth it. He was very excited to see all of the boats speeding by, but the real thrill was seeing how far he could throw the rocks, or how big a splash he could make.

After exhausting a large pile of rocks we asked him to find sticks for the fire while Dad set up the tent and Mom fed Eli. He was delighted by this chore and would happily announce each new stick or twig he found. This kept him busy for quite some time. After the tent was up, we started a fire - which delighted Evan no end. We cooked veggie burgers over the fire and then settled in for some "marsh-mesh-ow" roasting. Evan can toast a pretty good marshmallow, which of course he had to do by himself (with just a bit of help from Dad). As darkness began to settle someone across the lake launched a rather impressive display of fireworks. As infatuated with fireworks as he is, they still scare him, so he clung to me with his face buried in my neck until the fireworks were finished.

At bed time we all climbed into our giant tent (or "office" as Evan called it). Evan has his own twin air mattress, Pat and I have a queen and Eli had his car seat between the mattresses. It was a perfect evening for sleeping outside. The temperature was about 68, the air was still and the stars were out. The one exception to this Utopian camp out was the slow leak in the queen mattress. Around midnight I woke up to find that enough air had leaked out so that I could feel the ground. Misery. I tried to get comfortable to no avail. So I decided to crawl on to Evan's mattress which was still very firm. For a little guy he takes up a lot of bed, and he moves ALOT. I tried sleeping at the foot of the bed, but the ground was at a slant which made it uncomfortable. So I suffered through a long night with a wiggling, bed hogging toddler, which just may have been slightly more comfortable than sleeping on the ground on top of a flat air mattress like poor Pat.

I woke first, followed closely by Eli who woke with a smile and a coo, after sleeping through the night. He was so calm and happy the whole time we were out, we decided that like his brother he must be made for camping. He didn't seem to mind having his diaper changed on the picnic table, or sleeping outdoors in a car seat. He also enjoyed watching the light of the fire and going for exploratory walks with his brother.

It was a beautiful morning. The lake was still and we could hear the cry of a loon - which is one of my favorite sounds. When Evan woke we threw rocks in the water for a while and then went exploring. We heard a woodpecker (a bird hammering his nose), saw some chipmunks, and then listened to more loons. Unfortunately the bugs were enjoying the still dawn as much we were so we fled back to the tent and woke up Daddy. It was at this point that we realized with dismay that despite having brought our plastic french press and our Starbucks coffee we had no mugs. This may not sound like a big deal, but Pat and I don't function well without our morning caffeine. As a matter of fact, it's best not to talk to Pat until he's had a few sips. So we packed it in early and headed for the nearest Dunkin Donuts. As we were leaving I was excited to think that we would have many more of these camping adventures. But next time I have to bring the camera!