Lots of Good Things to Announce!

Lots of great news to announce! Evan has been doing so well in his special preschool class. Every day he chats about "I ride the bus"! We can't get him to say much more about what he did during the day but his teacher sends notes home in his journal so we know a little. He has become a much chattier kid which is fun. There are still many time when we can't clearly understand what he is saying and have to ask him to repeat himself. He must think we are really dumb!

Another great accomplishment (although it's not too exciting to talk about in public) is that he is pretty much completely potty-trained! He's been diaper free for almost 2 weeks. He is even staying dry during the night. He has to stay accident-free for 2 weeks in his daycare class for him to bump up to the 3-year-old room. He is 1-week into it, so fingers crossed he does well this week. He has spent some afternoon time over with the 3's, so it should be a smooth transition for him.

The third item of news is that I found out from our Tucson March of Dimes Chapter that Evan is the top youth walker for 2009 in the southern Arizona region AND number 241 nationwide! A huge thanks to everyone who continues to support Evan in the various March of Dimes events such as the Jail and Bail and Walk for Babies.

For the past few Saturdays, Evan has been participating in a introductory sports program for 3-5 year olds with the city. For 2 weeks they did baseball and the past 2 weeks were basketball. Next week is soccer (yeah). We have some video of him that we'll post, so stay tuned. Most of the time we chased him around since he wasn't interested in doing what the other kids were doing.


Here is his class picture from Carmichael Elementary Special Preschool:

Riding the Big Bus

Evan has a full week under his belt at his special preschool program. 4 days a week he is picked up by a bus to take him to Carmichael Elementary (yes, little Evan is riding the big bus)! He spends 2.5 hours at the school working with a preschool teacher and a speech therapist to get him caught up on his language skills. His class only has 4 other students, so he's getting a lot of one-on-one attention. All the notes we get back from his teachers are positive, so of course he's a teacher's favorite!

3-year Old Pics

We had Evan's 3-year old pics taken today. Ya never know what you're gonna get with him in front of the camera. In celebration of the Steelers winning the Super Bowl, we had pics taken with him in his Ben jersey.

17 Quarts!

For those of you parents who ever wanted to know the "volume" of their child...here is the perfect way to figure it out...



Evan should be helping his Mom organize his room, but instead is enjoying sitting in the 17 quart container.

Hip Hip Hooray!

Evan is still a big Winnie the Pooh fan (both the old school Winnie and the newer "My Friends Tigger and Pooh". Nanny and Bop sent Evan a musical birthday card with an "old school Winnie" song. It took Evan a little bit, but he almost can sing the whole song. This is a pretty big feat for a kid who wasn't talking much until recently.

Check up with Dr. Smith

Evan had his 3-year-old checkup with our local pediatrician, Dr. Smith today. It has been a while since we've had Evan weighed, so we guesstimated ahead of time that he would weigh about 23 pounds (he's been feeling heavier lately). We were close, he weighed 22 lbs. 2 oz. but he was 33 inches (so he is getting taller). He's still way off the charts, but a pretty perfectly sized 18-month old.

He was an absolute angel at his appointment...he even went to Dr. Smith and sat on his lap willingly. Evan got a clear bill of health. We don't have to come back to see Dr. Smith until he's 4 (unfortunately there will be shots at his 4 year old check-up).

3rd Birthday!

Hard to believe that Evan turned 3 today! We brought in snacks for his daycare class to celebrate with his friends instead of doing a big party.

Evan sporting his "3 Year Olds Rock" t-shirt that I made for him:



Evan's birthday party at school (it was a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme):





His "Go Diego Go!" themed birthday cake:



He needed some help from Dad to blow out the candles:

Birthday Part 2

Videos from his birthday:

T-Ball and Piping

Aside from wishing Evan to be a happy and healthy child; he has parents who have knacks for different talents: music and sports. These two videos show that Evan has potential in those two areas.

If you have your speakers on, check your volume before playing this one. This is Evan playing a bagpipe chanter. A bagpipe chanter is what beginning pipers use to work just on the bagpipe fingerings. After a person masters that, then you progress to actually blowing into the bagpipe (which is a whole other skill to master). I haven't been keeping up with my bagpipe practice (sorry Marc)...maybe Evan can pick up where I left off. It is funny seeing Evan in the video act like he is fingering the holes on the chanter (although the chanter is way huge for him).



In this video you can see Evan's first try at t-ball. From the video, it appears Evan really favors his left hand. We kept trying to get him to switch sides and swing like a rightie; but he kept going back to his left.

Getting Ready for a New School

On Thursday, we had a meeting with all of Evan's early intervention specialists and new teachers in anticipation of him "aging out" into the Headstart program. In August, he will go to Carmichael Elementary 2.5 hours 4 days a week to get speech therapy. We weren't able to meet his teacher Dana since she had a family emergency, but we were able to meet one of the school psychologists and his new speech therapist. The timing turned out good that he turns 3 in July and the new school year starts at the beginning of August.

Funny to think that he will be riding a bus from daycare to Carmichael (of course there is an aide on the bus with him to make sure he gets to where he needs to go). There are other kids from his daycare who will be going to Carmichael also, so he won't be alone. It was a bummer that Village Meadows didn't offer the Headstart programs since that is right behind our house. We're not sure if he will attend the morning or afternoon session; but since he is a good early afternoon napper, chances are he will attend the morning session. The big drawback to that is that he will miss breakfast at school.

If We Were Sticks...

I found the link to this site on another friend's blog page...I couldn't customize the dogs though...

Make your Stick Figure Family at FreeFlashToys.com

News : Community band strikes up fun in Sierra Vista : Sierra Vista, AZ

News : Community band strikes up fun in Sierra Vista : Sierra Vista, AZ

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Knockers!

Every day Evan's communication skills improve; but we still find ourselves asking Evan to repeat himself. The other morning Evan came up to me and said he wanted what sounded like "knockers". I asked him to repeat it and he repeated as clear as day. Of course I had no idea what he was saying and I asked him to show me what he was wanting. He pulled me over to a bag of toys we had taken on the trip to the Albuquerque soccer tournament. As he was digging through this bag I had no idea what he was going to pull out that resembled the word "knockers" until he pulled out his plastic binoculars. Aaahhh...."knockers" are "binoculars"...anyone would know that, right?

This Will Make Me Taller!

Evan had fun today playing at Patagonia Lake. We hope gravity will do it's job!

See, I Draw!

I was able to catch Evan saying a few phrases: "See, I draw" and "I drop". He was mimicking what he saw on an epsiode of "Shaun the Sheep"...which is his latest favorite show to watch. On one of the episodes, the sheep paint funny abstract forms on a canvas. Evan's not to far off from that!

He went on to draw his versions of mom and dad, which were nothing more than scribbled lines (if we were only that skinny in real life)! Note in the video that he's standing on his tall step stool to get a better height. I think there is a glimpse of him putting his hands on his hips; which is a new thing he is doing that is funny to see.

Today was Evan's hooky day from school. He had a fever for most of the day yesterday. This morning he was still a little bit warm, so we split the shift today at home with him. He was still in his comfy pjs sporting his latest fun thing to do...stick out his tongue.

Evan the Treat-Meister

Evan loves giving his best buddies treats.

Class Picture Flashback

Evan's class pictures from the previous 2 years:

Class Pictures!

Evan's class pictures turned out great!

Easter Egg Hunt

Fore or He Shoots, He Scores?

Evan is getting the hang of using his plastic golf clubs. He is also showing hockey tendencies...sortta "Happy Gilmore" style.

March for Babies 2009

It was a very busy weekend! On Saturday, the Sierra Vista March for Babies took place. It was an early day for me since I had to be at the park by 0530 to help set-up. We had a great turnout this year. Our family team, Warrior 06 raised over $1000, which was more than last year. A big thank you to everyone who donated.

Thunder Mountain 5K

Today was the annual Thunder Mountain 5K/10K on post. Evan and I participated alongside two of my co-workers, Terri and JoNell. Terri is my buddy that walks the Bisbee steps with us. Terri ran the 5K, but I walked with JoNell. This was the first time doing a run since the Tucson Half Marathon back in December.

Evan thrilled as usual to be up early:


I hadn't had Evan in the jog stroller for a while, so I was worried he would get antsy out on the course. I had his favorite movie du jour (Cars) on the Ipod and he was engrossed the entire time. After the race, they held the Diaper Dash again for kids 3 and under. Evan was so antsy to run, he ran all by himself as a warm up; but when the whistle blew for the real start, he froze (must be performance anxiety).

This was the warm-up run (he looks like a real sprinter)!:


This was the real race (I think that girl looks older than 3)!





Afterwards, we went to the Landmark for breakfast. I was worried since we never go out to eat with Evan (he's in a nightmare stage). Luckily, the movie kept him occupied until the food came, and he actually ate! I ordered him a plate of 2 scrambled eggs and white toast. He ate almost the whole plate of eggs (which I had to cover in ketchup) with an adult fork. He nibbled on a bit of the toast too. So he truly is a social eater.

Future Tiger?

We got some footage of Evan swinging a club in the backyard. No Tiger Woods yet, but he's working on it.

Sierra Vista March For Babies

The Sierra Vista March for babies is in less than two weeks. Here is the link to his video for this year's walk:

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Reid Park Zoo

We took Evan to Reid Park Zoo in Tucson. The weather was perfect, not too hot or cold and a little overcast. Evan wasn't super-interested in the animals, so we aren't predicting he'll be a zoologist.

MoD Family Day

The Tucson March of Dimes held a family day at the Tucson Children's Museum. It was the first time we had been to the museum. It was super-crowded since it was a free day for the community and there was a Carnivale across the street at Armory Park.

Pump It Up

Since today was a day off (for one of us); I took Evan to a place up in Tucson called Pump It Up which is an indoor playplace with inflatables. We took my good friend Sunny and her daughter Anya with us. There were 2 big rooms full of inflatable slides and obstacle courses. Evan stuck to the biggest slide (most of the time asking us to carry him to the top).

After playing at Pump It Up, we took a side trip to Himmel Park down near campus to play outside. For those of you who are familiar with Himmel Park in Tucson, there is a huge slide there (very tall, very fast)...called the "Giganto Slide of Death". Right before we left the park, Evan decided to climb up the slide all by himself (I was behind him making sure he didn't fall). At the top, we had to come down of course. He went down the slide all by himself (with Sunny catching him at the bottom). I had to come down too...let me just say...when you have a lot of mass, you come down that slide mighty fast.

We finished off the day with lunch at Chuck E Cheese. Evan had a blast watching the animatronic characters. He even got to see Chuck E in person (without freaking out).

Evan had so much fun riding down with Anya.


Poor Anya was such a trooper, she suffered some serious brush burn on the slide bringing Evan down one of the times.


This was some other mom that helped bring Evan down the slide. He decided to climb the whole way up the slide by himself, but got scared to come down.


Note Evan's hair as he rides with Sunny. That slide was fast!


We were so proud to see him eat an entire piece of sausage pizza!

March of Dimes Video

A great video explaining what the March of Dimes is all about. Evan is getting closer to his goal of $500 for this year's March for Babies. Team Warrior 06 will be walking again this year (we're considered a "veteran team" now).

Snowy Morning

We had one of those rare weather occurances this morning...snow! As you can see, it was not a lot; but enough to have us on a "late start" day at work.

Representing His Home Team!

To show he's not afraid to "represent" in Arizona....Evan had a different Steeler shirt to wear every day of the week. I forgot to take a picture Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, but here are the pics from Thursday and Friday.

Thursday's Shirt


Friday's Shirt

Dentist Check-Up

Evan had his 6-month check-up with the dentist today. He got the all-good from the dentist despite screaming his head off during the exam. All his expected teeth have come in and we're waiting on the back set of molars.

Seeing a New Doc at UMC

Evan's primary care doctor wanted us to see a pediatric endocrinologist (which means another trip to Tucson since we don't have that type of doctor in Sierra Vista). His doctor's appointment was at his old stomping grounds...University Medical Center. We saw both a pediatric resident and Dr. Wheeler. Luckily, no shots or other crazy tests. We have to get an x-ray done of Evan's hand. An odd thing, but that will help to determine his bone age (to see if he's having a growth problem). When we see the doctor again in three months, he'll take more precise measurements and start tracking Evan's growth more closely. At least Evan is getting taller (but he's still way small for his age).

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Weight: 21.8 lbs.
Height: 32 in.

Choo-choo!

Evan is getting the hang of riding his train. To get traction, he has to sit back a bit on the seat.

EEG Results

Forgot to give a follow-up on the results of Evan's recent medical tests. We've only heard results back on the EEG, and they came back normal (which we figured). We're still waiting on thre MRI results.

On a different note...we're proud to announce Evan used his potty chair for the first time tonight. Since lately he's fond of running around the house semi-naked or fully naked, it's easy for him to sit on the potty. We moved the chair by the t.v. where he was watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse (gasp...something other than Pooh)...and I told him to make sure he sits on the potty if he had to pee. He jumped up on the potty and did his business (twice)! So proud!!