Can I See Myself?

This child isn't concerned about appearances...you have to wait until the very end of the clip to hear it...

Where Everyone Lives

Need to Start a Journal

Now that Evan can almost hold a complete conversation, we need to start keeping a journal on the "Evan-isms". Aside from some of things he says simply being funny...he says some things that are those "head-turn" moments. Those, "Wha?" moments for us.

The other Friday I was driving to the soccer field for my game and I had Evan with me (T was on an overnight motorcycle ride). I took the back way to Fry Boulevard, which takes us past his pediatrician's office. In the past, Evan usually recognizes the building (he loves the automatic opening doors) and says something along the lines of that being where the doctor lives. This time, he says..."I like Dr. Smith, he's really smart!". That was a head-turn "Wha"?! It was a shock to hear him actually say Dr. Smith's name. We'll see how much he likes Dr. Smith when we see him in July for his 4-year-old shots! ;-)

Schools Out!

Evan is bummed now that the regular school year is over! He really enjoyed the school year in the special preschool class. Since he has had incredible improvement in his speech over the year, he will no longer qualify for speech therapy at preschool. The great news is, he will be able to return as the "Typical Peer Mentor" in the class. The majority of his classmates in the special preschool class are there for speech development, so he will be the "model student" for his classmates. He will still only go for half a day and then ride the bus back to daycare again (his favorite part of the day).

Evan Class Pics

Decorating Cookies!

Here are some vids of Evan decorating Easter cookies (for the Easter Bunny of course).

Evan at the Little Gym

Some vids of Evan at the Little Gym in Tucson. He loves going here and running all over the place.

video-2010-01-07-12-03-46.3gp

This was a video from back in January when we were visiting family in Florida. This was a small beach near T's parents' house in Crystal River, FL.

Been Bad...I Know!!

All of Evan's latest videos are posted to YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jdorris88

I promise to try to get caught up one of these days!!

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...

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