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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...

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!