The Letter M and more

As many of you already know, sleep has been our biggest challenge in parenting. All the sleep "experts" say to introduce a lovey for your child to sleep with. Apparently the idea is that they will take this small stuffed animal to bed with them, feel it in the middle of the night and be soothed back to sleep knowing that they are safe. However, I would like to gently explain to these dear experts that whenever we offer a lovey Evan throws it overboard declaring Leslie and I the only lovies worth mentioning. But today for his nap, Evan fell fast asleep clutching his letter M. I had to go grab the camera because it was so cute! He didn't even let go of it even after falling asleep!

Letters remain THE activity. Here is another picture of Evan showing us the letters he knows on a license plate in a parking lot. We don't get anywhere very quickly, for as you know, letters are EVERYWHERE! Good times!


We ask him, "what word begins with the letter M?" And he signs "moon". We are trying to teach him his web site address but so far all he's got is "dub, dub, dub" - which is probably a pretty good start for a fourteen month old. One more cute picture of a smiling and blurry boy who was very proud for climbing on top of his box. Check out the cute frog shirt that his Auntie Karla got him!

School Is Out

Evan and I attend a baby and parent class once a week at our local community college.

It's a great way to meet other parents, learn new games and songs, and watch Evan play.
These are some pictures that another parent took on the last day of school before summer break because she was smart enough to remember her camera.

As you can see, he was looking quite dapper in a new sweater from his Great Aunt Jane!

14 Month Update

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Originally uploaded by hrharman

It's been FOREVER since we've posted anything. Needless to say, Evan and life (Evan) are keeping us very occupied. We are having a blast with him! He's almost 14 months. He's walking (running), climbing, and exploring.

His favorite thing to do is read. We go to the library at least every other week. Right now we have 18 books checked out and we read them all. Books about the characters Maisy and Max and his sister Ruby are favorites as are the alphabet books.

Evan L-O-V-E-S letters. He recognizes letters everywhere we go and says sounds for many of them. We will try to get it on video soon. "M" is his favorite letter and you must say it back to him and point to it when he says it. Otherwise toddler meltdown and yelling will ensue!

Among his other favorite things are gardening, basketball, Legos, and climbing the slide.

We've been working on sign language with him and it's really paying off. Instead of yelling for what he wants he can now communicate with us. It's also given him a lot of confidence. The signs that he uses the most are: bird, moon, hat, ball, dog, water, flower, more, book, cow, mouse, and milk.

It's so fun watching him develop. Leslie and I are amazed by his growth everyday and can't believe how quickly it all happens. It's so much work but at the same time I realize that some day he'll be off to college and I'll be missing him so much.