Day Careless

posted by Evan Jake at 7:56 PM

I love car rides. Now every morning I get to go on a car ride with mom. Only this is a one-way car ride. And it's a one-way car ride to somewhere I don't really want to go:

Day care.

This whole week, mom has been driving me to day care for a few hours at a time. Mom is starting full-time work soon and that means full-time day care for Evan Jake. That's bad news. The first couple days, mom stayed and played with me at day care. But then she did the unthinkable, and left me there all alone!

That's me in the picture playing on the floor at home. This is where I prefer to be. Instead, I'll be spending most of my time playing on the floor at my day care. Or being held, or rocked or carried. But where's the WiFi? I can't even blog at day care.

I like my new baby friends. It's cool to see how much cuter I am than all those other babies. Mom says I'm the cutest baby there.

I haven't gotten used to taking naps there. Not that I'm such a good napper at home, either. But at day care its much harder to sleep. I don't know how anyone could sleep in that big open room. At home I get to take naps in my nice, dark, quiet room, with no noise other than my little fan that I've slept with ever since I was a newborn. There are no soft fan noises at day care. But they do play soft music sometimes.

When I can't sleep or if I get fussy, the nice ladies taking care of me sing me songs. And when I'm not crying, those ladies talk to each other in funny languages. I can't even understand English!

I cried a lot the first couple days, but I'm pulling myself together. Each day is going a little better. I even took a couple of naps while I was there to pass the time. And then, before I know it, every day mom comes back to pick me up. That's my favorite car ride of the day. The car ride home.

~:O

Wordless Wednesday (7.26.06)

posted by Evan Jake at 7:41 AM

I'm so cute, I thought I'd jump on this bandwagon, too...



~:O

Night Divides the Day

posted by Evan Jake at 7:41 AM

We have break through! My first tooth!! For real this time...I think.

A couple months ago, mom and dad were convinced I was getting a tooth. I was being fussy. And they had tried everything to soothe me. They gave me toys, they gave me medicine, they took me on car rides (I love car rides). But it turned out to be a false alarm. No tooth. I was just being fussy, as usual.

But today, TODAY, I have toothage...I think.

On my bottom gum, there's a sharp little burr. I keep sucking on it, hoping it will go away, but it won't. Mom has noticed it too, as evidenced by her desire to stick her finger in my mouth every 2 seconds. Apparently a lot babies get fussy when a tooth breaks through. But not me. I'm fussy already. Even when I'm getting a tooth...I think.

Maybe this means I'll get to start eating real food. That's me in the picture eating my pureed carrots. I like carrots. But I can't wait to chomp down into one of those burgers I see mom and dad eating. I guess that will take a few more teeth. I can't wait to get them...I think.

~:O

Big Ten-Four, Ol' Buddy

posted by Evan Jake at 7:36 PM

Today mom and dad took me to the toy store to get me my very first toy truck. Being a cute little baby boy, mom and dad felt I looked out of place without a toy truck to play with.

That's me in the picture with my new toy truck. His name is Dusty Dozer. But I call him, "Ahh," which, coincidentally, is what I call most of my toys.

"Ahh" has a big handle I can grab onto and big round wheels I can spin with my fingers. He also has a hatch and cargo area where I can store my extra pacifiers. One never wants to get caught without a pacifier handy.

I don't know why mom and dad think I'd like having a truck to play with. It's true, I love car rides. Car rides. Not truck rides. Maybe a toy car would have been more appropriate? I don't know, I'm just saying. Well, apparently the men in our family (at least on mom's side) have a thing for trucks. So maybe they wanted to see if I got the truck gene. I think if they really want to test that theory, they should bring on the real thing, not this little plastic toy!

~:O

Strike Up the Band

posted by Evan Jake at 6:11 PM

Today I got to go to my first ever orchestra concert! There was a free concert as part of a big arts festival downtown. I guess dad decided he would take all of us to a free concert because he's too cheap to buy us tickets.

The concert hall was filled with lots of other babies. A lot of them cried and had to be taken out by their moms and dads. Not me. I was good for the most part. Dad said I was better behaved than all the other babies there.

I kind of like orchestra music. Dad plays it for me all the time, especially on car rides (I love car rides). And hearing a live orchestra for the first time was pretty exciting.

The concert was fairly short, which is good because I was getting a little fidgety by the end. Mom was doing an Olympian job just holding me still and not letting me wriggle out of her arms.

After the concert we walked around and took in the rest of the festival. There were lots of artists and musicians all around. It was pretty crazy. And hot, too. But then it started to rain. Mom and dad got all wet, but I mostly stayed dry because of my cool stroller with a roof.

By the time we got home, I was really hungry, so mom gave me my favorite food: carrots. That's me in the picture eating carrots.

Anyway, now that dad took us to an orchestra concert, maybe someday soon mom will take us all to a rock concert. There I could cry as loud as I want and no one would care!

~:O

Extreme Baby

posted by Evan Jake at 8:11 PM

I've become a very good sitter in the past couple weeks. Everyone who sees me playing says what a good sitter I am. If you plop me down on the floor I can just sit all by myself for a really long time. No more tipping! I must be taking after dad. He's also a good sitter. Except he usually does it on the couch, not the floor.

Even with my amazing solo-sitting skills, I continue to get more and more chairs for my collection. My favorite chair is still my car chair because I love car rides. But my new swing chair is a close second. After that fun birthday party I went to last week, mom and dad went out and bought me a new swing of my very own.

That's me in the first picture waiting for a big push. That's also me in the second picture and you can see how much I like swinging back and forth. It's a lot of fun. This chair isn't like any of the others I have already. This one is hung from above. Dad rigged the whole thing by himself with big chains and bolts. Even though I only weigh 17 pounds, dad used enough hardware to suspend and 2-ton truck.

The swing itself is just some plastic, thin ropes and a couple of straps. And it came with so many warning labels, you'd think it was a baby bungee-jumping set. If mom and dad followed all the warnings, they'd probably have me wearing a helmet and a onesie made of bubble wrap. Thankfully they're letting me live life on the edge -- okay, just a little. But I'll probably still require a trip to the emergency anyway when the whole thing comes crashing down one of these days.

Until then, yay swinging! Wee!!

~:O

Tag I'm It

posted by Evan Jake at 7:10 PM

I got "tagged" today by my blog-pal Avery. So I guess I have to answer these questions now, too, as cutely as possible!

3 Things That Scare Me
- Getting left alone in my crib
- The rectal thermometer
- Turning into my father

3 Things That Make Me Laugh
- Mom teasing me with a spooful of food
- My kitty-friend Emma
- Watching my dad turn into his father

3 Things I Love
- Mom and dad
- My "Pacie"
- Car rides!

3 Things I Dislike
- Bedtime
- Naptime
- Tummytime

3 Things I Don't Understand
- Why our house doesn't have any stairs
- What dad does at "work" all day
- What's the point of tummytime, again?

3 Things on My Desk
- What to Expect the First Year
- The No Cry Sleep Solution
- The Complete Idiot's Guide to Divorcing Your Parents

3 Things I'm Doing Right Now
- Blogging
- Looking really, really adorable
- Digging a tunnel under my crib to the outside

3 Things I Want to Do before I Die
- Reach that mobile above my crib
- Eat real food
- Become immortal

3 Things I Can Do
- Hit the wall with my pee while getting a diaper change
- Spit up immediately on a fresh outfit
- Look really, really adorable

3 Ways to Describe My Personality
- Lovable
- Charming
- Sweet

3 Things I Can't Do
- Convince mom to hold me all the time
- Get dad to buy me a flat screen TV
- Be not adorable all the time

3 Things I Think You Should Listen To
- Whatever I say
- Whatever I say
- Whatever I say

3 Things I Think You Should Never Listen To
- The sound of my pooping
- My ear-piercing cry
- The sound of my breathing while I'm sleeping (No, I'm not dead, I'm only sleeping. Leave me alone, dad, and stop waking me up!)

3 Absolute Favorite Foods
- Carrots
- Applesauce
- Sweet potatoes

3 Things I'd Like to Learn
- Spanish
- Sign Language
- English

3 Beverages I Drink Regularly
- Nutramigen
- Nutramigen
- Nutramigen

3 Shows I Watched as a Kid
- Baby Einstein's "Baby MacDonald: A Day on the Farm"
- The Price is Right
- The Daily Show (four times a day)

3 People I Tag (No Tag-Backs!)
- Dr. Harvey Karp
- Dr. Richard Ferber
- The Phillie Phanatic

~:O

Happy 1st Birthday!

posted by Evan Jake at 12:45 PM

Yesterday was a busy day. First we went on a short roadtrip where I met mom's aunt, uncle and cousins. They were super nice. They also have two big doggies. And I mean big doggies. Mom said they were a special combination breed. Judging by the size of them, I'm guessing a combination of German Shepherd and Wooly Mammoth. But they didn't scare me. Dad seemed more freaked out than I was. I just sat there and got my face licked. I thought I drooled alot, but those dogs are experts.

Then, after we left their house, we went to someone else's house for a one-year birthday party, even though I'm not quite seven months old. Actually, the party for was for another baby. In fact, there were several other babies there. That meant I wasn't the center of attention the entire time, but my new friends were fun to play with anyway. That's me in the first picture playing with my new friends.

There was also a fun swing in the backyard. I'm a bit of a thrill junkie. (That's probably why I love car rides with dad.) I loved getting pushed in the swing by mom and dad. That's me in the other picture in the big swing. Weeee!

The birthday boy was very impressive. He was able to do this crawling thing all by himself. He could wiggle all the way over to mom and get himself picked up. Note to Evan Jake: that's a nifty trick I need to learn.

Later in the party, the birthday boy got a big cake all to himself. He stuck his fingers right into the cake and smeared it all in his mouth. It looked like a lot of fun. I wasn't allowed to have any cake. That's okay, because that other baby had already put his hands all in it. Maybe in a few months I can get a big party, too, and get some cake for myself.

~:O

Baby Fireworks

posted by Evan Jake at 4:55 PM

With the big July Fourth weekend, dad has been around a bit more than usual. I like dad. He's a fun buddy. But I like mom better.

Mom takes care of me most of the time and I don't really like being away from her for very long. If I wake up from a nap and mom's not there I can get pretty upset. Heck, if I'm sitting on the floor and playing and I turn around and she's not there, I'll get very teary. And as much as I love car rides, I hate sitting in the back all alone while mom sits all the way in the front. Sometimes I'll cry an entire car ride. What fun is that?

Mom says it's separation anxiety that gets me so worked up. Well, if mom has so much anxiety about leaving me, she shouldn't put me down! She made this nifty carrier for me called a Mei Tai wrap. Dad says it sounds like something you'd order with an egg roll and chicken-fried rice. I don't know what that means because I only eat fake milk and pureed vegetables.

That's me in the picture with mom and my new Mei Tai wrap. Look how easy it is for mom and I look so happy. Mom can have her hands free so shouldn't ever have to put me down!

~:O