Birthdays, Birthdays

posted by Evan Jake at 9:04 PM

Sorry to have not blogged much latetly. There have been so many birthdays recently, I've been busy picking out cards and watching mom put them in the mail.

A few weeks back, my bubbe had a birthday. Then my Papa had one, too. Dad had his big milestone birthday. And then my my Nana had a really big birthday of her own.

This weekend one of my daycare friends had her first birthday. She had a really big party with a fun lady who played music, sang songs and got us all dancing. I'd never been to a birthday party like that one. It was amazing. It sure didn't even compare to my party. I hope dad was taking notes for my next birthday.

The other reason I've slowed down with the updates, is that the weather has gotten so nice! I love playing outside. I like to wander through the grass, pick up leaves and shriek so the whole county can hear me. So why am I sitting here at a computer when I can be terrorizing the neighborhood? I think I hear the door opening...gotta run!

~:O

Wow, He's Old

posted by Evan Jake at 5:17 PM

Dad has a big birthday today. He's not too happy about it, so I won't rub it in. But he's now officially old.

Dad, "30" really is just a number. You already have the mortgage, stressful job and a little baby (cute as I may be) to remind you that your carefree youth is far behind you now. Enjoy the next decade. I hear they say that the 30s are the new 40s. Try not hurt yourself too badly playing softball this year. Word on the street has it that you already took a flyball in the face during practice earlier today. Next time...try using your glove. Happy birthday, dad.

~:O

16 Going on 17

posted by Evan Jake at 12:26 PM

Today I'm sixteen months old. And my bubbe is also having a birthday today.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BUBBE! I don't know how old my bubbe is because I can't count that high. I watched Willard Scott to see if her picture would be on TV, but it wasn't. I got my picture on TV for my birthday. (In case you missed it at 5:24am on December 14th, or like me don't live the Deleware Valley, you can see the video here.)

Sorry to have been silent this past week. It's been really busy on all fronts. Here are all the latest headlines:

• SOLD! Mom and dad sold our house-without-stairs in under three weeks. I think the cute baby in the living room was the big selling point. Everyone who came to look at the place asked if I came with the house. (Dad's answer was, "For the right price.") Needless to say, mom and dad did not sell me along with the house. Today a nice man came to do a home inspection. He said the house passed. Now I wonder what an inspection from a social worker would turn up. If all continues to go smoothly, I'll be running up and down our new stairs sometime in June.
  
  
• Bye, Bye Bottles! I hardly get bottles any more. Yesterday I didn't have any! It's tippy-sucky cups all the time. What will mom do with all that extra time she used to spend washing bottles? Maybe she'll use that time to play with me. I really hope she doesn't plan on using that extra time for herself!
  
  
• Bye, Bye Helmet! And the biggest news of all... Yesterday I had another visit to the helmet lady. She took some very exact measurements of my head to check my progress. She compared all the dimensions of my little head from before I had the helmet to now and it turns out that not much had changed at all! Everyone who sees me thinks my head has rounded more than before. But according to the highly scientific measurements made by this fancy laser thingy that looks like a UPC scanner at Wegmans, there's almost no difference at all. So mom and dad figure if it hasn't worked much in the last three months, it probably doesn't make sense to make me keep wearing it. So I might not be wearing the helmet much any more. Maybe just at night. Or when I'm doing construction work.
  

So that's me in the picture grinning because the house is sold, I finished a tippy-sucky cup all on my own and I'm no longer wearing that helmet all the time. It was a good week. Helmet baby no more need helmet!

~:O

Big Turnaround

posted by Evan Jake at 5:49 PM

Daycare had been closed the much of the week, and surprisingly, I found myself missing it a little bit. Meanwhile, mom's school wasn't closed at all this week. So that meant I got to spend some quality time with dad over the last few days.

Dad and I mostly have a lot of fun together. He seems to be coming into his own as a father. While I like to see him happier and more confident when we're together, I kind of miss the neurotic, bumbling, insecure dad that would put my shirts on backwards, spill my bottles on the floor and leave the house without my diaper bag. That was pretty amusing to watch. I can still yank his chain pretty good when I want to, but sometimes it's nice just to spend time with him eating snacks and watching TV on the couch. Or wrestling on the floor. Or playing peek-a-boo under the covers. Or playing see-how-close-I-can-comg-to-knocking-over-this-lamp-before-you-can-stop-me. Those games are awesome.

But by far the most amazing milestone of the week involved a big change with my car chair. Dad put me into the car today and I was amazed to find myself facing forward! My whole life, I've been riding in the car backward and watching the world whirl into the distance through the rear window. The only way I could see mom and dad was by peering at them in my bubble mirror.

Now, as I ride forward, I can watch as the road unfurls before us. I got so excited during that first ride that I couldn't help but shriek and giggle with glee the entire time. I even found myself yelling out "Weeee!" on a couple occasions. And now I can watch mom and dad the entire time. My cries are harder for them to ignore, too, when I facing right into their ears.

There are a couple drawbacks to facing forward, though. First of all, now I can see what a crazy driver dad really is. Hey, dad, there's a baby on board. Take it easy! Secondly, when I take my shoes off in the car, as I'm wont to do, mom and dad can reach back and tickle the bottom of my feet. Maybe I should keep those shoes on. Ooh, stop, it! Helmet baby ticklish!!

({:O

Passover Again?

posted by Evan Jake at 6:20 PM

Last night we went to my Bubbe and Zayde's house for "Passover" -- that's the English word for "Pesach."

I kind of remember this holiday from last year. It's the one where everyone sits around a table and tells half the story of Exodus before eating and getting into bickering fights about what ingredients are or aren't in the soup. It all seemed eerily familiar. Is this it? Do we just keep doing the same things every year? I'm only 15 months old and I feel like I've done this all before. Surely it gets better, right?

There were a lot of people over for the "crazy dinner" -- that's the English translation of the Hebrew word "Seder." There were 16 people in all. People had to bring their own chairs. It's a good thing the Prophet Elijah didn't show up. We put out a glass of wine for him, but there were no more chairs. Hey, prophets get sore feet, too.

Our kitty cats also got to come along on the trip -- they sit in laps, not chairs. They had a great time running up and down all the stairs in Bubbe and Zayde's house. I think the cats are sad not to have stairs in our house, too. But soon they will.

Unlike last year, this year I got to eat some of the food being served. Bubbe's cooking is good. I didn't throw nearly as much of it on the floor as I normally do at dinnertime. Dad tried to feed me lots of Maztah hoping that if I ate enough, he wouldn't have to change a dirty diaper on me for days.

In addition to the food, I also loved seeing my whole family. It was a blast entertaining them all with my singing. My songs are pretty terrible and consist of only two notes and a lot of clapping. They seemed amused none the less. I guess that explains how Sanjaya has become so popular.

I did get to stay up way past my normal bedtime. And then I had trouble falling asleep. Well, what do you expect when you tell stories about killing of the first born? I wanted to get up and make sure that lamb's blood was on the door. Helmet baby need to get passed over!

({:O