Blue Man Croup

posted by Evan Jake at 10:26 PM

Whoa, I've just been totally knocked on my tushy. Over the weekend I got this really bad fever and I had a barking cough. This afternoon, Mommy finally took me to the doctor and they said I have croup! What in the world is croup? It sounds like something that shouldn't still be around anymore -- like measles, scurvy or guinea-worm disease.

Well, whatever croup is, I've got a nasty case of it. My doctor sent me to the emergency room to get treated. I got rushed right in. I'm sure this was due to the cuteness triage. That always moves me to the front of the line.

The treatment for croup is steroids. Luckily I can take these steroids in a tasty medicine. No needles necessary. If only Roger Clemens knew about the tasty medicine, he wouldn't be in the mess he's in now.

When I came home from the hospital, I was pretty miserable. And still am. It's been hard to breathe but my cough has gotten a little better. All I can do is curl up in Mommy's lap and act pathetic. Cute and pathetic, that is.

Yours crouply,
Evan Jake

~:O

DiaperReports: The Smithsonian Institution Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center

posted by Evan Jake at 7:08 PM

This past weekend, I was treated to an impromptu trip to the Smithsonian Institution Air and Space Museum Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center at Dulles International Airport in Loudon County, Virginia. Wow, say that three times fast!

Daddy has taken me to the airport before to watch the airplanes take off and land. I love to watch the airplanes fly overhead and yell out, "Airplane!" But this airport had a big giant museum with a hangar full of lots and lots of airplanes. As we walked through the massive building, I couldn't help myself. "Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane!" There were airplanes everywhere!

There were airplanes hanging from the ceiling, parked on the ground, stacked on top of one another and nestled into corners. There were Russian fighter jets sitting just feet away from American spy planes. There was a Concorde plane and the Enola Gay. There were sleek fighter jets and big passenger jets. There were rocket ships, missles, helicopters, bi-planes and sea planes. There was even a space shuttle!

Daddy thought that even though the museum was positively huge, it was so tightly packed with aircraft that it was almost impossible to appreciate their scale and design. Me, I just loved running across the large, open aisles. I ran from one end of the hangar to the other, and then back. It's almost as if the place was designed with rambunctious two-year old boys in mind.

But my favorite part of the whole museum was the store. It was full of little toy airplanes! I wanted play with all of them. I think I was able to get through about half of them before we had to leave. Mommy and Daddy got me a little toy space shuttle and a t-shirt to remember the trip by, since they forgot to take the camera!

I hope they take me to this airport museum again, if not to play with the rest of the toys in the store, then at least to run around like crazy! Oh, and to see the airplanes, too.

~:O

Evan Jake Goes Viral

posted by Evan Jake at 9:18 PM

Following a prominent posting on the popular consumer advocacy blog The Consumerist on Friday, 14,000 people have suddenly chosen to spend two minutes of their lives watching me impersonate my Daddy talking on the phone to the cable company. (UPDATE: My video now exceeds 27,000 viewings, putting me in the same league as videos of dogs barking at images of Mary Hart on TV.)

I posted this video four months ago, but only now is its true genius being appreciated by the masses. Well...appreciated by some, anyway. There were many comments left at consumerist.com about my video. There were basically two variations of the messages left behind:

A. That baby is so cute. I am laughing so hard I swallowed my dental work.
B. That baby is so cute. But I hate cute babies and I am a jerk.

But one comment stood out as particularly indicative of an individual completely lacking in the humor region of the brain:

"Well, as I work for a cable company, I can tell you why they always ask for a number. Verification. We're told to verify EVERYTHING. People change numbers. People call from work. Sometimes the caller ID just doesn't work, and shows a 0 for the number. I'd say ours works properly about 60-70% of the time. And that was adorable."

-- ATTACKGYPSY

At least this person knows "adorable" when they see it -- even if he/she can't find any humor in the annoying habit the cable company has in asking you for your phone number every two minutes, even after you've been required to enter it manually "using your touch-tone phone." I digress.

I also must note that obviously one of my great aunts is to thank for my newly-discovered fame. This narrows the possible suspects to just a handful of people. But if the real great aunt would please stand up, I can properly thank you publicly for your contribution to society.

In case you missed this wonderful video of me, or simply wanted to watch it again, please click below for your viewing pleasure:



~:O

Evan Amadeus Jake

posted by Evan Jake at 6:55 PM

Yesterday we got a piano in our house! That's me in the picture sitting at our new piano. I like to play the piano. I'm sure the neighbors love to hear me play the piano a lot.

No one else in the house is allowed to play the piano but me. When I play, everyone else must sing along, no exceptions. I prefer if people sing along to the song I'm playing, but I'm not always so particular. I know it can sometimes be difficult to figure out exactly what song I'm playing. Most of it sounds like random banging. But one could say the same about Daddy's piano playing, too.

I'll keep practicing. Maybe someday I'll be able to play chopsticks -- even though I'm still getting the hang of using a fork.

~:O

Evan Jake: The Sequel

posted by Evan Jake at 7:24 PM

Mommy had some more pictures taken of her belly this week and the doctor saw a baby girl in there. I'm going to have a sister! That's good news for me because this means that I get to be a big brother. I definitely didn't want to be a big sister. That would have been awkward.

That's my sister in the picture chilling in the womb. Ah, those were the days. I wish I could tell her to make the most of it while she's there. Because once you're out, you're out.

Knowing that there's a little girl on the way, I have this fear that my toy bins are about to be invaded by baby dolls and pink fairy wands. Gross. And my old nursery is about to get the sugar-and-spice treatment. Luckily, I've got my cool big boy room as a safari oasis.

I hear there are some advantages to having a kid sister. Like when we get older, she can help me dress cool and give me advice on girls. But until then, I'm dreading those dance recitals and tea parties. If I'm lucky, maybe she'll be one of those girls that likes to play baseball -- just so long as she isn't better than me.

~:O