Evie Update

The Horrifying Oatmeal Monster

/ Shane / 2 Comments

This morning Evie was helping me make oatmeal for breakfast. She was standing on a chair next to the stove, getting ready to put the oatmeal into the boiling milk.

Being the excellent chef that I am, I saw that the milk was just about to boil over. I picked up the pot to get it off the heat, hoping that it would settle before boiling over. It didn’t, and instead it came bubbling over the sides from the height of about my head, hissing against the hot stove and extinguishing the flame.

I don’t know if it was the sound, the unexpectedness, or the thought of ruining the oatmeal, but Evie completely lost her mind. She threw her hands up in the air and screamed at the top of her lungs, like a kid in a movie.

By the time I had set the pot down she was running full speed down the hall, screaming her lungs out. I ran after her saying, “itsokayitsokayitsokay” but she was gone. Sara came sprinting out of the bedroom thinking, “Forsooth, my daughter has suffered a mortal blow!” As I ran by the bedroom I could see by her face that the amazing racket Evie was sending up had made her think Evie was seriously hurt, so I tried to reassure her that “itsokay”, but I’m not sure if I was successful or not.

I finally got a hold of Evie and calmed her down and returned the house to some semblance of order. I never was able to ascertain what had frightened her so badly, but I have never seen her so afraid, or heard her scream so loud and for so long.

I can only assume she is terrified of the Quaker Oats man.

The Big Trip, Part II – 4th of July, Now with More Daddy!

/ Shane / 3 Comments

Finally, I came up to meet everyone in Michigan on Friday. I didn’t arrive until after Evie was in bed, so I think she was a little surprised to see me sleeping next to her when she woke up in the morning! (Even though she was told I would be there)

We were staying with Sara’s cousins and Evie had a blast there. By the end Evie was begging to “stay here forever and ever” and even offered to stay there without us. She particularly liked playing with 2nd cousins Kaycee and later Randi (and all of their old toys).

The one part she didn’t like about the whole thing was their dogs. It was kind of funny because they were three tiny long haired dachshunds, much, much smaller than Evie. Even still, she did NOT like them licking her or really being around her at all. She demanded to be picked up and carried any time they came close to her at all. She would say things to them which really cracked me up like, “calm down boys, shhh! shhh!” She also described one of the dogs as “sitting solemnly”. Anyway, this isn’t a Mouth of Babes post, so I won’t get side tracked.

Some of the other highlights:

  • Watching the Little Mermaid – She loves all of the songs, but as soon as the movie started she got very nervous about seeing the sea witch. She started yelling, “Turn it off! Turn it off!” and then eventually just ran away screaming, “I’m going upstairs!” So we ended up just watching a few scenes to see the songs. She did like that though, at one point she said with wonder, “I’m hearing it with my ears and I’m seeing it with my eyes!”
  • Going swimming, and cooking hot dogs and smores – she was quite the daredevil in the pool; she kept asking me to let go of her so she could swim by herself.
  • Playing in the tree house with Kaycee and making Bean Pudding – There was real, actual food in there to play with. Evie was a little confused if we were just playing, or if we were really going to eat the food. Bean Pudding is mostly cold, uncooked beans, crushed up chicken-in-a-biscuit crackers, cut up apples, and a lot of seasoning including lemon zest, pepper, and Louisiana hot sauce.
  • Laying in a hammock for the first time

For the 4th of July, we went to Sara’s Aunt and Uncle’s house, which is on a lake. It was a really hot day, but there was a breeze and it wasn’t too bad in the shade. Good food, family, swimming, boat rides (we didn’t do any tubing)…basically, everything the 4th of July is for!

Once again Evie was very adventurous with the swimming. My favorite part of the whole week was seeing her jump in the water from the dock. (She was wearing a life jacket) When she was standing on the edge, I think my heart was pounding faster than hers! Ultimately she cried and didn’t like it much, because the water went in her ears. I’m sure this was quite a surprise, because on the 3 or 4 practice jumps, Uncle Ben held her and her head didn’t go under.

I think her favorite part was the boat rides. Orlan even let her drive! She liked sitting in the very front of the boat, where it goes up out of the water, with the wind blowing her hair.

She also enjoyed playing with her 2nd cousins Justin and Trevor. I was very impressed that they seemed to enjoy her company. I figured a couple of boys their age wouldn’t want to hang out with a “baby” but they actually seemed to enjoy playing with her (this was mostly the next day at Lisa and Orlan’s, though they did interact a little bit at the lake).

Oliver again enjoyed the great outdoors. He was somehow the only one not to get a little “color” from the sun. He enjoyed rocking in the porch swing and laying on a blanket looking up at the trees. He was a little young for the boat and we didn’t take him swimming. I think pretty much everybody got a chance to hold him.

Unfortunately, the kids had to be in bed pretty early, so we didn’t catch any fireworks or anything. Maybe someday. I’m hopeful, because I really like fireworks!

So, it was a great trip, a great 4th, and a great vacation overall. Evie had a lot of fun. She will be talking about it for a long, long time.

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for the exciting conclusion!

The Big Trip, Part I – No Daddies Allowed

/ Shane / Leave a comment

Last week Sara and the kids tooled around Michigan while I stayed home for work. Normally when we go to Michigan, we mostly just visit with people. This time they kept pretty busy with all sorts of things going on. So here’s a sampling of some of the stuff they did:

  • Went to see the West Michigan Whitecaps play baseball. Well, that’s what they tried to do at least, but mostly it just rained. Attending the game was Super Why, a character from one of Evie’s favorite shows.

    Unfortunately, Super Why apparently doesn’t come out in the rain. When they finally did see him, Evie was a little frightened. He doesn’t look seven feet tall on tv.

  • Playing at the mall with mommy’s friends
  • Playing with her 2nd cousins, Kurt and Kyle
  • Going with Grandma Lois to a Lois club meeting
  • Celebrating Grandpa’s birthday and Kurt’s birthday
  • Going on a train ride (a real train, not like the ones in Chicago!)
  • Getting a hair cut
  • Riding the tractor at Linda and Juniors
  • Eating pancakes 3 times! (Evie said this was her favorite part of the week)

That was a lot packed into a week! Plus there were other things that I didn’t even mention. Evie also managed to fall out of bed two different nights, so I guess the bed rail on her bed at home is doing its job!

As for Oliver, this was the first big trip away from the house for any length of time, and the first trip to Michigan. I don’t think he really cares much one way or the other. I’d say the biggest thing for him was just spending so much time outside, which he really likes.

Stay tuned for Part II of the Big Trip!

A little light reading

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Usually, when a 2 year old says, “Where’s my clown book?” she is not refering to It by Stephen King. Not so at our house. Evie likes to go for the thrillers:

See, I have a LOT of Stephen King books, particularly hardcovers. These are very heavy. So, on one of our book shelves, we put all the Stephen King books on the bottom shelf, so they don’t bend the actual shelf. These books are right at Evie’s height, and she has claimed them as hers. (Yes, I realize Helter Skelter isn’t by Stephen King, she stole that one from my nightstand) (Yes, Helter Skelter was on my nightstand)

I think all of this exposure to horror novels has rubbed off on her. Frequently she will take one of these books and “read” it to us by making up a story. Despite having never actually heard a scary story, she reads these stories in the most dramatic tone she can manage, kind of like a cheap radio drama. However, there is never any payoff, just suspense. For example, “And THEN! She looked into Pa’s sharp eyes…and they went around the corner…and Ma said, “I am so surprised!”…so she climbed a tree….and there was a WOLF in the tree!…so they decided to go in for supper…” Etc. etc.

In regards to reading in general, Evie has taken to narrating her life like a book. For example, when she realized I had put her into bed but not covered her up, she exclaimed, “Then, a minute later, I realized something!” and got under the covers. Another example is sort of talking through her actions before she does them, such as saying to a little kid on the playground, “well, I always like to introduce myself, so…” and then introducing herself to that person.

She also uses this when she needs a scene change. For example, the other night we were playing school in the bath:
Me: “What comes after eleven?”
Evie: “Ten”
Me: “No, but what comes after eleven?”
Evie: “Ten!”
Me: “Okay, then what comes after ten?”
Evie: “…”
Evie, grabbing a boat: “And then suddenly a boat floated by!”

I love all the exposure she has to books. There is something so adorable about a little kid who uses words and grammar more correctly than I do!

A very special day

/ Shane / 2 Comments

Being spontaneous is not something Sara and I are very good at. So I was very proud of us for seeing an opportunity and seizing the moment last weekend.

My extended family has an enormous rummage sale every year and we had some stuff in it. Now technically, if you want to have stuff in the sale, you should help out with the sale. However, for out of towners, I think they make an exception. Nevertheless, we had originally planned on being there for the sale, if at all possible. Plus, it made a good excuse to introduce Oliver to a few people.

Plans changed, however, and we scheduled my dad and step-mom to come down that weekend, so we put all those plans out of our heads. So when my parents ended up going home on Saturday to get their dog out of the kennel, we didn’t think of it right away. After thinking about it for a while though, we said, “You know what? We could go there tomorrow.”

Thus began our “very special day” in Evie’s parlance. For her, the fact that we got her up before the butterfly lights were even on to get her in the car was enough to make it a very special day. She kept saying every few hours, “Today is a very special day!”

So we packed an amazing amount of stuff for just a one day trip (a baby adds a lot of stuff, on top of what you need for a toddler) and took off. Evie had a pretty good time. She said her favorite part of the day was coloring with the sidewalk chalk (although I still think all the adults had more fun). She did about half a block worth of pictures, including a crocodile, an ant holding her baby, a mother giraffe, bubbles, and a mommy and baby spider, as well as a really good rainbow.

On the way home both of the kids were sleeping, and I said to Sara, “I’m really glad we decided to do that!” Later I said to her, “If I ever make a statement like that again, remind me to wait until we are actually home and done with the trip.”

So what happened in between? Well, we had some bad traffic, so we decided to stop and get something to eat, because it was going to be bed time by the time we got home. When we stopped, we experienced our first full scale meltdown of both kids at the same time. Ouch. Quite embarrassing, and we were forced to run out of there with our meal half eaten. I like to think of us as a sort of roving birth control for the teenagers sitting in the next booth.

Afterwards, everybody was in a bad mood, and it was pretty rough. When we finally got all of the stuff in the house and the kids in bed, we just collapsed into sleep, without even putting most of the stuff away. It was sort of spectacular how fast everything took a turn for the worst! But as Sara said, we sort of set them up to fail, since it was a long day and everyone was tired.

So anyway, long story short, it was sort of a mixed bag. Certainly we learned a bit about handling two kids out in public, and we’ll do things a little different next time. Evie has already asked several times if today was a very special day, or how long until the next very special day. So I think we will work on including more special days in the future.