Evan, the Entertainer

Evan loves to entertain. If he does something you find humorous, he'll be doing it all week! He has a thousand "funny faces", no doubt some of which he gleaned from his brother (revisit "express yourself" from 2006). Nathan has such an infectious laugh, that you can't help but want to make him keep laughing once he starts. Maybe that's why Evan loves to entertain Nathan the most. Whether trying to pee in the toilet while standing in the tub, gargling milk, blowing bubbles in his milk until it foams over the top of the glass and onto the table, running from mommy, or singing the Barney song (Evans version: "I love you, you love me, a happy FAM-A-LEEEE") sends Nathan (and often times the rest of us) into smiles and laughter. The biggest issue we have with Entertainer Evan is that Nathan comes up with some really crazy and sometimes dangerous ideas for Evan to attempt, and Evan's fearless enough to try anything once!

Scent of a Mommy

Evan was whining for Laura one evening while she was in the shower. Finally, she emerged, fresh and clean! Evan ran up to her and hugged her tightly. "Mommy, were you taking a shower?" Yes I was. "Mommy, are you all clean?" I sure am. "I wanna smell you, Mommy!" Ok. (Snifffff) "Mmmm, you smell nice, Mommy!" What do I smell like? (Big smile and loving tilt of his head toward her) "Scwambled Eggs!" (Better scwambled than hard-boiled, I guess!)

Old Enough To Drive

We'd been riding around The Villages in golf carts all week, because that's what you do when you're there. Nathan enjoyed riding next to me most of the time, asking a million questions along the way... "What are those bells for in that church?" "Are they loud?" "When do they ring?" "Why do they have a lighthouse at that lake?" "What makes it spin?" "Does it still spin when the light is off in the daytime?" "What makes the golf cart go?" "Where's the engine?" "Where's the exhaust (on the gas cart)?" "Does the electric golf cart have an exhaust?" "Can I see the batteries?" "Why does everybody drive golf carts here?" "How old is Grandad (after his birthday celebration)?" "When is my birthday?" "When I'm five, I'm gonna be old enough to drive a golf cart!" (Notice, that wasn't a question - in his mind!)

The Petting Pool, pt.2 (the brunette)

The day after "sasquatch", we were back at the same pool. Thankfully, hairy-man and his family were on a different schedule. There were however, two sisters (3 and 5), who arrived a little after us and began to play near us on the steps. The older girl was very friendly, and wanted to play with the boys. Nathan was acting shy, and Evan was off in the deep with Laura and his Aunt Leesa. When they came back near the steps, the older girl was helping Nathan and I channel water from the pool jet through a foam "noodle" to make a fountain. Evan arrived, and stared for a moment at the slightly older brunette beauty before him. He had a dazed look on his face, as if he'd never seen a girl before. He smiled and made a beeline for the young princess. Focused on the fountain with Nathan, the poor girl did not notice Evan until he reached out and stroked her tanned shoulder with a big, cheesy grin on his face. She turned toward him, and (after an awkward moment of silence and with a little prodding from Dad) he said, "I'm Evan! What's your name?" I don't know if we'll ever run into Alissa again, but I'm sure gonna keep a close eye on that boy around the ladies from now on!

The Petting Pool, pt.1 (Sasquatch)

We've been to a couple of petting zoo attractions over the last month - one at the fair (mostly goats), and one at the Zoo of Acadiana (what's with all the goats?). On our Florida vacation, we did not visit any petting zoo, in the traditional sense, but that did not stop Evan from petting...

We were fine, minding our own business at the neighborhood pool, enjoying vacation time with the boys, their Aunt Leesa and their grandma. This particular pool has a nice, large step area and our boys were playing on them with Laura and I. Another family arrived and the dad was trying to encourage his young son not to fear the water. He was showing him that he could play along the steps like Nathan and Evan, without being afraid of going under. As they moved toward us, I noticed Evan inching his way closer to the man's back. Now, understand this man was quite hairy, unlike Evan's dad (or mom). Before I could get to him, Evan reached out in amazement and rubbed his hand across the man's back. The man turned to Evan, who just smiled real big, looked at his shoulder, and gave another few pets. I called out, "Evan, what are you doing to that man?" He looked at me as if to say, "Dad, can you believe the hair on this guy?!" - AS HE STROKED THE MANS SHOULDER AGAIN! The man was very gracious, laughed, and said "He's ok. He's probably never seen anything with this much hair outside of the zoo before!" I simply smiled and laughed (how could I disagree?) and was thankful Evan didn't PULL!

The Puppy

Uncle Brian and Aunt Leesa have an 8 month old puppy named "Pebbles". She's a "Yorkapoo" (Hey, I'm not making this stuff up, I'm just reporting it! But, seriously, couldn't we add "a-poo" to the end of every breed of dog?). Anyway, Pebbles is full of excitement and bouncy energy, which makes Evan want to run and play with her and makes Nathan want to run away. Nathan spent most of his time climbing sofas, chairs, walls and me, trying to escape the ferocious hound...

Evan spent most of his time petting, chasing and grappling the poor little thing...

By the way, after the first night of interaction, I asked Evan if he had fun playing with the puppy. "Yeah," he replied, "I had fun with that doggie." Do you remember her name? "Pebble." That's pretty good, but actually, her name is "Pebbles" with an "s". He replied matter-of-factly, "No, it's Pebble." Evan, why do you think her name is "Pebble"? "'Cause it's just one!"

New Buddy

Evan made some new friends on our trip to Florida. The first of his new friends was his uncle Brian. We were eating supper and Evan was not doing very much eating himself. He kept trying to get down and run around the house, excited by the new surroundings and new people. His uncle Brian grabbed his plate and invited Evan to come sit by him. He then proceeded to feed Evan via planes, trains and automobiles as he sat next to him. From that time on, Evan was quick to follow, play with and ride along with Uncle Brian in his golf cart everywhere we went together. (He really liked his aunt Leesa, too!) It was nice to have a small break from being the only supervision for our little "busy bee"!

Cake and Ice Cream

Popcorn

1st Time On A Harley

Are We There Yet?

It had been a couple of years since we visited the boys' maternal grandparents in Florida, so we compared the flight/rental car cost to the gas/mental expenses of driving 12+ hours with our guys and opted for the latter. These are the adventures they'll remember for the rest of their lives! Me, too. I'll remember "Dad, are we almost there?" questions before we got to Baton Rouge. I'll remember I should have packed our not-quite-potty-trained two-year-old's clothes on the top of the trunked items (for the two times we had to do complete changes from over-filled diapers). I'll remember the one "surprise bag" toy we bought for along-the-way entertainment that did not have an identical pairing and the weeklong fight that followed over it. I'll remember their adventures (with us) on their grandparents' golfcart. I'll remember Nathan climbing to the top of the sofa to escape a tiny little dog named Pebbles, and Evan clutching the same dog one-handed by her belly fur (Look, Daddy, I holding the doggie!). I'll remember swimming pool adventures, Father's Day at the Magic Kingdom, and light-house hunting. I'll remember low-mounted light switches, grandfather clock pendulums, and low-mounted fan switches. I'll remember lighthouse adventures, splashing in fountains, echoes in tunnels, and the frog in the A/C fan (It's hard to stop a Trane!). I'll remember 20 minute potty breaks where no one went. I'll remember the value of "sippy cups" in the car, rain ponchos at amusement parks, and a family that weathered the storm of our boys' visit. (What doesn't kill you makes you stronger!) I'll share more specific snapshots (and pics) of our trip in the blogs ahead, but for now we're all glad to be home in one piece!

"Batend" Watch

I bought the boys some kid's meals from Whataburger and there were little "wrist launchers" inside - a plastic watch-like toy that shoots little plastic discs at the desired target (translation: your brother). The boys' uncle Brad got them set up with these things before they ate, so they basically did not eat until an hour later (thanks, brother!). Nathan announced, "Daddy! This is a Batend Watch!" (Huh?) "What, Nathan?" "It's a Batend Watch!" "Well, it's not a watch, buddy, it's a wrist launcher!" "No, dad, it's a Batend Watch! Tony has one, too!" Tony is a friend of the boys, and they had played at he and his brothers' recently. Tony is sort of between Nathan and Evan in age, and I guess his "batend watch" is a "pretend watch". I attempted to correct my son, the word wiz... "Nathan, I think you mean 'pretend' watch, not 'batend'." "No, Dad, it's 'batend', with a 'B' - 'Buh' - Ba-tend!"

Yep - he's all mine!