Fun at the Park and a Fat Lip

Yesterday Everett suffered a walking injury. After tripping, his face met the tile floor where it promptly gave him a fat lower lip. Poor pitiful guy. But not THAT pitiful because it meant he got to try his first popscicle. :) I find it really interesting to see him go from not knowing what something is to learning what to do with it and then enjoying it. I take for granted all our context clues we have that tell us what something is for.

How should one eat a popscicle? In a diaper and crazy slipper/shoes of course!

Is this what I'm supposed to do?

Oh yea! I got it now!

And this morning we went to the park where I got to take some lovely photographs now that we have unloaded our camera's data card. It was perfect weather for photos and for playing. Below are some of my favorites. (AND - thanks to Dad's superstar skills, Everett finally let us put sturdy shoes on as seen in the last picture! I'm so proud of them both.)

Fill my cup, Dad!

Daddy always gives the best baths. It's not uncommon to have the delightful experience seen below. It's so much fun to hear our little guy laugh like this. Everett has been enjoying filling his cup from the faucet, so when the faucet had to be off, Eric found this to be an excellent alternative.

Communing with Mother Earth

One of Everett's favorite things lately is plunging his hands in the earth. My garden to be exact. Thanks for the aeration little buddy! Now let's just try to keep SOME of the dirt in there. ;)

Grandpa's theory: He is receiving messages from the earth, and we just can't understand when he tries to share them with us. hahah!

Listening to the wisdom of Mother Earth

A Few Funny Photos

In case you forget where your #2 goes.

Some days keeping up with him is really exhausting!

Cute Little Voice

There is something incredibly adorable about hearing your kid say words, especially for the first time. Those little voices that toddlers have are just too cute. Ev has developed a morning routine when we go to get him up lately. He walks (in his crib) to one side where he looks over and points at a cross-stitch picture his Great Grandma made for him. He says "whassat?" (what's that?). To which I reply, "that's a choo-choo train!" This morning he repeated "choo-choo train", and it was just the cutest little set of words ever (and surprisingly clear). Eric and I looked at each other with amazement. Our eyes said "are you hearing this???" Then later when we he sat down to watch Sesame Street with Dad while I was cooking, I heard a very clear "Elmo!" I had to come around the corner to find out if that was actually him - it was so oddly clear that it didn't sound like his voice. Again - are we really hearing this? It's too fun. I'm so blessed to be able to be home during these times. And we are blessed to have Dad home with us at random times during the week as well.

Most of the time during the day, though, Everett composes a statement or question with such confidence that I feel bad I have no idea what he is trying to say. I look at him with the same meek "eh?" face that I get when someone says a sentence in Spanish that I know I should understand but I just feel foolish because I don't. Or we sometimes reply with a just as confident "yes, oh sure, uh-huh" which makes me wonder what exactly we're agreeing to.

Everett relaxing on the couch with Elmo, Cookie Monster, and Teddy.

Start Saving for Braces!

So at the dentist today, we learned that Everett will need braces someday. But I could have told you that with my 5 year history with them and Eric's few years as well. We all had dentist appointments today, and I was really impressed with Everett's ability to sit still and let the dentist take a peek. He tends to get really quiet and shy around other people, which is so funny for me to see as he is normally so boisterous.

I was also incredibly impressed with everything they could tell us already! She knew he was a thumb sucker because of the direction of his front two teeth. She also told us he will have a gap tooth in the front until he gets his frenulum (skin that goes between your top lip and between the two front teeth) clipped someday (maybe 10 or 11 years old - whenever those braces come into play). It's too low, and apparently even if you fix it with braces, it continues to pull apart with every facial expression unless it's clipped. Interesting! She also told me his bottom teeth are tight, so we'll need to floss. FLOSS??? A 15 month old??? Ok, I'll try. But he won't even let me put the toothbrush in his mouth, so this is going to be some challenge! But a worthy challenge that I shall begrudgingly accept.

Oh, and I have to somehow get him to stop sucking his thumb. Which I'm bummed about because it's totally cute, and it comforts him. :( Luckily he only does it when he is going to sleep or holding his blankie. I have no idea how we're going to break this habit...especially when I only 10% want to. haha!

Sorry Grandma, no pictures. He was in my lap and Eric was getting xrays, so we only have our memories. ;)