I spend a good part of my day saying “NO” to Evan. He wakes up snuggly and adorable, calling “mama mama mama”, but somewhere between drinking his bottle of milk and sitting down to breakfast he becomes a total rascal. He grunts “bana bana bana”, so i sit him down in his high chair serve him his perfectly ripened banana, he takes two bites, then chucks the rest on the floor. He has learned to open doors so I feel like I literally can’t take my eyes off him. I tried to have a brief conversation with Eric before he left for work this morning – like 1 1/2 minutes – and in charges Evan with an entire roll of toilet paper fluttering behind him, and his bathroom toilet’s running because he tried to flush his bathtub stopper. 1 1/2 minutes! I don’t know if it’s simply the difference for me of dealing with a boy vs. a girl, or first born vs second born, or if in fact he is one wild child.


For his birthday, Mary and Corey gave Evan his very own copy of Where the Wild Things Are. We read it together nearly every day upon his request, and I think it’s rubbing off. We’ve warned Emily all along that one day he’ll be able to hold his own in their wrestling matches…and that day has come. Mind you, it’s in the form of biting, pinching and hair pulling, but he’s definitely learned how to defend himself. He has a new face that we call his “feisty face” – lips pursed, nose scrunched – and that’s how we know that Evan’s about to regulate. Emily told the librarian at story time this week, don’t take that from him he has his feisty face. Classic!

 I still hear from people all the time “he’s so sweet” “so even tempered” “so easy going” and sure he totally is some of the time. My friend Courtney cut his hair the other day, and I was just imagining a screaming fit of meltdown. What did he do? Smile, baby talk, be adorable, sit still…it’s like he’s trying to make me look like a liar. He must reserve this behavior just for me and Emily and Eric. It seems as though the things that I expect him to cry over he could care less about, and the things I would never imagine him caring about are the things that drive him nuts. In his new stage of discovery and independence he has been getting all kinds of bumps, scrapes and bruises (4 just tonight). Those rarely phase him. But having something taken from him, being misunderstood (for example, he wanted water not grapes), having his diaper changed, seeing a balloon that’s out of reach – these things make him furious. And when he gets furious, he arches his back and throws his arms up in the air, with his hands formed like claws and wails. He’ll hold that position the whole tantrum, it’s hard not to laugh. I call this stance “the wolverine”. Seriously. Wild.

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