What's new with Evan:

Evan is growing up so fast. One day, we can hardly understand what he's saying. The next day, he's talking full sentences. It's amazing! I miss the "gibberish," but I have to admit that it sure is nice to be able to ask him what he wants and actually have him tell you. :) Every morning that Patrick works, Evan will wake up saying, "Daddy, go work? Daddy, Applebee's?"

He loves going to see Daddy at work, and he knows just what to do when we get there. He runs right up to the bar and asks the bar tender "cookie, pease" (they keep Oreos behind the counter.) He pretty much has free reign at Applebee's. He runs laps around the restaurant, and the servers and hostesses all coo over how cute he is. We try not to go there when they are actually busy, because Evan can be quite a distraction for the paying guests. Unfortunately, because we allow him to act this way at Applebee's, taking him to any other restaurant is usually quite the challenge. He just doesn't understand why he has to sit at the table, and why we won't let him go ask for cookies. I actually lost him once, when I took him to a busy Applebee's in Ogden. We were waiting for a table and talking to someone about how cute Darcy was, and Evan just disappeared. After panicking and sending my dad outside to look for him. I was directed by some other guest toward the back of the restaurant. Sure enough, I found Evan standing by the bar asking for cookies. The staff at that Applebee's didn't find him quite as amusing.

He recently figured out that he can open the fridge if he pulls real hard. Now we have to keep a shoe lace tied in a double knot around the door handles to keep him from raiding the fridge every two seconds. If I leave anything interesting on the counter, Evan will open the dishwasher, open a drawer, or push a kitchen chair over and use it to climb up on the counter to get whatever I've left out.

Now that Evan is over three feet tall there isn't much we can keep out of his reach. He's very excited about the new found discovery that he can reach all the light switches in our house. I am constantly going around the house turning off lights that he has turned on. He also loves that he can reach the button to open the garage door. Every time we go somewhere, Evan gets to open the garage for us.

Really, any kind of electronic button is exciting for Evan. He knows how to put a DVD in and start a movie (although, not always without scratching it). We've had to keep all DVD's out of his reach for months.

He recently discovered the joy of elevators on our vacation last week. I actually made the mistake of letting him run ahead of me to push the elevator button. While I was lagging behind, with Darcy in my arms, Evan not only pushed the button but got in the elevator and disappeared. My mom and I were so scared that he would get off on some random floor, but thank goodness he pushed the button for the floor we were on, and came right out with a huge ecstatic grin. Sheesh!

He's learning to count and say his ABC's. I'll sing ABC and he'll sing the next three letters. He can go through the whole alphabet that way. I can't ever get him to repeat the ones I say though. He always has to say the next line. Even if it's not exactly how we thought he should learn them, we are pretty darn impressed by it anyway. When he counts he says, "1, 2, 6, 9, 10." We're still working on the numbers in between. When asked how old he is, he exclaims, "SIX!!!" I have no idea why that's the number he picked, but we're working on getting him to say two. He does know the difference between one and two. If I hand him some candy and say take one, he will only take one. And the same for two.

He's getting really good at his colors. He can tell me if something is red, pink, green, or yellow. If something is orange, it's "orange juice." It's pretty funny. He still struggles with pronouncing blue, but he'll point it out if prompted.

He is obsessed with trains and loves Thomas the train toys. He knows which ones are Thomas and will call him by name. Unfortunately, he also loves putting things down the heater vent. I am pretty sure there is ten or fifteen Thomas the train cars down our heater vent somewhere. I am in the process of finding a service that will get them out for a reasonable price.

He also loves talking on the phone to his Grandmas. My mom is Grandma, and Patrick's is Nana. He talks to my mom about her chickens. "Bock, bock," he says. And he talks to Nana about Choo Choo's and riding in her Van. Sometimes he'll even ask Nana about aunt "Neenie" (Emily), or he'll ask for his cousins Max and Rosie.

He loves saying "thank you," and says it whenever you do anything for him. He tells cashiers "thank you," when we go through the checkout, and never fails to say "thanks" if someone holds open a door for mommy. People are always really impressed by it. It's quite powerful actually. I took him to the store with me the other day to get necessities, and some treats for potty training. He was so cute about saying "thank you" for everything at the store, by the time I left I realized half the stuff I bought was just for him. It started when I asked him if he'd like some juices. I said, "Evan want some juice?" He said, "apple juice? okay." I put them in the cart and he said, "Thank you, Mommy," in the cutest little voice I've ever heard. My heart just melted. After that, it was anything he wanted, followed by the perfect little, "thank you, Mommy," when I put it in the cart.

And that leads me to our latest adventure, potty training! Evan has been really interested in using the toilet the last few days. I've been reading him a book about using the potty for months with no real interest from Evan. Then a few nights ago, I was reading him the book and Evan said, "Go pee pee on potty," while struggling to pull off his own pants. I was ecstatic. I helped him get his pants and diaper off as we ran into the bathroom. He pulled down his pants, sat on the little potty for a while and made grunting noises like he was trying to push real hard. Then all the sudden he peed. I'm pretty sure I was way more excited than he was. I made such a "to do" about it that Evan got excited. He even called his daddy at work and told him "pee pee on toilet." I spent the next hour trying to get him back into bed. He just wanted to go pee on the potty over and over again.

The next day I took him to the store and bought him Smarties for potty treats, and let him pick out some big kid underwear. He was really excited about his new "cute diapers" as he calls them. Yesterday, I told him he needs to pee on the potty if he wants to wear his new underwear, and he threw the biggest tantrum I have ever seen. He cried for over an hour, until I finally had to rock him and sing to calm him down. I decided that I wasn't even going to mention using the potty until he was ready. Earlier today, he hid behind the couch and pood in his diaper (he usually hides when he poos) and then came up to me and said, "poo poo in toilet." I thought he was probably done already but I wasn't going to deny him if he wanted to try. He sat down and grunted, and then said, "it's not working." It was the cutest thing ever. I gave him a treat for trying. Since then, he keeps telling me he wants to pee on the potty. He sits down and grunts, and then says, "it's not working," all over again. We've been doing that most the day. He hasn't actually peed in the toilet since that first day, but I couldn't be happier that he's trying.