Just an update on Evan...he's doing great! It seems like he has learned so much and is surprising Mommy and Daddy every day. On Monday evening, Evan was playing with the Leap Fridge Alphabet and shocked Mommy. He picked up a letter and said, "G", then another, "O", then another, "L", etc. This went on and on in random order for 15 or so letters! I was amazed. Evan does know his alphabet song (if you've ridden in the car you've heard it), but knowing the individual letters out of sequence, wow!
Then, I was drinking water out of a plastic cup with the IU logo on it. Evan looked at the cup and said, "Mama, IU!" YEAH! We're definitely raising him right!
Evan definely loves his stuffed animals. It has become routine now at bedtime, after the lights are out, he needs at least 4-5 stuffed animals to fall asleep. When he wakes up, the stuffed animal fairy has put all but one away. Well, one morning over the weekend I went into his room to get him out of his crib, Evan wanted every stuffed animal he had in his room. I obliged - hey it was the weekend and we had nowhere to get in a hurry! Ahhh, I think I'll lay down...
Perhaps on my belly?
This past weekend, we also tried out a children's play gym called Romp 'n Roll. We've been wanting to do this with Evan for a while and it would give him a chance to interact with more children of different ages. For the most part he had a blast! They take all the kids and parents into a small room at first and read a story and sing a song. Then they open the curtin and a huge room is filled with fun gym stuff. Here is an example picture of what it looks like...
The kids do different obstacles courses and activities and blow off lots of steam. Evan had a blast during this portion. The little room to listen to a story and song, not so much right now, but the gym? He loved it!
He proceeded to strike a couple of nonchalant poses like a model...
He kept rocking back ...
and forth...
and back... 
and forth. 
It was pretty cute!
This morning Evan woke up, decided to take off his pants and diaper, and was saying , "uh-oh" and standing in bed. Oops...he had an accident. So Daddy asked Evan if he wanted to sit on his potty. He did. Guess what...he went in his potty!!!! This is the first time he went in there! Evan loves to sit on it but has never grasped the concept of actually doing anything on the potty. YEAH! Such a big boy! 
Last night Evan opened the refrigerator (yes, he can do this on his own now!) and wanted something to eat. I showed him the apples and he was really excited. He started taking a bite without even taking the sticker off or washing it. 
After Mommy got it ready, Evan had a ball! He'd bite right into the apple and juices were dripping from his chin. 
He loved it! 
He actually ate quite a bit of the apple and then got distracted by his toys. 
Mmmm.... 
Daddy was surprised and pleased to see Evan digging into the apple when he got home from work. 
Ahhh, our little boy is definitely growing up fast! (Check out those raised eyebrows - ha!)
It's not serious when healthy children/adults get it, so we don't have much to worry about. The rash should go away within 1-6 weeks. The good news is that once someone has Fifth Disease, they're immune to it for life, so Evan should not get it again. We have learned a lot about so many different illnesses since we became parents!
Last week when Jason was practicing his seminar talk one evening, Daisy was laying on the bed listening. She really got into what Daddy was saying! 
It was really cute. I tell you, we have one of the smartest doggies in the world. She now knows all about the science that Daddy works on!
Our last surviving fish, Angel, an angelfish (see example above) passed away this evening. She had a long and full life. We got Angel first with a few tetras and other fish (Darryl, Darryl, and Norm) in Birmingham, AL, in 1999. She made the move to Atlanta with us, and then to Rockville, and finally here in Germantown. For the past 2 weeks she had been feeling sick and just wasn't acting herself. She joined her fellow tankmates in heaven tonight after 10 great years with the Mears family. Rest in peace Angel.
Just an update on Evan...he's doing great! It seems like he has learned so much and is surprising Mommy and Daddy every day. On Monday evening, Evan was playing with the Leap Fridge Alphabet and shocked Mommy. He picked up a letter and said, "G", then another, "O", then another, "L", etc. This went on and on in random order for 15 or so letters! I was amazed. Evan does know his alphabet song (if you've ridden in the car you've heard it), but knowing the individual letters out of sequence, wow! 
