Almost Christmas!

It's almost Christmas, and Evan is very eager to undecorate the tree. Every day, basically every hour, he is tugging on the tree, taking ornaments off. We've seen the tree sway a bit, but thankfully it hasn't fallen yet. I don't know how many times we've said, "no," but he is not listening!

It's fun to see how much Evan has learned over his life. If I start singing "patty-cake, patty-cake," he gets a huge smile on his face and starts clapping. He's even trying to roll his hands. It's adorable!Evan's also very tolerant. We put his puppy dog on his head and he'll just look around the room. Eventually he realizes there is something on his head and reach to get it off. Ahhh, Mommy & Daddy are goofy!

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree...

Preparing for Christmas is quite different this year. Having a toddling baby makes the usual holiday preparations a bit more difficult. Our holiday shopping is not done. I'm not sure what sort of delicious treats we're baking this year. And we just put up our Christmas decorations this past week. It's worth it, though, as Evan is in love with the tree! His basket of toys is close enough to the tree that he can touch it and even pull off a few ornaments, when we're not looking, of course. Gotta love all those "soft" ornaments we've accumulated over our lifetimes! This year Evan got the honors of putting up the first ornament...
Admiring all the lights on the tree...Evan basically walks everywhere he can now. Crawling is becoming more and more rare. Today, he was toddling around the house and I followed him (one of his many favorite games). Guess where he went first? The tree! For the adorable photo ops, I let him undecorate it a little...Oooh, this one looks fun...What can I take off next?Ever the goofball, Evan always keeps us laughing. Daddy got him a soft puppy dog from San Diego. Last night, he was being silly and carrying the doggie around in his mouth! Ha!This evening after doing some holiday shopping, Evan and I were playing a bouncy game with the ottoman. We were bouncing up and down, and up and down.... Boom! Down for the count!

200-yard dash

Lots of running around in the Mears household the past week. Evan is SOOO good at walking. He gets going across the room and if you act like you're going to chase him, he giggles and takes off in a sprint, well a "baby sprint!" Of course, all this walking comes with its dangers. He's taken quite a few spills and bonked his head multiple times. So much for the family picture last Friday - he had a bruise on his forehead! Cross your fingers for this weekend...

I don't have any new photos of the past week, but here are some really good pictures taken over Thanksgiving by Evan's grandma, Jeanne. Look at those beautiful blue eyes and sparkling white teeth...Evan's always ready to cheese it up for the camera...Playing contently...Haaa, haaa, haaa...we see you! Someone found his reflection in the dishwasher. Gotta give that other baby there a kiss...We adore this child! Mommy and Daddy bombard Evan every night with tons of hugs and kisses. We cannot resist!

Gobble, gobble...

The Mears family packed up and headed to Indiana for Thanksgiving this year. Driving with a 10-month old was dauting for sure. I got some great advice...drive through the night and hopefully the baby will sleep. Guess what?! It worked! We left around 8 pm on Tuesday evening and drove through the night, arriving around 6 am. Evan only woke up once when we changed drivers. Good boy! A word of advice to those parents out there...it totally is worth it! We know this because we drove through the day yesterday coming back to Maryland. Not as fun! Of course, traffic was a nightmare (it took a good 12 hours, ugh!), and Evan certainly didn't sleep the whole way. All in all, he did great, but as you can expect, he wanted out of the carseat and wanted to play. But we made it back safe and sound. Yeah!Our visit in Indiana was nice. Evan got to hang out with a lot of his relatives and friends. I'll post more pictures on that later. Thankfully, the stranger anxiety hasn't set in yet (knock on wood). After checking out the new person for a minute or two, he was reaching out his arms wanting to be held. Such a sweet child! Evan ate the traditional Thanksgiving feast...complete with turkey, mashed potatoes, and sweet potatoes. Yum! The tryptophan took its toll on everyone...including Evan. He looks so adorable napping...

He is walking unassisted more and more each day. Now that we're home, he will walk in one direction, see something and turn to go another direction, all without holding onto something for assistance. Our baby is growing up. Hmfff...

Pattycake, pattycake...

Over the past week, Evan has really taken to clapping his hands together. It is so sweet to see him do this. He claps for everything now...diaper changes, playing with Daisy, falling and going boom. It's adorable...Evan's also getting quite daring with walking unassisted across the room. He's doing a great job in this picture...check out that grin!

Story time

Evan loves books! He loves turning the pages and "reading" them to Mommy, Daddy, and Daisy. It's quite cute when he's reading them to us...That book looks interesting...Baa, laa, daa, daa...Daisy is listening to the story intently...Umph...if only this book would open...Open please...Got it! Anyone care for the Lion King upside down?Whatcha doing Mommy?The end! Your turn to read me a story Mommy...

Indy firsts...

Evan and Mommy headed to Indianapolis this past weekend to visit with Aunt Shelly. We had a great time! Evan did fairly well on the plane ride to Indy...he fell asleep and even Mommy got a couple of zzzzz. Aunt Shelly's home is beautiful and complete with 3 adorable cats and a sweet doggie who was staying at her Grandma and Grandpa's place. Evan really liked her pets! He's never seen a cat before. When he got to pet Niles, one of her kitties, a big grin erupted, just like this one:Aunt Shelly has stairs in her house...this is a new concept to Evan, as we have our external stairwells, but no stairs inside our apartment. He climbed up a few stairs all by himself, with Mommy and Aunt Shelly close by. He's never climbed stairs before...he did great!We got to see Shelly's parents, Bill and Jill, and spent some quality time with them. While at their house, Evan met larger doggies, as they have a chocolate lab and a corgie. At first Evan was really afraid of the bigger dogs, but he eventually warmed up. Turns out he's a big animal lover!Both Evan and Mommy had a great time in Indy. Thanks so much to Aunt Shelly, Bill, and Jill Bowers for your hospitality. Hopefully we'll visit again soon!

Happy, happy!

Not much new is going on in the Mears household. Evan really likes to walk and tests his new ability often. Some days we find him in the middle of a room, walking from one wall to another. Gosh! What's next?Daddy was having fun with Evan's hair at bath time last night. We think it looks good...how young is too young for hair products? Ha! Just kidding!Have a great weekend!

OH MY GOSH!!!!

Oh my gosh! Hit play...

Happy Halloween!

Presenting.......the absolutely, positively cutest.....Mickey Mouse!!!All ready to go...Relaxing outside watching the other children in our neighborhood. It was a nice day today!Who know Mickey had such beautiful blue eyes?Mickey loves his Daddy...Trees are very amusing...Mickey and his Mommy...Daisy checking out this mouse crawling around the house...Better taste him...yum!We went to the mall on Sunday to meet other families in our infant playgroup. The mall had trick-or-treating. Here's Evan getting a treat...He doesn't quite know what to make of the "Grim Reaper"Evan and his friend Sofia (aka a Fairy Princess)Yoda (aka another Jason) wanted to take his picture with Mickey Mouse...Phew! I'm done with this costume! Can I eat the tail?Happy Halloween!