Year 2 - October

October 2006

Isn't he just adorable?!?!

The cold nights have really crept up on us this month. Evan was still wearing his summer jacket in the day but I suddenly realised the need for a proper winter coat when I took Evan to watch a local football match one evening early this month. Caroline was out for the evening, so Evan had to come with me. I packed up a bottle of milk for him, hat, jacket and gloves and he even had 3 layers on under the jacket. I just couldn't keep him warm at all, where he had been drinking his milk, the fluid dripped on his lips and his lips even turned blue! His little teeth were chattering away, I was fairly warm - I guess that's because I have more blood and fat! We stayed for about 20 minutes in the end until all attempts to get him warm failed, so we went home. I was really annoyed at myself and the next day we went out an bought him a great big coat to keep him warm. The problem I have now is he can't wear it in the car because its too big so sometimes when we are rushed we leave the house without it!

The nursery have been teaching Evan about animals recently because he's fascinated with them and he seems to know all the noises. It's so cute, you'll be having a conversation and if an animal word that he knows about pops up, he'll repeat it but also make the sound of the animal as well. For example, he'll quite often point to the cats and say "My cat, mee-ow", though Caroline will usually repsond with "umm no, it's my cat" :). He mimics Cleo very well, she's the cat with the funniest meow I've heard and it's that one that he has chosen to copy. My favourite is probably his fish impression as he does the mouth movement with a very quiet "Bob Bob" noise...

We've started to put extra blankets on his bed at the moment and I'm sure it won't be long now until we start using his quilt. The only issue we have is that Evan really dislikes having bedding put over him and he'll kick it off if you try and do it whilst he is awake. The technique I use at the moment is to try and place the thin blanket over him and then cover him up with the thicker fleece blanket later when he is asleep. Sometimes it's just hopeless though because in the morning I'll walk in to see him sleeping on top of everything and with very cold feet!

Who needs toys, when we have Nanny's potatoes and spoons?

Green, Green, Green! Everything is green... Evan has taken a step back with colours recently, if you ask him what colour something is, or if he wants to tell you the colour, everything is green. We'll stop at the traffic lights and he just shouts out "Green, Green!". Sometimes I think he is teasing me because he'll be grinning as he says the wrong colour. He knows the colours though because if I ask him to bring me a blue block or a red ball, he'll bring the correct one to me. But if you ask him afterwards what colour it is, all we get is green!

Evan has started undressing himself this month. In particular he really dislikes wearing coats and as a result he has become quite adapt at taking that off. He tried to undress himself one evening whilst I was getting his bath ready and the whole scene had me in fits of laughter. I said, "ok Evan, take your socks off". At first he tried to do it standing up, but in the end he sat down. He then tried to pull them up towards him, so I showed him how to pull from the toe end. He grabbed the sock and tried pulling, but he kept falling backwards onto his back with his feet in the air. He's so adorable at times and it made me giggle so much. It won't be long before he's mastered this little art :).

Caroline's mum has never baby sat for us alone whilst Evan was younger because she doesn't really have the strength to deal with him. He's really good these days though being much older as he do a lot more for himself. We asked her how she would feel babysitting on Caroline's birthday so that we could go for a meal with friends an she seemed really keen to help. It was a real success! We got Evan fed, washed and ready for bed before we left and all that he needed was a bottle of milk before bed. He played for about an hour before it was time for bed and he was really well behaved for his nanny. He does love spending time with his grand parents and probably gets up to less mischief when we are not there.

Evan enjoying a rare sit down moment...

Evan was invited to get this new immunisation that has become available for children under 2. It's been several months since his last injection and I did wonder how he would be now that he is more aware of what was happening. It was absolutely awful and really traumatising for both of us. He managed to free himself from our grip when the needle went in and as the needle flew out of his arm, the nurse stabbed herself in the thumb. I couldn't believe what was happening, Evan was screaming, she was bleeding and I felt absolutely helpless. The situationg became worse now as Evan knew what to expect and it took 3 people to restrain him whilst the immunisation was administered again. He had two little holes in his arm so we tried to put a plaster on him. This ended up being just as traumatising as he absolutely hated it. Every time he spotted the plaster, he cried and tried to grab it. In the end I had to take it off for him, so I tried to soak it but it was still stuck on very tightly and removing that made him cry again! My poor baby, the day didn't get any better for him as he had a run in with one of our cats. I was sitting with him by the sofa and I'm not sure what he did to the cat, but the cat got upset and ended up grabbing Evan in a head lock! He had scratches down both sides of his face, really close to his eyes! We had lots of cuddles that day to try and make it all better...

Evan always looks for our neighbours dog when outside.

I had a moment of madness at the end of the month. Evan seems to follow me everywhere these days, he'll be happily playing and it's as if he has this sixth sense that alerts him when I have left the room as he will only be a minute of so behind me to find out where I have gone. I'd just arrived home with pizza one evening and left Caroline eating it in the lounge. I told Evan to go play with her whilst I disappeared upstairs to get some washing. I'd just finished collecting the washing when I heard the distinct patter of a little boy at the stairs. I rushed to the top to see Evan half way up. He stopped as soon as he saw me, so I dropped everything and descended the stairs to get to him. He then decided to try and go down backwards at the same time. I stopped suddenly not knowing what to do because as I descended he copied me. I should have rushed but I panicked and in the end I stayed motionless just watching hoping that if I watched him carefully he wouldn't fall. He stood up about 5 steps from the bottom and I gasped trying to stop him with my words. It was hopeless, he stumbled and lost his balance, falling backwards. I screamed as I saw him bounce on his neck at the bottom. I flew down the stairs to see him with this sheer look of horror on his face, as if he was holding his breath. I was relieved when he did finally cry. Caroline was there in seconds as well, but I couldn't believe what I allowed to happen. I stripped him down, but he appeared to look in one piece, the only mark was redness on his shoulder which I guess was where the impact of the fall hit. This incident left me with nightmares and days of guilt. I still haven't fully forgiven myself as he really could have injured himself with a fall like that. I'm now very vigilant and doors are always closed behind me when I leave Evan in another room.

Emma