Evan at Playtime

Here are two photos showing two sides of Evan as he played at our home. The picture with his tongue out is his silly one. We say "Wow, doesn't he look really intelligent with his tongue out?!!" The other photo is our darling Evan. He is wearing one of the outfits we got him for his birthday. His Uncle Zach had the same OshKosh overalls when he was little, however, Uncle Zach, also, had a train cap. I could not find one for Evan.

We Are Thankful

We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving on Saturday and other family times with Zach and Laurie and Alisson and Terence and the kiddos!!! Evan's Great-Uncle John, Great-Aunt Joey and Evan's 4 year old cousin Taylor stopped by to see us, too. We are so thankful for all of our family and the times we can share together.


Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank for the family time we had on Saturday. What a joyous day!!! Thanksgiving and Evan's 1st birthday. Thank you Lord for our grandson and how he has developed during his first year. We ask that You bless and protect Evan and continue to have him develop and be healthy. We give all praise and thanks to You for our many blessings.
In Jesus's Name.... Amen

The Birthday Boy

Here are pictures of Evan with Aunt Bon Bon and Uncle Cha Cha and Great-Grandpa and Great-Grandma. What brave people to get so close to Evan covered in chocolate!!!

Evan and His First Birthday at Grammie and Pappy G's House

We made a turkey cupcake for Evan to have for his 1st birthday. At first Evan was not sure what to do. However, after his Daddy gave him a taste of the frosting, Evan then got into it. We had a towel around him, but Evan had cupcake all over him. Afterwards, we put him right into the bathtub. What a fun, messy time!!!!!

Evan's First Birthday

Alisson asked us to make a turkey cake for Evan's 1st birthday. Well, here is Evan's turkey cake. Happy 1st Birthday, Little Turkey Evan!!!!

Evan Loves Uncle Zach

Here is Evan with Uncle Zach. Evan has been experiencing some stranger anxiety recently and does not like to go to unfamiliar people. Evan had no problems with Uncle Zach. They were good buddies at our family Thanksgiving gathering and at our family night out for pizza at Pagliai's. Evan took a nap and Zach and Laurie's dog, Hayley was in her cage in the same room as Evan's crib. When Evan woke up, I got him and said, "See the doggy". Evan said, "Oh boy." It was too cute.

Evan is ONE!!!

Today is Evan's first birthday!!! He is visiting his other family for Thanksgiving. We will see him on Saturday for our Thanksgiving. Evan was with us for a few hours last night. He now claps his hands together and says "Yeah!" I bought him (in addition to other birthday gifts, of course) the CD Happy Birthday Evan from Captain Zoom. This has been a tradition in our family for 30 years and still continues. Look for a new post and pictures after Saturday! Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!

Evan's First Holiday Parade

Today was our Holiday Parade. Each year Rainbow has a float. I remember last year, we were waiting for the arrival of Evan. When I was on the float last year, I was ready to hop off and get to the hospital. Well, this year was Evan's first BG Holiday Parade. Since Grammie was in the parade, Pappy G hung out with Evan and his Mommy and Daddy. Evan really liked the bands and just stared and all of the floats. Here is Evan with Pappy G and a picture of the Rainbow float. The float committee did a great job!!! The weather was wonderful today, too!!!

After Evan's Bath

I gave Evan a bath at Aunt Bon and Uncle Charlie's. They laughed at how much Evan likes his bath. He kicks and splashes a lot. When I took him out of the tub, he had one of his bath ducks. Aunt Bon then got all of his ducks for him. This was a real treat for him. As you can see in this photo, Evan really liked the ducks. I just thought this was too silly and had to take a picture.

Evan's Visit

We had Evan and took him over to Fremont to visit his Aunt Bon and Uncle Charlie. They really enjoyed seeing him. We took his play quilt and some of his toys and he wasn't interested in any of Aunt Bon's knick knacks (and she has a lot and some are expensive!!) Evan just played with his toys. What a good boy!!!

At the Apple Orchard

Evan seemed to have a great time at the apple orchard with his family a few weeks ago.

Evan Plays Peek a Boo

When you sing "Where is Evan, Where is Evan?" he covers his face to play peek-a-boo.

Evan at a BGSU Football Game

Here is Evan with his Mommy at a BGSU football game. I love the smile..... you can see some of his teeth.

Evan With His Lion

Evan is doing so well walking with his lion. He pushes it down the hallway, into our bedroom and back down the hallway to the family room. Tuesday night, he did that several times. We were tired just watching him.

Evan and the Trash

Evan is pulling himself to stand at just about anything. He was very interested in our wooden trash container the other night when he was with us. He really wanted to get the wooden knob to get the lid off. I know it won't be long. We remember when Zach and Alisson would throw anything in the trash. When we could not find something, we would say, "Check the trash." It must be something genetic since Evan has the same interest in the trash.

Evan the Falcon Fan

Evan was at our house playing Tuesday evening. How appropriate that he was wearing his A Falcon Fan Since Birth shirt!! The BGSU Falcons were playing Buffalo on ESPN. BGSU won!!!! We had a lot of fun with Evan. He has a little cold now and I had to wipe his nose frequently which he does not like at all. Evan really objects to having his nose wiped. He is all boy with his dirty face which he doesn't like wiped either. We still love him, though!!!

Evan with his New PJs

We got Evan new jammies for Halloween. After Alisson took off his turkey costume, I asked if he could put on his new pajamas. They are size 18 months and fit him perfectly. Evan is just hanging out playing with the family and our good friends Dick and Kathy. We had a little get together after trick-or-treating.

Our Little Turkey

Here we (Grammie and Pappy G)are with our little turkey.

Evan as Our Turkey

Evan was the most adorable little turkey for Halloween this year. He loved wearing his costume and everyone thought he looked so cute when he was trick-or-treating.

Evan Playing

Evan was at our house playing on Saturday morning. He now is putting objects into containers, etc. Here is Evan putting the ball into one of his Baby Einstein toys. This is a new skill. He used to just want to throw the balls.

Who Me???

I caught this cute picture as Evan looked outside. I said, "Evan," and he looked right at me. He is just so precious to us. His look is almost as if he is saying "Who me?" or "What?"

Busted but So Close

Evan was playing by the sliding glass door. He liked just banging with his hands on the glass. I have waited so long to have little fingerprints on my sliding glass door. Evan, however, noticed the pulley and of course he wanted it. Well, Grammie, is never very far from Evan. He did not get the chance to pull the curtain. He listens so well. I just say "Evan, no, no" or "Evan, just lookey." I have a lot of stuff around and he knows what he can touch and not. He loves the Boyds teddy bear.

Did I Not Feed Evan Enough???

Silly Evan. Is he trying to eat a block?? You would think that I did not feed him enough. For dinner, he ate 3 jars of Step 2 foods... chicken and noodle dinner, peas and Hawaiian Delight. I,also, gave him some graham crackers and Ritz crackers for a snack. Evan is a good eater. Unlike my two children. I had to play airplane with them to eat. It is so refreshing to have a grandson who is a good eater.

Evan's Walking Toy

Since Evan has started to take walking steps, we wanted to get him a walking toy. After checking online, we decided to get the Fisher Price Lion Walking/Riding toy. We decided to give it to Evan as an early birthday present. He can use it now. These photos show him when he first got it. He really liked the Lion and the music it makes. After a few minutes, he started to push it around and walk with it. It was too cute. We are going to keep it at our house for him to use until his one year old birthday on November 25th. Tomorrow he is 11 months old. Evan spent the night with us last night. We had fun.

What a Big Boy!!

Evan was over today (Tuesday) for a few hours. The weather was wonderful. We went for a walk and we sat on the patio watching birds. Evan loves the outdoors. I took this picture because I was amazed by how much he had increased his balance in just one week. He stands for 20 seconds and takes at least 5 steps now. We heard him say "Got up" today when he pulled himself to stand at the couch. Evan is too cute!

What' s New

Alisson told me that Evan took 4 steps yesterday. Wow!! Today she received his Halloween costume. Since he was born just before Thanksgiving, we have lovingly called him our little turkey. Well, of course, he is going to be a turkey for Halloween. It is hard to realize that Halloween will be his last first special occasion. Next month, Nov. 25th Evan will be 1 year old. What a fantastic year we have had with our grandson!! Each day I thank God for Evan and for his health and development. It is all amazing.

Evan and His Cards

You have probably heard about the program Your Baby Can Read. Well, I started my own program with Evan at 7 months. I introduced word cards with objects that were meaningful to him. For example: ball, bottle, car, toy. He can now choose the correct word card when shown two cards. I do not know if I would call it reading. It shows Evan has a good visual memory. He recognizes ball, bottle, toy, car, eat, walk, bird, rain, red, dog. Evan really enjoys doing the cards or I would not have continued it. I even let him have the correct card and wrinkle it up. I can make more. Pappy took this photo as Evan and I were doing the word cards. I show the cards and ask, "Evan, where is the word "dog" and Evan touches the correct card. It is pretty neat. A few weeks ago I showed Alisson. She said, "Terence has got to see this." Terence had to do the cards and tried to trick Evan. He was amazed at how well Evan did. Terence told me "Good job" and wanted to know how Evan was doing it. I just explained that it was my version of Your Baby Can Read. I look at it as a research study and Evan is my subject.

Evan and His New Toy

I got to play and cuddle Evan today for about 3 hours. It was a lot of fun. He even let me hold him and dance to music. He is repeating so many words: bottle, a ball, up and he waves bye-bye. When I say, "Where's Grammie", Evan looks at me. Yeah!!! In this photo Evan is playing with a new toy Pappy G brought home for him today. They are stacking cups with different colors and numbers on them. Evan explored them and then just liked throwing them. He likes to throw everything. Evan is in his pajamas after having a fun bath. Evan is at such a fun and adorable age. Oh I forgot, he is taking two steps and is so proud of himself.

Last Night's Sleepover

We had Evan, J and M last night for a sleepover while Terence surprised Alisson with a 5th anniversary stay at a hotel and a couples' massage Saturday morning. We had fun but Evan woke up at 12:30am after going to bed at 7:45pm. I don't know why. I just held him for a few minutes and put him back in his crib. Around 1:00 he started crying. He would cry for 5 minutes and then fall asleep for 10 minutes. He cried for 5 minutes again and then fell asleep. I thought I would give him until 2:00am to fall asleep for the night or rather morning. At 2:00, I went in to his room. First I checked the diaper--- he had a dirty diaper. Then, I gave him a bottle. Evan drank 6ozs. After burping Evan, I laid him in his crib with his aquarium and music on. I do the same routine as Alisson does. When he sleeps over, I have Alisson & Terence bring his alarm monitor, his aquarium and his Johnny Jump Up. Well, he cried for a few minutes and then went to sleep. He slept then until 8:00am. Evan is going through a stage where he only likes his crib at home. This sounds very familiar to his Uncle Zach as a baby. Alisson said that our house is the only place Evan will sleep if anyone other than her puts him to bed. Evan has been sleeping in that crib since he was 6 weeks old so it should be like a second home to him... maybe???

Evan and His Ducks

Aunt Bon Bon and Uncle Cha Cha gave Evan this cute family of ducks to play with in the bathtub. I first let him just play with them as I filled the tub up for him. When he saw them in the bathtub, he laughed. Evan splashed and kicked so much with excitement that my hair was pretty wet (I still hold on to him in the tub so I am very close to him). Oh well, he had a great time. Evan repeated duck after I said it.

Evan and Signing

Evan enjoys watching the Baby Signing Time DVD. (Thanks to Lindsey for recommending it.) He is beginning to sign "all done" and "milk." Here is Evan watching Signing Time on Tuesday with me.

What a Big Boy

Evan is now 10 months old. He is standing on his own for about 10 seconds. I took this picture quickly as he was standing alone one day at our house last week. Evan sometimes plops down on his bottom but usually he just dives forward. He thinks there will always be someone to catch him. He is very proud of himself. Today, Evan cruised along the couch and even took 1 step to get to the coffee table. It won't be long. You can see how proud Evan is of himself!!!

Evan in the Morning

Hello all... so sorry it has been quite awhile since my last posting. Our new computer that we bought in July stopped working. It was the power supply and we did not have a computer for 5 days. So, I am back. Last Friday, Evan, J. and M. spent the night with us. Alisson and Terence went to Columbus to see Skillet. These two photos show Evan just waking up Saturday morning and then how he started to be his silly self.

Pappy G and Evan Reading

Since my voice is still recovering from laryngitis, I could not read to Evan. So, Pappy G and Evan sat in Pappy's chair. Evan was so interested in the book. He says "book" now, too.

Evan Visiting

I am so thankful that I am feeling better and Evan could visit today. He is such a big boy these days. It was kind of cool in BG this morning so Evan had his camo pants and jacket on when we went for a walk. He jabbered the entire walk. I took this photo just after our walk as he started to play. You can see that he still likes balls. Evan is so cute. When I was feeding him his lunch, Pappy G came in after mowing and said, "Evan I am going to take a shower, OK." Evan said "OK." Surprised to hear it, Pappy looked right at me.

Missing Evan

Hi Friends and Family,
I am having Evan withdrawal. I am missing him. I was diagnosed with strep throat on Tuesday and had to cancel my afternoon with him. Now, I have laryngitis so I still can't play with him!!!!! We are getting together tomorrow night to celebrate Terence's and my birthday. I am thankful for that.

Evan Has Fun

Yesterday we planned on watching Evan from 3:45-6:00pm. Alisson called and said, "Mom, I am going to Super Suppers from 6-8. Do you want Terence to pick Evan up at 6:15 or do you want to watch him until 8?" I jumped at the opportunity. Alisson said, "Well I didn't know if you would want to since you teach tomorrow." I love teaching, however, my family has always and will always come first. So, we had a great time with Evan. Pappy G was home, too. Pappy G started a silly activity with Evan and Evan loved it. Pappy stacked 4 blocks and said, "Oh, no, Evan.... don't knock them down. Evan then knocked them down and Pappy said, "Boom!!!" Evan laughed and laughed. Sometimes he even put his head back laughing and would fall over. It was hilarious. This video just shows a bit of the fun Evan and Pappy G had!!! I had a blast watching for awhile and then realized I should video it.

It Won't Be Long

It won't be long before Evan is walking. My guess is 10 months. When Alisson brought Evan over today, she said, "He wants to walk. He was standing up and took 2 steps and fell down." Here is Evan walking back from the living room with Grammie. Each day he shows improved balance and strength.

Evan and Pappy G

Pappy G was so glad to be home today to spend some time at our home with Evan. They played a lot and were silly.

Labor Day With Evan

Today on Labor Day, we got to spend a few hours with Evan. Alisson and Terence took Jer and Kenzie out to breakfast. Actually, I think Alisson was letting me to spend one last time with Evan before I start Rainbow tomorrow. I am so thankful that I had some very special bonding times with Evan over the summer. When school starts, my schedule is not as flexible. Pappy G took this picture of Evan and me as we did our Deer song.(As the Deer Panteth for the Water). This is a tradition I started with Evan at 2 weeks. I sing along with the music on the computer and Evan looks at the deer. When I ask, "Evan, do you want to do the deer?",he makes a sound for a response and starts crawling towards the living room (where the computer is). I cherish this special time with him.

Sunday Part 2

During the birthday party, we took turns entertaining Evan. He was a very good boy. Pappy G walked with him down to the pond and let Evan put his toes in the water. Aunt Bon Bon had her Evan fix today. Here is Evan hanging out with Pappy G near the pond.

Sunday Fun

Today we were at J and Drew's combined birthday parties. Alisson and Veronica had a farm theme. They even had a goat and rabbit come for the children to pet. The party was at a friends' house. The friends were very gracious. The kids had fun swimming in the pond. The day was a lot of fun. Enjoy the photo of the cake we made for J (no we are not any Ace of Cakes... we just try). J really liked it.

Evan Walking???

Evan so wants to walk. Here is Pappy G walking with Evan to Grammie at Evan's house. He then walked back to Pappy with me. Evan "walked" 4 times back and forth. When I put him down to crawl, he objected. As soon as I started walking with him again, he had his big smile. He thinks he is sooooooooooooo big!!!! What a sweetie!!!

Evan Tuesday

I went with Alisson to have Evan's 9 month old picture taken. He wore his Indians outfit and had a bat, ball and glove as props. The pictures were really cute. The poor little guy has a cold with a runny nose. He does not like to have his nose wiped. It is something that has to be done as I tell Evan. He was with me during the afternoon. We went for a walk and then played. Alisson tried Stage 3 foods with him and he gagged on them. He just swallowed the food without chewing the chunks. He eats french fries, rice, mashed potatoes, Cheerios with no problem. Let me know if anyone has any suggestions. Thanks......

Evan Jumping

Alisson brought over Evan's Fisher Price Johnny Jump Up yesterday for him to play on since the kiddos were with us for the afternoon and evening. Evan loved jumping in it. We had a Johnny Jump Up for Zach and Alisson, however, this one is much safer. Little did we know 30 years ago.

New Toys

We found a Mickey Mouse musical instruments band for Evan and J & M. Evan loved beating the plastic xylophone pans. M liked pretending to cook soup with them. J liked hearing the xylophone sounds. Here are photos of Evan playing with the band.

Silly Evan

Evan and J & M were at our house yesterday and evening. Evan crawled over to our couch and pulled himself to stand. He grapped the pillow and put it in his mouth. That silly boy. His motivation was to chew on the pillow. Everything goes to the mouth these days. He definitely is at the oral stage. I have to watch him carefully as he pulls himself up to stand at just about anything. Some things are not sturdy enough for him or he could fall on something. He tries so hard to keep up with J and M.

RE: Evan's Crawling

Yesterday I was over to Alisson's and watched the kiddos while they napped. M woke up at 3:15pm and Evan woke up at 3:30pm. When we went downstairs, I put Evan down in the family room to play. Evan just crawled like crazy all over the house. He did not do the 3 crawls and stop. He must already know that when he is at Grammie's house, if he stops, Grammie will rescue him. Does he know already that he has Grammie wrapped around his little finger???? It was too funny to see how Evan just crawled and crawled. I even saw him pull himself up to stand at the Thomas train table. What a big boy!!!!

Evan at 9 Months

Evan went to the pediatrician today with his Mommy. His appointment was supposed to be yesterday and I could have gone with them. The doctor's office called and they had to change it to today. I could not go today. Alisson called and told me all about the visit. Evan weighs 20lbs and is 28 inches long. He has good balance. Evan will be able to eat Stage 3 foods now and any table food that he wants. He is such a good eater that he will want it all!!! I am so thankful to God for his continued good health and development. All praise and thanks to God!!!

Evan Playing Football

Evan was over to play with Grammie. He liked playing with the BGSU Falcon football. Pappy G and I got it at a BGSU Homecoming game many years ago. Aunt Bon had it and gave it to Evan. I think this video shows that he may be a quarterback for the BGSU Falcons someday. He definitely has the throwing part mastered.

Evan Crawling part 2

Evan Crawling

Evan is so funny when he crawls. He does about 3 crawls and then sits. He looks at me and if he is thinking, "Is that enough? Will you pick me up now? I had him crawl from the family room to the bathroom for his bath. It took a lot of encouraging words but he did it. It took about ten minutes with his 3 crawls and stopping.So cute and funny.

Evan Playing with Blocks

Evan was visiting with me today for about an hour and a half. I got out some small alphabet wooden blocks. He was so interested in them. Evan really liked throwing the blocks. He even looked for blocks behind him. He played with the blocks (I only gave him 8 blocks) for at least a half hour. I told his Mommy that he was throwing the blocks overhand. He will probably play baseball like his Pappy G and Uncle Zach and maybe Evan will be a pitcher. Who knows. This video shows Evan playing with the blocks. He was fascinated by the blocks bouncing on the carpet. Sorry, my camera only records videos with no sound.