Reflections

As we are approaching the big 3 year mark of Evan's young life, we want to pause for a moment to reflect on the young man our baby is becoming. We strive every day to show him how precious he is to us and how much love we feel for him. It seems impossible that he will ever fully comprehend the depths of our love! And how much more his Saviour loves him! When we dedicated him to the Lord just a few weeks after his first birthday, we prayed that we would have the wisdom necessary to train our child to follow the path of righteousness. We have strived every day to teach Evan to be a caring and compassionate person for all people. We are so proud that he doesn't seem to yet recognize "differences" in people, i.e., skin color, gender, age. Of course, he already seems to think girls are pretty and loves to play with his little male friends at school, but I think that is just normal human perception. He really is so loving to everyone, and people that know him well do seem to notice. His teachers at school all brag about how smart he is and how quickly he shares with his friends.



Some things about Evan at almost 3:



1. He is a true football fan. At any particular time, he can appreciate almost any sport (baseball, golf, basketball, soccer), but football is obviously his first choice. When asked what sport he likes best, he will always reply "football" without a moment of pause. He is still a diehard Carolina Panthers fan and doesn't care whether they win or lose...he just loves the game!


2. Right now, he is not afraid of anything. I mean it, he doesn't have even one phobia. He doesn't have nightmares, and he can watch anything on TV without getting scared. He and his Daddy love to watch the movie "Ghost Rider" where Nicholas Cage's character morphs into a demon motorcycle-riding superhero with flames coming out of his head. Evan says, "That's cool, Daddy!" He occasionally tells Daddy in the morning that he dreamed about Ghost Rider, dinosaurs, or some other seemingly nightmarish theme, but he always says it like he is proclaiming the most joyful news. Just this weekend, his Daddy found a History Channel dinosaur special where computer created "real" dinosaurs were eating each other, etc. Pretty bloody stuff. He loved it and was mad when it went off! He understands what dinosaurs eat and loves "meat eaters" the best! Yikes!


3. He still loves to cuddle. Thank goodness for this! What would Mommy do if her little man didn't want to cuddle with her? He gives the biggest hugs and squeezes! We cuddle every chance we get!


4. He loves to laugh. Sometimes he will just start laughing and guffawing to make us laugh with him. When he gets in these moods, he will not stop for anything! He loves to be silly and will repeat silly phrases over and over to keep laughing...especially phrases he hears from "Wow Wow Wubbzy," a favorite cartoon of his! One phrase that he used to repeat and laugh at himself for saying was "That looks kind of like Whoopi Goldberg." He had heard his Daddy say this about some person who had the Whoopi hair going on, and he must have thought her name sounded funny because he kept saying it over and over again and laughing! So don't be offended if Evan ever tells you that you "look kind of like Whoopi Goldberg." (Not that we think Whoopi is unattractive either! Daddy's comment was not said in a derogatory way at all!) Anyway, Evan is just always trying to be funny! This kind of thing happens a lot because our boy is so SILLY! He also loves to be tickled into laughing! His daddy loves the sound of his laughter so much that he recorded it as his ring tone on his cell phone. We definitely get some looks when his phone rings! :o)


5. He has an awesome imagination. We love to hear him playing with his dinosaurs and giving them voices and personalities when he doesn't think we are listening! He also loves to pretend he is a cowboy, football player, dinosaur, or some other interesting character.


6. He loves music. He is an aspiring drummer, but he has a great voice too. He loves to play the drums to the dinosaur song while Mommy sings it and acts out the motions! He is also quite an aspiring dancer as you may have already seen on here!


7. Whenever he finds an interest, he takes it very seriously. As you have also probably noted if you read much of this blog, he is addicted to dinosaurs, football, cowboys, the Panthers, etc.


8. He loves his family. He loves his Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, Nana, Papa, Uncle Paul, Aunt Jessica, cousins Emma, Lanny, and Reade, Aunt Naomi, and a host of other extended family members! He is so verbal with his affections these days and will tell us often that he loves us. He tells and shows Mommy that he loves her by giving her every heart he sees and telling her "You are my heart, Mommy." I know, so sweet! He loves to play with his Daddy and just idolizes him so much! He is the biggest fan of Grandma and ask to go see her ALL THE TIME! He sends his Nana and Papa sweet kisses over the phone. He loves to play with his Aunt Naomi and Uncle Paul, and he apparently loves to eat Aunt Jessica's cooking (she always spoils him by making his favorite foods). He loves loves loves to play with Emma and Lanny! Just yesterday, he and Lanny were wrestling on the floor in Carrabba's after our traditional Sunday lunch. Ha! He gives Reade some very special baby love too! Evan is also extremely devoted to his great-grandparents. He is so excited to be going to California to meet his Great-Grandma!

9. He is so proud of being a big boy. He loves wearing big boy underwear now, and just this weekend started wearing them to bed. He takes very good care of his underwear and hasn't had an "accident" in a long time. He still has a little trouble on occasion with number 2 and not quite getting to the potty in time, but he never wets his pants anymore! We are amazed at how easy potty training was once he was ready. Pretty much he started wearing big boy underwear the first of January and has been accident free almost ever since. Last week he actually complained about wearing pull-ups to bed so his daddy let us "run out" of pull-ups this weekend and put his big boy underwear on him at bedtime. No wet bed yet! I guess we won't be buying diapers anymore until the next kid! :o)

10. He is very excited about his 3rd birthday and dinosaur birthday party and has already verbally invited all of his friends and family! I think he says this to his favorite new school friend at least once a day: "Hey, Jackson, do you want to go to my dinosaur birthday party?" So cute!

11. He wants to be a DUMP TRUCK when he grows up! Yes, you read that correctly...not even a dump truck DRIVER! Just a DUMP TRUCK! Ha! Just the other night, we were taking my niece and nephews and him to get dinner, and they were all saying what they wanted to be when they grow up. Emma wants to be a teacher...sweet. Lanny wants to be a fireman...noble and brave. Reade just wants to play with his feet...understandable for a 14 month old. But Evan announced he wanted to be a dump truck. Ummm...what does this say about our son? And a SUPER BIG DUMP TRUCK at that! I think my son is just full of TESTOSTERONE!


Mommy and Daddy are so excited about all the changes Evan has made this past year and can't wait to see what he can do in another year. Reading, writing, and arithmetic perhaps?