"Habei YuYu"

That's Evan's version of "happy birthday to you". He sings it diligently, practices morning and night, and ends the song by blowing out some pretend candles.

"cold day"

One phrase that Evan's been saying a lot lately is "cold day". What he really means is "cold", but instead he always appends the "day". I think it's because likes to go out and play in the backyard first thing in the morning, and during winter/spring months it's too cold to go out, so we'd always say to him "cold day" and make the shiver sign. Now when he washes his hands in cold water, he says "cold day"; roll down the window of a car, he'll say "cold day". Eat a few bites of ice-cream -- "cold day!"

跳

Another word that Evan likes to say (and do) is 跳 (jump). Last weekend we went to a birthday party where there was a jumping house. Evan can't quite jump up in the air yet, but he invented his own way of jumping by kicking both legs out from underneath him at once, and land on his bum. Why waste energy when one can just let gravity do all the work?

Counting

Sarah has been teaching Evan how to count in Chinese, and lately there's been amazing progress. Now we often hear him mumbling to himself "一, 二, 三, 五, 八, 九, 十" (one, two, three, five, eight, nine, ten). Naturally, the harder to pronounce numbers get skipped over.