Good question

Earlier today:

me: "Evan, where are your inside slippers?"

Evan: "Hm, that's a good question."

Skuut

For Evan's birthday, we got him a balance bike ("Skuut") because he really likes riding the tricycles at school.  He was a bit wary at first but after a few months, he's mastered it and can actually go pretty fast now!  He's got great good control over the steering and can zip through pretty tight places.  He's even ridden it all the way to Washington Park then back home.  We think he's probably ready for a real bike very soon!

"I got Yucky"

Evan's at that stage where he talks a lot but can't pronounce many words properly yet.  I often have to translate for him when he's speaking.  E.g., today he meant to say "I got lucky", but instead what came out was "I got yucky".

Big brother

Evan became a big brother on August 24, 2012, with the birth of Logan Coleman.  When visiting Logan for the first time at hospital, Evan was more excited about the toy train display there and hospital food more than "the baby", but he quickly warmed up to Logan since we came home.  Evan is super gentle to Logan (almost afraid to touch him), and sometimes fights with Nathan to give Logan kisses.

Goodbye Nutmeg, Hello Clementine

It's been 3 weeks since Evan transitioned classrooms (from Nutmeg to Clementine).  The teachers prepared the children well and he was very excited to start school again after a 5 day break.

On his last day in Nutmeg they had a mini-celebration with enchiladas that the children helped make and other yummy baked goods.  Two of the teachers are moving onto Clementine with the children, so that helped make the transition easier as well.

Saying goodbye to Teresa (whom Evan lovingly calls "Buresa"):

Krystina:

and Liana:

On Evan's first weekin Clementine, he was excited to see him old friends again, especially Lezhi whom he's developed a strong friendship with over the last several months, perhaps because they like being goofy together:

"Baby Cat"

I don't remember how the name "baby cat" came about now, since "baby cat" is actually a "mommy cat" that's part of a set of toys including 3 other smaller baby cats.  It was one of Evan favorite stuffed animals, so when he first started daycare, we picked it as a familiar object to take to school with him to help with the transition.  Since then Evan has developed a special love for his "baby cat".  At school his must haves are his nap blanket and "baby cat".  The teachers say he would normally wrap his cat carefully up in the blanket before he falls asleep himself during nap time.  At home he doesn't depend on his cat as much for sleeping, but he does make sure that we bring it home every Friday from school.  This is one toy that we would never want to lose!

3 year check-up

First the stats: Weight: 34lbs, Height: 39.5 inches.

Evan really enjoyed his 3 year checkup with Dr.Brown.  This was the first time he got his blood pressure measured and he was especially excited about it since it's something practiced using his toy doctor's kit.

Luckily no shots needed this time, yay!

Evan turns 3!

Ever since Nathan's birthday a month ago, Evan has been asking "When is it my birthday?"  He waited patiently for the weeks to go by, and when asked what he would like for his birthday, the answer would always be "cupcakes".  I guess at age 3 that is the best part of a birthday party!

His actual birthday fell on a Friday this year.The birthday tradition in the Nutmeg classroom was for friends to bake something yummy the morning of a child's birthday, and enjoy the treat during afternoon snack time.  The teachers had interviewed Evan the day before on what he would like and Evan chose lemon cupcakes and strawberry water.  So those were shared during afternoon snack together with a Thomas the Train themed cake and some crackers and cheese (one of Evan's favorite snacks and looks like all his friends like it too).

  Because Evan's favorite color is blue, his friends also made a frame with different shades of blue tiles on it as a birthday gift.

We decided to do something special for Evan's birthday dinner.  Because of Evan's love of trains, the whole family (including Wai-gong and Wai-po who had just arrived in US a week ago) took the Cal-Train up to Palo Alto to have dinner.  Evan enjoyed the trip of course, but also got a little scared by the express trains (which zooms by without stopping) since they were quite loud.

At dinner and Evan proudly shows us that he's turning 3:

Since this was our last year living in Sunnyvale, we thought it would be nice to have Evan's celebration at the neighborhood park that he grew up at (Washington Park). We had a low-key BBQ and rented a jump house, which the kids loved.  Many of Evan's school friends came, including his "best buds" Lezhi, Sara, and John-John.  James and I also attempted making our own cake this year (Thomas cake in shape of a "3").  Evan enjoyed both looking and eating it!

"Daddy and Evan" time

James and Evan enjoy some special "daddy and me" time as they enjoy some stinky Brie and crackers together.  Evan is happy with just water while daddy enjoys a glass of wine with the cheese.

Potty trained!

Hooray, Evan's mastered the potty after a few weeks of wearing underpants.  We got him a set of Thomas underpants which he really adores (would look at himself in the mirror with them on :P) , and I also painted a bunch of white underpants since initially he was going through several pairs a day.  We had our fair share of accidents both at school and at home.  His teachers were super supportive though and suggested that we not go back to diapers even when he has accidents.  That was really good advice.  Now he goes all by himself and is really proud of it too -- "I did peepee all by myself!"  Poopoo was a little more challenging but now he's completely comfortable and accident free for several weeks, and doesn't even need diaper at night time now, so I think we can officially declare potty training done... just in time for 3rd birthday :)

Obsession with trains continue

Evan's love for trains is starting to become an obsession.  At home he's always playing with Thomas train set.  The other day I even heard him whispering to his trains "I love you trains".  He also likes to pretend that he's the driver and getting others to be his passengers (I think he does this school a lot). Whenever we have the TV on Evan would immediately request to watch Caltrain on "mommy's computer" (youtube).  A few weekends ago we went for a ride on Caltrain after an early dinner.  We sat on the top level and did the regular route of going from Sunnyvale station up to Palo Alto and back.  On the way back we took the express train (a.k.a "baby bullet" but Evan pronounces it as "baby bull").   The trip made a real impression on Evan and every night he'd request a "Caltrain story".

See the resemblence

A super nerdy looking Evan wearing daddy's safety glasses.  For some reason reminded me of Simon in "Alvin and the chipmunks".

No more free kisses

E can be pretty stingy at sharing things, especially food.  Recently he's decided that kisses aren't free either.  The other day we were going for a tricycle ride around the block and our conversation went like this:

me: "Give me a kiss Evan"
E: "I already gave you a kiss yesterday"
me: (appear disappointed) "But that was yesterday, can I have another one now?"
E: "How about... after we get home!"

I guess I'll take what I can get :)

"Last night we went on a plane"

Last week we went for a 5 day trip to Maui.  Even though this was Evan's 3rd time flying, it's probably the first time he understood the concept.  During the flight, E loved looking out the window (opening and closing the windows which probably drove the passenger in front of us mad).  We was happy sitting in his seat most of the time and either food or dvd player kept him amused.

Ever since coming back, he's been talking about the trip everyday: "mommy, last night we went on a plane" (though it was several days ago), and "mommy, can we go on a plane again?"  It looks like plane has replaced train as the favorite transportation method (for now).  Since coming back he's also taken more interest in the toy planes we have at home.  Unfortunately going on a plane is not as easy as hopping on cal-train, so it'll be a while before Evan's wish came true...

Little chef

Evan helps me toast some pecans for breakfast this morning.

Little gym

Little gym has been part of our saturday routine for E and I for the last couple months. E enjoys free play the most and usually gravitates towards the balance beams and bars.he's getting too heavy for me to lift though so we have not made much progress on the skills he's supposed to be learning.

Conditioned response

Evan and I were playing with trains the other day.  I said to him "I love you Evan" and he said back to me "I love you train"

Evanglish

Since Evan started school a few months ago, he's talking a lot more, and sadly almost only in English now. He could be hard to understand at times though since he gets sPublish Postome words mixed up and some sounds he can't quite pronounce yet.

Some examples of what he says, and what he means:

"I want go to that story" - "I want to go to that store"

"Ginger house" - "Gingerbread man"

"Boosan" - "Croissant"

"Booresa" - "Teresa"

(The common theme here seems to be "boo" for any hard to pronounce sound)

"Train trash" - "Train crash"

He also likes to refer to himself as "my baby", I guess I must call him that a lot :P

Donut pajamas

Normally Evan doesn't care what I wear, but there's one outfit that he's particularly fond of, and that's my donut pajamas (pink pajamas with donuts printed all over it). Whenever I wear them he would happily call out "donut jamas", and he's been requesting some for himself "Evan want donut jamas". I don't think I'll be able to find any in boys sizes (maybe I should try Girls section...), but I did get myself another pair of cupcake pajamas to continue with the dessert theme.