Evan update

It’s been quite a while since we posted about Evan, so here’s how he’s doing. Since he’s learning things so fast, this is probably one of the last times he’ll have a small enough number of skills that I can come close to listing them all.

Evan knows the following signs, a few of which he made up on his own: fish/water, light, nurse, tree, butt (he made that one up!), ceiling fan, pick me up

Here are the words he uses (and means): hi, mom, dad, duck, dog, kitty cat, good girl, uh oh, on, off, this, that, light, quack, bow wow, again, three, Gram, car, cup, go

He’s picked up the following tricks:

• Turning a lightswitch on and off when you ask him to
• Opening doors
• Singing along to the Wiggle’s song “Bow Wow” (he just sings Bow Wow over and over!)
• Knowing when “Bow Wow” is coming up in the video
• Recognizing the Bow Wow song just from the rhythm section. The Wiggles sometimes use the backing track to teach a new dance
• Dancing to the Wiggle’s “Teddy Bear Song”
• Dancing and singing to the Wiggle’s “Quack Quack” song
• Running and spinning in circles
• Using the hokey to pick up his spilled cereal
• Making a siren sound when he plays with his firetruck
• Drinking from his cup and taking it to the fridge for a refill
• Reading his book about cats and pointing out the “good girl” on every page and the fish at the end
• Pretending to eat and drink play food
• Riding his rocking horse while pointing out all the “good girls” on the calendar
• Pretending to talk on the phone, and on anything else that remotely looks like a phone
• Kicking himself in the head when you say “Boot to the head!”
• Saying “Three!” when he wants water dumped on his head in the bathtub
• Grabbing your hand and asking you to continue tickling him
• Giving hugs when requested
• Sitting on people’s laps when they’re sitting on the floor
• Petting Ginger very gently and calling her “good girl”
• Building towers with his wooden blocks and assembling his legos
• Sorting things into boxes or taking them out
• Sharing his water bottle with you, and insisting you take a drink
• Tipping his head toward you to ask you to put a hat on his head
• Climbing up and down the stairs using many different and terrifying techniques
• Slide down a slide by himself (face first of course…)
• Running to the stairs when you say it’s time to go somewhere
• Sticking his finger in his mouth and blowing when you show him how to “Shh!”
• Helping put on his shoes
• Doing the “Mokey Dance” (similar to the “pee pee dance”) when he’s impatient or excited
• Whispering “whap!” when anyone tosses a ball

We’ve been trying to capture his new “tricks” on video, but he gets a little camera shy!