At the Playground (Vacation Pictures II)

We're back from Sunriver since Sunday afternoon. It was really hard to get back into work after taking some time off. We spent the week with Grandma Anna, and Jeremy's sister Jessica's family. In addition to the Birthday celebration, Evan spent lots of time in the pool, at the playground, and going on bike-rides. Grandma Anna was nice enough to watch Evan so mommy and daddy could go out for dinner to celebrate their (4th!) anniversary and go on a canoe ride with Uncle Michael (the canoe ride was on a different day).

We are so proud of Evan! Vacation agrees with him, as he made HUGE progress in several areas.

SWIMMING. The first day we were able to get Evan sitting on our lap into the pool water up to his chest before he started making a fuss. By the time we left, he would sit on the pool step (with us around him, but he didn't have to be on our lap and he pushed our arms away--he did not want to be "held") and splashed away. We got him to stand up and take a few steps in the kiddie pool, but he preferred sitting. When Jeremy took him out of the pool the last day, he was trying to turn around and get back in!

PLAYGROUND EQUIPMENT. Evan went down 3 different slides all by himself. He loved the merry-go-round (are we really surprised by this--it's basically a giant sit-n-spin), out spinning pretty much every other kid. Still not a fan of the swings, but 2 out of 3 isn't bad.

PLAYING WITH OTHERS. Evan had lots of fun sharing toys with his cousins. Nathan would lay down on the floor next to Evan--it was really cute. On a related note, I was pleasantly surprised with all the kids who curious about Evan and wanted to play with him or help him. In the swimming pool, his g-tube was visible and we got lots of questions about that (and his ear). We explained it was how Evan eats, and added the benefit that he can take medicine without tasting it. We got lots of "That's neat!" At the playground, one of the little girls from the pool saw Evan on the merry-go-round and she offered to hold him so he wouldn't fall over his first time through. She couldn't have been older than 5 or 6. It was so sweet to see her grab him up in a big hug, and even nicer that Evan held sort of still for her (I wished I had my camera that time!) as they spun round and round.







This is my new favorite Evan picture. Doesn't he look proud--like he knows this is something big?