Singing With Evie Lu

Here is one of Evie Lu's favorite songs for you.

She Knows What Is Up

In the kitchen with Evie Lu


Kaia and Evie Lu are having a great time in Minnesota and I get to join them soon. Until then I have a video for you.

What Will I Do?

I know what is going to happen next!


I know that Kaia and I are blessed with a great kid even though we whine about Evie Lu's seemingly increasing whining. (I wonder where she learned it?) The fact is we have a great little girl who is learning and exploring what it means to be a little person. I say all this because two days ago I was thinking about how great it would be to have a couple of Evie free days as Kaia headed out to Minnesota. I dropped my family off at 4:30 am and by 4:45 I was at a loss. My lovely wife and little girl were gone. What will I do?

Yeah!!!!

The Beach

Are you sure you dropped your keys here?


For some reason Evie Lu has been skittish around water in first couple years of her life. Kaia and I have tried to gently introduce playing in the water, but until recently she wanted nothing to do with it. This week we found the cure. If you let Evangeline spray you with the hose or splash you with water, she'll let you spray or splash her back. It is a hoot. The only worry we have now is whether she'll spray Kaia while we are tending to our garden.

This is really fun, you should try it.

This Bed Thing Might Be Okay

Can You Spot Cuddle?


Evie Lu's first night in her toddler bed was not the most restful for anyone in our house. Evangeline cried out at 1am because she had lost her cuddle. (It was just on the floor.) She fell out of bed around 3am. (Kaia had placed pillows right beside the bed expecting the fall.) But all in all it was a success.

Tonight Evie said, "Time for bed", jumped out of Kaia's story time lap, and crawled into her bed. We've not heard a peep from her since. Kaia was not happy I took a flash picture of our sleeping child, but I couldn't resist. Sweet dreams.

By the way, if you look under Evie Lu's chin you can spot a piece of Cuddle.

Great, Now She Can Kick The Wall

Mommy, what happened to my crib?!?


I am an idiot. For a couple of months I've been asking Kaia if we should transition Evie Lu into a toddler bed. Kaia, who is not an idiot, would ask me why we would change something that was working just fine. Somehow idiocy won the day.
Our neighbors had a yard sale this weekend and there was a toddler bed for sale. We bought it, painted it, and walked Evangeline through the process of taking apart her crib and setting up her bed. This was all great until Evie realized her crib was gone and started crying. As of right now she's been in bed for 30 minutes and if she doesn't kill herself by launching off the bed while jumping I'll consider the night a success.

Do you notice what is not in the bed?

I Want To Fly

Flying!

Evie Lu and I have been on vacation together for the last week and I have a healthy respect for all stay at home moms and dads. Evie Lu at two is a whirling dervish of activity. She has the attention span of, well, a two year old. This has made for some interesting days. Something I can count on to bring a few moments of fun is flying. Do you want to come over and fly? Evie Lu is ready for you!

Daddy, you fly too!

Go Cubs - Part 3 (Ballpark Food and Rally Caps)

Do you want a dog too?


Evie Lu has always been a champion eater, so it should not have surprised us that ballpark offerings would be a huge hit. We gave our little girl half a hot dog and before we knew it she was asking for more. Kaia asked me if we should give her the other half and I said we should. After all, you don't go to Wrigley every day.

I can eat and watch the Cubs.


A month before Jody and Leanne's wedding I was watching a Cubs game and they showed the broadcasters being delivered a four pound pretzel. I immediately called Jody and told him I'd buy him one at the game. It took some searching, but I found the Twist and brought it back to the bleachers. It was the talk of the 6th inning.

Behold the Twist! A four pound pretzel.


Evie Lu learned many things at the game and one of them was the magic found in a rally cap. (Well she learned that if you wear your hat in a funny way your team will still probably lose.) Evie was tickled by my head wear and was insistent on trying to fix my fashion faux pas.

Daddy, that's not going to help.


At the end of the game we had an eight game losing streak, but it was a fantastic night. Even better was the knowledge that we had tickets for the Tuesday night game as well. Go Cubs!

A happy family at the Friendly Confines.

Go Cubs - Part 2 (Mr. T and Fonzie)

Dad, Wrigley Field is cool, but you messed up on my Cubs logo.

We made our way to our spot in the left field bleachers where we were certain a Cubs home run would land. We were two rows from the left field wall and it was amazing. The ushers noticed Evie and another little kid in the stands and they did a great job of trying to keep the drunk and obnoxious from being too drunk and obnoxious. One guy got booted before the first pitch. Family friendly indeed. We were taking bets on how many new words Evangeline would learn during the game.

Mr. T is in this picture. Really.


Mr. T threw out the first pitch and led Take Me Out To The Ballgame during the 7th inning stretch. We couldn't hear him, but I know it was awesome because he's Mr. T. What else do you need?

Cheering for the Cubbies while dad keeps score.


We had a great time with Jody, Leanne, and Jimmy and all our left field friends. The highlight of the game was when Evie Lu's new favorite player, Alfonso Soriano, picked Evie Lu as the recipient of a baseball. After he tossed it up to us the crowd started chanting, "Baby Cub, Baby Cub!" It was amazing. (I can now say I've played catch with Soriano. Notice I didn't say I played throw with him. Just catch.)

Soriano is looking for the right little girl to give a baseball.


I had made the mistake of teaching Evie Lu that if an opposing player hit a home you have to throw the ball back, so we spent a good part of the game not letting Evie throw back her Soriano ball. The game didn't turn out to be a Cubs win (actually it was their 8th loss in a row), but we had a blast. A red line train ride later we were back at our hotel and an exhausted Evie fell deeply asleep. Go Cubs!

Evie Lu and her prized possession.

Go Cubs - Part 1

Okay driver, let me know when we're close.


Monday after the wedding found us driving the three hours back to Chicago to catch a game at Wrigley. This was my first trip to see a home game for my beloved Cubs and Kaia and Evie Lu were great about putting up with my silliness. The game started at 7:05 and I insisted we get to Wrigley by 3. I have a patient family.

The sun isn't shining, but can we play two anyway?


We walked all around the stadium and Kaia took pictures from every angle of Wrigley. Someday Evie Lu will look at these pictures and I'll be able to say this was her first time at Wrigley. She probably won't care a lick.

A beautiful sight.


We met up with Jody, Leanne, and Jimmy and went in search of real Chicago deep dish pizza. Surprisingly, this was harder than we thought it would be around Wrigley. It didn't help matters that it started raining and the local bars were afraid Evie was an undercover cop and wouldn't let her in out of the rain. We were pointed toward Pauly's Pizzeria and got some pretty good pie. I need to go back soon to explore the other recommended pizza places.

Evie Lu eats real Chicago deep dish pizza.


Despite the rain we lined up with a couple thousand of our closest friends to take our place in the bleachers. We were told the leftfield bleachers were more family friendly than rightfield. We found out family friendly is a relative term at Wrigley. More tomorrow!

Aunt Leanne, Jimmy, and Uncle Jody before the game.