Out = In

As of right about now, Evan has been out in the world living with us as long as he spent growing in my belly. And oh, how he continues to grow. I suppose 0 to 8 lbs. 13 oz. (his birth weight) was impressive, but we're blown away that he's gone from just under 9 lbs. at birth to nearly 26 lbs. at 9 1/2 months. (At times I feel every one of those 17 lbs. in my arms and lower back. Ha!) More precisely, he weighs 25 lbs. 10 oz., and measures 29" in length and 18.75" in head circumference. Compared to his brother, he's about 2 lbs. heavier and half an inch longer. Evan is doing fabulously. And although we snicker at his hugeness, we are so very mindful of what a blessing it is to have such a strong, healthy, hearty boy.

He is indeed all boy. With some hesitancy, we have referred to him as our "wild child." His reactions seem to be stronger than what we remember Tobin's being at this age. He loves to be loud and hit stuff--as do most babies. But he does so with a recklessness unfamiliar to us as parents of one Tobin Lee Smith. However, Tobin did not grow up with an older brother, who delights in all the noises Evan makes and likes to match them with his own. Today at the doctor's office, Evan was happily playing with the white paper on the exam table and then just began squealing, or one might say screaming! Happily, but very loudly. And Tobin, who was "helping" by throwing every single piece of paper Evan tore off into the trash can, began to respond with his own squeals and squawks. They did a similar thing at Target this morning. And almost anytime we're in the car for more than 5 minutes. More often than not, it is Evan who instigates it. Although he might be squealing in response to something Tobin did, so it's really a chicken-or-the-egg thing.

Speaking of his strong reactions, Evan responds enthusiastically to music. He loves it. We were in church for the Easter service and he started bobbing and swaying to the chords of the (rather mundane) instrumental prelude. I have often resorted to playing The Avett Brothers' album I and Love and You when an afternoon grows long and Evan is a little cranky. Usually, it makes him pause and smile and dance. Just a few moments ago, he woke up from his nighttime slumber and was restless for several minutes while I tried to soothe him back to sleep. When I started singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," he went limp in my arms and is now sleeping soundly again.

Unsurprisingly, Evan eats well. He is still nursing and as far as solid food goes, he still eats mostly purees, but will try just about anything I offer. His favorite "texture" foods are Cheerios and small chunks of bananas. He likes apples and avocados too. Tonight, I slipped a few pieces of my cooked rice into spoonfuls of his sweet potato-chicken puree. He made the funny little face he makes when trying something new, and then amused himself--and us-- by smacking the rice between his gums. Until recently, his gums were the only things he could use to "chew." His first tooth broke through about 10 days ago, and a second is just now visible at the gum line. He has that adorable toothing tongue-twirling and drooling look going on.

Perhaps because of the tremendous effort it will take to move his prodigiously-sized body, Evan is not quite crawling. But he seems this close. Just this afternoon, he got up on all fours and paused there a moment. He lunges from bottom to belly very well. And scoots and pivots on both his bottom and belly in almost any direction except forward. He is also able to slither backwards on his belly very quickly. I particularly love how I can be standing near him and he will pivot/lunge toward my feet or even pull on my pant leg, asking me to pick him up. It is only a matter time before he is really moving around.

And we have provisionally and optimistically deemed Evan a good traveler. While he's done well for the most part with our travels, including our flights to Louisiana and back for Christmas, car trips have been a little dicey. We had one particular trip that really did us in. Our return home from Labor Day weekend spent in Louisville took us 13 hours. The last 90 miles took us almost 3 hours, because Evan was screaming so we stopped about every 20 miles to try to console him. He was just over two months at the time. Since that one trip, we've always split the 550-mile trip to Grandma's by staying overnight in a hotel halfway. Gradually, it seemed as though Evan was improving over those shorter 6ish-hour trips, so we took the plunge a couple of weeks ago and decided to make our spring break trip to Kentucky all in one day. We left at 5:30am, loading two very wakeful boys in the car; ours are not the kind of kids you can carry anywhere and expect them to stay asleep. And we arrived in Louisville not quite 10 hours later, having to stop only twice: for a midmorning nurse and potty break, and then for lunch. Our trip home this past Sunday was pretty much a mirror image of the previous trip. We were so thankful and relieved. I'd guess the improved travel is a combination of Evan being more accustomed to the car, better at entertaining himself and on a better schedule when it comes to eating, sleeping and, um, pooping. It also helps that Tobin sets a great example and provides plenty of entertainment too.

Speaking of our time in Louisville, we recently uploaded our Easter pics to Flickr. Enjoy!