This month at the Blodgett's house

Happy Easter!

Nothing like sharing a good duck!

This month has been a busy one at our house. I have been meaning to post a few times, but haven't. I blame Joseph. Having an english teacher husband causes me to be more careful to have good grammar and make it interesting. I should have him edit it for me and not worry about it, but I don't.

Let's see....We had a fun day at Encanto Park a few weeks ago for the Heart Day at the Park. Each year the heart center Evelyn goes to has a day full of fun and food at Encanto Park's Enchanted Island. I don't remember ever going there as a kid, but it was really fun. They have a train, paddle boats and lots of other fun activities for the kids. Some of the nurses and doctors from the hospital were there and were impressed by how big she is. Jacob had a great time. We found out while we were there that Evelyn is allergic to the sunscreen we put on her. This year was fun, but next year will be better.

Jacob is learning so much every day and surprises us by how much he knows. Every night before bed, he asks for a story. Usually Joseph is the one who tells the story and he starts every story with "Once upon a time, a long time ago..." Then, he rambles on and on about whatever Jacob did that day and throws in a dump truck or fire engine to make Jacob happy. Most stories end with everyone going home and sleeping. The other day, Joseph and I were getting Jacob wound down for bed and reading books in our bed with him. We told him that it was time to go to sleep and that we were going to sleep. He said "Ok, I will tell you a story. Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a mommy and a daddy and a Jacob and a baby girl Evelyn." Then he told a long, intricate story about a fire engine and the zoo and some stuff we couldn't really understand, then ended with, "And they didn't take a nap!" It was very cute and made us so proud. He has since told us a few more stories like that and is becoming quite good at it.

Jacob has also learned what it means to pretend. He pretends a lot of things. For example, if he doesn't want to do something, he tells us he will do it just pretend. One night, he was supposed to go upstairs for his bath and asked for some watermelon to take to Daddy. I pretended to give him one and he grunted, held his hands out and staggered a couple of steps before returning to me and asking for a different imaginary watermelon because the one I had given him was too heavy. I can't say as I blame him. I hate it when my imaginary watermelon is too heavy to heft all the way up the stairs.

Occasionally, being two gets in the way of Jacob's happiness. He has started showing his independence by ignoring me. This has led to a lot of time spent sitting on his naughty step. one day, he was ignoring me, so I asked him if he needed to sit on his step. He happily jumped up, ran over to it, sat down and said, "Sorry, mom." Then he gave me a big hug, and told me, "I like to listen. What can I listen to?" It made me laugh because he is a really good kid, he just wants to show me that I'm not the boss. The whole experience took less than a minute for him to go from Jacob, the floor magnet, not doing what he should to Jacob, the kind, obedient boy.

Evelyn is blessed with the best big brother. He is always looking out for her, pulling stuff out of her mouth that she shouldn't be eating and willingly putting his foot up in her face so she can play with it and taste it when they are in the car. He still will do anything we want if he is teaching Evelyn how to do it. She is learning how to go potty, eat her veggies, get dressed, and put away toys. Thankfully, I think she will need many more lessons before she gets it down and Jacob is the perfect teacher.

Evelyn is also progressing very well. When she had her surgeries and was in the hospital for so long, we were told that for every week she was in the hospital, she would be about a month behind, developmentally. So that makes approximately 6 months she should be delayed. We had the early intervention people from the state come and evaluate her and she is slightly on the slower end of normal, but for the most part, she is in the normal range. We are supposed to get the assistance of a Child Development Specialist to make sure she stays caught up. The developmental area used to qualify her for services was social. Apparently she has a significant delay in stranger recognition. Basically, she just likes people and doesn't cry when someone else holds her. We were assured, however, that it is not something to worry about at all, they just wanted her to qualify so we can be sure she gets somebody to help her and that is the only thing they could find that was "delayed". Speaking of Evleyn's development, this week she started pushing herself up to a sitting position and waving. She seems to be getting closer to crawling, but hasn't yet.

this is how I found her sleeping on thursday. yes, that's her foot under her chin. She didn't sleep long.

Evelyn does have one very impressive skill. She can pick up things almost her size with her feet. She lays on her back, grabs whatever it is she wants between her feet, then lifts it up and holds it there with her feet to play with it. As my mom said, "She's a flippin' monkey!" It is entertaining to watch her dangle Jacob's dump truck above her head.

That's all I can think of right now. It's getting late. I'm tired.