This weekend we took those summer days and used them to our advantage – by taking it to Lake Geneva and swimming at a waterpark. We played outside and inside and it was lots and lots of fun. We were really worn out by the end of the night. My brother fell asleep right away (not one scream out of him – we were all amazed), and I fell asleep watching tv. They had to carry me to bed. No one can remember a time that they ever had to do that before.

I love swimming! I like splashing in the water. I like throwing things to make them splash. I like getting splashed – just not in my face so much. I played in the little kid pool. I played in the big pool. I went down a slide and I hung on for dear life in a lazy river. You can bet I was exhausted after that. I needed sleep!

So I slept. It was almost 11 hours when peeps next heard a peep out of me.

And back to the water we went! Played some more and then time to zonk out in the car. It was a good day. And it didn’t end after we got home! We got to have a late picnic lunch at the park too, and my sister found a frog there.

Update: No, I still don’t talk, but I have a range of caveman grunts, oohs and aahs that pass for wants and needs and somehow people respond. I recently added specific pointing to the sounds so that it comes together as a sort of sentence. For example, I point to me and then I point to outside. Mommy has come to think that this means “Evan wants to go outside” which may or may not be right, but truth is, I do like to go outside, so maybe we just do that anyways.

Today was Daddy’s birthday! Oh my gosh – we had so much fun surprising him with presents! He came down this morning and we already had them set up for him to see. It was really cool because one of the presents was in a huge box – the wrapping paper didn’t even cover it all.

All day long we were busy getting stuff to celebrate Daddy’s birthday, but the best part was the cake. Me and Mommy made a lemon cake with lemon whipped crème frosting and it was the best stuff I ever tasted. You should try it. You’d think so too.

I was napping when most of the frosting-putting-on was happening… and that’s probably a good thing. Mommy let me try it when I got downstairs and there was only 1 spoon left and – as is typical of me – I threw a fit when I couldn’t get any more. They immediately used distraction by showing me the door and taking me outside. This was good also because it came with lemonade.

I was starving by the time dinner wasn’t ready yet, so I ate all the side dishes before the main dish was even done cooking (Mommy grilled salmon on a wooden plank and yes, it was good). I kept eating even when everyone else came to the table. And I was still eating after Daddy had two helpings of birthday cake.

Did you know that the rule is if you talk during your first piece of birthday cake you have to eat it under the table and hope that your wish will still come true? Daddy talked! Under the table he went! I thought it was if you talked with your mouth full of birthday cake so I went under the table too (but it was mostly because eating under the table is funny and I didn’t want Daddy to be lonely down there).

Hey – if you saw me last weekend, you’ll have to make a trip over to see me again. I think I may have grown an inch this week. I often take a little cat nap before dinner (helpful too while Mommy is getting food ready), but on Tuesday, instead of waking up for spaghetti and meatballs, I slept through it. I also slept through bathtime and story time. I put in a full 12 hours of sleep that night. No wonder I was so hungry tonight! Making up for that missed dinner!

What a busy busy week! First of all, I went to school again this week and on Wednesday it was Sprinkler Day! I got to wear my bathing suit and we went running through the water in the middle of our school day. And this happened after I made a sock puppet. Fun stuff. I also got to have a play day with my friend Maddie and I went to gymnastics. Then Mommy signed me up for dance class! I start in a few weeks. It’s very professional… I need to wear pink ballet shoes, pink tights and a black leotard and I need to put my hair up in a bun like a real ballet girl. Saturday mornings are going to very fancy learning to plie and pirouette.

But the best part of the week was going to my first wedding! Mommy’s cousin Jenny got married to Chris and it was so beautiful and it was outside and I got to play with my cousins. I got to get my own lemonade (like a dozen times) and they put out cheese and crackers and fruit that I helped myself to a few times too. Then we had some dinner (macaroni and cheese!) and then came dessert. If the next wedding I get to go to doesn’t do this for dessert I’m going to be very disappointed: ice cream bar with all you can eat toppings. I had chocolate custard with chocolate sprinkles. Yum!

And then… we had a sleepover at my cousin’s house and we did dancing and dress up and being silly until after 11 o’clock. And in the morning we did it again playing in the basement with toys and playing store and restaurant. We all went to Nana and Papa’s after that for water balloon fight and bubble blowing and we saw some more relatives. It was nice to get home after such a busy weekend. I’m going to sleep good tonight.

I finally finished all my medicine the other day, but I wasn’t myself most of the week. I wanted my mom. I wanted to be left alone. I didn’t want to eat, but each day was a little better than the one before. I’m just about back to my normal self (after I recuperate from the no naps/busy weekend).

I’m usually not a fan of sleepovers because I don’t like going to sleep in strange houses. But at 10pm after a long, hot, buggy wedding that had lots of lemonade, mac-n-cheese and ice cream, I was ready to crash. I cat-napped in the car on the way to Uncle Eric’s house and that was just enough to make me want to party with the girls for another hour. Sadly, Mommy and Daddy put me to bed anyways and let me cry it out until I fell back to sleep.

Then at Nana and Papa’s I got some lunch and they put me back to sleep for another nap! No wonder I didn’t want to sleep in the car on the way home… I had enough sleep. I just wanted to talk and make a lot of noise and get out of the car to play. (For the record, I made it home alive even though it looked a little dicey for a few miles there in Richmond, IL.)

The big news this week is that we have to plan for Daddy’s birthday next weekend. I’ll have to get him a nice present for putting up with me.

No, I don’t want a snuggle huggie/huggle snuggie. I want you to leave me alone. No wait! I want you to hold me. No, on second thought, I just want to hang on you so you can’t move. No, I said don’t move! No! I’m going to throw myself on the floor. I’m going to throw this binky. I’m going to hit you and my sister and the milk off the table too. I’ll throw this piece of chicken too. Can I just sit on your lap? Can you please put me down? I said put me down! I don’t want my binky. Give me that binky back. I’m tired. NO! Don’t put me to bed. Fine, you can wipe my tear-stained, snotty face, but I do not want to take any medicine. Wait, that medicine is ok, but it won’t be ok tomorrow. I know I’m hot… it’s called a fever. No my ear does not feel good. Stop holding me. Don’t put me down. Don’t leave me here. Go away. I’m sleepy. Good night.

And 14 hours later let’s get together and do this again.

My brother still isn’t feeling well. He cries and gets mad at everything. And he hits at me and I didn’t even do nothing. I get mad at him and then mom says it’s because he doesn’t feel good, but I don’t see why that’s fair. I was sick too. I didn’t hit anyone.

I went with him and Mommy to the doctor the other day. He got sick the same time as me, but his turned into an ear infection – a pretty bad one. He started medicine on Tuesday, but yesterday they gave him a shot because the first one wasn’t working fast enough. He seems better today, but he has been napping a lot. He slept almost all day today.

I’ve been keeping busy. I had two days of school this week and I did, and did not like it. I don’t like going, but at the end of the day I have had a very fun time. I have some new friends there and we get to play with fun stuff like finger paints and get all messy with shaving cream. I don’t like putting up such a fight when it’s a school day, but I’m not ready for all this change.

My school is pretty neat. They have all different activities in the summer. My first official day they were having Pajama Day. We didn’t know about it so I had on my prettiest dress with my new hair band and flower barrette. Everyone said I looked so cute (and I did) so it didn’t matter that I wasn’t wearing pajamas. I still got to watch the movie!

Being sick lasts forever and, no, it’s not fun at all. I haven’t been hungry and all I do is sleep. I went to bed before or without dinner 3 or 4 times – I’m so out of it I’ve lost track. I haven’t lost my ability to play – but only by myself on my own terms. Gymnastics didn’t go well. I don’t want to do organized activities when I’m not feeling good. And boy, did I let Mommy and everyone else know it that I was not happy.

Eliseisms: Fog = Cloud Paint; “I talk frog. Ribbit.”; “Those aren’t my kidneys. These are my kid knees.”; “I’m not a doctor, I’m a kid.”

Evanisms: “Bup”; “Buh”; “Mmm”; “Oh” (Yeah, I got some work to do on this.)

I have to get better for tomorrow anyways. Tomorrow is my first “official” day of preschool. I was going to start in September but my babysitter needed a day off and Mommy decided to let me try my new school for the day to check it out. Well, I liked it! There are other kids – note, GIRLS (because I’m the only girl at Kay’s house) – and they are all my age. We did a craft project and heard a story and had lunch. Even had a nap on a tiny little bed. We all think that going to school now will be a lot of fun and I’ll learn a lot. AND all my neighbor girl friends will be there too. Now to fix this cold…

I think I got the sickness too. I’m not coughing, but I have a little fever. I hope we didn’t get this from our day at the school… Mom and Dad will not like school if my sister keeps bringing home illnesses with her art projects. I’m taking a really long nap right now – going on 3 hours. And if all goes as planned, I’ll take another one before dinner and then off to bed early. I don’t want to be sick either.

I didn’t much like going to the little school. I cried and cried when Mommy left and I couldn’t play with my sister. I had to play in the baby room and I’m definitely not a baby (compared to those other babies). So that was my one day. I don’t think I’ll go back for a while. I’m liking the boy’s club going on at daycare.

The ice cream man has been getting rich off us this past week. He stopped by our house yesterday too. We all got rainbow popsicles that turned out mouths green. We needed the refreshment after the afternoon of backyard pooling we had going on. Me and Mom were playing nice and relaxing with our feet in the water and then Daddy turned it into a full-on water fight. Mommy got thrown into the pool, but we got Daddy back with ice cubes in his shorts. And then they both got me with buckets and buckets of water. I screamed, but it was fun. Poor Evan missed it all…

I was so tired yesterday that I slept and slept and slept that Mommy had to come in twice to make sure I wasn’t dead. I missed pool snacks round 1 (round 2 happened with all the girly neighbors when they put their pool up too. I stayed clear of them and just ate crackers and fruit). I missed the water fight and popsicles. I missed playing outside all afternoon. On the upside, I’ve been a pretty pleasant kid to be around.

If you keep me out and I’m hot, hungry and tired, do not, not ever, try to take away my water bottle no matter how wrong I’m trying to drink out of it. I will scream and yell and make you miserable. (Fortunately, the ladies next to us at the art show food tent said I was still cute and that this screamy stage only lasts so long and then quickly I’m 16 and driving away with the car. I can’t wait for 16.)

Oh – and don’t try to show me how to eat an ice cream cone. I don’t want to lick it. I just want to hold it. And let it drip. And spill it. And run around carrying it. That screamy thing happens again when you take it away. Just sayin’…

I liked the rides a lot. There was one ride that was really high and spun around and around with lots of flashing lights and music. The carousel was more my speed, but I had to hang on because the horses went up and down and around. But my favorite part was the water jets in the pool. I played there all day! It was fun to splash and run around them.

It should have tired me out, but it made me pretty crabby (maybe staying up late and missing naps was part of it too). I would wake up in the middle of the night and cry. Mommy and Daddy tried to calm me down and have me go back to sleep, but the only thing that worked was to put me in my own room and let me cry it out.

I liked the rides too, but the waterpark was the most fun! I even got to go in the lazy river by myself in my own tube! And the wave pool was fun when Daddy came with me – those waves got so big! And I even made some friends and we played “hop” and we pushed the water as a game. At the rides, I was “this much” away from going on the rides by myself, but Daddy wanted to go on them anyways. We went on the tilt-a-whirl, a car spinning one, a tall drop one and the Growler. I went on the rollercoaster by myself. And of course the carousel – I can do that. I rode on a beautiful horse.

Did I forget to mention that we went pontooning too? We went on a boat on the Illinois River and took it to a beach and had lunch. The water was really warm and I found lots of rocks and shells. And the sun was shining… had to wear lots of sunblock, but we still got some sunburn (not too bad). But I lost my swimsuit. I was changing and I kicked my suit over the edge of the boat! We tried to find it, but it sank. I’m really sad and I want to throw away all my swimsuits now. My brother Daddy’s fishing pole in the river too, but he doesn’t seem sad at all.

When we got home from vacation, we went to fireworks! We took our blanket and sat on the sledding hill. We got blinky necklaces and had ice cream. The fireworks were so cool! And BIG! And LOUD! (And we got to stay up really really late again.)

Until I can convince her otherwise, we’ll stick to juice and lemonade – my beverage staples this summer. And I drank a lot of juice and lemonade on July 4th! It was hot and sunny and nothing goes better with lemonade than a huge, inflatable slip-n-slide! We rented one with our neighbors for our block party and all my friends and our moms and dads went slip-sliding on it. We also had our swimming pools set up to splash around in. I ate lots and lots of chips. And then I had lots and lots of cupcakes. And I stayed up way too late, but I got to see fireworks from our driveway. It was a very fun 4th.

I got to try out the slip-n-slide a day early during the test run, but I did not like it. I tried climbing in, but the water spray got me and it was cold. My mom tried sliding me down part way, but that was un-cool and I cried. I also got Velcro burn plus a sunburn. Boo. I was happiest splashing in the runoff (where my dad had to leap over me to do his Superman slide move). And I really just like the pool.

Today we went to Monkey Joe’s again. This was my second time there and I think I finally “got it”. I need help climbing the ladders (thanks Mom), but going down the big slides is so fun! And they’re really big. I am such a “big kid” when I go down too. It’s like no big deal and once I slide I’m ready to climb up again (as long as I have my “pusher” to get me to the top).

And I almost forgot! We grew butterflies! The caterpillars turned into butterflies and the other night we let them go in the front yard. There were five of them and it was really neat to let them go and see them fly around our house. I can’t wait to do it again, but Daddy may have something to say about that.

I guess I’m too little to go to the strawberry patch. I like to sit just wherever, so I’m sure sitting on a strawberry plant and getting a red tush isn’t what Mom wanted to deal with. I like to run away too (not good if I’m supposed to be staying close). Instead Papa took me to the park where all the other park people there said I was really cute. I ran all over and got all wet and dirty playing on the swings and slides. That’s I call “boy fun”.

But I did get to eat the strawberries when everyone got home. And we had bowls and bowls of strawberry shortcake for the next few days. I like it with Cool Whip best. My sister likes it with ice cream AND Cool Whip. Yum!