Nothing can snap  all three of us out of a bad mood funk faster than a weekend full of of fun and food and friends. Gorgeous weather and a kid who was charming and happy despite skipping nap time two days in a row didn’t hurt either.

Saturday morning we all went to E’s hockey game, where Little Evan showed off his team spirit.

Babies Gone Wild! I think he was just enjoying the sunshine.

Then we headed over to the Mystic Seaport for Chowderfest.

CHOWDAH!

We had seafood chowder and lobster chowder and beef brisket sandwich and apple fritters and pumpkin spice gelato. E also enjoyed a very very delicious Pumpkin Head Beer while I cursed myself for ALWAYS being pregnant.

That Seaport membership is the best thing we've bought in years.

On Sunday we drove up to Boston to meet my friend Erin (of the much-mentioned wedding) and her new husband. I always forget Boston’s only 90 minutes away and is a fantastic day trip, even with a baby.

Could this city be any more beautiful? I heart it.

We went up early to visit the Children’s Museum in the morning. I’ve been wanting to go since we moved back to New England 5 years ago, but visiting a children’s museum when you don’t have any children is sort of…creepy.

I've never met a kid who loves making faces so much.

I have amazing memories of Boston from when I was a kid – we lived about an hour outside the city from when I was 10 until I was 15 – and I was glad to see Little Evan enjoyed it as much as I did. He’s still too young for most of the museum but the toddler section was fantastic.

Trains! Tunnels! Hats! Loud noises!!!!!

After a couple of hours of inside fun we met our friends and walked over to the Commons to meet up with another friend (and blog reader!) Kim and her adorable daughter.

The brick building in the top left picture is my dad's old office. Right next door is James Hook Lobsters. Dad would sometimes bring home live lobsters and we'd play with them and name them and pick out which one was "ours"...and then toss them in a pot and eat them for dinner. You can see why I'd make a terrible vegetarian.

This Elliot, Erin's husband, being a good sport while we played a game of "freak out the newlywed by throwing babies at him." He actually did a really great job. It took a lot of effort to not start asking "SO, WHEN ARE YOU GUYS GOING TO HAVE KIDS?"

Of course, I can’t go to Boston without visiting the Gardens and the beloved duck statue:

Make Way for Ducklings! That's the island where Mr. and Mrs. Duck live in the book. The ducks really do live there.

It took at least 30 minutes of waiting for bigger kids (and adults) to get off Mrs. Duck for this picture. I guess I should be glad so many people love classic children's literature, right?

We topped off the afternoon with Little Evan’s first carousel ride.

That top left picture is Evan crying and screaming, not because he's scared of the ride but because the ride is over and he's SAAAAAAD to leave his horsie.

We left Boston around 5:30 and even with traffic made it home about 2 hours later. As we pulled into the driveway, my friend Amy showed up to drop off her delicious homemade pumpkin ice cream. I have really awesome friends.

But the BEST part of the weekend is that even after 2 super busy fun days of running around and going places and seeing friends, E has today off. We’re both in our pajamas and have absolutely no plans to leave the couch for longer than it takes to heat up some mac & cheese and refill Little Evan’s sippy cup. SO AWESOME. Plus I have half a bowl of pumpkin ice cream left.

What did you do this weekend? I hope it was as much fun as ours!

My kid can WHISTLE!!!!

I have owned my iPhone for almost a year, and JUST found out I can upload directly to youtube. am genius.
p.s. Sorry it is portrait. am not videographer.

Today Baby Evan is 1 AND A HALF, which means I am officially dropping the “Baby”. From now on he will just be Evan or Little Evan. Wish me luck.

The four weeks between 17 months and 18 months were the absolute fastest time of my entire life. I’m terrified that if things get any faster I will wake up tomorrow with Baby Evan standing next to my bed yelling “Mom, let’s go! I’m late for practice!!” We’re not too far off already, since just this week he stood at the baby gate in the kitchen and shouted “I WANT MAMA!!! MAAAAAMAAAAAA!!!!” because I dared to go upstairs and do laundry without him. (He still doesn’t say Mama any other time – just when he is Horribly Upset by how I am Mean.)(He says Dada all the time. He even recognizes the sound of Dada’s car pulling to the garage and starts shouting for him.)

And yet right now he is pantless, dragging one of his blankies around the family room, chugging milk and babbling and looking exactly like the adorable toddler he is. Twenty minutes from now I’ll probably be shouting at him to stop jumping on me and leave the dog alone and come back here with my cell phone and stop putting that power cord in your mouth and why why WHY won’t you listen to ANYTHING I say???? (As I was typing that he threw a remote at my face. Good times.)

Despite suffering from a severe case of early-onset terrible twos, 18 months is truly a super fun age. Evan loves people everywhere we go and they love him back. He plays well with others, especially older kids, and can entertain himself with a book or a toy long enough that I can make a sandwich or put away groceries. His favorite games include “help mommy sweep”, “help mommy unload the dishwasher”, “turn off the lights”, “slam the dryer door”, and “giving super wet raspberries on your face”. He’s still mostly uninterested in the TV but loves dancing to commercials – especially the iPad commercial with the piano music and the L.L. Bean commercial with the Big Rock Candy Mountain song.

He will try almost any food and eats whatever we’re having 85% of the time (the rest of the time he gets peanut butter sandwiches). He drinks so much milk I’ve started buying 4 half-gallons on ever grocery trip and STILL run out sometimes. He will tell us when he’s tired, asks to be put in the crib, sleeps through the night and (usually) takes 1 long afternoon nap.

When he is good, he is very very good. And when he is bad he is horrid. But I love him to itty bitty pieces.

18 Month Milestones (from Baby Center, as usual)

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Will “read” board books on his own – Yes! Especially the Mr. Brown Can Moo! book. He makes adorable little noises for all the pictures.
• Scribbles well – His preferred medium is chalk on furniture but when he gets it on the chalkboard he does a pretty good job. Crayons still end up in his mouth most of the time so we don’t do much coloring.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Strings two words together in phrases – Besides “I want mommy!!” he mostly sticks to one word at a time, although if you count signs he can make whole sentences.
• Brushes teeth with help – He loves his toothbrush so much he sleeps with it.
• Stacks four blocks – Why is block stacking such an important skillon this stupid chart? Evan mostly loses blocks but I did actually see him stack 3 the other day. On the closed toilet, but still. ARE YOU HAPPY NOW MILESTONE CHART?

Mastered Skills (a few kids can do)
• Throws a ball overhand – Like a pro. His aim is shockingly good too.
• Takes toys apart and puts them back together – Most of his toys are only one part (ball, car, truck, book). He can take all the pots out of the cabinet and then put them back more neatly than I can. Does that count?
• Shows signs of toilet training readiness – He knows the sign for “potty” and will often tell us when he’s going, but is kind of afraid of the big person toilet even with the child seat. We figure the signing is good enough for now and will make things MUCH easier when we want to tackle potty training for real.

Happy 18 months Baby Evan!

Enjoying some apples with yogurt dip

Using one of my necklaces to make his doggie pretty

Exhausted after Daddy's hockey game - and holding his own stick

Exploring the backyard jungle