I don’t love bloggers who do tons of videos because I am often scanning blogs on my phone in the middle of the night while nursing a baby, and although reading is silent, videos are not. For some reason, YouTube plays sound even when the phone is on silent so I can’t even watch your kid be adorable with the sound off unless I manage to mute the video on the YouTube frame itself before it blares through the room.

But I’m making today a video day, because in the clip below you will experience:
1. Amazing toddler energy
2. A very confused dog
3. E encouraging yelling
4. Cute plaid pants
5. Shoddy housekeeping
6. Terrible parents who laugh when their kid falls down
7. My incredible iPhone video skills that may give you motion sickness

How can you turn that down? The really good stuff starts right around the 1 minute mark.

We are not a big sports family, so I have absolutely no explanation for why my 20 month old is IN LOVE with football. Besides dancing to the music in commercials, it’s pretty much the only thing that holds his attention on TV. I’m hoping this doesn’t mean he grows up to actually want to PLAY football though, since I don’t think I can handle watching him get trampled and the only other option seems to be Douchebag Quarterback. YEAH I’M LOOKING AT YOU TOM. CUT YOUR HAIR.

Evan’s a little hard to understand with the sippy cup in his mouth, but I assure you those words are “football” and “touchdown.”

I know people are torn on the ETrade baby and whether or not he’s weirdly creepy and stupid or adorable and hilarious, but after the most recent commercial I fall squarely in the adorable category.

Because this baby? Is clearly related to BabyEvan.

19 Weeks and already BEST FRIENDS

Dog Love

LOVE DOG

So every time that commercial comes on, E and I laugh our head off. Then we started shouting the “frowned upon” part. And then Little Evan started actually trying to ride the dog. Which we discouraged.

If by “discouraged” you mean “helped him ride the dog”.

Wheeee!!!

I gave Brutus ALL my pizza crust tonight to make up for this. He hasn't pooped in my shoes yet, so I don't think he minds.

For at least an hour after nap time today, Brutus lay on a blanket on the floor while Little Evan leaned against him and drank two sippy cups full of milk. It’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen and it reminds me that adopting Brutus four years ago wasn’t just luck – it was one of the best things we’ve ever done.

(Apologies for blurry iPhone photos – I had the memory card for the DSLR in the computer so obviously it didn’t work so well when I tried to use it.)

(Uh, and for the record, this post is not in any way sponsored or approved by ETrade.)

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.

I was too busy passing my baby off on other people to do a post in honor of his 17 month milestone this weekend. Yes, I am a terrible, neglectful, horrible mother AND I DON’T EVEN CARE A TEENY TINY BIT. It was actually a much more important milestone for E and me – we’ve never turned baby bedtime over to anyone else before. My parents swear it was fine besides some protests over the big, slippery bath tub and Baby Evan was so exhausted from TWO dogs and several balls that he slept in later than I did every day. We are now one step closer to hiring an actual non-related baby sitter so we can make date night a regular event.

Ok, I swear I am done talking about how much we needed that break. Over. Done.

We really needed a break. A together break. Couple time is totally different from just a mommy break.

Sorry. Now let’s talk about my kid!

17 month milestones from Baby Center, as usual

Mastered Skills (most kids can do)
• Uses six words regularly – Yes, sort of, maybe. Most days it feels like the only two words he says are “dog” and “ball”. DOG! BALL! DOG! BALL! And new from this weekend, “DOGBALL!” – as in the ball that belongs to the dog and is not for babies. Definitely yes if you count signs.
• Enjoys pretend games – Maybe? I’m not always sure what he’s doing when he entertains himself. I guess he’s pretending. He is very good at making imaginary phone calls.
• Likes riding toys – Loves riding toys. Especially the dog. He also tried to ride his little V-Tech helicopter today with very poor results.

Emerging Skills (half of kids can do)
• Feeds doll – He’d rather feed Mommy or Daddy or Brutus. He’s very good at sharing food.
• Speaks more clearly – Well, “NO” no sounds exactly like “NO” instead of “neeaaawwwoo!!” He can also add “no” to any other word to make a sentence – “no dog!” “no ball!” “no dada!” “no book!”
• Throws a ball underhand – My kid is a ball throwing genius. He’s been throwing overhand (on the chart as an “advanced skill” at 18 months) for months already and has EXCELLENT aim. He can also catch the small blue ball about 50% of the time, which isn’t even on the under-two charts. Now we just have to decide which sports to sign him up for. (Football? Baseball?)

Advanced Skills (a few kids can do)
• Dances to music – He is a dancing FOOL. I swear I’ll get good video some time soon, but most of his dancing is to commercials on TV (add one more point to the bad mommy tally) so it’s only for a few seconds. He also “sings” sometimes, which is adorable.
• Sorts toys by color, shape, or size – Are they balls? He can sort those. He doesn’t really play with the toys specifically made for sorting yet, but he can sort his food based on color.
• Kicks ball forward – BAAAAAAALL!!!!! So, yes. (Soccer?)

A quick round-up of everything else: Baby Evan has 12 teeth – only missing the 2 year molars and the four canines. He’s going to get his first haircut soon, unless I can’t bring myself to do it because I don’t think the back-of-the-head curls are going to grow back and I love them SO SO much. He still refuses to wear shoes most of the time, although that’s mostly because he has TEENY TINY MIDGET FEET and all his cute size 5 sneakers are still too big and the size 4’s pinch his toes. He goes to sleep after a bath and a book without any protest, sleeps from 8 pm to 8 am and takes a 2-3 hour nap around 1 o’clock. (Do not ask me how we managed that, it was blind luck and a good tempered kid). We are still using cloth diapers during the day and disposables at night or when we travel, a system that works really well for us. Baby Evan is a champ at riding in the car, riding in the stroller and going new places. He loves everyone and gives out hugs and high-fives within minutes of meeting strangers. It is AMAZING to watch him grow into an actual little person, although sometimes littler person opinions can be a challenge. And I’ve got to stop laughing at his temper tantrums or I’ll encourage the banging-his-head-against-the-floor-and-stomping-his-feet-fits he’s recently started. They’re just so hilarious, especially since he knows not to hit people and dogs and often flounces off to hit a couch or a wall instead. Oh the flouncing.

Happy 17 months Baby Evan! I promise to stop calling you Baby really really soon!

Hockey? Daddy would like that one best. And yes, again, hobo baby wears no shoes.

Two of his favorite things: Dog and Yarn.

Food breakthrough: HUMMUS. Spinach and artichoke here. The mess is definitely worth the nutritional value.

Party Baby!! It's a whistle from the bachelorette party that I sadly broke just a few minutes after Baby Evan figured out how it worked. "Accidentally" broke, of course.

And here’s your bonus Baby Evan video of the week: attempting to jump. Jumping isn’t on the milestone chart until almost 2 years, so clearly these attempts are early and understandably less than perfect. But he loves doing it!

Sorry about the video, I forgot to turn my phone sideways & the quality isn’t very good, but you can get the idea.

(Maybe not basketball)