Our biggest news of 2010 was the arrival of Evan Cole on April 20. But enough about him already.
Let’s start back in January when Vivian Grew Up. She started ballet classes, stopped using diapers, and moved to a Big Girl Bed. Vivian made us call her babysitter her “big-girl-sitter”. She started talking like a grown-up too. She explained to mommy how a rock fell out of the sky and there was a lot of dust and it killed all the dinosaurs (she thinks that they died from getting dirty).
In February, Vivian celebrated her 3rd birthday and immediately began counting the days till her 4th. Her big birthday present was a trampoline, and for the next four mornings (and only the next four) she had to jump on the trampoline before school. Speaking of school, Vivian learned how to read and write some letters (her favorite is “V” for Vivian) and started drawing stick figures and circles particularly well.
By the middle of April, Jo’s delivery date came and went. Jo continued her twice-a-week workouts at Crossfit with an added urgency. Vivian tossed a quarter into the wishing well and said “I wish for our baby to come soon”. It worked.
At 12:40am on April 20, Jo’s water broke. After twelve hours and twenty four minutes of labor and an emergency c-section I saw him emerge from an incision in Jo's belly and I proudly announced “Its a boy”. But Vivian was quite intent on getting a little sister. She held on to that view even after Evan’s birth. Till she was finally confronted with a full frontal at the hospital nursery (“What is that, Daddy?”). She’s the best big sister a little boy could want and she loves her little “Evanie”. Evan adores Vivian. He laughs with pure joy every time he sees her.
May and June went by in a blur. Evan grew. Vivian learned to ride cousin Ava’s striding bike. She finished her first year at Grace Garden. She and her dance class had their first recital. She did swim and gymnastics camp and summer fun camp. Evan firgured out how to hold his head up and to roll over from his back and his belly. And we started getting used to being a family of four.
In July we took our first road trip with Evan. During the short and scenic twelve hour drive from Austin to Nebraska and again on the way back we confirmed what we feared. Evan hated his car seat. He still does. And while I am at it, he sucks at bottle feeding and is an indifferent sleeper - Vivian still sleeps longer and better than him. Jo sweetly told him “Evan - I would love you so much more if you slept through the night, you little turd bucket”. A program that summarizes a person’s Facebook status updates for 2010 said that Jo’s was “wish Evan would sleep”. On the other hand, Evan is relatively chilled and happily hangs with anyone. We had to start him on solid food at about five months because he wouldn’t leave us alone at meal times. He sprouted his first teeth during his sixth month and now sports four. And he can chow down a bagel faster than a shark.
In July Grandpa came to Austin. He met Evan for the first time and they bonded. Every time Evan heard Grandpa coming down the stairs he would wait expectantly. Grandpa would look at Evan and predictably say "Evan, smile". And Evan would burst into a radiant smile. Meanwhile Vivian told us that when she grows up, she’s going to live with Grandma. In a rainbow colored purple house.
When the holiday season arrived, one of Vivian's Christmas gifts came early - a nice and shinny purple Specialized 16” bike. By her second attempt she was riding it around the basketball court and yesterday she rode it to the park and back - all without ever using training wheels. On a windy December morning Vivian, Jo and I went to Austin Ballet's presentation of the Nutcracker. Vivian loved it. The show was the longest time ever in Vivian's entire life that she was awake and did not speak or did not hear anyone else speak. After the show she could not stop talking for a long time.
This year I'll end with the synopsis: “2010: Evan arrived. Vivian grew up. Jo and I are alive.” And we pretend otherwise, but we loved every moment of it.
A very merry Christmas and a happy new year to you all.
~ evan vivian jo & arun. austin texas dec 2010
No comments:
Post a Comment