At first glance, Evan seems like a mild-mannered, unassuming little guy. In a lot of ways that’s true. So long as a few simple conditions are met (food, sleep, and affection, for example), Evan is a happy baby. But meeting Prince Evan’s conditions is not always easy. For example, did you know that Evan has had the master bedroom at our house for over two months? That’s right. James sleeps in the nursery, Mike and I sleep on the pull-out sofa in the office, and little, innocent Evan has the entire master bedroom to himself. Now, in fairness, it’s not entirely his fault. We moved Evan into our room at the beginning of December when we went through the sleep training process with James. Since Evan is quite a good sleeper, it didn’t seem fair to interrupt his beauty sleep. But over two months later, he shows no sign of giving up the biggest bedroom in our house. Share a room with his brother? No thanks. In fact, I’m pretty sure Evan thinks our bedroom is his own. And since Mike and I are ridiculously soft, first-time parents we aren’t doing much to dissuade him. I’ve even caught myself referring to it as “Evan’s room” a couple of times.

 

Prince Evan has the amazing ability to turn anyone into a pile of mush with one point of his finger. He experimented with “da da” and “ma ma” but quickly realized he could get almost anything he needed with hand signals. Prince Evan points at the ceiling fan. We turn it on for his entertainment. Prince Evan points at the ceiling fan again. We turn it off - he’s tired of watching it. Prince Evan points at a cup. “Hurry!” we shout, “Evan’s thirsty! Get some water!”

 

Mealtimes are a similar story. Prince Evan loves chicken, vegetable soup, pita bread, grilled cheese, raisins, Cheerios, yogurt, apple sauce, oatmeal, and a selection of other tiny foods. But he may not like them on THAT particular day. If you offer him grilled cheese on a non-grilled-cheese day (and how are you supposed to know what day it is for Prince Evan?) he’ll humour you by popping a piece in his mouth but he will not go so far as to swallow it. Out it comes again. And then, one by one, the remaining pieces get regally swept to the floor. Prince Evan flashes his most charming smile while I run around the kitchen trying to figure out what he actually wants on the royal menu that day.

 

And so Mike and I continue to serve as loyal subjects of Prince Evan, pretending to be annoyed but actually loving every minute with our handsome, little majesty.