vacation!

We had such a great time on the West Coast! Ethan loved the beach. We spent hours wandering around, digging in the sand, picking up rocks and shells (and seaweed, yuck), and building sandcastles! Or rather, I built them, and Ethan played the part of Godzilla. He also loves to have his feet buried in the sand. After the burying process, we ask him "where are Ethan's toes?" and he gives a silly little grin. Sometimes he pulls them out right away, and sometimes he just eases them out like he's trying to draw out the suspense. At the end, when the toes are displayed for all to see, we get the big grin. Unfortunately, we have no pictures of the "grin". This picture was taken when we buried his whole bottom half in the sand, which he thought was great fun until he discovered that he couldn't move!

you speak english?

Ethan is definitely learning how to talk! And he's using it to make jokes already, which is totally hilarious. He likes to say "boo" to me, and when I jump and pretend to be scared, it makes him laugh like a maniac.

And today, my mom brought in a hot coffee. She has had a long-standing thing with him where she'll touch his hand to the hot coffee cup and say "hot", trying to teach him what the word means. So today he wanted the cup, and when she brought it near him, he sneakily brought his finger up to it, touched it, pulled away fast, and yelled "hot!" And chuckled, of course :) And then he did it again...and again...and again.

doggies

Sometimes I wish I was a lot better at confrontation. For example, there was a lady that came to the playground today that had her pug dog off-leash. There were a couple dozen kids at the playground, most of them under 4 years old. The dog was bounding around everywhere, trying to lick everyone. He came up to Ethan and before I could stop him, the dog had knocked him over, tossed sand in his face, and licked him all over. Ethan was SCREAMING. I shoved the dog out of the way and picked up Ethan. He got over it fairly quickly, but still. There were dozens of kids, some of whom were already scared of dogs and were crying as he was bounding around all over. AND to top it off, the lady was so...out of shape...that she couldn't even chase down the dog to get it back ON the leash. My friend had to grab the dog and bring it back to her. The dog wasn't mean or huge and the lady was apologetic, but still, I wish I had given her a piece of my mind. A playground full of small children is NOT an off-leash park!!

little fish

I'm so proud of Ethan! We've only been to the pool a handful of times, and everytime we go he freaks out and clings to me most of the time. But this time, he was quite interested and even giggling! He even walked around quite a bit in the kiddie area. And one time he fell and went under, and when I pulled him up he sputtered a bit, but didn't cry! He even willingly went into the part that's "rainy" and totally loved the slides. I think we stayed for an hour and a half, we had so much fun! Then we both got hungry so decided to come home. :)

And now he's driving his fire truck around the basement. Seriously, we have not encouraged him playing with cars any more than with anything else, but he LOVES driving his cars and trucks around, so we just had to get him some more! (hooray for the Salvation Army :) I think it's what he spends half his days doing. I find it interesting that as much as we say that boys and girls are the same, they're really not. I've met a lot of children, and most little boys gravitate towards cars and guns, and girls gravitate towards dolls and dress-up. There is some crossover, and there are indeed lots of things that both boys and girls like to play, but you really can't deny that there truly is a difference in the way they're wired!

Scoundrel!

Ethan is starting to get into EVERYTHING! In the past 45 minutes, he has eaten mud, harassed the bird we are pet-sitting, emptied the DVD cupboard, tipped over a play car, and just about pulled one of my tomato cages out. I haven't minded too much (except when he was harassing the bird and my tomato plant) since he's not putting himself or anyone else in danger, nor is anything he's doing "wrong" per-se. And frankly, I don't feel like following him around the house saying "no!" all the time.

But what do I do when he really is doing something I think is wrong? He was banging on the bird's cage and scaring it, so I pulled him away and sat him down on the chair, thinking maybe I'd try this time-out thing. But he just laughed like a mad-man and I almost started laughing too! What to do, what to do...

words!

So we may not be making a ton of progress on the moving front, but Ethan is definitely learning some words!

He knows that the dog next door is "doggie" and when he wants up (or is up) he says "uppie", dad is "dada" or "daddy", he says "hi" and "bye" and just now was learning to say "clock" (one of his favorite things to look at), although it sounds more like "cok" right now :) He doesn't say "mommy" much, but at least I still know he loves me!

barking

Ethan totally scared me today. He woke up from his nap early and was breathing heavily, so I cuddled him for a while, put him back down, and went downstairs. Half an hour later I went back up and he was crying, but quite faintly. I went in and he was lying on his tummy, reaching out with his arms like a parched man reaching for a pool of water. And he was weezing like the air was being sucked out of the room. I scooped him up and brought him downstairs, told Jon to get off the phone and just about started bawling! Thankfully Jon kept his cool and we took him to the medicentre. Poor guy was barking/coughing like a 90-year-old smoker and "talking" like Al Pacino! I'm happy that they got him in to see a doctor right away, instead of having to wait for an hour.

Turns out he has croup, which is something I thought disappeared in the 60s along with polio and mumps! Guess not. We gave him a little steroid pill to take down the swelling in his trachea and took him for a walk so he could breath some cool misty air (for once this cruddy weather was perfect!) Anyway, he's sleeping now and seems to be breathing mostly ok, although a bit heavy. Poor guy. Poor mommy!

About time!

We were at our friends' farm on Sunday, and I was walking around with Ethan holding onto my finger. The ground was pretty uneven so he more...lurching...rather than walking. But then I let go and - surprise! - he took 2 steps. And then a couple more! And then he was off and running! Just kidding, no running :) But still, progress has been made! Considering that he's almost 14 months, I'm ready for the walking stage.

Mother's Day

Last year Jon got me some books so I could take some time for myself. This year, he and Ethan painted a picture frame for me! I can't wait to see what Ethan will make next year, when hopefully he'll be capable of making things all by himself. :)

learning!

It sure feels like Ethan is learning at a breakneck speed. Once he started doing new things, he just kept going!

Now he knows how to put things IN, as well as take things out. Puzzles, shape sorters, buckets -- they all have new possibilities now!

He can go DOWN stairs as well as up. And when he gets to the bottom he is immensely proud of himself.

He can stand on his own (no, still no walking yet).

He says "hi" whenever we say it to him.

He loves opening and closing doors. Seriously, a single door can keep him occupied for 20 minutes!

He plays peekaboo on his own, with his hands over his eyes, or with his blanket.

He can do the "indian-yodel thing" (for lack of a better phrase) all by himself. You know, the thing where you open your mouth and sing while patting your mouth with your hand. It's pretty hilarious when he does it on command!

I know a lot about kids, and have taught/played with/baby-sat hundreds of them, but nothing compares to watching the daily changes in a toddler!

gripefest

Why is it that bad stuff comes all at once? This week we've had one bout of the stomach flu (both ends), one bout of diarhhea, 3 head colds, a cancelled summer course and a cancelled fall course (meaning Jon has to further put on hold his dreams of finishing his BA), a water leak, AND a broken sump pump. AGGGGGGGGG!!! We're going to have to pay a plumber and probably install new carpet in the basement. Again I said, AGGGGGGGGG!!!

zzzz

Sleep, sleep wonderful sleep! Tonight, for the first time (or at least the first time in a super long time), Ethan slept ALL NIGHT! We're talking 13 hours here! Previously he didn't wake up a lot, but he was still nursing once a night. I was tired of getting up so I thought I'd wean him off that, seeing as how he's plenty old enough for weaning anyway.

I tried in January but he cried for an hour and a half (on and off) and I gave in and then never bothered again. But this time I had nerves of steel! The first night he cried off and on for an hour, and I went in to him using the Ferber method...the second night he woke up at two separate times and the second time was 6:30 already, so I caved and nursed him. The third night he cried for 30 minutes, and last night, NOTHING! Not a peep for 13 hours. Phew!

Snow Day

We went out to enjoy the sunshine...

...and I thought I'd enjoy a little snow as well...

...it tasted a little strange...

...but I just had to try it again!

That's me giving Mommy's friend a look of extreme disgust.

I think she suggested that Mommy make me snow cakes for dinner.

more goofiness

I love the goofy little things that Ethan does. Recently he's taken to stretching out his arm with his fingers outstretched - I think it's his new way of pointing at something he wants. Except that it looks like he's trying to summon it to him. :) And sometimes he does it to a person and it looks like he's blessing them.

He's also discovered how to carry things around when using all 4 limbs to crawl...use the mouth! He is always carrying things around in his mouth, like a little puppy. Then he'll stop, sit, and grin at me while still clamping onto his ball, box, or toy.

hooray!

Since the return of the afternoon nap, Ethan has been in a great mood! Today I took him to work for a couple hours and he just crawled happily around in the church basement, playing with the nursery toys, exploring classrooms, and watching mom. Hooray for naps!