Big boy!

I think Ethan's growing again! He slept until 9 today, then ate a big breakfast, snacked a couple times in the morning, nearly ate a whole salmon burger patty at lunch (plus a ton of corn and a piece of granola bar), and went down for a nap again at 1! The last time he did this he grew an inch I think :)

backyard renos

We've sure been enjoying fiddling around in our backyard this summer! Jon's been trying his hand at being a handy-man and I've loved having my very own garden! So far this summer we've dug a hole in the hill so we could build a retaining wall so we could move the shed to the corner so we could put the garden boxes (that Jon built) where the shed used to be (got all that? :). He also put a lovely raised bed in front of the shed that will soon have a big honeysuckle vine growing up the side, as well as some hostas and white bleeding hearts in the shade.

The raised beds are where the shed used to be, and the bed you see behind them (along the fence) is re-used sod, on top of some pretty wretched grass. I also spent a couple days filling in the low spot (aka mud puddle) by the boxes with some more mud, lots of straw, and newspaper.

We used the sod from the hill to make another bed next to the fence, and edged it with rocks collected from the Thomas homestead.

AND we moved the angled fence (that blocked off the driveway from the yard) so now it's straight. We didn't have enough fence boards to make it the slight bit longer that it needs to be now that it's straight between the houses, so Jon decided not to finish the back of half of the fence and instead build a littleplayhouse for Ethan with the fence as one wall. So that's what we're working on now. And I haven't taken pictures of it yet, but we also put in a little rock-lined raspberry bed beside the patio. Wow! Amazing how much plant life a small yard can hold.

words

I'm trying to figure out all the words that Ethan knows. Just for my own interest. And I'm trying to see if there's some sort of theme :) Probably a boring post for anyone who's not family! Off the top of my head, I can think of 40 words he uses regularly.

People:

Mummy, Dada, Bapa (Opa), Bampa (Grandpa), Mama (Grandma)

Food:

(s)nack, Cookie, Cracker, Gook (milk), bup (cup), Bubees (breakfast)

Nouns:

Doggie, Cat, Car, Truck, Bus, Shovel, Door, Hat, Shoes, Sock, Book, Box, Stairs, Baby, (s)cooby (Thomas' dog), Mamas (pyjamas), c(l)ock, bath, ball

Sounds:

Moo, Woof

Verbs:

Push

Other:

Up, Off, No, Mess (my personal favorite :), Hi, Bye bye, Uh Oh

from infancy

Usually I work Tuesday and Friday each week, but summer is a little weird and this week I worked Wednesday and attended a conference on Thursday/Friday. That means I've only had 1 or 2 hours a day with Ethan for the past few days. Today I came home and he looked...older. Not massively older, just a little more mature.

It made me realize how fleeting toddlerhood is. Toddlerhood is such a precious time - a time of intense learning, where everyday is a new adventure. The other day we spent an hour in Home Depot, just playing in the cabinets, pretending to paint the floor, and opening all the washing machines. I think he had more fun there than at the playground!

I love my job, and I think that helping children know Jesus is incredibly worthwhile. But I'm glad it's just 2 days a week. I couldn't handle any more away from my swiftly-growing little man. It already makes me choke up thinking that we'll never have these days back. This is what we get, and we have to make the most of it. But I am glad that we don't do it alone: we want to raise a boy, a man of integrity, and so does God. He will help us hold onto the precious times and show us how to appropriately love and discipline him just as He loves and disciplines us. When I am weak, He is strong.

"But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, and how from infancy you have known the holy Scripture, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus."

- 2 Timothy 3:14-15

toys

Yesterday, we were all in the basement and Ethan decided to go upstairs. Sometimes we just let him wander at will - he's pretty good about not getting into much and we like him to be able to play independently. We heard him pattering around on the main floor and it sounded like he was just wandering, as he sometimes does. A few minutes later, we went upstairs and were surprised to find nothing touched except the little pail of animals/people in the kitchen. He had taken some of them out and taken them to the front entry and laid them out like this:

This morning, I was laying on the floor watching him, and he methodically took shirts and socks out of his dresser and laid them on top of me. Toddlers are so funny!

snuggles

Ethan loves to snuggle. Not for a long time, but frequently. If I'm sitting on the floor, he'll come snuggle up to me for 5 seconds probably every 5 minutes or so. And if I'm on a chair or standing, he'll come stand by my legs until I pick him up. He doesn't want to be held long, he just wants a quick snuggle. But I love it!

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. :)