Tee Ball!!!

!

got a tee ball set from Uncle Matt & Aunt Mia for Christmas!! Ethan was shown how to do it once, and was instantly a pro! And check out that follow through, hehe

Baby Sister!!!

Ethan loves his little sister! He wanted to hold her right away!!! He already says her name pretty well, but he usually calls her Baby, hehe.

Fun with Daddy!

These pictures are from the other night when daddy was giving the kids rides on his back. The more rowdy they got, the more the kids fell off… so he decided to make a harness… he rigged up two belts so that the kids could hang on… its was a blast to watch!

The two "big kids" have been sharing a room for about a month now, to get ready to put a new baby in its own room. They transitioned without any problems! Its really nice!

Ethan is suddenly saying So many words…. perfectly! He has been trying much harder pronouncing things instead of just using the first letter & how ever many syllables, hehe. Today, Diella was trying to help him with a few words… like her name, he's always said Ella. Well today he started saying Dee-Ella!!! And she even got him to say Mom-mee, and Dad-dee, instead of mama & dada! Cool! He also identified & called Cecily by her name yesterday, without prompting… he said Cec! How cute!

Then tonight, I even was trying to get him to say some colors. I think it was maybe 6 months ago or so, that we started helping Diella pronounce the L in the middle of words… like class, or play, or blanket, etc. Well tonight, Ethan, said Blue, perfectly! Even with the L in it! He also said yellow… perfectly!!!

Other words he tries & comes close to… that are so cute… are kitchen & chicken. He's also finally saying milk… he used to just call all drinks wa-wa. But now milk, water, and juice all have their own names, hehe. He also says high five when he puts up his hand for one, and also says high chair. And also will hold out his hand and for you to take it, to go with him… and he'll either say "hand" or he'll say "mon" (as is c'mon). Its SO cute! He even, once in a while, has finally started to put two words together!!! Like one days he said "play. C'mon" It was awesome! And last night he said "nite nite mama" !!! …. oh AND… my fave word he says… lotion… its hilarious & adorable how he says it… its like "thlo-thon" … you gotta hear it! I'm loving all this talking!

And he also understands everything even more now, and doesn't just reply with "Yea" like he used to always. Now he'll give you a real answer, which is nice for communication!

Ethan is also starting to be quite the singer & dancer! Sometimes I'll sing a familiar song, and then stop before the last word or phrase, so that Diella can finish it for me… well Ethan's been doing it too now! We didn't even know he COULD until one day he just did! He even changes notes…. Almost where they belong! There are quite a few different songs that he'll help us sing! Its so awesome!

So Ethan has a few stuffed animals that I've always kept at the foot of his crib, that he could not care less about. When he goes through his ABC books, he always shows me the picture of the owl & he says Hoo. So my mom reminded me, "hey, don't you have a stuffed animal owl? So I got that out of the attic, and guess what… he LOVES it!!! His other few favorite animals are cow, and porcupine! How funny! Those are the ones he shows me the pictures of & says the names of most often. Funny kid! … well and horse, and penguin now too… he has lotsa faves.

His sense of humor is also rapidly developing & starting to show more & more! Like he has this "funny walk" we call it… where he spreads his legs out far, then bends over a little, and then walks (in the video). Or he'll put his head way back, his chest forward, and then run toward you & fall into you, and just laugh. And my favorite… we all remember Diella's "angry eyes" she used to do… and then the funny arm circle thing she added to it…. well Ethan does the eyes now! Puts his head down, eyebrows down a bit, looks out the top of his eyes at you… then I crack up… but he keeps the look still! Its hilarious!

Its kind of the same that he does with smiling. He smiles on command now, like instantly. "Ethan… smile!" and he slaps it right on! All cheesy!!! And most of the time we're laughing while he's doin this… then he doesn't wipe it off! The big cheesy smile is still there, as we are still laughing! Such a funny kid!!! I remember shortly before I had him, the girls at LCA threw me a shower, and Debbie Nuber spoke over him, a sense of humor. Well, she was Right! He's sure got one!!!

He's getting to be… I don't want to say less laid back, cuz he still IS laid back… but he's getting this really hyper side to him… in the evening mostly. The other night, for who knows what reason (no one was over or anything, and I didn't pump them full of sugar or anything), but he was just bouncing off the walls! It was crazy! He gets a little hyper each night now. Its ok though, he always calms back down for bed.

Jake & I have been noticing how he's reeeeeally coming out of baby stage, into toddler stage, ALOT more lately! He's such a big boy now! Just understanding EVERYthing, and responding appropriately to EVERYthing, and obeying, and Always saying please, and all these things! He even now refuses to go down the stairs backwards, on his belly. He's got to go forward, like a big boy, its so funny!

Oh and we're still slowly trying the potty. He'll sit there, but has still never gone. He HAS told us that he's pooped though! Which we've been working on! Even twice he told us right BEFORE he pooped!!! Didn't get him to go on the potty for it, but he could feel it coming! Thats the first step! Woo!

Ethan has impressed me, as I've noticed a few times as we are driving home… right as we get into our neighborhood, he says, "Home." I think its cool that not only does he of course recognize our house, but even our closely surroundings too. Very cool.

And the Funniest thing!… the other day, Ethan didn't just FALL asleep in his high chair, he PUT himself to sleep there! I watched him kind of inch down & gently lay his head down to the side, as if to get himself comfortable. The only thing left on his tray was a fig newton. So I go over, and trying not to fully wake him up, I begin to wipe his face and hands clean from lunch. His head popped up, eyes wide open, he quickly grabbed the fig newton, and then slowly lowered his head back down. I giggled a little, and continued to wipe him up. Then when i went to take the fig newton from his hand… his head quickly popped up again, and he SQUEEZED the fig newton, and was instantly crying, he did NOT want me to take it away! Haha!…. but I could tell, he also didn't REALLY want to eat it either… So I persisted with taking it away, finished wiping him up, as he cried some more. But then by the time I lifted him out of his chair & held onto him, his head went Right down onto my shoulder, the eyes were closed, and he was happy to be put right down for nap. That was a great, hilarious moment for me!