Opps! 6 months later

I haven’t blogged in 6 months.  Ethan has now been 3 for almost 8 months, and we all know that age 3, and age 3 and a half can be very different!  He has been talking much clearer and more intelligently than any 3 year old I know, but the past few months I’ve been noticing how even more complex his comments and questions are!  He’s really starting to think for himself! (so often he just says what he hears his big sister says).  It’s just incredible to see how his mind is so inquisitive, and he’s such an interesting individual!

So I’ll have to start back when I first started making note of the funny things he’s done over the past 6 months.  His questions always crack me up.  They are always so very random!  One was, “Mom, can I buy a whale?” then followed by, “can I have one when I’m 3?” (which, of course, he already was 3 when he asked).

One time daddy called Ethan a turd.  Ethan replied, “no YOU’re a turd!” and after they went back and forth a few times, Ethan finally said, “ok I’m a turd.”

I remember this being a long time ago, but I once asked Ethan if he had gone potty yet.  He said yes, so I asked, “when?”  His reply was, “um, in two years.”

When we were talking about possible names for Silas before he was born, Ethan’s suggestion if we were to have a boy, was Roman.  And if it was to be a girl, he said either Sally or Maria.

Once I said, “that was absurd.”  I think we were in the car and I was driving.  Ethan chimed in, “that was absurd.” And then he also added, “that was ridiculous.” As though he understood the context of my comment! Neat!

One of his favorite and most frequent sayings has been, “are you sure about that?” but I must make a point to always try to remember the inflection he uses when he says it!  Cuz THAT is the best part!  He is SO animated with his facial expressions, and he is beyond enthusiastic when he speaks.  So entertaining!

One day Ethan was singing, “Oh, I just cant wait to be king” from The Lion King.  So I asked him, “Ethan, you’re going to be KING!?” and he replied, “no, I’m just WAITING to be king.”

One thing that he says is hilarious.  Even though it’s really just a line from a movie that he’s reciting, again, it’s the cuteness of his voice, and his enthusiasm!  It’s from Robots.  He exclaims, “not until you gimmie back my foot, you mugger!”

Ethan has been very attentive to which direction we’re going when we’re in the car.  Most times when I make a certain turn, he’ll guess where we’re going.  “are we going to Ahna’s house?” or Grammie’s too, he knows that direction.  Also on our way to church too.  Oh, and if I tell him we’re going to such and such a place, and if we go a  route other than usual, he often says, “this isn’t the way to ____!”  I think it’s a boy thing.

A few times, quite a while ago, when I would check on Ethan while he was going potty, I would find him in the funniest position on the potty!  I think because he still cant stand to pee, because he cant reach it, he would seriously have both hands and both feet on the toilet seat, so that he could aim into the toilet! HAHHAA!!!

No joke, Ethan once said to me, out of nowhere… “you know what part of my body I like? …. My weiner.”  HAHAH!  Ooooh my!

It must have been a Saturday or something, cuz I just remember that it was lunch time, and Jake was home.  I came downstairs, gasped, and said, “Jake!  You made the kids lunches for me!  Thank you!”  and then Ethan loudly added, “Genius!!!”

One day he asked me, “what are those gray animals at the zoo?”   I said, “elephants?”  He said no.  I said, “rhinos?”  He said no.  “Hippos?” No.  Then he said, “I think they’re on Lion King.”  And I STILL couldn’t think of what he meant.  Then he said, “they’re right past the tiger.” (he was referencing to their actual location at the zoo), and I said, “Oh!  The warthogs!”  cool!!!  He knew to give me the Lion King clue, AND their specific spot at the zoo to help me figure it out!  Awesome.

Ahna was over this one night, and she was on the phone with Aria.  When she got off the phone, Ethan said, “you KNOW her???”

Ok, so I was very pregnant with Silas, and it was the weekend that Jake went on the canoe trip with Chi Alpha.  He decided to take Ethan along!  They had a great time!  I was so happy Ethan was able to do that with his daddy!  They stayed in a tent, they fished, they went on the canoe, they ate by the fire, and all kinds of fun camping stuff!  Well before they left for the trip, everything was just about all packed up, and Jake was loading the car.  I was upstairs with the two girls, and when I came down, I saw that the front door was still open from Jake loading the car.  So I looked around a bit, and didn’t see Ethan.  I asked Jake where he was, and he didn’t know.  So then my pace got faster as I looked around the house, calling Ethan’s name, with no reply.  Then Jake joined me in the search,  and I bolted outside, shuffling up and down our side of the block, calling out his name, becoming more & more panicked.  Jake was on the front porch, after he continued to search the house with no luck, and we gave each other this horrified look as we both shrugged our shoulders.  There was shear terror in my voice as I continued to call his name, and I swore I faintly heard him reply.  But as I kept running & looking, and listening, I had no clue from where the voice came, or if it was even his voice that I heard!  I was at the end of the block, and as I came back toward the house, I saw Jake wrapped up so tightly in Jake’s arms as he took him inside.  I followed them in, closed the door behind me, sat down and bawled for a few minutes, both because of the emotion of the situation, but also because I was in quite a bit of physical pain from running around like that.  It turns out, Ethan was in the car, “ready to go.”  He was so excited to leave, he just went ahead and boarded the car, anxious for the trip.  We, of course, had a talk with him about going out the front door without a grown up, and all of that (and it wasn’t the first time we’ve told the kids this).  I think the 4 of us (not Sayda so much) will probably never forget this.

Getting silly during lunchtime, Ethan said, “mom, you’re a pierogi.”  Then Diella chimed in, and this continued a while.  Diella said, “you’re a pierogi, Silas can be a hotdog, Ethan, daddy, and Sayda are French fries, and Blue can be…. “ and Ethan interrupted loudly & excitedly, “a cucumber!!!”

As I mentioned before, Ethan’s questions are random, hilarious, and also interesting because I wonder WHAT is goin on inside his silly head!  There was one time when the questions were just pouring out, and if I remember correctly, these three came consecutively, one barely after I finished answering the previous one.  “Are cows supposed to be cows?” “Do whales have diapers?” “Why am I called Ethan?”

Also, the random things he sometimes says (rather than inquires about), are equally hilarious.  Like once, out of nowhere he said, “kitties are kinda like dogs…. But they’re not…. They’re just kitties.”

Halloween time is nearing, and when we first discussed costumes, I asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween.  He said, “I want you to paint me a cow mustache.” This kid cracks me up every single day!

We occasionally do a sticker or a small surprise when the kids obey really well.  One day I was complimenting how well they obeyed, and Diella asked what prize they get for obeying.  I playfully described the treasures in heaven concept, and Diella said, “that’s too long, I want it now.” And Ethan replied (in reference to getting these things from heaven), “are we going today or tomorrow?”

Jake took Ethan to Edinboro one night to join him for his small group.  Jake came home to tell me the story of how the guys were all in the middle of a deep conversation when Jake looked up, and in what felt like slow motion headed toward Ethan as his little hand was on the fire alarm, and sure enough, he pulled it.  As the entire facility was evacuating, Jake was holding Ethan, just mortified, and Ethan wasn’t afraid, but he sure did know he didn’t something wrong.  Jake described how so many of the college students were annoyed, and some of them even swearing because they had to evacuate.  Jake was holding Ethan, saying, “my son pulled it.  I am SO sorry!”  and how most people looked as his face, sorta melted, smiled, and could no longer be too upset about it.  He also said that the campus police were nearby, and when Jake apologized to them as well, they smiled, and looked down at Ethan, and just shook a finger at him, and that was it.  I wasn’t there, but Jake made it sound like quite a night!

There is a crack in one of our walls in the living room.  Ethan must have never noticed it before, because the other day he ran up to me and said, “Sayda threw something, and it broke the house!  It’s gonna fall over!”

About a week or two ago, it was time to put the kids to bed.  Sayda goes to bed first.  Jake and I were both sitting on the couch, not arguing, but just both trying to get out of being the one to put Sayda down.  Back and forth, “you put her down,” “no, you put her down.”  Then Ethan chimed in and said, “ok I’LL put her down.” …. I truly found it so profound for him to say that.  He was ending a dispute between mommy and daddy, and also taking it upon himself to do something that both of us were saying we didn’t want to do!  It also made me realize that he was hearing us say we didn’t want to put her down, and made me think that maybe instead we should be fighting over who GETS to put the kids to bed! … wow.

The morning of my birthday, quite a few pretty neat things happened within the first hour of me waking up.  I remember I opened my eyes right on my birthday minute, which I thought was neat!  And then when Ethan crawled into my bed, he starting singing the song that was actually already my head at that moment!  And then as we laid there, for some reason something came to my mind, and I thought I’d take advantage of that moment that he and I were there alone to chat.  I asked him if he wanted to invite Jesus into his heart and try to live like Him.  Without confusion or hesitation, he said, “Yes.”  So then I took him through the prayer, as he asked Jesus into his heart… on my birthday!  It was so great!

A while ago, I just looked at Ethan one day and said to him, “Ethan, you are reeeeeeaally cute.”  He looked up at me, he grinned, and he replied, “you too.”

There are instances where I love when kids call something by it’s wrong name.  Like Ethan called quesadillas – cheesa dee-uhs.  He also referred to the movie, “Cloudy with A Chance of Meatballs,” as “Spaghetti and the Giant Meatballs.”  Ha!

Aw, one night I was putting the cream on Ethan’s legs for his seborrhea, and he was whimpering a bit, and said, “it feels thorny.”

Ethan likes to have his red, Lightening McQueen night light on at night.  Once in the middle of the night, after feeding Silas, I turned it off and returned to bed.  Later that night, Ethan came into my room, concerned, and said, “I cant hear anything in my room.”  I know he meant he couldn’t SEE anything, but it was so cute.  I don’t turn it off anymore, hehe.

My E Man

Ethan put on one of the new shirts he got for his birthday. From outside the room, he said, "mom, you wanna see how cool I am?" Then he came in, hands on the hips, and stood there, with this tough guy look on his face, and froze like that for at least 10 seconds as I complimented how cool he was! I expected him to smile & appreciate my compliments, but he just stood strong, maintaing that pose! HA! .classic.

I looked on my last post that Ethan was potty trained, but still wearing pull-ups at night. Well the overnight thing only lasted a few weeks! Just like we did with Diella, we decided to try no pull-ups at night when they turn 3 years old. So we prepped him that that was coming, and his first dry night was the night BEFORE his birthday, when we was still wearing a pull-up! So then every night after that was a breeze! Like instant overnight trained! Woo!

We chose an underwater theme for his birthday party because of all his talk about whales lately. We decorated the living room to look like we were underwater, I made a giant whale, we did all water theme for the food.... like green noodles for seaweed, blue star shaped jigglers, crab cakes, shrimp cocktail, etc. We had a blast!

Leaps & Bounds

Well its February now, but since its been so long since I've blogged, here is a story from Halloween time. When October was approaching, each day when we took a walk, we would talk about what the kids might want to be for Halloween. Ethan had a few things in mind, and couldn't decide between a giant dinosaur, a giant gorilla, and a cow. Haha! Though I love to make their costumes, we found a little dinosaur costume at Once Upon A Child that worked well for him, and of course he was adorable in it! Then after Halloween, a few times he had asked me what something was, but before I could answer, he would answer before me, "its a giant dinosaur."

Then one day when I was digging through some of the Halloween candy, Ethan pointed to one and asked, "what are those?" I said, "Nerds." and he said, "Turds?!?!?!" HAHA! I really don't even think he knows the word turd, but when he thought thats what I said, and asked that, it was just rolling laughing!

There's no way I'm going to be able to describe this well enough, but one day I had told the kids that we were going for a walk. Keep in mind, we go for a walk basically every single day the weather permits. But for whatever reason, this day, Ethan was so excited, that when I said, 'its time to go for a walk,' he took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and let out this LONG shreek, with his chin up in the air, and his smile so wide you could see every tooth in this mouth, and this note that he held just seemed to last forever! As I watched, with this continuous shreek still resounding, I was trying not to laugh so that I wouldnt distract him from holding this note... I was also amazed, but I found it hilarious! Then when it finally stopped, Ethan, Diella and I all started cracking up! It was a wonderful moment!

The kids and I were all playing together, Diella was on her tummy, and I said, "This looks like a yummy hamburger!" So I pretended to take a bite of her and said, "Mmm! Tasty hamburger! Like a cheeky burger, Mmm!" And Ethan, turned around, walked toward me with his butt to me, wanting me to bite him too, looked over his shoulder and said, "and this is bread!!!"

I think it was one day when Diella and I were playing Riddles, I tried to give an easy one to Ethan, and asked him, "Ethan, who is outside, and is a dog, and is a girl?" (trying to get him to say our dog's name, Blue), … and his reply was, "cows eat grass." HAHAHA! I think this kid got my 'random' gene!

Ethan LOVES to watch Diego. He is constantly spitting out animal facts to me, I love it! Well another thing they do on Diego, is simply have you repeat things, like Diego will say, "when you see the tapir, say, "Tapir!" … well one Thursday, the kids were anxiously waiting for my mom to arrive (to babysit them), and they were perched at the windows in the sun room, and I heard Ethan exclaim, "when you see a car, say "CAR!" Haha!

I'm not sure if I ever blogged about this, but Ethan dealt with a stutter for quite a few months, a while ago. I did ask the doctor about it, and she explained how he talks so well for a 2 year old, its just that his mouth cant keep up with his brain. Right now, he's almost 3, and the stutter has been gone for a while now! Sometimes it was almost painful to hear him struggle through it, and we would gently work with him… but one day, it was just Too adorable!… Ethan walked up to me, and stuttered, ""Yyyyyyou, yyyyou, yyyyoooou're my best friend." Melted my heart!!!

I love when kids come up with things that you're not really sure where they got it from. But it strikes me as too cute when Ethan says things like this… when he's tired, he'll say, "soooomebody's tiiiired." about himself! Haha! … he'll also give himself away when he toots…. "somebody toooooted!" haha!

I think this started from the movie Despicable Me, the line, "and I will NEVER let you go again." And the kids and I may have had a conversation about it or something, but every once in a while Ethan will remind me (usually out of nowhere), "Mom, I will never leave you. You would be sad." Its really sweet.

A few months ago, when all the family was in town for Thanksgiving, Ethan kept saying things that were cracking us up, especially Uncle Chris & Aunt Emily. Chris told me the other day, he often repeats this one thing he heard Ethan say, "it's a PUMA!" … haha. I remember that week, we were asking him, "Ethan, what does ETHAN start with?" (as in what letter), and Ethan would reply…. "It starts with….. an octopus." HAHAHA!!!!

Even though I love that Ethan pronounces the word marshmallow, like marshyellow… the other day I tried to help him say it correctly, and said, "Ethan say marshmallow." He casually replied, "marshyellow." I said, "No, say, marsh Mmmmmmellow." and he loudly, but happily exclaimed, "MARSHYELLOW!!!" haha!

Ethan has been able to sing the alphabet song for a long time now, and we were working with him for some time with each letter, and recognizing them by sight. Well a few months ago, as I was again going through them with him using our ABC books, the last I knew, he could recognize about 3 of them. Well suddenly, this time, he knew 16 of them! And then a few days later, he knew 20! and it wasn't long until he could do them ALL! That was a very exciting time!!!

Another cute thing that Ethan says is when I tuck him into bed at night. Occasionally, if one foot didn't make it UNDER the blanket, he says, "can you put my second feet in?" hehehe, cuteness.

Ethan's 3rd birthday is coming up in about a month, and he has already had 6 or 7 haircuts! It grows so fast! Each time I consider letting it grow a little, cuz the curls are SO awesome! But its happened way too often that when it gets a little long, people (even if only at first glance, as they say) mistake him for a girl, haha, Ah! So each time that happens is just about the time I get out the scissors. I think when he's a few years older we'll let it grow out a bit to see how it looks. I think it'd be cute!

This is also a while back, but when we take our walks, there is one way that we go, where we pass a house that has hydrangeas in their yard. Well I thought I'd teach the kids that word, and i wasn't real surprised when Diella pronounced it perfectly, but then when Ethan tried, he nailed it perfectly too! That was neat! And he blows people away when I ask him, "Ethan, whats the flower we see when we take a walk?" and he answers, Hydrangea. Hehe!

So now I'll finish up with the journey of Ethan's potty training. During the training, he had a few seasons where he would go a few days in a row, but then not anymore. We tried just undies for a while, and it would work for a few days, then he'd give up and have accidents. We even tried letting him go naked once in a while… same result. We tried having him sit on the potty pretty much any time he was AWAKE!… sometimes he would go, other times he would hold it all day. We were just beside ourselves as to WHEN he would decide to do it! It wasn't that he didn't understand either, because we'd see him do all the typical steps where he would hide to go in his pull-up, or the phase where he would TELL us when he pooped, etc. We tried the peeing on Cheerios in the potty thing. We constantly would encourage him by using the "big boy" concept, how baby's wear diapers, and big boys wear undies. We constantly would tell him how Colton goes potty, and Chanson goes potty (and then would name every other boy he knows, haha!). He also went through a little stage where he would be in undies all day, but we'd give him a pull-up just for nap & bedtime, and he would go ONLY then…. which wasn't the best method, but it was a start in the right direction, we thought. We got him new undies, which I think he was excited about. Then there was this lesson we learned in another aspect of life, about TRYING. It was learning to climb out of Sayda's crib one day, since he never actually climbed out of his own crib. And also with things like dressing himself… he could do undies and pants on his own, but never TRIED with the shirt, cuz he just said "I cant do it!" … he used to do this with climbing down the stairs… he COULD, but would rather just ask mommy to carry him. So with the crib that day, and also with putting on his own socks and shirt, we were diligent in teaching him, "just TRY!" … and both of them worked after a little while! So we implemented this same concept into potty training. And just like everyone told me it would happen, one day it just happened. He just decided he would go now! He was peeing & pooping on the potty every day! Oh, and he still is! He only wears a pull-up at night now, and just like we did with Diella, we hope to break him of that starting on his 3rd birthday! It's such freedom that he is finally potty trained!!!!

Amazing Moment!

I have a few things on my list that I need to blog about, but first I had to stop and write this down while its still so fresh in my mind! Tonight, Jacob and I experienced probably one of the BEST moments with our children…. EVER! … we had just gotten in the car to go home after a night out together, the 5 of us, and we were playing a Veggie Tales CD. There's a song on this CD that is SO adorable, and Diella is SO good at singing it, so I asked her to sing it for daddy! The song is sung by the character, Junior, so of course its already adorable! … but now our little woman is singing along as well. So she sang it, she did So great at it, and we cheered and applauded! Jake and I were already giggling, and smiling from ear to ear, just in love with this moment! So then she and Ethan were both saying, "again!" … so I took the CD back to the beginning of that track… and again Diella began to sing… and THEN Ethan joins in! We were floored that he knew all those words!!! We were trying not to giggle, so that we could hear them sing along together, and as the song progressed, it Just. Got. CUTER!!! So we're not only trying not to laugh out loud (at the cuteness), but also even fighting back tears at this point! We were overtaken with so many different emotions! We were impressed, we were in awe, we were filled with adoration for our kids, and we were just beyond proud of this little performance!!! It was the single most precious moment, and an incredible experience for us to watch our children sing those wonderful words about the lesson they learned in sharing! I tried so hard to soak up that moment, as Jake and I had tear-filled eyes, and smiles wide enough to almost make our faces hurt! I'm sure I didn't describe it here, as equivalent to what we felt at the time, but it truly was an incomparable feeling!

Nice Quick One

We were at Grammie O's house the other day. I was sitting on the floor, with my back up against a chair in the living room, and I was holding Sayda. Ethan was standing on that chair behind me. Then all of a sudden, I was completely not ready for him, and he jumped onto my head from behind me! All his weight, pushed my head forward, and hurt me SO badly! I went to the chiropractor and got it better…. what a little rascal!

And I had to write this so that I remember these times… we take walks a LOT since we moved into our house on Bird Dr! Well much more often now, we only push Sayda in the stroller, and Ethan walks on his own, like Diella. Well Diella and I are constantly slowing down so that Ethan can catch up. He's such a laid-back, take-his-time, leisure walker! Takin it all in, I guess, hehehe.

Ethan is still not at all interested in learning to go potty…. but we're trying. Last night daddy was explaining to him about leaving that in his diaper. Ethan's response to daddy was, "sorry." Jake said to him, "don't say sorry to ME, say sorry to your butt!" …. and sure enough, Ethan then replied, "sorry my butt." HAHHA!

Every once in a while lately, Jake and I find ourselves saying we think that Ethan might be into his terrible two's. Its just these mini fits he throws, or just when he's overly whiney for no reason. It really pales in comparison to his big sister's bad times, so of course we're still teaching him through it, but most of the time its pretty easy to brush off. Remembering how horrible it was when we and Diella were going through that, I guess now I'm able to look at it as a blessing in disguise! Having the hardest ones FIRST, that way nothing else seems so bad, haha!

Colors, Letters, Potty, Bed, and more!

A while back, I would ask Ethan how old he was. First he'd say 3, and I'd say no…. and he's go, "two!" … then soon after that I would ask him how old he was, and his answer would be, "two and three." HAHA! Then also when I asked him what color his eyes were, he'd say, "red and blue." Funny man!

Whenever Ethan would answer questions with, "yea," I would remember how much I loved it when Diella switched from yea to yes. Well after he stopped using yes, he then switched to either "Mmm Hmm," or "uh huh." haha… and NOW he answers with Yes, hehehe.

Some new funny things that Ethan says include one that I (don't remember why I) taught him to say… "what a waste." But he says it like "whaddawase." hehehe. And also one time Diella was changing into her jammies, and I playfully called out, "pantyless!" and then Ethan said it, and since we have thought it was hilarious… and then of course later realized that this probably isn't the best thing we could teach him to repeat, hahaha! Cuz then one day I said, "Ethan, say what a waste." and he did… and then after that he called out, "Saaaaay pantyless!!!!" HAHAHA!

He also says the word enchiladas….. PERFECTLY! Its awesome to hear him pronounce it so well! He also says "hippopotamus" perfectly!!!.... and he also once said, "I'm handsome." Atta boy! … oh and one of those things that is funny to hear him say, even though its not the best thing for him to say… is when he says, "in a minute, I'm busy." HAHHAA! Oh and Another one like that, that he says… is, "lemmie finish." lol sigh*

Whenever we're in the car, usually the first turn we make of the trip, Ethan says, "we go this way???" almost every time, hehehe. And when we're getting off the highway, on our way to church, usually when we're on the offramp, he says, "we almost there???" and we are! HA!

Two things that he used perfectly, and correctly in sentences, were…. "I had that one yesterday." And once when I told him we have no bananas left, he said, "hafta go buy one." lol! and then a few days later he said that to Grammie O. too! HA!

I must mention one little thing we've been dealing with. A few months ago, we started to notice a slight stutter when Ethan talked. It was only the first letter of the first word of the sentence that he'd repeat a few times first, and then the rest of the sentence would come out just fine! Some days he did it A LOT, and other days not at all! Of course we wondered if it would stay, or get worse, or what… but he's gotten MUCH better recently! About 3 weeks ago, I was trying to pay attention to when and how often this was, and there were 4 days in a row that he didn't AT ALL, and then maybe once on the 5th day. So this was good to know… encouraging that this wouldn't last. And even to now, he still does every once in a while, but even already much less than he used to. So, no worries here!

We're still working on learning his colors. He has a few of them down. Today, when I would associate a color with an object, then he got it right every time! … like, "where's yellow? Its the color of a banana…" then he got them all! … He doesn't know any letters yet. And he's doesn't want anything to do with going on the potty, Boo! The first two times I put him on it, he went #2! TWO times, TWO days in a row!!!! That was easily over a month ago, and he's done nothing since. We've been trying! Cuz I'm dyin to get this get outta diapers!

He's also working on dressing himself (its hard with all of these things because Diella did ALL of this stuff so early!)… but he's pretty good at getting a t-shirt on, and can USUALLY do his pants too! But very often times he starts, makes one mistake, and then asks for help…. which of course I Always encourage him to keep trying, and get it himself! He's a little Mama's Boy! "mommy, help me!" haha, one morning he came out of his room and his pants were on! But they were both backwards AND inside out! Love it! HA!

Speaking of him coming out of his room…. he is now in a "big boy bed." Jake kept telling me he wanted to see what Ethan would do if we just tried it one night, but I was still enjoying it so much when Ethan would lay awake in his crib for a half hour before he ever called me! He hadn't even ever attempted to climb out (where Diella had crawled out of her crib before she was 2!!!)… so I was torn as to when I wanted him to go to a bed. So then one day, Jake just did it! … It really was such a smooth transition! I think Ethan hardly realized, at first, that he could get out of that bed at his own will! So, of course he doesn't stay in bed & play anymore, like he used too… but I've still never really had to fight with him to stay in his bed when its naptime or bedtime! Well done E!

I'm sure its because of how often he watches & listens to his big sister sing…. Ethan is starting to become quite the singer himself! He's starting to sing along with more & more nursery rhymes and Veggie Tales songs and Disney songs! He and Diella were singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the car the other day TOGETHER! Trying to stay as synchronized as they could… it was great! and THEN one day Ethan started to sing the song from Mulan, that Diella does so well, "Reflection." !!!! He sings, "when my refection show, who I am insiiiiiide." Its GREAT!

A few weeks ago, Ethan was talking in his sleep. I got closer to him to listen, and here's what I caught him saying, "Sorry. Sorry, Ella, sorry." It was both adorable, and a bit heartbreaking, hehehe.

Oh, and Diella took it upon herself to cut Ethan's hair last week! I went into the bathroom and saw 6 or 7 little blonde locks on the floor! I asked her about it, and she was honest... and luckily its really not noticeable. If you're close, and you're looking through his hair, you can find the spots where she cut, because they were pretty far down by his scalp, ugh! But luckily it wasnt the disaster it could have been!

Ethan and I are the physical touch ones in the family… taking every advantage we can to cuddle & snuggle. Well, one day we were sitting, holding each other, and looking at each other, and he said to me, "can I have you?" …. talk about instant tears!

Hilarious

Ethan did such a (what I think would be) a "ten-year-old boy thing" the other day. We were outside, he came my way, with his lips puckered, came in for a kiss, and when he got close enough, he wiped his runny nose on my face, and then ran away laughing!!! HAAAHAA! Gross, but hilarious!

Speaking of hilarious, Ethan says that word, Hilarious! … its…. yes…. Hilarious!!!

Every night before I got to bed, I look in on each of the kids sleeping. There's just something about it that I love! Well, for about a week or so, I found Ethan laying with his head at the opposite end of the bed, and had the pillow laid over him as though it were his blanket. Why didn't I take a picture of this!?!?!

Ethan's hair has gotten SO curly! And its positively adorable! He gets complimented on it Constantly! but the thing is, he's also been called a girl. Like probably 5 times. So now I cant decide whether to cut it or not. Hmmm.

I love when kids grow out of that stage where when you ask them something with a choice of answers, they just pick the last one. Well of course Ethan is long out of that stage, but he always seems to answer yes or no questions so fast, that he really didn't take the time to decide what his real answer is. He'll often quickly reply with, "Yes. No. Yes." heeeheeehee

Oh he also answers lots of questions with an answer that incorporates the question. Like…. "Ethan, are you cute?" and he says, "yes, I cute." or "Ethan, did you take a bath?" - "Yes, I take a bath." I LOVE THAT HE DOES THIS!!!!

Its one thing that Diella often treats Ethan as though she's his mother, but it kind of makes me sad when he treats HER as though she is, as well. Like he'll ask her for permission for things! I've got complete mixed feelings about this! Lots of times too, she'll boss him around. He often does what she says, but I really like it when he makes his own decisions lately, instead of just being her little shadow, hehehe.

The other day the whole family was over at Gma & Gpa's house for lunch. Ethan was the center of attention, as he was showing us all how he says his name, and his animal sounds, etc. Well during all of this, he suddenly let out a little toot! We all giggled a little bit, and I said, "Ethan, what do you say?" and he replied, "I tooted!" LOL!!!!

So I've finally decided to enforce potty training much more aggressively with Ethan than we have thusfar. I've noticed that he usually goes "number two" shortly after breakfast each morning. So last week I put him on the potty, gave him a book, and told him that I would be back in a few minutes, and that he needs to sit ON the potty & not get up, and to try to go. Well, I came back up to check on him, and he was standing up, pointing into the potty, saying, "Uh oh!!!!" … but when I looked inside, he had gone number two!!!! We jumped and cheered and praised him! He was so proud! So then the next morning, I tried it again. After breakfast, with a book, gave him a few minutes of privacy. Same result!!! Again, more cheering, etc! The third day, we tried again. Nothing. Tried the next day. Nothing. In fact, once or twice he's even done that thing where we'll try…. and then when the diaper goes on, he'll poop! UGH! But it's alright, its a start, and he's on the right track! No easing up now, we're goin at this full force now!

Could he BE any cuter???

Ethan says EVERYTHING now! My sister said, "I'm not around him like you are everyday, so its like I don't realize he's old enough to do those things & say all those things, but he IS!"

One cool, breezy day I was getting him into the car, and he said, "really cold." I said, "its not really cold." and he corrected himself, "windy out."

Another day I had already gotten him into the car, and I should have put Sayda in first, because I had to lift her carseat over him to get her in. Well as I did so, the carseat bumped his legs, and he said to me, "be careful mom." LOL!

One morning I crawled out of bed, still very sleepy, and got Ethan out of his crib, and then I laid on his floor. He got his blanket, covered me up, and as he was leaving his room, he closed the door and said, "bye bye mom." Heeheee

One day Ethan and I were just playing together… he was laying on his back, and I was hovering over him, my hair was down, covering my face. Ethan said, "find you, mom!" … he was pretending he couldn't find me! I was Obviously RIGHT there… but he was just playing & joking! I LOVE that he does that at this age!!!

Some of the new questions he has a lot are, "whats that?" "where you?" "Wha doin now?" and he's even asked Diella or Sayda a few times, "whats wrong?" SO cute!!! oh, and my favorite one, he asks ALL the time all of a sudden, "whats your name?" he even asks "strangers" or other kids he doesn't know, when we're out and about. I LOVE IT! Like someone in the store will say hello as they pass, but as they keep going, he'll call back to them, "Whats ur name?" hehe, aw! oh yea, and he also asks, "whats that from?" which is when we say a line from a movie, because Diella and Ethan and I quiz each other on movie lines. So if I say one, Ethan asks Whats that from, and then I tell him, "you tell me!" hehe. And then once I was just singing Ethan's name, randomly, and he asked, "whats that from?" hehe

Some other really cute things he says a lot lately are, "oh my doodness!" or "oh my dose!" SO cute!!! He also says (when he's told to do something), "alright, I do it." He's always been Very good at obeying! Not that he doesn't have him moments, but still a very good obeyer for his age! He also often says this very enthusiastic, "G'mornin!" I love that!!! And he's just recently started to say yes, instead of just yea, which of course I LOVE too!

He still says sorry sometimes when he doesn't need to. Like yesterday Diella did something to him, and I told her to tell him sorry. When she said, "sorry Ethan," he replied, "sorry Ella," aw, that almost breaks my heart! And then the other day when we were driving home, I saw a bird that looked like it couldn't fly, so I just said under my breath that I think the bird was hurt. Ethan said, "sorry mom, bird hurt." Awww!!!

Sometimes we like to play games in the car, to pass the time. I think it was Jake who taught Diella how to play I Spy, but they do it the simplified way, really. They just name things that they see. One day Diella asked me to play it, and I think I was on the phone or something, so I asked her if she could ask Ethan to play. She said, "he doesn't know how." And then Ethan said, "I spyyyyyyyy trees!" So now they play together, its great!

Aw man, one day we were just walking from mom's house, over to Gma's, and Ethan stops at this really big tree, stands in front of it, leans his head Way back to look up it, and he said in awe, "a ta-weeeee!" (a tree!) It was HILARIOUS!

We were at my parents last week, and we asked Ethan if he could say Ritenour. He said it PERFECTLY on the very first try! Mom & I both shrilled & clapped! My dad said, "what? is that like the first time he's done it or something?" and we were like, "YEA!" haha! …. and now he Loves to say Ethan Ritenour!

Ethan loves to pretend certain things now, and its so cute! Our favorite is how we will take turns pretending to sleep, and the other has to give you a kiss to wake up. Well, when WE say to HIM, "go to sleep," its SO Funny, he does this slow motion, dramatic, fall to the ground. First his eyes close, then his head falls backwards, then his arms go in the air, then he usually falls to his butt, and then catches himself as the rest of his body lays to the floor. Its a riot!

He hasnt at all tried to get out of his crib. Jake sort of wants him to go into a toddler bed, but I think just so that he seems more like a "big boy" hehe. I, of course, cherish it when he lays awake in bed, happy for up to 45 mins after he wakes up! Jake brought the side of his crib halfway down, and he still doesnt even TRY to get out.... so we'll keep it that way, hehe.

He still Loves his sleep, this boy! At least once a day lately, Ethan, about a half hour before bedtime, or a half hour before nap, Ethan will say, "So Tired." Its adorable, and amazing! And then after one Thursday night, after my mom watched them, she told me that things were a little hectic right around his bedtime (9pm), and it was a few minutes after and he said to her, "Ahna, bed." And she told him, "almost honey, let me help Sayda, and then I'll put you to bed." And then she said it was almost 9:30 and Ethan said to her with much more desperation, "Ahna! Sleep!" Hahaha!! He KNOWS what time is sleep time! Love it!

My new FAVORITE thing that Ethan has started to say…. one day I had just gotten dressed for church and when I went into his room, Ethan said, "Beautiful, mom!" … oh, my heart melted! and he's even said that 2 or 3 times since then! Fills my Love Tank right up!!!

A while ago, we randomly asked Ethan if he wanted to pray before dinner. We usually have Diella do it, but thought we'd give it a try, to see what he'd say. So he folds his hands, and we all do as well, and then he prayed, "Dear Jesus, for da food, for dinna, Amen." It was amazing! And then the other day, before breakfast, we begin to eat, and Ethan said, "Pray!" … he reminded us to pray first! … so I had him pray, and he always says about the same thing. Every once in a while he'll add (when he's thanking God for things) "for friends" or "for breakfast." It is truly precious!

Talker!!!

So a few weeks ago, when I started keeping notes of all the new things Ethan was saying, I suddenly couldn't keep up anymore! He started with 2 word sentences, and had a whole long list of those! Here are some of them I've heard him say… monkey fall, get up, "mom, catch!", socks on, coat off, found you!, my turn, get baby, cut pancake, light off, pinch you, found one, not yet, daddy home, touch it, slide down, right now, Ahna's house, and "Cinnamon cereal!"

He also says "good nap" after nap, and "good bath" after bath time, which I think is adorable! … oh but he still cant say the K sound or the G sounds. He can do other hard ones like the F sound, the L, the J sound, and even V. So Good is really more like dood. He also loves to say "ready, set go!" and "Look'it!' which sounds more like "lootit!" He'll also tell us when he's done with things, like 'all done nap' or all done lunch.'

I love it when you ask him "why?" and he says, "Cuz" or really, 'tuz" … or when you tell him something, and he goes, "Why momma???" So cute!!!

The first time I heard him say this, I thought it was the most adorable thing!… as he was leaving the room, he shouted called to me, "Be back!" aww!!

He loves to reaffirm Diella and I when we do something good, "Good job, Ella!" or "good job, mommie!!!" … which is usually after we've done something spectacular, ya know, like finishing a bowl of cereal, haha!!!

Also, since the lack of the K sound… he often says, "C'mere!" (like come here)… or "c'mon!" (come on)… which both come out like "p'mere" and "p'mon" !!! my mom & I say it all the time, cuz its hilarious! I try to work with him on the K sound, but this is cute for now!!!

The first time I heard him say, "I dunno" was classic! I doesnt really sound like "i dunno"… it sounds like 3 separate words, not 2. He doesn't say the T at the end of don't, so its this very innocent sounding, "I doan know?" So cute!!

He & I, when we tell each other we love each other, I once added on the end, "SO much!" … and now he says it! "so much!" its to die for!!!

I love other little slurs that come out. Like when he says "hold me" … there's no D on the end, so its like, "hole me." In Ethan's cute little voice, this is almost irresistible!

When he doesn't like a food, his brow will scowl, he'll scrunch up his nose, shake his head no, and say, "lie-tit" … ha! which of course is 'like it' which ACTUALLY means DONT like it. Hahaha! Poor anyone who isn't around him everyday… cuz WE know exactly what he's saying, but really, its gotta be hard to understand if you don't hear it everyday!

He ALL the time says, "Aw MAN!" … its hilarious!!! I think he MAY have gotten it from Swiper on Dora? But he doesn't say it like Swiper, plus we haven't watched that show in a while, so it very well may just be on his own! Says it ALL the time! Its a riot!

He got very into saying "big truck!' every time he sees a truck. But now he says, "Right there," after ANYthing he sees! So now its, "big truck right there!" or "ball right there!" or Sayda sleepin right there!" hehe, I love it!

One time Ethan fell, jus no big deal, as he was walking along, you know… and before I could say anything, he shouts out, "I'm otaaaaay." !!!! HAHAA!

He's made up his own phrase. He says "more time." which i think means like 'do it again.' He'll say it like after I rub his back or something. For something he wants more of, he'll say "more time" like do it more times. Once or twice maybe, its come out as "more Genn" … which I think is 'more again.' Its cute.

Aw man, one of my FAVORITE things he says… certain things that you tell him we're going to do, he excitedly says, "we ARE!?!?!" … but sometimes he says it when its very grammatically wrong. Like when you say "we're going to Ahna's house" and he says "we ARE?" then it fits… but often times I'll say something like "its time for lunch!" and he'll go, "we ARE!?!?!" Its awesome! I think he still means the same question, only it should be "it is?" or in whichever case… but he still says We Are. HAHA I LOVE IT!!!

A lot of times we joke around with him, and if we're all playing we will, for example, throw a ball at him, and its SO funny… he'll get this angry look on his face and go, "HEY! Do that!" … which of course means DONT do that… but its Ethan…. the smile returns on his face immediately! He's just being funny! and oh, it IS funny!!! "Hey! Do that!" HAHA!

Oh, so I never finished how his talking has progressed, even in the past few weeks… he's gone from two word sentences, to 3 word, and up to 5 words sometimes! He's becoming very good at communicating! I love this stage!

He has said to Sayda, "hi pretty girl." Aw! Which of course he's heard Diella say it, but still! Its Cute!!! He's also said, "get balloon for me," which I think was his first 4-word sentence, back on his 2nd birthday! which was just about a month ago! He also says Bless You when someone sneezes, how sweet!!!

I don't think I blogged this before, but Ethan has, for a long time now, had an obsession with bellies. And its not because I was pregnant, because he's obsessed with ANY belly, not just pregnant ones! He's ALWAYS asking my mom if he can see & touch her belly! If he asks me, and I show him my belly, he often says, "lay on it," and then will do so. One time Joel was over, and he asked Joel. Joel lifted his jacket, and showed his belly with the shirt over it. Ethan kept trying to lift the shirt up too, and then Joel finally did it for him… but when Ethan saw the hair-covered belly, fear came over his face, and he slowly backed away from Joel. ALL of us were on the floor, laughing!!!

I once blogged about his stuffed animal, "Who," … well now he has a new one that he loves. Whenever he sees an elephant, he shouts it out… only he's made up his own name for it, "epi-tanna." And now he has a stuffed elephant, that he loves! Well, Jake had been working with him to say elephant correctly, and now he does! Its bittersweet for me, because epitanna was so cute! But I guess he's gotta say it right some time!

He's been singing more lately! He'll try to sing along with some Veggie Tales songs, and of course only get a few words right, but he's doin great! He can sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star almost perfectly… ALL the way through!!! I've GOTTA get this on video!!! He even hums sometimes, I love it!!!

He had a little phase there where he said Sorry a lot. Most of the time it wasn't even necessary for him to, but its so cute! A lot of the time he says it like if Diella does something to HIM, or if I bump into him or something, He'LL say sorry! Aw! Maybe he's trying to tell ME to say sorry, heheee! "Sowy momma."

He's really trying so hard dress & undress himself! He's doing well! I really think with things like that, and also crawling out of his crib, I think he could do if he would just try a little harder. He's no where near as determined as Diella has always been, but I'm sure its just cuz he's a boy. Thats what my mom says, "he's a boy!" Boys are just like that.

Diella and Ethan both like to call my mom on the phone. One time when Ethan did, they were wrapping up the conversation and my mom said to him, "have a good day!" and Ethan replied, "you TOO!" My mom giggled, and said, "love you!" … and Ethan said, "love you TOO!" … we both laughed that heart-warmed laugh! It was pretty incredible!

You know how we moms can get distracted from the mischief our kids could be getting into. We forget that they could be doing Who Knows What, and then suddenly you tune in, and the mouth drops open when you realize what they've done! Yea. Well one of these times, Diella said, "mom! Ethan has chap stick!" … of course I wouldn't want him to, but it wasn't a huge deal either, so as I casually walked over to get it from him, I realized its not chap stick…. its deodorant!… and before I made it over to him, he had already opened it, and sure enough, put some on his lips, as though it was chap stick. lol, yea, ew.

We were watching the video we had taken at Ethan's birthday party, of him opening gifts, and it cracked me up that every time on the video, when Ethan's name was called out…. he would, in person (as we're watching the video), then answer the call, "yea?" HAHA!

Diella gets excited right along with me, every time we hear Ethan say a word he's never said before. One day he said, "awesome!" …. I DID hear it, but Diella wanted to make sure I did, so she said, "Ethan, say awesome to mom!"… and so Ethan looked at me and said, "awesome to mom." HAHAHA!!!

Ethan LOVES to put on other people's shoes! Usually mine, but whosever he can find, its funny! He'll flop around in my heels, or my slippers, its fun!

The other day, Ethan had filled this container up with little toys, and he was on his way to walk out of the room, he turned and called out, "be back!" as though he was going somewhere. Then Diella asked him, "where are you going?" And Ethan replied, "church." Sigh* we MUST be doing something right!!!

Ethan has started doing movie lines!!! Oh, I become such a proud parent in moments such as these, lol! I once sang the song that is played during the credits of Finding Nemo, and as I did, Ethan said, "Nemo!'" I thought it was great! But I also thought that a song may be a bit obvious. So I've since tried it with actual dialogue from movies, and sure enough, almost every time, as long as its an easy enough line, I will say it, and Ethan will name the right movie! Go Ethan!!!

Also, sometimes during exciting parts of movies, like in Nemo, when they're riding the current, and they start going really fast, and the water is rushing over their faces, and the music is loud & the characters are shouting…. Ethan will be watching, and then go, "AAAaaAAHHHHHHH" and hold that forever! It is SOOOOO Funny!!!!

And I can now say that Ethan has officially begun his terrible two's. BUT, they're more whiney and cry-ie than defiant…. which to me, are much more tolerable! (at least, sorry to say, compared to Diella's Terrible two's…. plus hers started closer to 18 months.) He's also doing a bit of the testing… where he'll want something, then when you go to hand it to him, he pouts & doesn't want it, then you walk away with it, and he wants it again…. yea, THAT junk… its annoying, but like I said, its really pretty tolerable, compared to what we've dealt with before… so as of this far, his terrible two's really aren't all that terrible!