Readin the Paper

This pic was NOT prompted! He grabbed the paper & started "reading it" ! … I thought it was adorable, so I took a pic… thing I didn't notice, that Jake pointed out to me later, was what the paper says! It says "Where to Begin?" HAHA, priceless!

We think Ethan is getting his bottom two eye teeth. Poor guy. He was So not himself last night. Lets hope they come right in & this is over with.

He's starting to run SO fast! Cool!!!

He's still not very interested in learning the ABC's, but if we go through each letter & ask hi to repeat them, he usually will, which is a good start! We'll keep trying!

Also the potty, we've been trying out once a day. He still hasnt gone yet, but he's got a good attitude bout it, at least, hehe… not afraid of it or anything.

He has rediscovered dancing. He LOVES to now! And he's been putting his WHOLE body into it! Its the greatest thing to watch!

And we were trying to teach Ethan a while back, how to raise his hand & say "Me!" when mommy asks, 'who wants to ____?" … well now he does it all the time & its SOOO great!…. even he'll do it sometime when we don't ask. Like I'll say 'ok, lets get in the car!' and Ethan will go, "meeee!!!!" haha!

He still loves to say Aria! He says it so clearly too! I count it as his official first 3 syllable word!

Diella likes to sing the Hallelujah song from Shrek. Well, now Ethan sings it along with her! COOL! Its kind of like Hal-la, but still so cute!

Video!

Well, I have a lot less to say about Ethan this time around. But I DO have a video! He learned how to jump on the bed, hehe!

Two new cute words he says are "warm" and "hurry" , hehe love it!


Man, one morning, I went to get him out of his crib… and he had no shirt on! I have no clue how he got it off, but somehow he took off his own shirt!!?? and if I remember correctly, I believe it was even long sleeved!! Weird. Well, ok now that I think about it, sometimes I ask him to help when I'm dressing him, but its ALWAYS with pants, I've never had him try the shirt. It was cool though.

He does this new thing where if he wants me to go somewhere with him, he'll hold out his hand for me to take it, and then pull me along. It. is. the Cutest thing! … and you should see how he does it… palm up, and even his chin goes down towards his chest a little, and then he looks out the top on his eyes… all innocent. Melts my little heart!

ok, and monumental thing in Ethan's life… He now gives CLOSED-mouth kisses! hehehe, YAY!!!

My 18 month old

Ethan is saying a million new words!!! I'll list a few, but really, by now, he'll try almost any word you ask him to! Well, he'll usually get at least the first two letters, here. Door, me, teeth, sister (dit-da), keys, flower, bug, moon, boat, bed, peas, dog. And some of the ones that impress me the most- I LOVE when he says woah, its so cute!, he says Bell very clearly, as well as happy!, also turtle, ice…. oh and my mom taught him how to say 'I poop' ha, thanks mom. There have been a few times recently he's put two words together! Like bye dada, and 'all done wawa (water)' !!! Oh and we were at the doc, check up for Diella, and they were checking her hearing, asking her to say beep when she heard the beep. Well she wasn't very interested in cooperating with that, so I was showing her how, saying "Beep", then we all cracked up when we hear little Ethan shown his big sis how, he calls out "Beep!" HAAHHAA!

He's also doing a few new animal sounds. Like the sound for monkey, horse, and owl!

My last blog talked about the ABC books that he looks through, and how he's started to recognize & point out certain pictures to me. Well one night he did it with a TON of them all of a sudden! He's picking up on LOTS lately!

The other say he snorted when he laughed, HHAAAHA!

Ethan loves to play under things, like endtables n stuff… its s cute, like his lil hideout! Even the other day was plain under my bed! Fun!

I. Love. the way this kid walks. Its with such confidence & manliness! Ha! Chest out, stomps his feet a bit, and swings his left arm… it. is. adorable!

He loves bellies, huh! He loves to lift my shirt & poke my belly, and hug it, and even lately blow zerbets (or smurbs) on it! Then we found out its not just my belly, but anyone's… he does it to Ahna too! here, fun!

When Diella was around Ethan's age, and when I'd ask her to sing, out would come these two little notes, one higher one, then one lower one, back to back. Well now that we ask Ethan to sing… no joke… he does the SAME thing!!!!

These kids, even though sometimes they don't get along perfectly, one thing that i love is that when one is taking a nap, the other will ask for them. Diella asks for Ethan, and Ethan does the same when she's asleep. Aw! Like, "where's my play pal!!??"

Oh and this kid, quite the charmer he thinks he is, lemmie tell you! … he does this ADORABLE inflection in his voice when he says Hi, its kind of like 3 notes, goin up & common back down… well…. he's done it a few times when he's being told No. Its like "hm, if I sound cute, maybe I'll get out of trouble… Hiiiiiiiiii" haha

I was gone all day a while ago, shooting a wedding, and made it home before the kids went down for bed. Ethan greeted me with enthusiasm, as usual, and as I hugged him, and neither of us let go for a minute, I was swaying back and forth, us enjoying being with him… and he starts humming! like a satisfied, content, with his mommy tune…. wonderful moment!

Oh, and he has officially, just the past few days, gone from two naps to one. And then next week we start going without a binky. THEN after THAT... we're gonna put the kids in one room, so they get used to the idea before the baby comes. Lots of changes! Ah!

What a Talker!

In these pictures… the kids were into this whole holding hands phase… it was classic!!! There’s one where Ethan is showing us his crack, thank you. Jake says he inherited that from me, ha! … and the one with him holding his bib on the back of his neck, he kept doing it to make us laugh, and it worked!

So a few funny things Ethan has been doing… sometimes when he walks, he’ll put his hands like on his back… like on his hips, but back farther… other times he’s got one hand behind him, with his fingers inside the top of his pants, resting his hand there… like a man. Its hilarious! .. ok, and even once in a while, if he’s got like elastic waist shorts on, he’s got both hands in the back of his pants, and he like grabs his cheekies… it is really funny!

Also lately, he has this funny walk, where its almost like he’s proudly stomping around the house, legs spread… like a giant, tromping through the village. Ha!

Ethan is blowing kisses now! Cute!!!

I’ve mentioned before how he loves shoes… well one day I said “Ethan, go get your shoes.” … not sure if he’d get it right without me pointing them out or anything… but he looked around, then walked across the hall to diella’s room, and in her closet where the shoes are, and he brought them to me!!! Very cool!

He is starting to love the ABC books, which makes me so happy! The other day, he came running in with the “D” book, opened to the page with the duck, and he was excitedly saying “duh! Duh!” (which is duck)… and a few minutes later came in with the “B” book, opened to the picture of the banana, saying “Binna! Binna!” He was showing me the picture & yelling it out, like “Oh, I KNOW this one!!!” there was a third one he did too, but I don’t member which one?

So Ethan is NOT interested in signing, like Diella was. He’d much rather jus try to SAY the word. Well, the more & more words come spilling out of his mouth, I have been trying to keep up, and finally started keeping track & writing them down. Well guess what, he’s about 16 and a half months, and he’s up to 40 words!!! Of course they’re not all very clear, but they’re ALL things that he’s indentifying and KNOWS what they are! Here’s a quick list of the words he says (the ones at the end being the newest ones for him)… hi, bye, mama, dada, Ahna, Papa, Ella (Diella), pizza, binky, up, down, all done, uh oh, hot, book, shoes, choo choo, ball, yea, thank you, bath, duck, diaper, doctor, nite nite, hello, banana, stuck, Elmo, boom, mine, apple, achoo, num num, home, Einstein, wa wa (for water), amen, help, hotdog, and baby. Woo hoo!

Growing Up!

Ethan got another molar! That put him at 9 teeth, still missing that bottom right one. But he just got that one 3 days ago as well! So ten teeth now!

He is officially running now, for at least a month! Getting quick!

He’s also able to climb up onto the dining room chairs, and in turn, up onto the table as well. Sigh*

He has again mastered going down the stairs (backwards). He had it down, then fell 3 times within like a week, then refused to go down for a long time. But we worked on it some more, and we’re all set now!

He laughs on command & its hilarious! He also does this long laugh til his breath runs out! Everyone who hears is Cracks Up!! Its SO Funny! He does it a lot when he gets something he wants. Like if he asks for milk, and then we give it to him, he long laughs.

Ethan was JUST NOW doing the motions along with “if you’re happy and you know it”!!! he was clapping his hands & stomping his feet when they were!!! Even swaying while they were singing! COOL!

He’s starting to discover his singing voice, just a bit, its cute!

He’s got 2 new animals sounds! Monkey & cow!

Ethan LOVES books! He gets so excited & points & says Buh! At a book! Especially when we put him in the car, even before we’re done buckling him in, he says book and is looking all over for it. Then he does is silly laugh when we hand him a book, hehe!

He also Loves to wear shoes! When we first got him wearing shoes (a long time ago, of course), he hated them! Now, I think its because he can SAY shoes, (its kinda without any vowels, he says “shz”), he wants to wear them. He’ll bring em to me & says Shz, and I’ll ask, “you wanna put em on?” He smiles & nods. Then we put em on & he takes off! Hehhee

He’s such a little jokester sometimes! Whenever he finds his binky (which he can ONLY have for sleeping, and we will ween him from it at 18 months, like we did with Diella), but when we accidentally leave it in his reach & he gets a hold of it, we smile & say “take your binky out” … he’ll smile, take it out, giggle, and very quickly put it right back in. That usually makes US giggle, so then we’ll playfully snatch it out of his mouth, and he Cracks Up! HaHA!

A new discovery that we’ve made about him (and that he made about himself, really), is that he loves to be wrapped up! Whether its in a towel after his bath, or in a blanket before bed, he LOVES it when you wrap it around his back, so that he’s holding it in front! Its so cute!

He’s also still very cuddly! I will NEVER get sick of this! I cant get enough of him coming over at random just to sit on my lap, or hug me, or literally wrap his arms around my neck! Please Ethan, Never change this

He’s getting smarter too! Things like when you ask “do you want some water?” He’ll not only nod, but then head towards the kitchen. He knows that’s where you get the water from. Same with brushing teeth. We suggest that, he nods & head for the bathroom. I like this.

Ok, one thing he’s doing that I DON’T like… his cries have become more like screams. This is the ONE thing I CANNOT STAND that kids do, is scream! We’ve always taught Diella to not scream for no reason… so now we’re trying very hard to teach Ethan the same, cuz the screams drive me bonkers!

He & Diella like to hold hands! Sometimes in the car, occasionally during our walks. Its adorable. Although sometimes she tries to hold his hand & he doesn’t want to. For some reason that cracks me up, ha!

He’s been saying Papa a lot! He loves his Papa! A few times he’s seen some pictures with Papa in it, and he’ll point & say Papa. But now he says Papa and EVERY picture he sees, hehehe.

This kid is still such a good sleeper! He not only takes 2 naps, but the morning one is 2 and half hours long, and the afternoon one is about 90 mins long! Then at 9 c’clock bedtime, he practically BEGS us to go to bed!!! Rubs his eyes, says ni-ni, and reaches for the bed as we lower him into it! He sometimes gets a tad bit whiny, and even one time put his face right in front of mine, so that we made eye contact, and when I said, “you ready for nap?” he smiles & nods! Even just now he did the same, but I really thought he’s not ready for nap yet, so we just went upstairs and I figured I’d let him play a little. So he did. He played for about 5 mins, then brought me his blanket! Woo Hoo!

And his few new words… he says Apita. Dunno what it means, and apparently Chanson says it too!! But yea, that’s a very frequent word around here, hehe. He also says book (buh, like book, without the k), shoes – shz, all done (ah duh), yea, doctor (which comes out dot-da), banana (binna) and that’s sort of his word for any food really. He says Elmo (which is kinda like Emma), he repeated us when we asked him to say ‘good’ the other day, and he also says diaper when I get out a diaper to change him, its like “di-dah.” Lots of new words!

He is So laid back, and just such a cool kid! This is the very fun stage where he’s understanding & responding to everything! Great Times!

Doing so Much!

On these videos… I have put Ethan & Diella both in the same swing at the park, and they both love it! But one day when we went, Ethan missed his nap, and he got almost TOO comfortable in the swing! Hehe. The other video is from a while ago, just a fun one of Ethan cracking up when I’m bitin his belly!

Ethan is saying So many words! Some of them aren’t crystal clear, of course, but he says them TO the object, so even tho he says “ba” for ball, or “da” for duck, at least he knows what he’s saying! I’ll try to list them all, sorry if I’m repeating any words I’ve already blogged that he says. Nite nite, Ahna, Lella (for Diella), ball, hello, down, apple, duck, bath, (older ones that I know I’ve already mentioned - hi, bye, mama, dada, pizza, binky, uh oh), and he says “up” backwards, like “puh” hehehe. I think he has said No a few times… that worries me a little, but its not usually an angry No. Sometimes his hi’s come out at hiya, which is so cute! He also says Hi to strangers, people passing in the store, or wherever, just like his sister does! I love that!

He’s up to 5 animal sounds! Kitty, doggie, fish, elephant, and tiger!

And I think he does 4 signs? All done, more, eat, and please. We’re working on a few more.

And he knows, and locates when you ask him… head, tongue, hands, feet, and belly. And he can usually find mommy’s mouth & nose, but not his own, hehe.

And there are plenty of things he does on command… like “spin in a circle!” and “can you wink?” (oh yea, he winks! Not every time correctly, but sometimes he gets it! Its so cool!) … also “sit on your butt,” “clap your hands,” “gimmie kiss,” and I feel like there’s a few others that I may be missing. Its neat at this stage, to communicate with them, and see how they understand & respond!

At the park once, he went up the stairs, sat at the top of the slide, and went down, ALL By Himself! Champ! (but then that day he kept getting way too brave, and as I was ready for him to slide down the slide, he would like practically dive down it, and I had to catch him by the face a few times, lol!!!)

On this one Baby Einstein, they play the song Head Shoulders Knees and Toes, and Ethan was pointing to his head and also mouth during it!

Ethan. Loves. Tools. And anything that has a loud motor. Like the vacuum, or lawn mowers, or whenever daddy has a power tool running, Ethan makes this manly grunt sound, like Ooooooo (similar to what Tim Allen does on Home Improvement) hahaha!!!

He has discovered how to tickle us. Whenever he sees our flesh (like if I’m wearing shorts, or if my shirt comes up in the back or something), he’ll come over & grab the flesh, and open & close his hand. We usually pretend giggle, and he loves it! It so cute!

At times, either in his bed, or in the car, or even sometimes in the cart at the store, Ethan will relax, with his hands behind his head. Its Adorable! I’ve got to get a picture of it!

And Ethan got his first hair cut! Its pretty subtle, cuz he’s got the little curl on the sides of his head, but the hair in back was getting a little long, so Ahna gave him a lil trim. It doesn’t make him look “older” like I expected it might, but it did clean him up! It looks snazzy!

Accident, Trip to the ER

I wrote this up about the day after it happened. It was a while ago.

A few of you are asking what happened with Ethan. Well, I’m terrible at short versions, so here’s the medium version. First of all, to put you at ease, he’s alright! Jake & I were doing a wedding, the friend of ours, my age, was sitting for us. We came home & she told us that about 20 mins ago he had jus fallen & bumped his mouth, that he cried a lot, but that he was fine. There were no signs of injury on him & he was happy as could be, so we thought nothing of it. So we got the kids ready for bed, put them down, and then after about an hour, Ethan woke up crying hard, he Never wakes up crying! So I go in & he was making sounds like he was throwing up but nothing was coming out. After a few minutes, finally just a few drops of blood came out. I’m not a big worrier, so even though I was a bit on edge at this point, I called my mom before I went straight to 911. She told me to look in his mouth & check him all over. Inside his mouth, kinda far back & toward the top, there was a scratch & 2 punctures. We decided going to the ER was the best idea. Jake thought it looked like a sore (like Diella & I have been getting in our mouths), but I thought it looked more like some kind of cut. My mom came with me to the ER so Jake could stay home with Diella (she had woken up to the commotion & was crying cuz she could sense the tension & was so worried! Poor girl!). you know how a mother sometimes plays through the worst scenarios in her mind, well I suddenly feared that maybe he swallowed something sharp! So the worst, of course, was waiting in the ER, not fully knowing WHAT had actually happened. So after waiting for entirely too long, they took his vitals, and then looked him over & said two good things. He did not need stitches, and that it looked like he didn’t swallow anything. I asked if we could still get an x-ray, cuz I just needed peace of mind that he for SURE did not swallow anything. So we got that done, and it was clear! Good news all around! So here’s how they diagnosed it. 1 cm laceration & contusion. So, punctures & a little bruising. And here’s what Actually happened. When I was in the ER, I was trying to think of what could have been sharp that punctured his throat? For some reason, I dunno why, I thought of this broken plastic piece of tube (which I kept because we were playing with it in the bath the other night, Wrong Choice on my part! I should have just thrown it out!)… but I was praying that that wasn’t what did it. So first thing this morning, I went into Diella’s room to see if I could figure out the cause. Sure enough, there was that plastic piece right by her bed. Then this morning I got a message from the sitter that said the more she thought about it, she remembered seeing him with that tube, but that it didn’t SEEM as though it was near his face when he fell, but that his back was to her, so it was possible. So this confirmed it. He had a broken piece of plastic tube in his hand when he fell, puncturing his throat! OUCH! I felt terrible (as did the sitter). But the doctor said that mouths heal quickly, so he should be feeling better in just a few days. We were just instructed to give him only soft foods for a few days & lots of water to rinse it out. She also said to keep tylenol & motrin in him for the pain. We’ve already seen that as long as we do, he does really well! So he’s tough, he’s doing fine, and we’re takin good care of him! No more leaving stuff like that out! It was a long night, but the ending could have been worse. God is faithful!