Learning Faster Now!

No newer pix of Ethan that I havent already posted, so here's an older one :)

Ethan’s doing all kinds of new things, rather suddenly! He WINKS! Lol, well kinda… if you wink at him, he smiles Real big still his face wrinkles up & his eyes close, and sometimes only one eye closes… its SO cute! We almost caught a picture of it… but its on my sis’s camera…. I’ll try to get a hold of it.

Ethan puts the buckets from his toy bin on his head! And also the small laundry basket. Its SO cute! Diella & I laugh & say, “Bucket Head!!!”

My dad taught him how to do pound! He would give a high five, then Papa asked him for a pound, and her makes a fist, but holds up one fingers… so he kinda just pokes the other persons fist… but he does it on command every time, hehe, at least he’s consistent.

My sis got him to say Pizza! He hardly says any words! (hi, bye, mama, dada, binky…. Did I never blog that he says binky??? Its So cute when he does!!!)… and now pizza lol! Not clearly of course, but I love that pizza is his 6th word, ha!

He’s still doing the tiger sound, and now also does the elephant sound! We’ve been working on lots of them. He watches very intently & giggles when we teach him, but just wont try. Its alright, he’ll get it.

He’s also doing the sign for please…. Not very accurately, but still! So now his signs include, please, all done, milk, more, and eat!

Finally Getting Good at Doing Short Ones, Whew!

Ethan is finally pointing at things with one finger! Maybe he should have been doing this for a while now? I dunno. But he is now, and its cute!

He’s learned another sign! The sign for ‘ball’ …. Its really the same thing he does when he signs ‘more’ but he does it for either word, they’re similar signs. Oh and I think he said ‘up’ … we’ve been working on that one & a few others. He’s not a big talker yet, but we’re tryin.

We go for a walk almost every day, at least a few times a week, and most of the time I don’t take the stroller, we just walk. We live on a block & there’s sidewalks around the whole thing, so don’t worry, we’re safe. Well I always hold Ethan’s hand of course, and sometimes he tried to pull away, cuz he wants to go alone. But anyway, one time my mom took them, when Ethan wasn’t feeling too well, and she said she was proud cuz he walked almost half of it! (without her picking him up). Well usually when I take him, its about the same, he’ll walk half, I’ll carry him half. Well today, he walked the ENTIRE thing! I was So proud of him for that! A whole block, all the way around!

Short Blog, YAY!

The pic in the tie is from Easter Sunday. The other ones are playing outside on a nice day!

I failed to mention in the blog from the other day how close Ethan is to Running! He goes so fast! It'll be soon here!

And I said how close he is to coming down the stairs by himself, and that that would be soon as well... well, he Is now! Slowly, and only like 3 stairs at a time... but he's got it!!!

Also, I've watched him, and believe he might be left-handed. He eats primarily with his left hand... but I've heard its common for babies to use both. Well, this morning, Ethan, Diella, and I were throwing around some balls, and Ethan used his left hand every time! Plus, he's pretty good at the throw & release for his age! Go boy!

Doing More & More!

TOO long again, since I’ve blogged! The pictures include a few from when we first moved in… the ones in the highchair, you’ll read the corresponding story below… and a few from his birthday!!!

Ethan is finally doing lots of things on command! (grant it, its still whenever he FEELS like it, but still, hehe). His words now consist of mama, dada, hi, and bye… and the newest one… his first TWO syllable word, just as of the past 3 days or so, he says “binky”! lol… I think now that he can say it, breaking him of it is gonna be…. Fun.

If he ever chokes a bit on his food, we’ll say “chew it up” and he does. Aw! Oh, and he has 6 teeth now, by the way.

He’s been doing the sign for ‘all done’. I think the sign for milk was first, and this one was second. He also does the sign for “more.” And only a few times he’s done ‘eat.’

The things he also does on command… “shake your head,” “clap your hands,” and when we say ‘dancin feet!’ its like he runs in place, his feet alternate back & forth, pretty fast! And he gets all smiley during this! Its adorable!

Also, when we say, ‘where’s your tongue?’ sticks out his tongue. This one he’s been doing for a while… I think its his fave, hehe. One day he even watched himself do this in the mirror, haha!

A Precious Moment for me…. I was on my belly I the living room, Ethan walked over to me, bent down, gave me a hug, stood up, and walked away. That just filled my love tank Right Up!!!

I think it was a few days before we moved in, we were here at the house, when Ethan first went from sitting to standing, without holding onto anything. He had already been walking for a while, but would never sit to stand on his own, weird.

There’s a few things that he went through a short phase of doing, that he no longer does. Like he used to take his hand, and turn my face to face him. Oh I Loved that!! He also used to constantly get his arm stuck in his high chair. For some reason he would wedge it down in between the seat & the side of it… never knew why? And I remember he also used to say, “Ooohh.” It was really cute! But I haven’t heard him do that in a while.

For a while there, Ethan HATED wearing shoes, he would kick one off before I even got done putting the other one on! But he’s used to them now.

He Loves to walk into Diella’s room while she’s taking a nap (and when I’m not watching closely enough of course, cuz sometimes I’m able to catch him before he goes in there), but he even walks right up to her bed! Almost as if to say, “why are you sleeping? Come play with me!” hehe

Ethan also dances to music, so cute! And he even incorporated his arms in his dancing yesterday, when he & Diella were both dancing! Aw that was great!


This one day Ethan was in the highchair eating, and I got out the camera for fun, and he just started giving me these huge, cheesy grins! I really don’t think it was something he was trying to do, like For the camera… I think he was jus bein silly, but it was perfect timing!

In addition to Ethan’s new obsession to put things into the garbage & toilet, etc., he also likes to throw things down the stairs. Like he’ll stand at the top, and one by one, find a new toy, and chuck it down the stairs. I dunno if it’s the banging sound that he likes or what, but I cant lie, its kinda funny, and I don’t stop him, hehe.

Oh yea, Ethan also says, “uh oh”! …. Well… sorta… it’s more like “uh, uh”… he doesn’t really pronounce the Oh, but he does say it at appropriate times… its cute!

He also says Hi when you put a phone up to his ear. Love that!

Oh yea, and two other things he does on command. He’ll nod yes when you ask him, “yes?” … and also if you say “belly belly belly!” he’ll hit his belly with both hands, cute!

We have been working pretty hard on getting him to learn going down the stairs backwards. We practice about once a day… and he’s getting very close!!! He loves going up the stairs so much, I figure we gotta learn how to go down them SOON so I don’t hafta watch him as closely. We’re almost there!

And he Finally does his first animal sound! He’s always loved when we go through them. He watches so intently, and giggles when Diella & I make the sounds, but he would never attempt to repeat them back. Well about 2 weeks ago, in church, where there are walls with animals all over them, he saw the tiger, and made a tiger sound!!! And now he even does that on command too! … he’s also really close to doin elephant sound too!

Walking!!!

Over the monitor, I heard him struggling. I came up & saw this, hehe.

Just a few things for Ethan. He’s got a third tooth! Yay, they’re coming in more now!

Man, this boy really takes a beating from his big sister! I mean, sometimes she’s mean, but even when they’re playing fun, and she’s pretty rough with him… I’m usually right about to yell at her, and then Ethan cracks up, cuz he’s having fun with her! But she very often rides him like a horse, or rolls around with him all over the floor… but he likes it!

Ethan is officially walking!!! He does it all the time! I mean, he still crawls, but he walks on his own every day, lots! The other day, my mom was talking to me, and I’m like “wait. I’m counting.” As I watched Ethan walkin across the room, I counted 12 steps! And he didn’t fall then either, it was twelve steps to the next thing he could grab onto!!! Yay!

He can also get off the couch by himself, but I stay very close incase he goes too fast. He goes head first too! I need to teach him how to do feet first. But he jus puts his hands down, then his head on the floor, then bends his knees, til he’s all the way down. Its funny!

I’ve said how he’s been going upstairs. He’s never made it all the way up, and I stay ONE stair behind him, cuz he still has no clue he could fall. Today, Diella was at the top, while Ethan was trying to make it all the way up, with me right behind, and Diella kept saying “Keep going! Keep going! To this one & this one & this one!” And a few times, Ethan’s foot would slip down, and all 3 times, it sounded like he said, “Oh!” It was cool!

Oh, and he LOVES to feed himself! He prefers it. He'll still take food from a spoon, but would just So much rather feed his own face! hehe

And I think this lil one will need a haicut by his first birthday. Which is ok with me. Its cute how much blonde hair he has! Adorable!

My lil boy is becoming a big boy!

Quick One

I finally short-blogged!! Yay!! I’m gonna try to make this a habit!

I was trying to describe this to Mia today, and I did catch this on video, but of course still cannot upload videos to here for some reason, but I’ll give it a shot, nonetheless. Because of our lil boy who is All Over the place, and So fast… we sometimes push the couches together, so that they make an L, to keep him confined in the living room. The bottom parts of the couch touch, so the blockade is the level of the seat, like up to Ethan’s chest, I guess? Well, he climbed over it the other day! So we’re barely even able to contain him anymore! Whaaaaa!

Ethan, just like his sister used to, gets really clumsy when he’s tired. Like at night, when he’s playing, and fighting sleep, he stumbles all over the place. It cracks me up! I remember Diella being the exact same way! Its funny.

Ethan finally his second tooth! I think Diella got hers late too, so I keep reminding myself that its normal.

He’s standing for much longer periods of time too! And he tried to now, its not just when he’s not payin attention & doesn’t realize he’s doin it. He’ll stand hanging on, then turn and let go & stand there…. Then usually try to walk. He’s also been taking like 5 steps at a time! Usually 1 or 2 without falling, then he’ll continue, take a few more, then fall to his butt. He’s doing well, you can tell he wants to walk! He just gives up kinda quick. But we’re gettin there! Baby steps. Hehehe.

I said in the last blog how loved walking while pushing his lil Tow Matar truck. Well this is now like his new favorite thing to do! He goes almost too fast for himself, hehe! I love watching him do it, and you can tell he’s havin a blast!

I ALSO said in the last blog how he’s becoming interested in the stairs. Well, luckily he still doesn’t TOO often, but I’m catching him near the stairs more often. The other day he got halfway up! Ah! (I got this on video too). He has NO clue that he cant be standing on a stair, and then just sit down. I’m always right there to catch him, or he would just go to sit to his butt & fall back! So we’ll teach him the right way, but he just thinks its so cool when he’s on the stairs! He’ll stop on one, and bounce bounce his knees, like he’s jumping, and he’ll giggle! Its So cute!

Ethan is the little shadow of Diella and me. He follows us around everywhere, and I love it! He’s like “wait for me guys!” hehe

And, oh, I love this… lately, once in a while when Ethan smiles, he crinkles up his nose, like a huge smile! It Is The Cutest Thing EVER!!! I’ve GOT to get a picture of this!

K, for some reason it wont let me insert these pictures in between each paragraph, only all at the top of the page... so I'll leave these two up here, and for LOTS more pictures, please visit my Facebook page! Oh, and due to the length of this blog, I did not review it to check for any typos, so any that are there, I apologize. (no comments on them, Uncle Chris!) ;)

SO, Ethan is ten months now! I feel terrible that I haven’t blogged in so long! But I’ve been keeping pretty good track of the milestones he’s been making!

I never mentioned when he started recognizing his own name, and I think it was way back at about 5 or 6 months old.

He also has been giving kisses for quite a while now! A few months! Not on command every time, but will open his mouth & lean forward, when I say “give mommy kiss!” I love this!

His first word was Mama!!! Right around Thanksgiving time! And now, as of the past week or so, he’s saying papa, TO Papa!!! He had kinda been saying it for a while, but never when papa was around, then just recently, with Papa right there, he said it clear as day, Papa!!! Oh and sometimes it sounds like he says “woah” and sometimes “ow” and its just fun to think that that’s actually what he’s TRYing to say, hehe. Also, as he’s discovering his voice more and more, sometimes he’ll yell real loud, kinda like to get my attention, and then when I look, he giggles, kinda like “hehe, it worked!” So then once I yelled back, and then he did it back, and there we were, going “ah!” back & forth to each other! Our own little form of conversation! Hehe.

He has always loved to be upside down! Hehe, I’ll hang him upside down & he jus giggles so much! Sometimes I’ll even jus hold his feet in the air, with his head on the floor like a head stand. He cracks up!

He’s also been recognizing familiar shows & songs lately. Like, I’ll go to nurse him, and one of the shows we’ll watch everyday will come on (like Dora, or Handy Manny, etc.), when the intro theme song comes on, his head will whip right over towards the TV, cuz he recognizes it! That’s neat to see.

He’s still eating mostly fruits & vegetables (with rice cereal mixed in), but has also tried some table foods, his favorites including oyster crackers, stuffing, and his All-time favorite, pancakes! He does have these little 100% Gerber foods that we like to use, even the meats, and he Loves the meats! I think that’s great! AND I’m thinking he likes veggies better than he does fruit! (total opposite from his sister… she’s a fruit maniac!) But he says Mmmm way more often while eating veggies than he does fruit, awesome! Oh, and speaking of foods, one night while all the family was in town for the holidays, they all went out to dinner one night while I was at work. So I didn’t actually witness this story, but was told ALL about it, and there’s also a video of it somewhere, compliments of Emily! They gave Ethan a lemon to suck on (we did this for Diella a few times as a baby as well). And the little sour faces that he was making are Hilarious! Funny thing is, his lil eyes would squint & his little nose would scrunch up, and his tongue would come in & out… but then he’d just take another bite again! Haha! So he must have liked SOMEthing about it!!! Oh, and I’ve also just recently started to slowly introduce him to milk, real milk. I’m nursing less, and he Will NOT take formula. And he LOVES the milk! Which is great! I’m just going about it slowly. Oh and he finally loves water too! It took him a while to get used to it, but now, he’ll chug it!

Once in Walmart, I got one of those carts with the kid seats in it, you can buckle em in, ya know? Ethan has ALWAYS been (I’ve said this a million times since he’s been born) a very “handsy” boy, always needin to touch things & hold things, etc. Well this day, he sat in the cart, just looking around so calmly & casually, with his arms straight down at his sides, the ENTIRE trip through the store! I dunno why, but I thought that was the craziest thing! I guess jus cuz he’s usually so busy with his hands, that for me to see them not constantly grabbing at stuff just struck me so funny! And CUTE!

His feet are So ticklish! I love that! He’s recently starting to babble a lot, yay!!! And when he gets into things that he shouldn’t, and we’re trying to teach him “no no”, when we say “no no”, he laughs. Sigh* Great.

For months now, he has been waving! Hm, let me see, I think it started back in like October! When he first did it, I was like “was that Really him waving? It sure looked like it!” but it seemed too early for him to be doing that. But sure enough he was! And has been eve since!

Ethan loves to crawl under things… like the endtables, the kitchen chairs, etc. I think is so cute, cuz its like he’s goin to hide in his little cave! He does it all the time, I think its adorable!

He recently loves to stand & stare out the big picture window in the living room. I love that. I think Caeden used to do the same thing? And I even remember as a teenager, after school sometimes, I’d jus stare out that window. There’s just something about it.

When Diella was a baby, people, wherever we went, would stop us to check her out & comment on how beautiful she was. Well, now its similar with Ethan, but ALL the comments are on his BLUE blue eyes! They are the most amazing color! And EVERYone comments on how gorgeous they are! There’s just no denying it!

Most of the time when Ethan’s sleepy, he’ll hold one of his ears. Its cute. I remember seeing Colton do that a lot! Aww! … well lately, sometimes if I’m holding him and he’s sleep, he’ll go for MY ear, or even sometimes my Nose!!! He’s jus gotta grab onto something and move those lil finers of his. There’s Mr. Handsy again.

Ok, I STILL somehow haven’t taken any pictures of this, but I will! … this cracks me up, Ethan’s Favorite thing to play with is the lazy Susan in the kitchen! Haha! (the little thin in the corner that spins, its got shelves, usually for spices, etc. ya know?) … he’s over there All the Time, jus pullin stuff out, checkin in out, enjoyin himself! I think it’s the cutest thing! I think he’s gonna be a chef!... cuz he Also loves to play with all the small play kitchen things, in the play kitchen in Diella’s room. All the little pretend food, and the tiny plates & spoons n’ stuff. Yea, chef, I’m callin it.

A lot of times when Ethan’s in the high chair, and if you’re talking to him, or jus smiling & playing with him, he’ll smile tilt his head to the side. I think its just a little cute thing he’s doin, jus to play, and make you laugh. Its so cute! My mom says Chris & I used to do that, aw!!

Ok, so since the long space between blogs, we’ve missed the entire progression from sitting up, to crawling, to cruising, and standing, and taking steps and all of this. So here we go. He had been sitting up on his own, and getting from seated to on his hands and knees to start. Then he would rock on the hands & knees and go back to being seated. This was fun to watch, as he learns step by step, all the movements! Then when he was about 8 months, he started crawling! Around this time, he would also take steps as you held onto his hands! Not too long later, one day I noticed him trying to follow his sister, who was upstairs, he had made it up the first stair! I think maybe once I saw him up three stairs, but I brought him back down, and don’t see him near the stairs too often, so… we’ll keep a closer eye on him by the steps from now on! It seemed almost right when he started to pull himself to standing, while holding onto things, he immediately started cruising around everywhere! And hasn’t stopped since! He crawls & cruises So fast! We gotta keep a Real close watch all the time now! By this point, he’s gotten good at falling to his butt when he’s hanging onto things, instead of falling sideways, to the floor. So that’s good! Then around Christmas time, my mom would stand him up, holding onto the back of his Tow Mater truck that he got. He Loved that! And then would start walking as he pushed! You could tell he loved being able to do this!!! And he would jus take off! He’d go as far as he could, until the truck hit something & he had to stop. Even one day I watched him crawl over to it, grab on & pull himself to standing, then work his way to the back of the truck where the handle is, and off he went! That was CUTE! And now, as of about a week or two, Ethan has been standing on his own for short periods of time, and they’re getting longer & longer each day! He doesn’t yet go from sitting to standing on his own, but if he pulls himself up to standing, like against the couch or whatever, then he’ll stand there, not holding on too! Cool!!! And so we’ve been working with him, and if ya hold him to standing, and then let go, he’ll stand there. And so we would be about an arm’s length away for this, and at first he would smile & come toward us, falling into our arms. And after we repeated this lots of times, then he finally would take 1, 2 and 3 steps toward us first, then fall into our arms! So he’s not quite walking yet, but he has officially taken his first steps! Many times over! Once or twice, while standing, he would take one tiny step and then still stand! Holding his balance & not falling, COOL!!! So this is where we’re at now… he’s 10 months old, standing & taking steps, but still has some work to do on getting to stand up on his own, and taking more steps without falling. Good job Ethan!!

Ok, and a few extra things I just thought of before I finish here. I have been working on 2 different signs with him for quite a while now, ‘all done’ and ‘eat’. He still hasn’t done either of them, but I think Diella was 11 months before she did her first one, so I’ll give him some more time, hehe. I’m also just starting to try to teach him nodding head Yes and shaking head No. I saw in Diella’s baby book that she did this around 10 or 11 months, so now I’m tryin to get Ethan to do the same. (ya forget What happens When, from kid to kid)

At around 8 months old, Ethan got his first tooth! And he STILL only has the one!!! He’s definitely cutting his second one, so it’ll be soon now… but Chanson has like SIX already!!!

He and Diella both LOVE taking baths together! They crack each other up! Oh and his sister also loves when they chase each other around! She’ll say, “c’mon Ethan, crawl with me!”

And my Ethan is still quite the little Mama’s boy. He’s quite clingy and doesn’t really like it when mommy walks away. But he still does really good for other people too, he doesn’t go to ONLY momma. He’s good!