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!

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!