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!

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!