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!

Umbrella

Talking like Crazy!

Ethan is talking GREAT quite suddenly lately! He's even saying 3 syllable words like cereal and piano! And has attempted saying Alethea! He says is "thee thee uh." But he's even starting to put words together, like "night night mama" or one time he said "bite, more, please" Yay!

I don't think I've ever actually blogged this… Ethan has a word for anything that he doesn't know what its called. I know Diella did that too, but I don't remember what hers was. His is "ai-ya." Mm hmm.

He's also singing a lot too! He sings the Hallelujah song (from Shrek) quite well!!! and my mom began to sang the alphabet for him, and he sang right along! Not perfectly of course, but if you pause at ANY point in the song, he knows what letter is next!!! Then last night at her house, we asked him to sing it for us, and even though not every letter is clear, he got through the whole song! We both sat there with huge eyes & mouths hanging open as he kept singing, and knew it all!!!

He's also trying to learn his colors. He will only call things blue or yellow, though, ha! My mom says sometimes he's gotten a few colors right the first time she "quizzes" him, but then the second time, he gets em all wrong, sigh*
Also, I don't remember how we suddenly found this out, but Ethan can all of a sudden count to Ten, all by himself!

I love when I hear him use words that I didn't even know he knew! Like one day he went to pick something up and he says through a grunt, "Heavy!" And another time when we were all headed upstairs, and he said, "hurry!" HAHA! Oh, and also when he wants one of us to do something after he has, he'll say "turn," which means 'your turn' like take your turn… how cute!

Surprisingly enough, he's pretty good an pronouncing the typically harder sounds. Well, he cannot do the K sound, but he's great at the R sound! Even in the middle of a word, like truck… well, of course he can pronounce the R in truck, but not the K at the end, hehehe…. he can also do the L in the middle of words, like in Blue. He's TRYing to master the F sound, like in frog. He's doin awesome!

Tee Ball!!!

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got a tee ball set from Uncle Matt & Aunt Mia for Christmas!! Ethan was shown how to do it once, and was instantly a pro! And check out that follow through, hehe

Baby Sister!!!

Ethan loves his little sister! He wanted to hold her right away!!! He already says her name pretty well, but he usually calls her Baby, hehe.

Fun with Daddy!

These pictures are from the other night when daddy was giving the kids rides on his back. The more rowdy they got, the more the kids fell off… so he decided to make a harness… he rigged up two belts so that the kids could hang on… its was a blast to watch!

The two "big kids" have been sharing a room for about a month now, to get ready to put a new baby in its own room. They transitioned without any problems! Its really nice!

Ethan is suddenly saying So many words…. perfectly! He has been trying much harder pronouncing things instead of just using the first letter & how ever many syllables, hehe. Today, Diella was trying to help him with a few words… like her name, he's always said Ella. Well today he started saying Dee-Ella!!! And she even got him to say Mom-mee, and Dad-dee, instead of mama & dada! Cool! He also identified & called Cecily by her name yesterday, without prompting… he said Cec! How cute!

Then tonight, I even was trying to get him to say some colors. I think it was maybe 6 months ago or so, that we started helping Diella pronounce the L in the middle of words… like class, or play, or blanket, etc. Well tonight, Ethan, said Blue, perfectly! Even with the L in it! He also said yellow… perfectly!!!

Other words he tries & comes close to… that are so cute… are kitchen & chicken. He's also finally saying milk… he used to just call all drinks wa-wa. But now milk, water, and juice all have their own names, hehe. He also says high five when he puts up his hand for one, and also says high chair. And also will hold out his hand and for you to take it, to go with him… and he'll either say "hand" or he'll say "mon" (as is c'mon). Its SO cute! He even, once in a while, has finally started to put two words together!!! Like one days he said "play. C'mon" It was awesome! And last night he said "nite nite mama" !!! …. oh AND… my fave word he says… lotion… its hilarious & adorable how he says it… its like "thlo-thon" … you gotta hear it! I'm loving all this talking!

And he also understands everything even more now, and doesn't just reply with "Yea" like he used to always. Now he'll give you a real answer, which is nice for communication!

Ethan is also starting to be quite the singer & dancer! Sometimes I'll sing a familiar song, and then stop before the last word or phrase, so that Diella can finish it for me… well Ethan's been doing it too now! We didn't even know he COULD until one day he just did! He even changes notes…. Almost where they belong! There are quite a few different songs that he'll help us sing! Its so awesome!

So Ethan has a few stuffed animals that I've always kept at the foot of his crib, that he could not care less about. When he goes through his ABC books, he always shows me the picture of the owl & he says Hoo. So my mom reminded me, "hey, don't you have a stuffed animal owl? So I got that out of the attic, and guess what… he LOVES it!!! His other few favorite animals are cow, and porcupine! How funny! Those are the ones he shows me the pictures of & says the names of most often. Funny kid! … well and horse, and penguin now too… he has lotsa faves.

His sense of humor is also rapidly developing & starting to show more & more! Like he has this "funny walk" we call it… where he spreads his legs out far, then bends over a little, and then walks (in the video). Or he'll put his head way back, his chest forward, and then run toward you & fall into you, and just laugh. And my favorite… we all remember Diella's "angry eyes" she used to do… and then the funny arm circle thing she added to it…. well Ethan does the eyes now! Puts his head down, eyebrows down a bit, looks out the top of his eyes at you… then I crack up… but he keeps the look still! Its hilarious!

Its kind of the same that he does with smiling. He smiles on command now, like instantly. "Ethan… smile!" and he slaps it right on! All cheesy!!! And most of the time we're laughing while he's doin this… then he doesn't wipe it off! The big cheesy smile is still there, as we are still laughing! Such a funny kid!!! I remember shortly before I had him, the girls at LCA threw me a shower, and Debbie Nuber spoke over him, a sense of humor. Well, she was Right! He's sure got one!!!

He's getting to be… I don't want to say less laid back, cuz he still IS laid back… but he's getting this really hyper side to him… in the evening mostly. The other night, for who knows what reason (no one was over or anything, and I didn't pump them full of sugar or anything), but he was just bouncing off the walls! It was crazy! He gets a little hyper each night now. Its ok though, he always calms back down for bed.

Jake & I have been noticing how he's reeeeeally coming out of baby stage, into toddler stage, ALOT more lately! He's such a big boy now! Just understanding EVERYthing, and responding appropriately to EVERYthing, and obeying, and Always saying please, and all these things! He even now refuses to go down the stairs backwards, on his belly. He's got to go forward, like a big boy, its so funny!

Oh and we're still slowly trying the potty. He'll sit there, but has still never gone. He HAS told us that he's pooped though! Which we've been working on! Even twice he told us right BEFORE he pooped!!! Didn't get him to go on the potty for it, but he could feel it coming! Thats the first step! Woo!

Ethan has impressed me, as I've noticed a few times as we are driving home… right as we get into our neighborhood, he says, "Home." I think its cool that not only does he of course recognize our house, but even our closely surroundings too. Very cool.

And the Funniest thing!… the other day, Ethan didn't just FALL asleep in his high chair, he PUT himself to sleep there! I watched him kind of inch down & gently lay his head down to the side, as if to get himself comfortable. The only thing left on his tray was a fig newton. So I go over, and trying not to fully wake him up, I begin to wipe his face and hands clean from lunch. His head popped up, eyes wide open, he quickly grabbed the fig newton, and then slowly lowered his head back down. I giggled a little, and continued to wipe him up. Then when i went to take the fig newton from his hand… his head quickly popped up again, and he SQUEEZED the fig newton, and was instantly crying, he did NOT want me to take it away! Haha!…. but I could tell, he also didn't REALLY want to eat it either… So I persisted with taking it away, finished wiping him up, as he cried some more. But then by the time I lifted him out of his chair & held onto him, his head went Right down onto my shoulder, the eyes were closed, and he was happy to be put right down for nap. That was a great, hilarious moment for me!

Quick Blog

This video was yesterday. The kids doing "smurbs" on my belly. And also hugging the belly, too, hehe.

Then there's a pic of the kids hugging! Willingly!!! ... and the other picture- Ethan walked over to me & I saw him like this! Completely on his own, he opened my bottom drawer, got a pair of my underwear and a sports bra, and put them around his neck. He just came over, as though to show me what he did, and smiled, knowing he's funny! Ha!

I somehow forgot to mention in yesterday's blog that Ethan is getting good as repeating his ABC's! We will say one letter at a time, and he will repeat it... and there are only a few he cant say correctly, but he's doing really well! Soon we'll hold up the letter, so he can associate what he's saying with that letter. Its really fun to hear him say them, and he seems to enjoy doing it!

Just in the past day, he has also said 3 new words! Barn! stop, only without the S.... and also phone... he says like pome. Its so cute!