The Squirminator, Part 2

I'm such a bad mother...Brian and I are accustomed enough to Ethan's moods now to find some of them absolutely hilarious. Rather than, "Oh, honey, what's wrong?" we're now yelling, "Get the camera, this is hilarious!" Examples follow:
I don't know if you can see clearly enough on that last one to tell that 1) he has squirmed his way down the sleeping wedge we place him on so carefully, 2) he has worked his way completely out of our nice little swaddling blanket, and 3) his escapee legs are in between the crib slats - Brian and I woke up to him kicking the wall by his bed. That's my boy. :)

I should have snapped a photo today after a short nap, when he really almost turned over. His head was completely twisted to the side, and so was the top half of his body, but not the rest of him. Brian and I are being much more diligent about tummy time now that he's threatening us with a flip onto his stomach. Yikes. Luckily for us, Ethan seems to really really like being on his stomach, so this is a fun part of the day for all of us!

In adult news, Brian and I are both officially back to work on Monday. We have a wonderful daycare provider set up - an Urbana School District parent, actually, who lives only two blocks from us. I actually taught her stepdaughter several years ago - small world. While Brian and I are both quite comfortable with her and she comes highly recommended, I'm still feeling pretty funny about someone else taking care of Ethan for the day! (I'm not sure why, since I'm still learning how to work this kid and I'm sure she will do a tremendous job.) I'm guessing that Ethan will make the transition very well...we'll have to see about his parents, though!

Current Life with His Majesty Sir Ethan

It's been awhile since I've posted, but not so long since I've taken millions of pictures. He's really looking like a little boy now, "a real baby," my sister would say. :) And he is just full of personality, which is really funny to see. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of toddler, young child, and even teenager (yikes) he develops into to see if I can tie any of his later behaviors to those we're seeing right now.
For example, the changing table used to be the happiest place on earth. (Disney has to share that title for a little while, anyway...) That was because our former routine was sleep, wake, diaper change, food! The food being the high points of his day, always... So whenever we put him on the changing table, even when he was at his worst, he would immediately stop and become Happy Delightful Boy. But in the last week or so, I haven't changed him every time I've gotten up with him at night; I've been trying to shorten the times he's up so that we might end up making a transition to longer stretches of sleep...Ha! Now, the association he seems to have is sleep, wake, FOOD...the diaper is so unnecessary! So the changing table has now become the torture table - it's no use now to get up with him and change him without waking Brian, he can absolutely tell from the next room (and maybe down the block) when Ethan assumes the position. :)

And his neck is almost ready for business! (Brian says I've been saying this for weeks, which is true, but it really is now!) Some of Brian's work friends gave us some really high quality hand-me-downs, one of which is a Jumperoo - and all he has to do is be able to hold his head up to use it. I'm dying to give him a try in this, because he's been pumping his legs like crazy for months now, and I just know he'll have a blast in that thing. My folks say that the Jolly Jumper was my favorite as a kid, so maybe he gets it from me...

History in the making....

What a day! I was able to watch part of the inauguration at work today, thanks to the cable set up and a nice SMARTboard at work. Brian and the little guy watched it at home, and I can't wait to tell him when he gets older what a day this was. Ethan expressed his political preference way back when he was just 1-2 weeks old....
But it wasn't official until today. I'm not surprised to hear that at local schools there were huge audiences that remained silent save for occasional applause and tears. I'm so glad that Illinois is getting some positive press for our Senators, considering how well our governors have been representing us in the last few years!

Boyo is just about 3 months old - his "birthday" is this Friday, but he turned 12 weeks old last Thursday. And while Brian and I are sure that the only pattern in his sleep behavior is that there is no pattern, I think we're turning some corners - he takes some naps, he is making the cutest noises (our conversations with the boy are very funny), and his neck is almost ready for prime time. I think he is getting a little interested in some toys, too, which I have been waiting for! As he gripped one today, I played the ridiculous mom and took many, many pictures to capture the "moment".

"The B Team" (not really)

I went back to work this week (part time at first, since I work for some really amazing people) - Brian will be home with Ethan-boy for the month of January. I think Dad is getting a run for his money, but he has already learned a lot, some of which I didn't figure out in the two months I was home with His Majesty!

1. The vacuum cleaner soothes his crying.
I actually should have figured this out pretty quickly after our Childbirth Education class where they told us of a family who burned out three vacuum cleaners with their little one who had terrible bouts of colic. :)

2. Carrying Ethan in the Baby Bjorn while vacuuming gets him to go to sleep.
This was the cutest thing to come home to yesterday! Brian is getting work done basically because he can't do much else; the boy was sound asleep and we were afraid for a little while to move him! Actually, after detaching part of the carrier from Brian's chest, Ethan made the transfer to his crib pretty well, for a little while anyway....

3. There are times when this is hard, but he is so darned cute...
That one I already knew. :)