New Year, Same Me

New Year's Eve! Brian and I celebrated Noon Year's Eve with Ethan at the library this afternoon. We can claim that our early partying was due to the fact that we have a baby, but honestly, I haven't been able to stay up past 11:00 for a good long time now. Yes, I am that lame.

I like New Year's Eve in one way, but kind of hate it in another. I like thinking of a brand new year beginning, one that is full of possibilities...but I truly hate the "New Year, New You" crap that is all over the place. I'm more aware than anyone that I have lots of room to improve myself, but I think it's kind of insulting to imply that we all need to drop 10 pounds every January, or that we have to reinvent ourselves somehow every year. Oh, well. I just thought I should let all of you know to expect the same flawed person come January 1. :)

Ethan, however, does have a resolution - to talk more! We are hearing so much more from him these days, and I think a ton of it is due to his new and improved tubes. He came through the surgery last week like a champ (again), and didn't even cry at all afterwards...until I took away his snacks so that we could go out and get some real food.
Here's a sampling of his new and improved conversational abilities:
"Mama....mo cheess!" Cheese is still #1.
"Appeesas...peess." Applesauce please. Usually with "sin" - cinnamon.

Happy Holidays!

I hope everyone has had a very merry whatever you're celebrating! We are done with Christmas Parts I and II - the Cinci version as well as our celebration here at home. Here are a few pics of Ethan's exciting weekend:
These are two favorites! Brian wanted to get him this big tent and tunnel, and the baby went totally nuts. We haven't actually opened the rest of his gifts yet, because he was just crazy in love with this one and didn't want to leave his new house. Elmo was my mom's addition, and it's the first time that Brian and I have seen Ethan get attached to any stuffed animal. Ethan put Elmo down for a nap today, fed him, and twirled him in Brian's office chair. Here's a little video of Ethan with his new love, though you'll find that the very patient cat is a little bit of a distraction:

Ethan also had a fantastic time with the Jewetts in Cincinnati. He was on incredibly good behavior, though I think I may have said the words, "No," "Careful," and "Be gentle" about a million times. He's a good listener, though. :) And totally charmed his Aunt Kim and Grammy Barbara. He will no longer let me pull on his little ticklish toes for "This little piggy went to market..." anymore. Aunt Kim does it way better. I tried today, and he went all through our house calling for her.
As I'm sure it's been with everyone else out there, December has been a little nuts. As I worked on preparing for our cookie party (which was great - thanks to everyone who came!), or making/shopping for small holiday gifts, or wrapping like a fiend, Brian reminded me, "This is fun, RIGHT?" And it is. Busy, but really fun. I kind of fell in love with the process of making or shopping locally for holiday gifts. I was in luck that my mom made me swear we weren't exchanging gifts this year, and that Brian's family is also really low-key. (One of his nephews wrote us a letter as a Christmas gift, and it was fantastic - one of the best things we received.) I think I'll do this kind of thing every year from now on, but I need to broaden my skill set. I'll work on it and keep you all posted. :)

Tubes on Tuesday

Our appointment is set! Ethan is going in for Tubes, Part Two, this Tuesday morning. I am looking forward to it in a way that I hope is not creepy and cruel to readers out there, since I really only want Ethan to be able to hear again. Yes, I said hear. He is so stuffed up that he has a mild hearing loss in his right ear. !!! Time to get out that tiny vacuum and suck all of the crap out of there. And just like last year, since he's such a little guy, he'll probably be going fairly early in the morning, since they do the surgeries in order of age. Fine with me, since we have to starve him for several hours before we get to the hospital.

The other Ethan health issue is the throwing up. At this point, he does it at least once a day. (Luckily not always at daycare, since his teacher is horrified by the throw up.) Morning, after snack, right before bed, IN bed....it's a lovely new development that comes (I think) from this cough that he has had forever. (Sigh.) We are fortunate enough to own a small carpet cleaner, and that's a good thing right now. :) Our problem recently was thinking that the eruption Friday night was the same thing that he's been doing for over a week now, rather than a real stomach bug....and then I came down with the stomach flu a day later, then Brian, then my mom....Luckily it was only a 24 hour thing for all of us, but we're pretty wiped out. NOT a great way to start my Winter Break!

In the meantime, we've had some fun! Ethan's holiday party was yesterday, and I just have more and more respect for the folks at that daycare. They decorated the stage beautifully, and somehow got babies through five year olds to stand or sit on stage and sing together (not much singing from the babies) for 10-15 minutes. Amazing!

And we got some more holiday shopping done at the local holiday market, as well as our pictures taken for our very last-minute Christmas card. Here are the rejects (and they aren't so bad!):

Speech, Speech!

Ethan's vocabulary is really increasing these days, which is so adorable! (And also means that this is a photo-free entry - sorry. :) I'm sure that part of it is that he's getting older and it's just happening naturally, but I think that the speech help he's been getting for awhile now is also a big part of it. Sarah, Ethan's Speech Therapist, is just so great, and thinks that the cute little boy is doing better and better each week. (And she is just so darn fun - I am so tempted to act like I'm 7 years old and say, "Will you be my friend and play with ME now?")

So I thought I'd devote this post to Ethan's new and improving vocabulary, especially since a good part of it needs some translation. For those of you who are going to be seeing us over the holidays, here's a primer for Ethan-speak:

A, Ta, Ta = Up. Don't ask me why. And he says it a lot, usually when he wants to get up someplace he shouldn't be, to get something he shouldn't get. :)
Adda = Open. Again, no idea how that translates, but I'm sure that's what that means. We hear a lot of that, especially when he wants to open things that he shouldn't get....(I sense a theme here.)
Hawhee = Honey. Now that he's a big two year old boy, I feel comfortable giving him honey, and he LOVES it. Wants hawhee on everything, and once I put it on his toast, cracker, or muffin, he'll suck the honey off and then yell for more.
Geddo = Together. Ethan has learned this word since we usually have to travel everywhere together. I would be more annoyed that I can't use the bathroom on my own most of the time, but I know that in a year or two, "Do it myself" is going to be a favorite phrase. I'll take "geddo" as long as I can.

Thankful for....

So much! First of all, our little boy used the potty two nights ago! Wow. We aren't expecting this to happen on a regular basis from now on, of course, but he knew just how to ask for it, where to go, and even wanted his diaper off. (We've been putting him on the potty for awhile now with the diaper on...) Go Ethan!!!

Thanksgiving was great, though a tad chaotic at first. Ethan's fever shot up again on Wednesday afternoon, prompting my fury to spike as well, since this poor baby has been sick so much this Fall, and all his doctor wants to do is let his little body take care of it in time. (Um, apparently that isn't working!) Luckily, we saw a very very nice pediatrician during her evening hours, and she told us what to do next - if Mr. Ethan's ears aren't totally free of fluid after the current round of drugs, we are going to get his tubes reinserted. I'm not anxious to have him under the knife again anytime soon, but I'd rather get this taken care of instead of having him on antibiotics every two-three weeks.

This round of drugs is gradually clearing up the cough that he's had on and off for about two months, but didn't do it in time for Thanksgiving. :) You will notice that Ethan is wearing a couple of different outfits in the following dinner pics. So am I. That's because his cough had gotten bad enough to make him lose all of whatever he recently ate - over and over and over again. But he had a pretty good time anyway! There were many people to run to and play with that evening.

My daddy thinks it's funny to take pictures of me that look like I'm drinking a bottle of beer....

My Auntie Andrea is watching me waste lots of water...

Awwww....I'm sorry for puking on you, Mom!

The rest of the weekend was fairly stress-free, which was nice. Brian's mom and sister were staying with us, and we discovered that Brian's mom isn't Grammy, as she is with the four other grandsons, but "Mimi". (He has continued to ask for Mimi since she left on Saturday!) We can't figure out if he has a name for Aunt Kim or Gramma (my mom), but we'll work on that. My mom, especially, is really ready for Ethan to acknowledge her in some way. :)

My Holiday Plan

I was getting some very well-deserved crap at a department meeting this week for my blogosphere absence, so it's time to get going.....sorry, everyone, but all I feel like doing since the weather turned cool is be really lazy in the evenings....zzzzz.....

Ethan, Brian and I are getting all ready for the holidays. Can't wait! And I still do remember two years ago when Ethan was a tiny newborn, and wanting the holidays to just GO AWAY. But now I'm totally into it. Ethan doesn't have any idea what he's in for, but that's great, because we have at least one more year to do whatever we want and not be bossed around by our kid. :)
First of all, there's Thanksgiving. Fall is absolutely my favorite season, and is there any other time of the year when the leaves are pretty, the temperature is just right, and society encourages us to eat everything in sight??? Even all of the veggies that I'm planning on making as side dishes are sweet and delicious. Love it.

Then, there is the cookie party that Brian and I are hosting once again. We gave it a two year hiatus for a very cute, bouncy, blond reason, but it's time to bring back the sugar and butter and invite some friends over for a good time. We had to request nut-free cookies from our friends, but luckily I work with people who see this as an opportunity to get creative. (Thanks, guys!)

And lastly, we get to Christmas itself. Our families haven't been too into the present-giving thing since Brian's nephews got a little older, but we still do some little gifts for folks....and this year, I think that I've decided to make a huge effort to give all homemade OR locally-bought gifts. I'm sure that readers out there are thinking, "Wow, what a GREAT present I'll be getting from Alexis..." But there are kind of amazing things at our local holiday market, at some local shops we have, and if all else fails, I'll bake.

*Disclaimer - Ethan will probably not be the recipient of this type of gift. He requires lights and sounds, and I doubt that I'll be capable of making any of that. :)

Bye Bye, October

I had to squeeze in one more post before the month is officially over....

For those of you blog stalkers, I know that you've all been dying to see pics of Ethan's birthday party. There aren't many, but the few that are there are pretty cute. And messy....:) Ethan had a pretty casual party, with two playgroup friends (and their parents - I'm not crazy) and my parents in attendance. Much fun was had by all! (Though my folks left early - I think we wore them out. :)
I thought and thought about what kind of party to have for Mr. Ethan, and decided that at this age, any theme would be more for my enjoyment than for his. He had no idea what the big deal was...didn't know what to do with his gifts, he didn't want to eat anything while everyone was here...so I'm glad that I chose the easy way out when it came to his "cake".
The October fun didn't stop there, though, since Halloween came the week after! I found this fantastic monkey costume at a consignment sale in town about a month ago, and luckily it not only fit his growing body but his monkey-like personality. (Daycare folks: "Does he climb a lot at home?" Uh, yeah.... "He was climbing up the bookcase today, over the table, on the stacks of chairs..." Great!) Ethan's daycare had a Halloween party on Friday, where the kids paraded around the little playground in their costumes, then we all had treats inside and played games. This had to be tons of work for all of the teachers - I could appreciate it after hosting tons of Halloween/Christmas/Valentine's parties of my own - and the kids were obviously having a great time. Though just like at his party, Ethan was more interested in the grapes and whether or not we would let him turn the lights on or off.
His disinterest in the party goings-on may have been due to the fact that Ethan was already coming down with the second big bug of the month. :( We stayed home from trick-or-treating tonight because after a 10 day regimen of antibiotics, Ethan's ear infections were back and his fever jumped back up to 101-103 today. Poor baby. I foresee lots of snuggling in front of Elmo and Baby Einstein tomorrow for the two of us!

4 Reasons I Love Central Illinois

So it's Fall, my very very favorite season. I find myself in a much better mood as the leaves change, the temperature drops (but not too much), and the yummy fall foods emerge - apples, squash, sweet potatoes, soup.... So I'm dedicating this post to the fun things that we've been able to do in good old CU in the last two weeks.

Little Gym
OK, so the Little Gym isn't a local thing - it's a chain. But it's one of the most fun things we've done on weekends this Fall! Ethan is a wild man for about 45 minutes every Saturday. He is also madly in love with the teacher, Miss Angie. As we all introduce ourselves each week, he runs up to her over and over again for high fives. And he's getting pretty good at the balance beam, the parallel bars, and the little climbing wall they have there. I think my favorite, though, is the fact that he is now saying, "Go!" I'll get ready to help him do a back somersault, "Ready, Set...." Ethan: "Doe!"
Youth Literature Festival
There are so many benefits to being in a university town, and this is one of them. The U of I, along with libraries and local performers, put together this amazing day of creative fun for kids of all ages. I wasn't going to take Ethan, thinking that he'd be way too young to get anything out of it, but some of the moms in the playgroup Ethan and I enjoy were going, so we decided to give it a try. Wow. Puppets, crafts, books, resources for parents, and best of all - music. You'll notice a little towheaded boy standing in front of the stage in a tie dye t-shirt. That's Mr. Ethan. It's a picture taken about 5 seconds before he tried to get on stage to "help" the singer with his performance, and was almost pulled off by the nice man acting as toddler security. Ethan's first bouncer! (I was being a very irresponsible mother - I was cracking up so hard at the cute picture and emailing it to Brian that I couldn't get up to the stage fast enough. :)
Monticello Railway Museum
Ethan is in love with trains these days. So Brian thought that we should take him to see some really big authentic ones. It was so cool! The museum does short train rides from the station into the city of Monticello, about 10 minutes each way, and a conductor comes through the train cars and explains a few things for people who want to listen. Ethan really enjoyed it.
Meadowbrook Park
Also known as "Castle Park", Meadowbrook is a fantastic area about a mile from our house. I finally got our jogging stroller fixed, and now Ethan and I jog there together on the weekends, play, and then jog back. (One mile doesn't sound like a whole lot, and it's really not, but believe me, pushing a 35 pound kid in the stroller while trying to jog is really tough!)

What's for Dinner?

Ethan is a healthy eater. I don't mean that he only wants healthy food, I mean that he has a healthy appetite. He's certainly not starving - his weight is definitely working hard to keep up with his height.

(I know I post way too many pictures of messy-eating-Ethan - but they're so cute! Until he has to be hosed down....)

However, he is picky picky picky these days. We are so lucky that he loves fruit - he'll almost always eat lots of apple, banana, pear, grapes....it's just the other food groups that don't seem to exist. (Actually, it was hilarious tonight - I brought home some oatmeal cookies from a meeting I had been in, and he kept picking away the cookie part so he could eat the raisins!) And we're in a position of trying to get him to eat more meat...both Ethan and I had our blood tested recently for various reasons, and the two of us are drastically low in iron stores. So doctor's orders are to eat more red meat (and other iron-rich foods) as well as take supplements. Ethan's great about taking medicine, but it would be great to get his vitamins in some food as well! Proteins? Well, there's cheese. And then cream cheese.... and maybe cottage cheese.... He seems to really dislike the texture of meat, so he won't eat meat. And as far as veggies go, he's good with carrots most of the time, and that's all, folks. Not even sweet potato, squash, or other sweet vegetables!

So I'm opening it up to you all out there - ideas for getting your kids to eat a more varied diet?

In my blog-free weeks, we haven't just been sitting on our butts. Really. :) We've done some really fun things - the Little Gym just gets more and more fun every weekend, we're planning Ethan's birthday party - yeah!, and we still get together with our playgroup friends once in awhile. Unfortunately, we've also had some sad moments, too. One of Brian's best friends, Ed, has moved away from Champaign-Urbana to (so selfishly) live with his wife and cutie pie daughter in Columbus, Ohio. We got together with them on Ed's last day here so that Ethan could visit with his future wife one more time....but had a very difficult time taking a non-blurry picture! Two mobile toddlers makes for a tough photo op.

Elbow Man

Well, I can't find Brian's camera, and every time I try to take pictures or videos of Ethan now he grabs the phone and wants to watch all the cute movies of himself....so no pictures this time. But trust me, he's still as cute as can be!

He is also about to turn two. !!! When did that happen?! He sure acts like it, too. If he gets in "trouble" (is told "no"), he'll do something to get back at us, like throw a Cheerio or Kleenex on the floor...and then look right at me, as if he's saying, "What are you gonna do about that?". It's so funny. Not so funny is the whining squealing noise that he shrieks when he's frustrated about something, or the fact that getting him into the car seat sometimes is enough of a struggle that I'm worried someone is going to call DCFS on me. It's good thing he's cute!

He's also doing a lot more talking these days. Below you'll see the latest words of the last two weeks, in order of helpfulness (best to worst):

1. Hi! (Said to just about everyone when we're grocery shopping. Pretty cute - I like to think that we're brightening the day for folks at Meijer.:)
2. All done! (This doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's adorable. He does the sign along with it, which is a relief since I've been trying to teach him that one for almost a year and a half!)
3. Apple ("Appo")
4. Bubbles (What's funny is that he's not even that crazy about bubbles most of the time)
5. Elbow (What?! How in the world is that helpful? This is one that probably won't come up in regular conversation a whole lot - how often do you talk about your elbow???)

Little Gym

Since swim classes are over, and we need something fun and active (i.e. long-nap-inducing) to do on the weekends, Brian and I decided to enroll Ethan in a class at our local Little Gym. It's an actual gym - parallel bars, balance beam, rings, and lots and lots of thick floor mats, thank goodness. When we tried a free class last year, Ethan wasn't too into it, but now that he's older and wants to go go go fast fast fast, he was in seventh heaven....I just wanted to laugh the entire time we were there, so it was lucky Brian had the presence of mind to bring the camera.
Now, before you think that Ethan played productively on each piece of equipment, waited until it was his turn to climb the stairs to the balance beam, and stayed in the circle for all of the songs and time with the parachute, think again. :) My parents were there, and my mom commented halfway through the class, "Wow, I think he likes the unstructured activities best." Yep. Luckily, at the Little Gym, it's ok if they head all over the classroom whenever they want - the entire place is padded, so it would take a huge effort to really hurt himself. He could not have had a better time! Even some of the other parents commented on how much he enjoyed himself!

Letter

Dear Daycare,

I would appreciate it if, in the future, you would not refer to my adorable, sweet, PERFECT son as "passive aggressive" when I am discussing his communication strategies with you. I understand that he tends to ignore you when you want him to clean up after lunch, and you have to ask him more than once. But in describing these situations, I would prefer that you use other wording, such as: "He ignores us", or "he's a tease", or "he's so cute and amazing and absolutely the best kid in the class".

Hearing "passive aggressive" makes me want to rip your face off. Of course I won't, but I'll think about it. For just a second.

After all, no one in Ethan's family is passive aggressive...I can't think of anyone who would, for example, smile politely as you were talking and then come home and write about the situation on her blog. :)

Love,
Ethan's Devoted and Completely Unbiased Mother

Ethan Reads!

This is a seriously proud moment for two parents. I know that this is almost certainly a phase, and Ethan may decide that books are annoying and uncool sometime in the near future, but until then...I'll revel in this.

One new development of Ethan's is wanting to take things to bed. Not stuffed animals - books. Our bedtime routine includes a book right before bed, and he now wants to grab a book and take it with him. (A pretty funny discussion ensued between Brian and me at this. Brian: "It's too dark in there. I think we need to give Ethan a night light." Me: "What, you think he's actually reading?!") It's just so sweet to see this little boy, who used to fight sleep tooth and nail, run (yes, run) off to bed at night with a little book in his hands. The video below shows Ethan's post-breakfast activity this morning. As we cleaned up the kitchen, he occupied himself for a little bit. (And you should know that I do occasionally clothe the little guy. It's just so hot these days that I can't see putting clothes on him until we go out and society expects it!)

Big Shoes to Fill

(OK, so how old will Ethan be when it's not cute that I let him run around in a diaper and post pictures online of him half-naked? When does it become creepy instead? I think it's pretty darn cute, but I'm the mom....)

I can't even explain all that we've been doing to keep us busy since the last blog post in JULY, for goodness sakes. But I'll give it a shot. The biggest thing is job-related rather than Ethan-related, which is why the gratuitous diapered boy picture is at the top of the page. :)

The last week in July, our history grant staff had our yearly Summer Institute. This year's topic - Civil Rights. We've waited awhile to do this one well, and I think we succeeded. That's our group standing next to one of the co-founders of the Black Panthers. Yeah, I'm standing right next to Bobby Seale. Had dinner with him, too. I'm just that cool. :)

Oh, and our Tuesday morning keynote speaker? That would be Ilyasah Shabazz. Name ring a bell to anyone? Malcolm X's daughter. Yep. That's her. Looking gorgeous (10 years older than me and she looks way younger) and professional and gracious...
Our Thursday keynote was none other than Julian Bond. For more information, check out Wikipedia. And when you read it, pick your jaw up off the ground, and come back to this blog, you should know that he really is just that cool. Smart, smooth, funny, amazing.

One of our special guests that week was Dawn BarbouRoske, my boss's sister-in-law. I was one of two people who got to go to dinner with her, and it was the most interesting, thought-provoking, and FUN evenings ever. You can check her out on MSNBC. And she's not just a leader in a movement that should and will be gaining more ground in years to come, she's a seriously cool person.

So with this caliber of speakers and amazing guests, we were just a tad bit stressed out. :) But the teachers all remarked on how this was the best institute ever, how life-changing it was, how they were talking about this one with family and friends....how can you ask for more than that?

We didn't actually get any time to settle down after July, unfortunately. Few people know this, but "summer" isn't really summer in the land of Staff Development. (Which is actually fine with me - I know it's practically sacrilege to admit this, but I always kind of got bored with summer vacations when I was a classroom teacher.) We moved right on to welcome new teachers, prepare for the return of all staff on Monday, outline Fall budgets, etc., etc.,....and in the midst of that, Brian and I both got the stomach flu (luckily it came and went very quickly). I write this in order to elicit sounds of sympathy from all of you, even though I can't hear them. Thank you. :)

But let's get back to the Ethan-boy! I've been hoping to catch these cute new developments on videotape, but can't seem to get him to do them when the camera's on.
1. He sings! Yep, the boy who is making his parents wait to hear more than a few real words can sing. "Da da da, da da da..." All to the tune of either Twinkle Twinkle OR our Clean Up song. SO CUTE.
2. He can drink out of an open cup. There is a reason there are no pictures of this. There are many towels involved in this process. :) Actually, he's really good at it. We're holding on to the sippy cup tops, but we don't use them very much now. (And I'm not embarrassed to admit that I'll be a little nostalgic when they go away altogether!)
3. He gives kisses. These are few and far between, but just precious when he actually does them. He'll grab a face with his two little soft hands and plant one right on ya. Which is when I ask him to do it again and again and again, which might be why he doesn't do it too often....:)

2000 miles

We drove 2000 miles with our little boy last week! And he was really great....up until the last day when he kind of had a cow....but I was pretty impatient to be home by then, too. :)

Brian and I decided to drive to Nags Head, NC this year. Were we crazy? Possibly - crazy and cheap. But it went really really well. We had lots of little toys to give the little boy on the trip, and purchased a portable DVD player for those moments when we could really use them. And he was great! The drive took two days, and Ethan adjusted fantastically well.

The view from our condo - not bad, huh?

For those of you work friends who are anticipating a radiant, tan Alexis, you'll be sorely disappointed when I get back to work tomorrow. I'm still the same pasty white. :) Brian, Ethan, and I turned out to be beach wimps and only stayed out for a few hours each morning. Ethan seemed to really love rushing down the beach to the water, but not so much when the waves crashed around him. I understand completely!

Super-cool beach boy!

The less sunbathing we did, the more we could do other beach things, though! We took a jog with the boy in his little rented jogging stroller....you can see how much he enjoyed it. (Actually, this was the best thing for him - he woke up at 5 EST and couldn't go back to sleep, so he really needed the little cat nap that morning....)
We visited Kitty Hawk Kites, this great store with kites (of course), jewelry, toys, clothing, and a small climbing wall. This picture is not posed. Ethan went rushing up to the wall more than once. I sense many, many gray hairs in my and Brian's futures!
And best of all, we were able to spend great quality time with Ethan's Grammy Barbara and Aunt Kim. He found them both delightful! Ethan spent a lot of time giggling, running all over the condo, and giving hugs and kisses (a fantastic new development!). Awwww....:)He also became about 100 times more vocal in this last week. He has found his tongue, so a lot of the babbling we hear from him sounds like "dee diddle dee daddle da" which I'm sure means something incredibly profound, but I can't translate yet. My favorite latest new vocalization is his version of "Uh oh," which I've kind of been waiting for! (It's not like he doesn't hear it several times a day....) It sounds more like "Ah-Ho", and is so darn cute. I am drafting a complaint to Blogger right now demanding an explanation why my adorable video won't upload tonight - stay tuned!

Our Happy, Happy Jumbo Shrimp

As with just about everything we've done with him, Ethan has amazed and impressed us with his ability to almost instantly love something new. (The new daycare was a notable exception, but he's loving it now - he actually fussed when I picked him up one day last week!) We tossed around summer activity ideas and settled on swim lessons at the Urbana Aquatic Center. We're heading to the beach soon, and knew that we should get Ethan ready for the water. How do you think he likes it?

Blogslacker and the Boy Beat the Heat

Where does two weeks go?! Wow. As always, we've been busy, though trying to stay active and not melt in these 105 heat index days we've had recently. Mr. Ethan is an outdoor kind of boy, and though I like the outdoors as well, I really hate this humidity! We've worked our way around it as best we can, and it usually involves stripping down to the diaper.
Here is this awesome $10 sprinkler that I got at Meijer - little snakes of water that go everywhere. This is Ethan meeting the sprinkler for the first time, and he's not sure if this is going to be a friendly encounter. After awhile he decided the water was pretty neat, and kept sticking his face in there like a dog to drink the streams of water - lots of giggling!
He's also really getting into the car. And I mean getting INTO the car - he still likes his car seat, thank goodness, but now he wants to crawl all over the rest of the car. I can imagine a million things going wrong with this scenario, so the emergency brake is always on, and I am of course always right there for the few minutes that we're playing around. But I have a fun time looking at these pictures and imagining showing them to him when he's ready to get his driver's license. (Which, of course, he won't be getting until he's 30, which is also when he'll be allowed to start dating. Maybe.)

And daycare is going well! He still cries when we leave, but they tell us that he's fine shortly thereafter. Unfortunately, the case of hand, foot, and mouth disease that they had a few weeks ago made it to little Ethan-boy, and he and I have been home together for the last three days. Poor kid! I hadn't planned on this impromptu time off, but we made the most of it.
A goal of mine? To help Ethan learn to color without eating the crayons or markers. The bathtub boat is my latest purchase (yes, from Meijer again) in this attempt, and we might be getting somewhere - coloring on the floor is OK by me, as long as those crayons don't end up in his mouth!

To Time Out, or Not To Time Out?

My goals for Ethan are simple: To raise him to be just slightly less weird than I am. I'm not sure how I'm doing these days! :P

As many of you know, we have switched daycares for Ethan. This was a very hard decision, as we loved Vilma, and she loved Ethan so very much. However, we knew that at some point, Ethan would need a bigger setting - more kids, more opportunities for actual field trips and group activities. And unfortunately, she decided to close down for one of the busiest weeks of my and Brian's summer....so we decided that now might need to be the time for that switch.

Brian and I really like the new place we chose, but I'm not sure if Ethan agrees yet. This is the first example of separation anxiety we've ever seen from him - crying many tears as soon as we say, "Ok, Ethan, bye bye!" It would be so easy to sneak out, but I keep reading and hearing from the folks there that it's best in the long run if he sees us leave - then he (eventually) learns that after we leave, we'll come back. And I think that we probably anticipate his tears and look nervous and fearful - we're going to have to start looking way more cheerful, or Ethan is going to think that we really are leaving him somewhere terrible!

The nice thing, and a total surprise, is that one of Ethan's best friends from Vilma's is actually at this new daycare! Mari was the oldest of Vilma's kids and absolutely the sweetest. Here she is watching out for Ethan on one of his first visiting days there:
She followed him around for that whole hour we were there - watching him on the slide, sitting next to him, handing him little chairs to sit on in the dirt...it was so darn cute. They aren't in the same classroom, but it's kind of nice to think of him seeing a somewhat familiar face during playtime outside!

Now, I'm not saying that they're connected, but right around the time we started making this switch to a new daycare, Ethan started his "I'm independent!" toddler behavior in full force. My sweet, good little boy will now put a knee on the glass coffee table (that he is well aware he's not allowed to climb on), look at me, smile, and climb up on it. When I say no and pull him off, he'll smile again and jump right back up there. !!! Same with dinner time - fling the cup and toss the blueberries...."No, Ethan!" Looks at us, smiles, and does the exact same thing. Are we in the land of time outs yet? Do I ignore this behavior that is obviously acted out knowing it's going to be scolded? Hmmmm...When I was teaching, I was pretty darn good at doling out the appropriate consequence for particular behavior. But this toddler has me all confused...

Fun in the Sun!

We had SUCH a great time in New Mexico! Brian and I took tons of pictures, but I realized as I was showing some work folks today that our pictures have a certain theme - Ethan in the car, Ethan at a restaurant, Ethan at Whole Foods.....you'll just have to trust me as you look at these that we are actually in Santa Fe. :)

I was kind of worried about our plane trip. Ethan is such an active guy that I was nervous he'd be all over the place! (On the way back, he totally was, which is why I only have pictures of well-behaved Ethan. :) On the way there, he was enthralled with the seat belt, the lights above our seats, the tray table, his socks...who knew that planes were so exciting?! The best discovery was the seat belt we bought for Mr. Ethan. In preparing for this trip, I got tired just thinking about hauling around his humongous car seat, so we found this CARES restraint, which is just this awesome seat belt that you can hang around the seat and strap the boy in. Fantastic.
He was even tired enough at one point to take a little nap on me, which was GREAT. He doesn't usually fall asleep in odd places anymore, but on this trip, he fell asleep on the plane trip, several times in the stroller, in the car, etc. We're back on a regular schedule now, thank you very much. :)
Ethan also decided that he was going to be a super cool boy. Here he is in the car (rented car seat) on the way to the grocery store to pick up the requisite applesauce, cheese, and crackers. We made trips almost every day to the Whole Foods store in Santa Fe. I love Whole Foods! We so need one in Central Illinois, but I don't see it coming anytime soon...The interesting thing is, as healthy and environmentally-conscious as Whole Foods is, EVERYTHING has nuts in it there. (Or at least the threat of nuts....processed in a plant where an employee ate a peanut butter and jelly sandwich when they were five or something...) I expect nut dangers in trail mix and granola, but white bread and bags of dried fruit???
We didn't stick with yogurt and applesauce every day, though. There are way too many great restaurants in Santa Fe, and most of the ones we visited had wonderful outdoor seating that we took advantage of. Here we are at Louie's, a place we liked enough to eat at twice! I now have to find a recipe to make Ethan banana and brown sugar crepes again, since I ordered it for the two of us to share, and he ate it all. :)
We didn't just shop at Whole Foods and eat, though. :) Canyon Road, a narrow street lined with all sorts of galleries, was a short drive from Anda's house and a great opportunity for a walk after naptime (for all of us) one day. Here we are looking at a huge pink pig that moved when you pushed on it - Ethan had some fun with that one. Of course, every single item on the entire street cost more than what I make in 6 months, but it was all fun to look at.
We also took the opportunity in New Mexico to visit with one of Brian's best friends - I haven't seen him since our wedding in 2005, and have never met his wife or his adorable son! Here is our photogenic baby at this great Audubon Center in Santa Fe where we all took a little walk on Monday. (Shortly after this photo, Ethan did a belly flop in the dirt beside this bench, so I'm glad I could capture this shot before the tears. :)
The grounds of this place were gorgeous, and the walk was nice, but I think the best part of that day was spending time with Tim, Inna, and Daniel. Daniel at 7 ("almost 7 and a half") is just one of the kindest little boys I've ever met, and loved Ethan instantly. After our walk, the two boys played and played while we grownups talked and talked. I so rarely get the opportunity to see Ethan play with other kids!
Now I can't wait to see Tim's family and my sister again sometime soon! However, I think that they'll have to come to Urbana. I'm tired. :)

Busy!

Two weeks without a post! Shame on me. We're busy these days!

Ethan is getting closer and closer to talking these days, which is really fun. Lots of "talking" on the phone, anyway! Brian and I never get tired of seeing that. :) He's also such a curious, studious little guy, too. Just recently he discovered my digital camera (that has been collecting dust since the iPhone came home) and figured out how to turn it on and off and take a few pictures. (He may have had a little help with that first one...:)
Besides playing with the camera, we are getting ready for a big trip - to New Mexico! The last time Ethan was on a plane was last July, and he was a great little well-behaved boy. But now he's so very mobile, and I do wonder if he'll be more of an, um, adventure this time. I have plans to bring lots of fun things for him to play with, but he may just want to explore the plane and kick the seat in front of him. We'll see. :)

To get ready for this trip and our yearly July trip to the beach, Brian and I bought a baby backpack to cart Ethan around. It's been so much fun to walk around our local parks with him attached, and some seriously good exercise for his parents - carrying around an extra 30-some pounds isn't easy after awhile!
I can't wait to share pictures of hikes in Santa Fe!

Mother's Day #2

Happy Mother's Day, Moms! I had a lovely day with the boys and my folks! I woke up to this: (I was encouraged to rest in bed while Brian got Ethan up and fed him...)

And then supervised Ethan "helping" Brian unload the dishwasher:
I even have a picture that shows the two men vacuuming, but it's pretty blurry! Ethan does love his vacuum cleaner....This one is much better:
My mom and dad were over this morning for a late breakfast. I am always a little nervous cooking for my mother, since she is the consummate chef! Gourmet magazines all over her house.... But I made my first quiche, and it didn't turn out too badly. (No one has reported any food poisoning, anyway...) Then, we all took early naps, which was wonderful! And after that, we took the Ethan-boy to Meadowbrook Park. This little boy is much braver than his parents, and thinks that he is much older than 18 1/2 months! He wants to slide down the big slides (which we let him do, adding to our gray hairs), climb up the big structures (narrowly avoiding the other crazy kids there), and run everywhere. He has learned to run well, which is just so darned cute - he's kind of bouncy, and really fast! Yesterday, since it was pretty nasty weather here, we went to the mall for a while, and there's a little play area for kids. The kids there are nuts, but Ethan held his own pretty well! Brian and I kept a very close eye on him at all times, and had a hard time watching for fear that other kids would run right into him, or fall on him, or whatever, but he was having such a great time we couldn't leave until we were way past dinner time! We'll have to do more of that - he fell asleep right away, and slept in until after 6 this morning. :)