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....:)