New Developments

At the Jones-Jewett household, Spring Break has just come to an end. Sigh. And it was a glorious one, too. I took a couple mom-cation days to myself (not really myself - me and the painters and handymen who were doing some minor things at our new house), and spent a few days with the Ethan-boy. Just a perfect balance of napping and excitement. I'm sure you can figure out which of those options included Ethan.

What worked out just perfectly was that my sister was here from Santa Fe most of the week of our Break, so we took one day to head to the Children's Discovery Museum in Bloomington. All of us minus Brian, who was working, in my car...it was a bit of a crunch, but fun nonetheless. My sister brings out the silly in all of us. Especially Ethan, who at times can be a very serious boy. Here we are painting:
Or rather, Mom and Anda were painting, and Ethan was off to the next activity. He very much enjoyed the dental health exhibit:
though he sort of missed the point about brushing and preferred to roar within the giant teeth.

The last Saturday of our vacation Ethan had a birthday party to go to. LOVE kids birthday parties. The mom friends I've met and gotten to know through Ethan are really and truly all wonderful. It's so much fun to watch Ethan have fun with his buddies when I can also have great conversations with the other moms. Ethan has good taste in families to befriend. Jackson's third birthday party was at the nature center (fun) and had a dinosaur theme (even better!). You can see Ethan slowly getting into the spirit of things:

I have to say, Jackson's dad was a pretty good sport to wear the dinosaur hat. :)

What is not pictured here is the glorious temper tantrum Ethan threw when it was time to leave the party. I did all of the good parenting things to warn him that it was time to go - a 10 minute warning, 5 minute warning, had him say goodbye to his friends with a promise that we'd see them soon and would also be at the nature center again very soon...and he still flipped out. New phase, I guess, since he has flipped out over transitions daily during the last week. And I am well aware that it, as all other wonderful new developments like this one, is "age appropriate". However: Ethan. Is. Huge. He is the size and weight of a 5 year old, wearing the clothes to match. He was head and shoulders (literally) over the other little boys at this party, and most other kids in his class. So dragging him away from a party kicking and screaming (literally) was no small feat. I was covered in mud by the time we made it to the car, and when he started to hit me, hard, I snapped at him for the first time in his short life. Then, this conversation followed:

Me: "Ethan, I think you're in time out in the car. We'll talk more when we get home."
Ethan: "I'm in trouble?"
Me: "Yes, you're in trouble. You hit Mama and that makes me very sad."
Ethan: (thinking)
Me: (thinking I've won)
Ethan: "I'm the Mama. You're in trouble. I'm sorry, I'm not talking to you, because you're in trouble."
Me: (trying not to laugh)
Ethan: "You hit me. You're in trouble. You shouldn't hit people. That makes me sad. You're in time out. I'm not talking to you."

I was sort of hoping that the role reversal was going to teach him the right path, but no, he proceeded to hit me again the next day and then the day after.

Other gems from this formerly non-talking boy:

Ethan (at bedtime, after he has just used the potty): "Mama! Mama! I really really really need to pee!"
Me: "Honey, you just did pee. We're all done peeing tonight."
Ethan: "Mama! My body is saying [cue deep gravely voice], 'I really need to pee.'"
Me: "OK, Ethan, you've got one minute to pee. Let's go."
Ethan: (smiling)
He has also informed me that his body really needs a fruit snack or his tummy will be sad. His body is doing a lot of talking these days!

Yep, I'm Forty

Now that we've established that, let's move on to other more important things that have happened this month.

In order to celebrate my birthday/Valentine's Day/President's Day (because we're all about honoring those guys), Brian, Ethan, my folks and I decided at kind of the last minute to go to Chicago for a weekend in mid-February. I have to say, it was a pretty great time. First of all, we took the train. I was a little worried that being held captive on our chosen transportation would lead to a restless Ethan. But the beauty of it was that Ethan, while definitely restless, could go anywhere he wanted to. He bopped from me to Brian to my parents to the club car to me again...no being strapped down. It was great. The trip flew by.

Then, having my parents there was wonderful. We arranged to be on the same hotel floor as them, which meant that Ethan could pretty much run down the hall to them and then back to us. No, we didn't just send him out in the hotel alone. (Of course, what kind of parents do you think we are?!) But Embassy Suites was arranged in a square, with the courtyard in the middle, so we could almost stand at the door to our room, have my parents stand at their door, and watch Ethan the whole way. He had an amazing time running the halls of the hotel, going up and down the elevator a million times, and paddling around the hotel pool.

We are all the types to take advantage of a fun city while still leaving time to relax. I personally don't enjoy rushing around to things and being too exhausted to enjoy them, so we all made sure to get naps when we could. Is this not the cutest thing you've ever seen?
But in between naps, we did as much stuff as we could. The aquarium was my favorite as a kid, so we spent several hours there one day. Besides a huge meltdown right by the otters (I wouldn't buy him a cookie), he was a champ the whole time, and really loved a lot of what he saw. It's so funny - he wasn't as in love with the things I thought he would be - the penguins, the otters, etc. But the little area for toddlers where they could act like penguins (crawl, slide, etc.) was a huge hit. And the dolphins cheered him up after his temper tantrum. :) So did the area where he could pretend that he was in a submarine.
Gears, dials, buttons...happy, happy, boy. If I had a little girl, I would totally have pushed her in there, because there was nothing but boys in that area - very active, loud, and happy boys, but just boys!
The next day we all split up - my mom went to the Museum of Contemporary Art, my dad headed to the Apple Store, and Ethan, Brian, and I went to the Hancock Building. Another huge favorite of Ethan's - elevators. So he was again a pretty happy boy. And not at all bothered by the heights. We joined my dad at the Apple Store after a little while, where Ethan busied himself with a Dora game loaded on an iPad. We could have left him there for hours and he would never have noticed. (But again, what kind of parents do you think we are?)
Trip = GREAT. Recovering from the trip = AWFUL. I woke up Monday with a cold, had a terrible reaction to a booster shot that sent me to the ER, and then the cold turned into a sinus infection. I pretty much abstained from working more than four hours at a time, took as much medication as any human is allowed to take, and spent my week sweating in bed and on the couch. Very attractive and romantic for the week of Valentine's Day. Ethan came down with a cold, too, but seemed to recover after only a few days. Oh, to be young again. :)

This Month, We...

So apparently I have become a once a month blogger. :( I'm going to review the last 5 weeks (or more?!) in no apparent order.

First of all, we have moved! We are in our new, wonderful house right now. The other house is a distant memory...except some of our stuff is still in our messy garage, we need a new kitchen floor in the old place, the guy who was supposed to paint our bathroom hasn't finished, and oh, yeah, it isn't on the market. But enough about that. Our new house is awesome!
After Ethan's first playdate in the new house. They had fun!
New Year's Even went by without us staying up late in any way. We never do! I seriously would love to go to bed at 10:00 (at the latest) every single night. Above is Ethan at "Noon Year's Eve" at the library. I tell people that I go to this party with him because he can't stay up until midnight. It's not because of him. :)

I swear the best part of our Christmas Break (way better than moving) was the time I got to spend with Mr. Ethan all day long. One day near the end of our beloved break (sniff) we drove to Bloomington to go to the children's museum there. We had never been there - So. Much. Fun! For me, as much as for him. Let's be honest, parents - aren't there a lot of things we do for our kids that we are kind of bored with? Not this museum. I honestly had as much fun as Ethan here. And I sent so many pictures back to my mom that she wants to make the trip with us next time. :)

Happy Holidays

It's been awhile.

In my blogging absence, we've gotten a few things done.

1. Thanksgiving. At our house! Fantastic. I didn't cook the turkey, but did the sides, and it was so much fun having everyone here. (Especially the parts where they all entertained Ethan while I got stuff done. Thanks, family!)
2. Prepared for Christmas. Sort of. :)
3. BOUGHT A HOUSE. Yes, that's right. We're moving! To a place a 1/2 mile away, but still. It's pretty incredible.

Now, in the next three weeks, we will be 1) closing on our "new" house, 2) moving in, 3) spending Christmas in Cincinnati, and 4) putting our house on the market. Or at least getting it ready for the market, ASAP. The fact that the real estate market is not kind to sellers right now makes us both very nervous. But I'm trying not to think about it and am instead focusing on the excitement of a move to a bigger house. Ethan's pretty jazzed about it, too.

Three Year Old Boy!

(Sniff, sniff) My little boy is growing up too fast! We have a big three year old boy now - definitely not a baby anymore, and it's hard to even call him a toddler when he looks like he's ready for kindergarten.
We had a party for him on his birthday, October 23, with four of his little friends. I have to say, it was really fun. Total chaos, but really fun. While there were lots of toys to play with, the activities that interested the kids the longest were 1) bouncing on the exercise ball, 2) chasing cats, and 3) chasing each other around our little house. At one point I stopped, sat down in a chair, and just laughed at all of them. It was a good time. We had visitors from all over, too - Auntie Anda came all the way from Santa Fe for the event, and Auntie Kim and Grammy Barbara made the trip from Ohio as well. Yeah!

And Halloween is tomorrow! Whenever well-meaning strangers ask Mr. Ethan what he is going to be for Halloween, he has answered, "A butterfly!", "A ghost!", and "I'm three." :) But he is really a dinosaur.
Ethan's school does a little Halloween parade and party - here is Ethan enjoying the snack part of the party. My favorite is the tail. :)

He looks so happy...

But really, he is very, very sad. So sad, in fact, that our kitty salt and pepper shakers are being forced to listen to shameless propaganda about how much they are going to looooovvve school, even though Mommy/the black kitty has to go away and leave them. (Note: You will probably have to turn up your volume in order to hear the salt and pepper kitty conversation, which will make my voice unbearably loud when I come in, but you can't expect high quality film from an iPhone.)

But even with the deep scars I've inflicted on Ethan's soul by taking him to daycare every day, he is still a pretty happy kid. :) He was super sick about two weeks ago, with bronchiolitis (yes, I did spell that right) - a viral infection that messes up the little tubes in his lungs. Daycare called me because they thought he was going to pass out, and he sure looked sick. Pale, couldn't stay awake in my lap or in the car, wheezing, crying. Poor baby. But after one nebulizer treatment, he felt sooo much better. Given his propensity to get long lasting coughs at this point in the year, we (even his super-conservative doctor agrees) think that he will probably be diagnosed with mild asthma as he gets older. Just mild, since the nebulizer takes care of things pretty quickly. And that's OK, though Brian still remembers what asthma was like when he was a kid. (And doesn't seem to appreciate it when I tell him that it's been many decades since he was a kid, and asthma is treated pretty easily these days. :)

But soon after he got better, we went running!
And when I say "we", I mean WE. The Women's Fitness Run was a week or so ago, and since I haven't run a 5K in awhile, I thought I'd give it a try. Best thing: They had a kids' dash right before the run, and I signed Ethan up. You can see that he needs a little help going in the right direction, but he had a great time. After this was taken, he ran that route about 7 more times before the cough came on and we quit running. :)

Again because of the audio on my phone/videocamera, you probably can't hear what Ethan is saying at the end of the race. But he is very very concerned that we broke the red finish line tape. He wants to make sure that they'll be able to fix it. :)

The Wordsmith

So as you may have noticed, Ethan's speech is no longer a concern. He is talking up a storm, and 99% of what he says makes perfect sense. I thought I'd choose some of my favorites and post them.

1. My personal favorite, at dinner the other night, Ethan is dissatisfied with the food that I served up. His statement, "I want another...anything else." (FB friends, I know you've seen this one before, but I think it's worth reposting. :)
2. I'm picking Ethan up at school the other day. One of his little friends is crying. I say to Ethan, "Oh, is he a little sad?" Ethan replies, "No, he's a big sad."
3. Mr. Ethan is going through a phase where he doesn't want anyone to leave. No one. So one of my favorite/sad statements of his lately has been, "I sad to see Daddy go!" But then the other night at dinner, we reminded Ethan that it was Daddy's turn to do bath. For some reason, it's always Mama's turn, so we prep him when it is most definitely NOT Mama's turn. His reply: "I sad to see Daddy!"
4. I was snuggling on the couch the other morning with him. He got squirmy and I held him tighter. "Mama, I need my space!" Already?!