Summer Updates

So since vacationing, it's been busy over here! Work, another trip for Brian, and (oh my goodness) potty training at our house. Yes, potty training. We have taken the absolute slowest approach to this, but the folks at daycare are encouraging us to speed things up. A week ago, we put Ethan in underwear (and I have the cutest picture of him in his little underwear, but I think we might be verging on creepy if I post it!) and prepared to do lots of laundry. He's had a couple of minor accidents, but so far, so good. What I feel badly about is how anxious the little guy has gotten about it recently. He's very willing to do part of his business, but the other part is making him very worried! Poor kid. And it's funny how I've noticed a little bit of regression - he is asking me to lift him into his car seat more now rather than him climbing in by himself, he wants to be carried a lot more (and he's HUGE), and every once in awhile he'll also ask me to sing "Rock A Bye Baby" to him.
This heat wave has finally, finally broken! Yeah! Since Brian's been gone, Ethan and I have been running in the mornings together - just a mile pushing what has to be 45 pounds with a jogging stroller and a toddler - and this morning it was actually cool. Yeah! Here's looking forward to Fall. (Though it's going to be hard to get Ethan to part with his swimsuit.)
Maybe once Fall comes and we start eating foods like chili, grilled cheese sandwiches, soup, etc., we can put some pounds on this kid. He just keeps growing up rather than out!

Summer Trip #2

As I look over pictures from this last trip (Nags Head, NC), I'm kind of disappointed in myself that I didn't use the camera more! The pictures I did take are awesome, though, so I'll try to describe everything else so that you can all picture the trip in your minds. :)

Given that three plane tickets to Norfolk, VA, a rental car to the beach, and eating out the whole way would be much more expensive than we are willing to spend, we drove to the beach again this year. If I didn't get so tired after two days of driving (each way!), I would prefer this route 100% each year - we can be flexible about when we leave, pack whatever we want at the last minute, and stop whenever we feel the need for some Dairy Queen. I have to say that Ethan was a real trooper the whole way. We packed lots of toys for him, brought a DVD player that we bought specifically for this trip last year, and once when we were really desperate, I gave him my iPhone for a half hour. We also sang songs, talked about what we saw out the windows (which we certainly weren't doing last year!), and even napped once in awhile:
When we got to the beach, Ethan was happy happy happy to see his Aunt Kim and his Grammy Barbara (who he calls Mimi). He was also showing off his best behavior the whole time - lots of "please", "thank you", and "excuse me". They were very impressed. :) (So were we, since we do a lot of prompting with that at home.) And he got right in the swing of things sleep-wise. We had a little air mattress for him, and while we rented a baby gate to lock him up at night, we almost never had to use it - he would come out and say good night once or twice, and then head off to bed. I LOVED that, since he was the exact opposite when we were in Colorado. We all got way more sleep on this vacation!

The beach - fantastic. I love being able to compare Mr. Ethan from year to year at the beach - last year, all he wanted to do was climb the stairs. This year, he was pretty excited about the sand and the water. My favorite video was a morning Ethan woke up fairly early, and we headed out for a walk on beach.

This may have been the day that we couldn't actually go in the water much, because of all of the jellyfish. There were tons! And I quickly learned (and then taught Ethan) the difference between the ones you can pick up, ("You hold that, Mama,") and the ones that we didn't dare go near, ("The ones that have colors will sting you,") so that we could at least take walks that day.

But most of the time we were in and out of the ocean. Ethan was so cute - he loved the water, but was a little nervous of the "big water" - the big waves that crashed - so he made sure to tell us every day what he was ready for, the big water or the little water. He was also very impressed when his daddy made it into the big water and stayed there for awhile - so impressed that he had to report it to his Mimi and to another little boy on the beach. Very cute.

Summer Trip #1

Brian, Ethan, and I are lucky enough to get to take two separate trips this summer. Last year, it was Santa Fe and Nags Head, this year, Boulder CO and Nags Head! Our trip to Boulder was fairly short, but we were able to pack in quite a bit while we were there.
This was actually Ethan's third flying experience, but he was at a great age for me to prep him a little bit for the flight. We talked about going to the mountains, who we were going with, and how we were getting there. Lots of books about airplanes, so Mr. E was ready this time. I fantasized about all of my preloading turning Ethan into a super flyer for the several hours long flight...but he was not as angelic as I had hoped. (But not as horrible as I feared, either, so that's good!)

Besides renewing my love of Boulder, the best part of this trip was that my whole family got to join us. Since I couldn't afford three separate trips this summer, and wanted to see my sister, Brian and I invited her to join us in Colorado. She in turn invited my folks, and it turned into this great family trip. Hotels for all of us would have been seriously expensive, so I found us a house on VRBO.com that was really beautiful. NOT toddler friendly - too much nice stuff and sharp glass tables, but a great place for all of us with plenty of room. Having everyone there was especially nice because Brian was toting his grad students around the whole first day we were there. So my mom and I took a little hike up a very modest hill right by our house:
Now if you have never been, I need to explain something about Boulder. Everyone there is healthy, tanned, and climbing something. Mom, Ethan, and I were passed repeatedly in our short hike by tons of runners skipping up the hills. When we ran into some high school students who were maintaining the trails and asked them where different paths led, they explained the layout but were careful to mention that one of them was "for real hikers". Harumph.

We also made some time to visit Chautauqua, this great area with trails, a park, tennis courts, and an amazing restaurant. On this particular day (we had no idea) there was this children's concert at a nearby building. After the concert, all of the animals came out to play with the kids - fish, turtles, lions, and a monkey who got a big hug from Ethan.

Another highlight (more than once) of our trip was Pearl Street Mall. Fantastic outdoor mall - great stores (I bought two of the most comfortable pairs of shoes I've ever owned there - and yes, I know that loving comfortable shoes means I'm getting old), good eating, and fountains for the little kids. Ethan was slow to warm up to the water, but we forced him into it. You can see that he adjusts. :)

The only negative of this trip was Ethan's sleeping habits. Worse. Than. Ever. Every night we were there, I laid down with him every night until he fell asleep, because he just wouldn't sleep - no napping (until we were in the car, then he was out in 5 minutes - reminded me of the newborn days!), less sleep than ever at night - we were kind of exhausted by the end of the trip! (Brian and I were - not Ethan, apparently.) So our task on the way home became: Wear This Kid Out Anyway Possible. The Dallas airport was kind of awesome to have this during our layover:
But you can see that he is not daunted by the exercise:
We'll go back next year. Definitely. But I'm going to get lots of sleep before we go!

Summer Has Begun!

It really began awhile ago, but I'm going to do an extra-long post with lots of cute pictures to make up for it. :)

Summer is here! And it flew in with a bang. Besides having storm after storm, I'm not sure where Spring was - it seemed like we went from fairly cool to shorts and much sweatiness. But I'm really OK with that. We are so enjoying the outside whenever we can, and all that the summer months bring with them. Examples include:

1. Urbana Farmer's Market - I have been bringing Mr. Ethan to the market since he was a pretty new little guy, and it's really kind of fun to think of the people there who have sold us fruit and rolls for several years now. Ethan is really getting into the spirit this year - besides giving me advice on what to buy, he is making friends all over the place! Advertising the upcoming Blues festival was this character, and Ethan was so excited when he got to play with him two weeks in a row:
I know it sounds very granola of me, but I really love the Farmer's Market and am very grumpy when I miss a day. It's not that I can't get blueberries anywhere else, but it's nice to be able to offer Ethan some right then and there without washing them, and know that all he's getting is a little extra dirt. There are a few folks who bring musical instruments and play for the shoppers, and Ethan is now very happy to drop a dollar into each violin or guitar case. (Which gets a little expensive every week!) We also run into lots of people we know while we're there, which is especially fun if they haven't seen us for awhile and make the familiar exclamations at how big Ethan is. I have also recently bought a bike trailer for him, so we usually bike to the Farmer's Market, have a snack at the Food Co-op close by, then shop. It's a pretty Urbana Saturday morning. :)

2. Our parks - We have been playing some at the park nearest to our house, but just last night we went to the larger park nearby for Strawberry Jam, an Urbana Parks program with live music, face painting, hay rides, etc. We didn't stay for long, but did enjoy a nice picnic supper and a walk around the place.

(Sorry, Brian, I caught you mid-bite here!)

3. No School for Brian! While he has been doing some serious storm-chasing, the fact that he isn't teaching has enabled Brian to have lots of fun with us on the weekends. Here he is trying to wear out his kid before bedtime:

Well, crap!

There have been a few events in the last month that have made us take Ethan's allergy to nuts a little more seriously. One, there is a new food allergy program here at Carle, with a food allergy nurse/patient educator who is wonderful. We went to a community program they had in May, and it was really informative. We learned that:

1. The reason that peanuts are getting so much attention as the allergy poster child is that of all of the eight most common food allergens, anaphylactic reactions to peanuts can lead to death. (We knew that, but still...)
2. No one knows what is causing the rise in food allergies. I asked if my peanut consumption during pregnancy/nursing ruined Ethan for all Reeses Peanut Butter Cups. No, thank goodness. Apparently research was done where pregnant mothers were asked to avoid some of the top food allergens, and all that happened was that babies were born at a lower birth weight. There was no decrease in the rate of food allergies. Cross that guilt-producer off the list. :)
3. Only about 15-20% of kids with peanut allergies grow out of them. The higher their blood test levels, the less likely they are to grow out of their allergy.

So because we are good parents (who want to eat peanut butter) and love our child (and want to eat peanut butter), we decided to check in with an actual allergist so that we could discuss our Ethan's future with the goober. Maybe he would be the 1 kid in 5 who was growing out of the allergy! We were a little disappointed.
Ethan has not in fact grown out of his peanut allergy, he has actually "scored" even a bit higher than on his first blood test. So, no PB, no almond butter, no cashew butter, no walnuts, pecans...and coconuts??? I really never saw the connection, but the guy has an MD in allergy and immunology, so who am I to question it?

One nice thing he was able to confirm for us was that Ethan's egg "allergy" is in fact not an allergy. Just because his first blood test recorded IGE levels to egg, he has never had a reaction to any foods containing eggs. So he's not allergic. The peanut allergy, however, is real - I guess we have to accept two blood tests and a full-body set of hives. Sigh.

Ironically, the day I pulled Ethan out of school early to go see this doctor, a boy in his class had a birthday and the mom brought in the cutest little train cakes for the class. The wheels - Nutter Butter Bites. Now, come on, this is a nut-free daycare. And you bring in peanut butter wheels? There were a few cakes that had mini Oreo wheels, and that was what she offered up when she finally remembered that some kids couldn't have nuts. But they were right up against the others, and who knows what the heck those snack cakes were made out of or where they were processed. I am guessing that she never thought about that, so we did not give Ethan any cake. He was NOT happy about this, and of course neither was I! I spent all night trying to figure out who to talk to, in person or in writing, and finally settled on a really carefully worded email to the daycare. Not accusing anyone of anything, but mostly offering to provide some information, talk to the Board (which I'm on - it's not as fancy or important as it sounds), make a flyer for parents, get the food allergy educator to come to a staff meeting, etc. So far we haven't gone beyond a strongly worded reminder in the newsletter, but it's progress.

My worry, and as Ethan gets older this worry gets worse, is that people think that food allergies (especially allergies to peanuts) are trendy as opposed to serious. Everyone who is anyone has an Epipen, right? Isn't it fashionable to say your kid is allergic to x, y, or z? Um, no. We don't know if he'll react with hives the next time he comes across a nut OR if it will be more serious, so we're careful!

Happy Days!

It's still May! I have a few more hours to get in a second post of the month!

We've been having a busy but fun time. The weather has finally improved, and we've been outside as much as possible. After my whining on Facebook about the Champaign Park District scheduling an awesome Touch a Truck opportunity during the day when I'm at work, I found an event in Savoy that allowed kids the opportunity to do the exact same thing. Here is a very happy Ethan climbing around a fire truck:

We also had Memorial Day off, so we made plans to meet at the park with some of Ethan's friends. Here is Nara leading Ethan to our car (sort of). Ethan was asking for her to hold his hand again when she finally let go and had to head home in her own car. :) My hope is to show him this picture again in 20 years when they're dating and planning to get married.
Ethan is also a big enough boy now that he has moved to the next classroom at daycare. You'd think he was graduating from Harvard with the way we prepped him for it. We talked about it for weeks, he went for visits to the class, and talked about all of the fun toys when I picked him up. (Apparently they have some super fun car set up where the cars go down ramps again and again. He's in heaven.) Absolutely no problems today - he pushed me out the door, took a great nap, he even tried to use the potty! Wow. A growing up boy.

He is also talking in full sentences right now. Last year at this time he wouldn't say a word. Still no pointing or waving or signing even though I was desperately trying to communicate! Some of my favorites lately are:
1. "You not funny, Mama. Just Ethan." Which of course made me laugh even more...
2. "I do not want to go to school!" Oh, sweetie, it's a little early in your life for that one.
3. And this morning's breakfast conversation:
Ethan: "I want jam."
Alexis: "On a roll or on toast?"
Ethan: "No roll. No toast. Jam."
Alexis: "Honey, we can't just eat jam by itself."
Ethan: "Jam with a spoon."
Alexis, getting a little exasperated: "No, Ethan, no jam on a spoon."
Ethan: "Yes! Yes, jam! Not no, just yes!"

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers! I, personally, had a great one. I pulled the Mother's Day card to sleep in until 7:00 today, which is a serious luxury in our household these days. If you aren't one of my Facebook friends, you don't know that I considered the possibility of selling (or at least renting) my adorable son if he were to escape from his new big boy bed too early in the morning. While he hasn't entered our rooms in the middle of the night, it's still way earlier than usual, and this weekend he decided that the new bed wasn't acceptable for napping. (And that is not acceptable to his parents.) Ethan still desperately needs that nap (and so do his parents) - he was miserable Friday afternoon and evening, Saturday afternoon and evening, and most of Sunday morning. Luckily, we convinced him to take a short nap today, which may have saved him from getting his cute little picture posted on Ebay or Craigslist.

Part of the enjoyment of Mother's Day came from my sister's visit - she completely surprised my mother and flew in from New Mexico for the weekend. Yea! So she and Mr. Ethan got to spend lots of time together. We went to the Little Gym (which Anda could really appreciate, having been a gymnast), we had fun at the park together, everyone came over for brunch this morning, and then we got to hang out for dinner tonight, too. Ethan had a blast with Auntie Anda. :)
Poor Ethan, though, had a rough weekend the rest of the time. Besides dealing with toddler sleep deprivation, he is heading back to daycare with several more bumps and bruises than he left with Thursday afternoon. Saturday, he collided really hard with another little boy at the gym, after which I said, "Oh, he was just surprised," after he burst into tears - Ethan rarely cries when he gets hurt. No, he really got clocked by this other boy. He still has bruises on his cheek, poor kid. Then this morning, he cracked his head on the corner of our table. "He's tired, " I said, when he started bawling again. No, again, he was really hurt. A bruise on his ear and a bump right behind it. Last but not least, he fell on the way to the park. "Just a scratch," I said, before I picked him up and got blood all over my shirt from his knee and elbow. Lots of ow-ies.