Funny Faces

On the third day of our confinement (caused by my unwillingness to trudge through the slush while lugging Ethan and all his worldly possessions up that hill in order to leave the confines of our shrinking home), Ethan and I had pizza for lunch. Trader Joes has little pizzas, so we each had one. Ethan has had little bits of ours before, and especially liked the crust. But this was his first very own pizza for a meal. He liked biting the end of the "slice" off, and eating all the cheese off the top, and chewing on the crust for a little while.

After lunch we tried to bake again. We made applesauce loaf cakes. They came out ok, it was a new recipe and I think it needed more cinnamon and nutmeg. That's what he's eating in the middle picture. Ethan tried to help but he wanted to mix with his hands, and while that may work for meatloaf, it's not the best idea for batter. It didn't help that he is not a happy camper today. He is getting a lot of teeth and has a VERY runny nose, though it seems better than it was this morning.

Ethan told me he wishes he could go help Uncle Tom, but he might get lost behind the sheet rock. Maybe he could crawl up the chimney and make sure it's clear. He (and we) are all glad you're all ok.

And one more snow

Not sure I mentioned that w/ the sickness and my hatred of cold and the fact that it's now raining I didn't really think it would be wise to take Ethan outside. And he doesn't have snow pants. So when I took the pictures out the back door I grabbed a bowl, filled it with snow, and let Ethan go to town in his high chair. We let the snow fly a little and packed it together and broke it apart and he had lots of fun. He did wear his mittens but he ended up with a dry pair of pants after anyway- a lot landed on his lap. I think it is safe to say that he likes snow more than I do. Though, like most of his toys and games, he's not happy when the time to stop playing arrives.

More snow

Here are some shots from the front and back doors. No, I do not think it's pretty. Especially since it's going to turn into rain and create an icy mess. If it were once or twice a year maybe I could see the beauty. But given that it goes on from November until April, I think those of you who have moved in a southern direction have the right idea. Did I mention that it SUCKS?????? Yes, I'm negative. Did you ever hear of seasonal defective disorder or something like that? I think I have it. I don't need medication. I need a warmer climate.

Snow

It's another Wednesday with a lot of snow. I love Connecticut. It's just fantastic to have half of the year subject to being stuck in the house. Daycare was open, but I was talked out of taking Ethan in, meaning not that James took a snow day and stayed home so I could do work but rather that my work is once again secondary. So Ethan and I are trying to find something to do on our second day of being stuck in the house because of course I can't do any work while trying to take care of him. I think his cold is better but teeth are worse. He's totally crabby except for brief two minute intervals like you see here. Of course we had a post-meltdown meltdown. I think he was a little confused by the snow just vanishing so when it was gone he had a total fit.

Yesterday we spent the day waiting for the UPS driver (supposedly coming between 10:30 and 2, never arrived). He came today. Serves him right to have to walk down my driveway in this crap.

Boo!

Ethan has two stuffed ghosts. He thinks it's hysterical when we make them say "boo!" and now he says it back. You'll hear me say it a few times, but you can hear him too if you listen.

Rockin'

We finally got around to getting Ethan a chair of his own. I had one from when I was a kid, but we're kinda afraid it's going to completely disintegrate. It's definitely a lot older than I am. So we got him this bright shiny new one, and he really likes it. Now I have to measure the seat as our very talented friend Noel has offered to come visit and show me how to hook a seat cover for it. Then it will be nice and cushy.

In other seating news, Ethan is now facing forward in my car. He doesn't quite know what to make of actually being able to see me while I'm driving or all that extra leg room.

This cold we all have seems to be the never ending kind, as we all still have it. Hopefully it will leave us soon.

Amendment to earlier commentary regarding chair:

Ethan now knows how to make it rock. By climbing in it so that he's kneeling down and holding the two back posts he can get it going pretty fast. He can also stand up straight in it. Had James been here I would have gotten a picture but I didn't dare to leave his back unsupervised while I grabbed the camera- last thing I need is to have cranky sick teething kid whack his head on the floor. So until further notice his chair usage is suspended.

Portrait of An Artist

Ethan was the lucky recipient of finger paints and finger paint paper this past Christmas. We finally got adventurous enough to get them out. (We being me). He had a grand time until I objected to the stamps being thrown on the floor and him eating the paint. They do this in daycare all the time, and every time I do an art project with Ethan I gain additional respect for the teachers. It requires patience beyond my limitations.

It didn't help that Ethan has another cold (which means we all do) and is still working on those same two molars, he's pretty fussy today. His naps were especially short. I didn't really enjoy that since James had a class all day, and has now ditched us again.

It's nearly bed time so independent play is rather short right now- someone wants to read with me.

E-I-E-I-O

I've been trying to get this on video. He says it a little better now, but if you wait for it, you'll hear him say E-I-E-I-O and then moo. Enjoy!

Berry Good!

Tonight for dessert Ethan had blackberries. Can you tell he really enjoyed them? They were so good that when he finished he tried to eat the bowl. Following blackberries he had a bath.

Bath Time!

We haven't had bath pictures for a while, and Ethan had a big change in the bath in the past few weeks. He's moved to the big kid end of the tub. The tub we got when he was little was one that converted from an infant to a toddler tub because we have OLD very hard bath tubs and thought he would be safer in this. Well, he's enjoying bath time more than ever. He has some new squirters that he got for Christmas. He's making fish faces at one of them in the center picture. He also has a new ducky that Auntie Mandy and Uncle Jeff brought him. It lights up and plays music, including "Old MacDonald," so in several of these you can see Ethan making sounds and "singing" along. He kinda says "e-i-e-i-o" but it sounds more like "yellow" but that's ok. He also likes for there to be a cow on the farm as "moo" is his favorite animal sound. The only problem with bath time is when it ends. He's often reluctant to get out. But I can't say that I blame him, when I used to have a bath tub suitable for bathing (probably the claw foot tub we had my sophomore year in college) I never got out till the water was cold.

Hat!

Ethan says "hat" now, and it refers to anything he puts on his head. His bib, paper, toys, whatever. This is the shell from his turtle, but today it was his hat. He also enjoys putting things on our heads.

Floor Play

I keep trying to get a good shot of Ethan standing up, but haven't had any luck. It's pretty comical to see him put his little rump in the air and push himself up with his hands. I always seem to click just a little too soon or a little too late.

Lately Ethan is talking a lot more. He has an abundance of farm themed toys. He has a little people farm, a little musical farm with animals, several books of farm animals, and animal magnets on the fridge. So it's no surprise that his early vocabulary consists of a lot of animal noises and a lot of animals. Oh, he also has the book Moo Bah La La La which goes through animal noises. In the past few days he's started repeating a lot more, and he now says "Duck" and "Dog" and "bow wow" and makes noises for all three and for a chicken. Sometimes he will also make monkey noises. One of these days I'll get a video of that.

Favorite Passtime

Ethan loves books. He picks them out very carefully. He has baskets of books in several rooms, and he will go to them and pull them out one at a time until he finds the right one. Then he will sometimes sit down and "read" it. More often, he will bring it to James or I so he can sit on our laps to look through it. In this clip, he was right in my face because he wanted me to pick him up to read to him. Then he decided he didn't need me after all.

Lots to Say

Sometimes Ethan has a lot to say. When we play in this room he likes to turn the radio on. He often cranks up the volume first so that when he gets around to pushing the "on" button, it's so loud that it scares him.

Finally

I found the software for the camera to install on the new hard drive. I had been using the windows picture program and it was not making me happy. The canon software puts things in folders by the date they were taken and then I remove them from the camera. I didn't waste a lot of time trying to figure out the other, but it was dumping everything in one folder and it was not letting me remove them from the camera. Now that I have all that figured out, I thought I would share a few more photos of Ethan's holiday season. In the top shot he's enjoying his pound a peg. In the second he is helping James open a present. The third is from Christmas eve. His Grandma and Pa got him a teddy bear that recites 'Twas the Night Before Christmas, so they wanted him to open it then. He likes it a lot, though I have to say I've now got it memorized. The last shot is of Ethan playing with his Grandma. They had fun with his farm animals. They both like cows. (No, that's not a commentary on my father.) If only I could figure out how to set up Outlook and import my data so I have my address book again I'll be all set.

Cookie!!!

Ethan had a fun morning. After his nap (yes, most days we can still manage two- hooray!) we made chocolate chip cookies. He was a big help, sitting in his high chair enjoying his snack and laughing at the mixer and the noise the cookie scoop makes. His teeth must not be bothering him as much today because he's been a lot less grumpy. He is still working on those two top molars, I can't believe how long that takes. When the cookies were done, Ethan wasn't sure he wanted to try one. When I finally convinced him, he decided they were pretty good. It didn't take any coaxing to get him to have another bite. I guess I'm crazy for encouraging him to eat cookies at his age, but he has to enjoy the finer things in life.

Play Time

Ethan has been enjoying all of his great Christmas presents. He got some fun new toys, including blocks that came in a bucket from Metz and Amy.


Not only is it incredible fun to knock over the blocks after James makes a tower, but it is also great sport to wear the bucket on ones head just like a British soldier. Unfortunately we haven't gotten that on film (or memory card) quite yet. Ethan is also enjoying some toys on wheels.


He got this great new fire truck from his Hocking cousins. He can't quite understand the difference between a toy that is meant to be pushed and one that is meant to be ridden. He thinks if he can get on it in some way, he can ride it. It's a good thing he got all these toys because before we could even get the ice off the driveway from Tuesday's storm, we're in the process of getting another half foot or so of snow. Fabulous. And then if we're really lucky another storm this Tuesday! Hooray for New England weather where if you are lucky you can spend all summer mowing lawn, all fall raking leaves, all winter shoveling snow and chopping ice, and all spring cleaning up all the tree limbs the ice knocked down. I love it here.

Hat Hair

We went to Babies and Books at the library this morning. Ethan didn't get too into it. He was mostly watching the other kids. It was really short. Then we went to get supplies at the grocery store, where Ethan's friend at the deli hooked him up with a slice of land o lakes american. He had it gone almost before we left the deli counter. Mmmmmm.... When we got home, Ethan had a bad case of hat hair. He didn't mind. We had to park at the top of the mountain and climb down because we're supposed to get yet another storm tonight. It's fantastic to live in a place where the weather is absolutely unbearable for six months out of the year. No, I do not exaggerate. If it doesn't continue snowing through April I'll be amazed. If you thought winter couldn't be more fun, well it's even better when you have to lug a squirmy toddler up and down an icy hill.

Grapefruit Juice

James has been eating grapefruit this winter. When he's finished, he picks up the bowl and drinks the juice from it. Of course that means that Ethan thinks he can pick up his dish and pour food into his mouth. By the time I got the camera he had moved on to just completely dumping it. He continued to eat though, so that's better than normal.

Wow!

I wanted to let everyone see Ethan's favorite word. Well "no" ranks right up there too. But this one is better. This is from Christmas but was trapped on the computer until now. Hope you like it!

Happy New Year

We had fabulous New England weather on New Year's Eve, so our babysitter opted to stay home. Instead of going out for dinner, our friends got take out from a great Italian restaurant and brought it to our house. It was actually nice and relaxing to be home anyway and the food was great. We also had pastries and cookies and biscotti from their local bakery.

Ethan turned in too early on New Year's Eve to see the ball drop, and he even slept until after 8 (or was quiet at least). But after he got up he had a great time playing with Metzner, Amy, and Crazy Uncle Derek (none of whom spoil him in the least). He got even more Christmas presents- lots of great books, a penguin and a gingerbread man, some animal crackers, finger paint and paper, blocks, some great little cars that go when you pull them back, and probably other things I'm forgetting. Before Metzner and Amy left he played with his cow which they got him for his birthday then gave Amy hugs and kisses.

Catching up

Since I couldn't post for so long, I have a few to catch up on. After Ethan's Grandma and Pa left on Sunday with Amber and Jonathan, he got a visit from Auntie Mandy and Uncle Jeff who also had a few fun presents for him. He loves the little wooden xylophone, and remarkably the noise it makes is not at all annoying. And since the Alexanders gave him the Baby Einstein orchestra video, he gets to see just what to do with a xylophone. Auntie Mandy and Uncle Jeff also got Ethan some bigger bath towels since he's too long for the baby towels. You can see he is enjoying them.

Finally!!!

We have a temporary fix for the computer, so I have pictures again. Here are a few from the Saturday after Christmas. Ethan's Uncle Tom and Auntie Holly came to visit with cousins Amber and Jonathan. Pa taught Ethan that a Christmas tray would serve as an indoor sled. Of course now he wants to "ride" on it every time he sees it. Mom snapped a shot of Ethan, James and I in front of the tree. We went tiny this year and did not put up any glass ornaments. Ethan did pretty well with the tree, he played with a few of the ornaments but mostly left it alone. He spent some time helping his Auntie Holly pick on his Uncle Tom. Then just for Granny (well and maybe a little for Ma) we set up the gorrilla pod (if you don't have one of these I recommend it) and got a group shot of us all. I think considering the challenge of group shots we did pretty well. Ethan's cousins even stayed overnight and spent some time playing with him. They also played rockband with James and I. After Ethan went to bed, we all played a game (girls against boys) and of course the girls won. I think it's because Ethan wasn't there to help the men.