Craft Time

Saturday while I was at my conference, James had class. Ethan went to spend the day with Auntie Mandy. By all accounts they had fun. I asked Ethan, "did you have fun with Auntie Mandy?" and he said "Yesss!!!!" He came home with this Easter Egg. People in the know will be able to tell that they used do-a-dots to decorate it. They also had fun with stickers and went for a walk.

Today we went to Trader Joes to do some grocery shopping and get some healthier versions of those convenience foods like spaghetti os that Ethan likes. After we got home, Ethan took a nap. Then we headed over to the plaza so I could run a few more errands and we could walk around in the sunshine. We discovered that our hallmark is closing, and we got great deals on cards for the spring as well as a fun new horse for Ethan. You'll see that soon I'm sure. When we finally made it back from there we had dinner. We found alphabet pasta at Trader Joes, but not those tiny ones from the regular store. These were multi-colored and big letters. One bite big each. We had them with meatballs. Ethan ate so well that I offered him dessert. I found a different kind of baby yogurt which he had with some blackberries. He enjoyed it immensely.

Ham

And here's one more breakfast shot, this one from this morning. Ethan was whining a little and pointing at the tv. We did let him watch a little too much when it was cold out and he was sick, but we're trying to discourage it now. So I noticed the camera sitting in front of it, and said "do you want me to take your picture?" He said, "YES!" Then he smiled nicely so I could. Too bad his milk is a beard instead of a moustache, he could do a "got milk?" ad.

Cow!

Ethan is improving at his ride-on toys. These days, he can mooooove forward on his cow. Ok, that was bad, but I have to try to make this entertaining some how... He also drives his car forward. He used to go only in reverse. The cow took longer because it's not as wide so he had a tendency to tip it over. I think it helps that his feet reach the floor when he sits on it now. James snapped this one on Sunday too. It was a rainy day so we didn't get to go outside and play, but I hear tomorrow we might be able to.

Master of the Spoon

Ethan thinks cereal is so much fun. I've kind of resisted giving it to him for breakfast too much because it's been cold and I didn't want to give him a cold breakfast. Now that it's warming up, and he's so much better with the spoon, we got out the rice krispies again. They make that really fun sound, and he enjoys them. This was actually Sunday morning.

Bubbles

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Today Ethan had tomato soup for lunch. And he decided to see how much fun it would be to blow on it AFTER getting it in his mouth. Resulting in lots of tomato-y spray and bubbles. Fun! We're back to one nap today, and he seems to be doing ok with it so far. He was yawning this morning but he held up without any major meltdowns.

Pinecones

A few days ago someone from our playgroup dropped off this pail and shovel for Ethan. We don't have a sand box and it' s still kinda cold out, but we went and collected pine cones. He thinks the word hysterical. He enjoys dumping them on the floor (fortunately on this mat) and picking them up. He also enjoys going to get the broom for me when they make a mess.

Ball

One of Ethan's favorite words is "ball," so when we were shopping in Target a week or two ago and I saw this one I decided he had to have it. Now you may think I'm crazy letting him have this in the house, but it usually lives in the basement. As soon as he can really hurl it, it will live in the garage for outside play. But now you can hear him say "Ball!" and see him play.

More art

The top piece is self explainatory. The bottom one is pom poms, so it doesn't sit flat on the scanner which is why his name looks blurry. These were in his art folder at school when I picked him up yesterday. He did not have a good night. May be the teeth, not sure, but he woke up repeatedly. Anyway that meant he was totally cranky this morning and we went with two naps today. It seems like the two-one nap thing is going to be an ongoing process. We did manage to get to one grocery store this morning, but we have to go to the other where we get meat and deli stuff when he wakes up. I'm hoping he is happier by then. He loves going there though, they do their best to make a BIG deal about him. One day I went in and the deli lady couldn't see him because something was blocking her view and she said "where's the baby?" like "how dare you come without him?" That's why we go to that store. Well it sounds like someone is awake. Enjoy his masterpieces.

Post Nap Giggles

Lest you think my poor sweet pea is withering away with illness, he is not. In case you don't know, despite the stomach virus he has having gone away, he could not go to "school" today because he also ended up with pink eye. He's been on drops since yesterday. His eye is still pink but the drops are helping, though he is NOT happy about having them. I had the doctor check his ear because he'd been pulling on it, but he had also been rubbing his cheek. She thinks he has more molars coming through- like he needs that on top of not being well. Anyway, at least it's not an ear infection (knock on wood). He's been tired from all of this, and back to two naps this week. Today when I went to get him from his afternoon nap, he was so funny giggling at me that I ran downstairs for the camera. He obliged me with quite a few worthy smiles. It amazes me how good natured he is. I know now how he was feeling, and I was a lot grumpier than he was. Of course I didn't have someone cleaning up my house, preparing my meals, doing my laundry, or taking care of my every need while I was sick, so maybe that's the difference.

Reading with Julie

Julie came over tonight to hang out with Ethan and I while James was in class. Ethan sat right down on her lap to read his book. She got to hear Ethan's new word- "Yes!" It's nice for him not to say "NO!" but it's a slow process. For example, this morning I asked if he wanted cheerios for his snack. He said, "YES!" So I got out the Os and put them in his snack cup and handed it to him. He shook his head an said "Nooo" and then pointed at the loaf of bread. Apparently he wanted toast instead. But I can feel it, we're getting closer to knowing what he wants.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

According to James, Ethan has a little of the Irish in him. I don't know of any on my end though. We couldn't be too adventurous w/ the food though because of his stomach troubles. We did try making sugar cookies but put in too much milk and ended up with an ok cake instead. Had I thought about it, I would have made cupcakes which we still could have decorated with the green.

Ethan seems to be feeling a little better, though still very tired so he doesn't want to do much. We watched a little more tv than normal today because of it. Hope you don't get bored with Old MacDonald, but you'll see he's making progress. Listen carefully for "horse" and "neigh." Oh, and at the same time, he was helping me "sweep" the floor. I will never discourage this kind of help :)

Ice Pop

Ethan's had a stomach bug since late Friday night. He's not eating great, and we're trying hard to get him to drink more. He loves milk, btu that's not exactly helpful for problems like this. He is refusing to eat applesauce which he normally loves and would help. Anyway we resorted to getting some pedialyte ice pops. It took a lot of convincing, but he finally tried it and decided it was good. Until it froze his little hands. Next time I'll be smart enough to wrap the bottom in a washcloth or something first. He's definitely feeling better and is more active than he was on Sat., so hopefully we're on the mend. I told him if he likes ice pops I bet he might find some at Granny and Gramps house when they get home because I remember Amber and Jonathan used to like them a lot.

Mail Call!

Last night I finally finished sewing down the back of Ethan's chair pad. I also finished crocheting the ties. I put the chair in the kitchen so he'd be sure to see it this morning. At first he tried to take it out of the chair, but when he realized that he couldn't, he sat down on it. He put his feet up on his stool and read a book (yes, it's still in the kitchen- he likes to sit on the steps- and besides, if I take it upstairs I won't see it much). Then I gave him his mail. He had a thank you note from his Grandma Jo Ann, and a St. Patrick's Day card from Grandma and Pa. He looked at them, and then decided that the space between the two steps of the stool made a perfect mail slot. He put the mail through (and his book) then picked them up and started over.

Snack "Trap" my A%#

This cup is supposed to keep little ones from spilling snacks. My little one has found the work-around.

Bingo Dots

Ethan and I had to go to Danbury today. While we were there, we finally found a place that carries the bingo dotters he uses in daycare. I think they are called do-a-dot and they are washable. He was far more interested in taking off the caps and putting them back on than he is in the actual dotting but it kept him entertained for a while. He even waved for the camera.

Hay!

Ethan's practicing new words. He repeats after his movies too. You'll hear "hay" but for some reason, when the narrator says "tractor" he says "ball." Either way, you get to hear him talking.

Step Stool

We've already established that Ethan has a lot of talented friends. Nonna Barbacci and Julie (the friends who went to New Orleans with us) came to visit last night. Nonna made this for Ethan. Isn't it beautiful? It's so he can reach the bathroom sink but he decided it was fun as a seat. I'll get a shot of him with it eventually.

New

Ethan plays with his crayons more now and he doesn't just put them in and out of the box. He scribbles for a few minutes too.

When Ethan needs a new diaper, he tells us now which is helpful.

Ethan's favorite thing to play with in the kitchen right now is this silicone baster. It's very fun and is a good way to tickle too.

His 18 mo. appointment was today. He got three shots. He was a superstar. He weighs 24lbs and is 32" tall.

18 Months!!

Ethan is a year and a half old today. We went to the playground and he played in the sandbox. It is a fantastic day (ie unseasonable) so we had to go out for a while. We might go back after his nap since we had to go without James who was installing the new garage door opener. Ethan didn't want any part of the swings, but he did enjoy the slide and he had fun on a bouncy horse thing.

His favorite words right now are: No!, Wow, Uh-Oh, E-I-E-I-O, and Daddy.

His favorite things to do are: read, take all the pots out of the cabinet, knock down block towers, dumping out his bucket of blocks, hugging his Mama, riding his car.

His 18 month appointment hasn't happened yet so I can't give you the stats.

Carousel

We ran errands this morning and when we got home, the garage door went halfway up and stopped. Apparently the motor in the opener decided it was done. So we had lunch, and Ethan had his nap (which went MUCH better today- he slept for nearly 3 hours, we ended up getting him up). Then we went to Sears to get a new one, and while we were there we decided Ethan should try out the carousel. He rode one when he was really little, but it was a long time ago. So he got on his own horse and belted in, and he was ok with it while we were sitting there. I was standing next to him, holding on to him by the waist. He couldn't reach the handles and I didn't really trust the belt. When we started moving, he looked at me and seemed kinda scared, then he grabbed ahold of me and didn't want to let go. As we kept moving he got more comfortable with it, and we kept waving at James as we went around. By the end he was waving at everybody.

Bears

It was "bears" week at school for Ethan last week. He made this hand puppet on a paper bag along with several other projects. He got to bring his Pooh bear to school.

Kitchen Fun

Ethan likes to take things out of this cupboard.



But then he puts it all back. And you'll even get to see that he got his Daddy's temper.

Cymbals

Long Day

Today we decided to try one nap. Ethan hasn't been sleeping so good at night- going to sleep later and waking up earlier, and it's around the age we're told they switch to one nap. He's been doing it at daycare for a while. He was ok this morning. We went to have lunch in Shelton with James. Then we came home, and he fell asleep in the car about three minutes from the house. Of course he woke up when I was putting him to bed, and so then he was WIDE awake for another hour playing and giggling in his crib. So when I woke him up, not wanting him to just go to sleep for the night, he was soooooooo tired. We decided to be lazy and watch his Baby MacDonald on the farm movie. He sat in his rocking chair with his Pooh bear watching for a while, and he was very expressive about what he saw. He's saying almost all of the animal sounds now, we even heard an oink today. He had to get out of the chair when the music came on though, the urge to dance was too compelling. Oh, and on the way to Shelton he was really enjoying the Preservation Hall CD I got for Christmas. It can only mean he has to go back to NOLA.

OCD Baby

Ethan has certain tendencies that make me joke that he's going to be like Monk. He is very neat, he always wants a napkin to wipe his hands and he wipes up the table (meaning everything goes on the floor). He's very helpful in picking up his toys. Today he got a new box of crayons. They are triangle-shaped so that they won't roll off the table. He even got a new coloring book w/ very simple drawings for those new to coloring. He could not have expressed less interest in coloring. All he wanted to do was take the crayons out of the box and stack them back in the box. And chewing on the box was also a possibility.

Silly Play

 


As you may have expected Ethan and I have another snow day. Of course as it has happened all winter, it's a workday and not a Tues. or Thurs. when we would have been home anyway. So Ethan and I have been hanging out playing, and he found a few new things to do with his pants.