Outing

This morning we went to the mall. For the first time, we found the train running and at the station so we took a little ride around. Ethan waved at everyone. Today, instead of riding the carousel, he opted to ride the "trucks." We found Bob the Builder with Rolley, and The Cat in the Hat. We also stopped at Build a Bear Workshop to make a little present for someone, and Ethan had a great time picking it out, warming up his heart, and making a wish for it. He also gave it a bear bath when he was done. This might be a hard one for him to give away, but I think it's a good thing to learn. He chose tomato soup with grilled cheese for lunch when we got home.

Challenge

Ethan is apparently not a child bothered by being wet or dirty. We've tried the modern approach of letting him go w/ out a diaper, and he just doesn't care. It did not motivate him at all to use the toilet. So I decided to try something different. We went to Target and got a doll that wets. We put her on the potty and after she was successful a few times, Ethan tried to- it seemed to motivate him more than the other. However, it didn't last long. The doll came with a toothbrush and toothpaste, he ould prefer to brush her teeth. Why couldn't he be one of those kids who trained himself at daycare?

Friends

Our friends Jeannie and Elise were kind enough to come down for a visit Tues. afternoon and Wed. morning. We had a "sleepover" Ethan keeps telling me. Of course the kids really started playing together without our participation like half an hour before time to leave, but they had fun. They read some books, they are both fans of the Elephant and Piggie series, and they played this great new game Elise got Ethan, it's a grocery store game where you drive your cart around the aisles and buy things off your list. After that, they wanted to do a craft so they colored these fun hippo masks. It was great to visit with them, and as Ethan said we'll have to go visit them at their house too.

Snow Rainbow

There were two things Ethan wanted to do Monday afternoon- play in the snow, and make a craft- some kind of rainbow. He got a great book about rainbows from the Alexanders so I'm sure that's where the craft idea came from. There was plenty of snow, but it was also extremely cold and very windy, we did not think he should be outside. So I brought in a bowl of snow, and we used food coloring to make a rainbow in the snow. Then we did a little science project in the sink- we ran water in it to see what would happen. Ethan was surprised to see it all turned black and melted.

Christmas Refresher

Blizzard

No white Christmas, it was a day too late, but we can deny winter no longer. Just heard we should expect ten or more inches on top of the 3 or 4 we've already gotten. James took Ethan out for a little bit to ride around on the sled. We were going to meet Gavin, Ethan's new cousin, but not only was the weather terrible but Ethan still has a crazy runny nose and cough so it's probably just as well. We don't want to give him his first cold.

Gingerbread Boy

Once all our presents were opened, Ethan and I worked on our masterpiece- the gingerbread boy. He was a kit, but I was looking at it as a craft project not a gourmet enterprise- he had a lot of fun decorating it with me. He'll be doing this stuff with no help before long. Amber if you open a bakery I might be able to set you up with your first employee- he'll just want to be paid in frosting.

Christmas Morning

Ethan woke up James then we came downstairs to check out the situation. Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk, and the reindeer enjoyed their carrots. Then we went down to look at what was under the tree. Ethan was surprised by what he found. One of the first things he opened was this dragon towel from Santa- he had to put it on and breathe fire.

Ethan kept telling everyone (including Santa) that what he wanted most was a guitar. Fortunately he thinks this ukulele is an Ethan sized guitar and is having a great time strumming it. He also got a new afghan I crocheted for him to take to school for nap times and a little reindeer I made for him as well.

Ethan also had fun opening all the great things his family sent to him. He enjoyed presents from Grandma and Pa, Uncle Tom, Barbara and Jonathan, and Aunt Linda and Uncle Louis (sorry I didn't get a picture- I was getting the cinnamon rolls from the oven when James let him open it).

We made Ethan a few other toys, I made another car mat, this one with roads and our house, his school, Southbury Foods where we shop, and the playground and the matchbox cars fit in the pocket. James worked on the matchbox car parking garage.

Christmas Eve

For most of the morning we did chores, finished up our cookie baking and present wrapping and lounged around in jammies. At one point he decided he wanted to take pictures so I let him and he got the two on the right. After Ethan's abbreviated nap, we got in the car and headed to Pennsylvania. Keeping with my family's tradition of opening one present on Christmas Eve, and knowing that we would be in the car with Ethan for a while, I packed an appropriate present to bring along. I made him a dinosaur playmat courtesy of the instructions here and embellished by adding a pocket to store the dinosaurs. He seemed to like it well enough, and it did a little to keep him entertained. We also listened to the soundtrack for Rudolph a few times.

We got to the church a bit early but luckily so did everyone else, so we had a chance to visit with Amber and Jonthan and Tom and Heather and meet Heather's family. Congratulations to Tom and Heather as well as to Amber on getting accepted at every college she applied to. HOORAY for my awesome niece. And you can see that my fabulous nephew doesn't mind playing with his much younger cousin and keeping him entertained. Hopefully we'll get a longer visit with them sometime soon, if that hunting nonsense ever ends :) After the wedding, we headed back home and managed to get Ethan in bed by 8. Upon being told that Santa would not stop if he were awake, he did not make another peep.

Favorite Holiday Activity

Hands down it's rearranging the ornaments on the tree-- aka teaching his Mama patience.

Catching up

We did not do a whole lot this weekend besides try to catch up on a few things and get some holiday stuff done.  I finished a lot of Ethan's presents that I was making and we also went out to do a little shopping.  Monday after school we got Ethan a little early and came home to open presents.  He only told me what it was about 57 times beforehand, but I think he thought I was surprised.  He made us wear party hats. Then we went out for dinner and Ethan picked out a chocolate cake for dessert.  He wouldn't sing happy birthday though because there wasn't a candle.  Oh well.  Tuesday he and I baked some more cookies and then we went to the grocery store where we delivered a box of them to our friend who checks us out every week.  Funny thing was she had a surprise for Ethan, a new hotwheels car.  He was so excited, and she was too- she came around the counter to give him a hug it was very cute.  Then he handed out candy canes to the deli lady, the person who bagged our groceries, and then to the librarian at the library because they all helped us.  We did a little craft project in the afternoon, but mostly he said "you will do it" and watched.  Tomorrow we have more errands, hopefully the last before Christmas.  I have pictures to add to this, but someone hasn't set up the camera on my new computer and won't let me turn the old one on, so you can't have any pictures.  I would protest (to him not me) if you want to see any Christmas pics, time is running out.

Cherry Winks

Now that Pa's cookies have arrived and he's hopefully picked up his pictures, we'll share the shots of Ethan making his cherry winks. It's funny, last year he was more interested in rolling them in the corn flakes and putting the cherries on, this year he was more interested in playing in the flour and actually putting ingredients in the bowl. He got one tray done and cherries on top before he had to run away to play. That's pretty good for him, his attention span doesn't last very long. We did not try one but according to Pa we did a good job.

Reindeer Treat

So he didn't make it through the whole song, but here's a little bit, followed by a little bit more.  Hope it doesn't make you sick, he's literally running around in circles.  And no, this wasn't after the cookie- that was in the morning, this was in the afternoon.  See if you can pick out all the changes he made to the lyrics.

Holiday Baking

Tuesday when we made a certain unnamed cookie for Pa, the picture in the cookbook also contained Peanut Butter Blossoms, those peanut butter cookies topped w/ a hershey kiss. Ethan said "No want to make those, want to make THESE!" Which meant when we went to the store that day we had to buy hershey kisses (which have gotten outrageously expensive I might add). This morning we made those, along with a batch of my favorite- Granny's apricot bars. Yum. Ethan is saying "Yummy" in this picture.

Play

Tonight while dinner was in the oven Ethan and I played in the living room. He is enjoying the jingle bell tree, he jingles the bells while singing the song. He was also having fun with the teddy bear he got from Grandma and Pa last year or the year before, it reads 'Twas the Night Befor Christmas. He was also driving his car, and telling me to watch out when I got the wide open mouth picture.

December Picnic

We had a fun weekend, we had company last night and part of today celebrating James finishing school, so this morning Ethan and I went out for breakfast so everyone else could sleep in. He did a fantastic job in the "'estaurant" with his eggs and toast, and he had some fruit too. The only table was one with two chairs, and he only got out of his chair once the whole time. We got in the car and I told him what a great job he did and said I was so proud of him and he grinned from ear to ear. Then we drove around a bit thinking on the dark rainy day there might be some Christmas lights on, we found a few but not many. This afternoon Ethan finally got to watch Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. He did find the abomidable snow monster a little scary but overall he liked it. When I told him pizza was for dinner, he said "Can we eat down here?" so we thought sure, why not? We had our pizza while James watched football. Ethan didn't do quite so well staying in his chair with tempting toys and the Christmas tree. When we finished we called Gramps to wish him a happy 80th birthday, and Ethan sang Rudolph the Nose Red Reindeer (yes, you read that right) to Gramps and Granny. Then it was time to play with the new basketball bath toy he got from Uncle Teddy and head to bed.

Projects

Today we did some work around the house. We put up the drapes in the kitchen to try to keep the cold from that sliding door out. We mopped, washed rugs, and dusted. We put up a few Christmas ornaments and went grocery shopping. This afternoon, we went to our last Happy Piano class. I'm sorry I did not get a picture, my phone was not charged enough to take one and I didn't have a camera. They were all very cute and each played a song (Ethan w/ help). When the other mothers realized Ethan was just 3 they had to tell me how great they thought he did w/ his letters and colors. He got a special present and certificate from his teacher, she gave them little bags w/ hershey kisses, stickers, and a jingle bell on a ribbon (which is either in my car or still at the school- if he remembers it and I can't find it I'll make him a new one). He tried his very first hershey kiss. After we got home, we tried to work on a craft project which involved tearing paper. Here's Ethan showing you how tough he is. He says "I have to use my muscles." That was about as far as we got, he quickly lost interest in the affair. We cleaned up and went downstairs to hang out by the Christmas tree until dinner time. You can probably tell his face is still chapped, he's still got a runny nose which seemed some better this afternoon. I hope it's going away.

Oh Christmas Tree!

We went to get a tree this afternoon. We did it the easy way and went to Stew Leonard's. Maybe next year we'll have a good day to cut it, but it was cold and we have colds, and it's easy to go where they cut it, bag it, and tie it to your car. I thought Ethan would be really into helping to decorate this year, but I was wrong. He was really into playing with the ornaments like they were a box full of new toys. I think you can see the little birdy he got yesterday going on the tree. Mostly I'm going to go do the decorating now that he's in bed. Ah well, he had fun playing with the ornaments anyway and watching Emmit Otter's Jug Band Christmas.

He did get really upset for a minute at Stew's, he thought we were leaving without the tree. You give it to the people to wrap, they hand you a number w/ a bar code and you go pay and drive around to the back where they load it in the car. Well we went to pay, got in the car and started driving away and Ethan got really upset. I almost didn't think he was going to calm down enough to listen to us explain what was happening. He did listen, but it took a while to get around to the back so we had to explain it a few times. He could just see behind him that the trunk was open so he finally believed us that we were not leaving our tree at the store.

Christmastown

Today was the day for the annual Christmas Festivals in Woodbury and Bethlehem. Ethan and I headed out for the craft fair at the Woodbury school where we found a little bird ornament made from jingle bells. We also found some kettle corn. We then headed for the fairgrounds where we met up with Kate and took the bus downtown where we saw some crafters, some horses, some llamas, a few donkeys, Santa Claus, and the Fried Dough man. Ethan had a great time. I thought you'd enjoy comparing his picture from last year with this.

This afternoon, we headed to the store to get some balloons and a special ice cream cake to celebrate James's LAST day of class! HOORAY!!!!!!!

Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

I wasn't sure how much of the Christmas stuff Ethan has been absorbing, but today in Walgreens he started belting out Rudolph.  Later after his nap, while he was enjoying his smarshmallows and cocoa, he started again.  I hope you enjoy, it's somewhat difficult to understand in parts thanks to those smarshmallows.


Ethan's having a rough day, I hope he didn't catch my cold.  We went to the library for new books, got some window clings for the front door at Walgreens, and did our grocery shopping.  He seems in a better mood this afternoon.  He asked to do some crafts so we made a Santa and a few things to give James for Christmas.  Hopefully he'll be in a good mood Sat. I have something really fun up my sleeve if he is.

Well, I was all excited to share the movie of Ethan singing Rudolph.   Apparently my new camera creates movies using quicktime, the apple tool.  Which, of course, since it's apple, works with NOTHING else.  Blogger refuses to upload it, and I refuse to put videos of Ethan in YouTube.  I'll have to read the camera book to see if there is another setting I can use.  In the meantime, I don't know that I can save it any other way but I'll try.

Happy Anniversary!!

Ethan would like to wish his Grandma and Pa a happy 40th wedding anniversary.  Sorry we can be there to help you celebrate but we hope you do something fun that doesn't involve sitting in a tree.

Thanksgiving

We baked cookies, we baked pie, we cooked, we ate, we played, we watched Happy Thanksgiving, Charlie Brown. Hope you all had a great day.