Relaxing

Ethan finally seems to be feeling some better today. His nose didn't seem to run all day, and he certainly had more energy. That didn't mean that he didn't want to hang out in his chair and watch the new Peanuts DVD James got for him this afternoon. He loved it of course. Don't worry, he didn't spend the whole time in the chair. I barely got a shot of him in it, though there were a few climbing over it...

The Best Part

of any snowman cookie is getting to eat him. YUM!

Snowman

Grandma and Pa sent Ethan a package. He got to open it today. He found a snowman cookie kit inside. We baked the snowman cookie before his nap and decorated it when he woke up. He declared the frosting "delicious" and had a great time putting gumdrops on it. He also had fun playing with the picture of the snowman that came in the pan. It conveniently had gummy stuff on the back so it stuck to the window. When we were done he wanted to "put it in the box" but I don't have tupperware that big so I convinced him to put foil over it and that would be ok. This kid is SOOOOOOOOO cranky I have to hope it's the cold. BTW it now looks like a blizzard, the wind is ridiculous and the snow is still coming down.

"No Accumulation is Expected"

That's a direct quote from the weatherman at approximately 7:30 this morning as I'm looking at this out my window. (FYI the snow had all melted and there was nothing on the ground when we went to bed.) Last night the forecast said scattered rain and snow showers for today indicating rain early with a high of 40 changing to snow towards evening. There appears to be an inch already with no signs of slowing up. Why do I listen to these hoaxters? I should just buy a farmer's almanac. It can't be any less accurate. So instead of going to the craft store to buy supplies for our mardi gras playgroup or the Valentines Ethan will make his friends we're going to make a snowman (indoors of course). More on that later. Ethan decided to read first so I stole a few minutes to share our lovely weather with you.

M&M

For some reason Ethan had a fixation with M&Ms this weekend. I'm not sure if he had them at school but he somewhere picked up on what the package looked like and has been asking for them non stop. Around Christmas I picked up a bag thinking if we were trapped in the house by the weather we could make some graham cracker gingerbread houses and decorate them. I remembered them and said he could have a few. Remarkably he didn't ask for more, he was absolutely thrilled with his 5 m&ms.

Cow Say "MOOOOOOO"

Well the old pc is still running and I was given the all clear to use it, so I snapped a few shots for you. Tonight after "school" while I worked on dinner here's where Ethan was. He was reading his Big Red Barn book and telling me what each animal said. I also heard that "rooster say cock a doodle dooooooo." When he finished he picked up the next book which was one with lots of pictures of different things. One page is pictures of toys- he started pointing them out to me and saying, "Want that Mommy." Like I can pull a rubber ducky or puzzle out of my back pocket.

He has another cold and his eyes are red and watery, if they still look that way in the morning we may be headed to the doctor. Pink eye is the worst, he absolutely hates the drops, but I don't want him passing it around school or having it turn into something worse. He is still working on those molars- how long do these things take??!! When I picked him up he was chewing on his finger. When we got home he switched to his teether, then his spoon all through dinner and then his gummy guppy.

Songs

We got a new computer which I'm not touching until I'm told my data is on it. I am also not touching the old computer as they are hooked up to the same monitor and I don't want to be accused of messing anything up. So until it's resolved you get no pictures. Talk to the man if you have issues with this- he will be starting classes again this week so it probably won't be resolved any time soon.

I thought I'd tell you about how Ethan likes to sing lately. In the car he belts out his Putumayo CDs, New Orleans Playground and Putumayo Presents New Orleans. He really loves jazz, blues, and cajun tunes. I also have a few Preservation Hall recordings which we listen to in the house, and he loves "Hold that Tiger." In the car, his favorites to sing are "They All Ask'd for You" "Skip to my Blues" "Choo Choo Cha Boogie" and "Drop Me off in New Orleans."

Usually when he goes to bed, we go through a few songs that I sing to him (rather poorly) before I leave his room. Friday night he was loopy and exhausted and only wanted me to sing one of them (All My Loving of Beatles fame, hey I have to go with what I know) repeatedly and then when I left, he proceeded to sing the others to himself. He sang his ABCs the whole way through without missing one- first time I've heard him do that. Then he sang "Twinkle Star" and also sang the whole thing.

This morning the first thing I heard from Ethan's room was his rendition of Cottleston Pie. He still won't let me read Winnie the Pooh to him, there are too many words, but he does like to listen to Rowlf the Dog's rendition of the song Pooh sings, which is said to be an interpretation of Taoist philosophy. Ethan might not get that yet either, but he especially loves to sing out the "PIIIIIEEEEE" at the end of the line.

If you're not in the know, here are the lyrics:
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fly can't bird, but a bird can fly.
Ask me a riddle and I reply ...
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
A fish can't whistle and neither can I,
Ask me a riddle and I reply ...
Cottleston, Cottleston, Cottleston Pie,
Why does a chicken, I don't know why.
Ask me a riddle and I reply,
Cottleston, Cottleston, ..."

Tense Moments

Ethan didn't want to put on his jersey this morning, but once game time was here he was ready. He was very proud to show it to James. They were not so thrilled with the slow progress early in the game, but were obviously happy with the outcome. Ethan got to watch most of it, though I can't say that he actually was watching- but whenever James started yelling he said "Go Jets!" He had a great time helping make football food too. We made quesadillas, he spread out the beans and the salsa and helped eat some cheese as I shredded it. We also made pitas, and he stretched and rolled the dough on the peel before we put it in the oven. We made one giant pita, and I think he ate half of it himself saying "dip dip dip" every time he put a piece in the hummus, which I was lazy and did not make.

Whipped Cream!!!

I know we've done the hot cocoa post, but today I actually remembered to buy some whipped cream. Do you think Ethan liked it? Just a little... He had a busy day. We dropped off the car for service then made a few stops on the way home, including the library and Ethan's favorite store. He checked out a few books but his focus was on checking out some movies. Much to his chagrin he only got to watch one of them. We don't do this too often but we had hot dogs for lunch, then Ethan helped me mix up some bread dough. After naptime you can see what our snack was. We played, read books, and made dinner before bathtime and bed. Can you believe he didn't watch any football? Tomorrow will be different I'm sure.

More Reading

I finally had the camera when Ethan was reading his books. This time I had the opposite problem, he read for so long that the clips were way too big to upload, I had to choose a small snippet. If you don't know the story, it's about a little ladybug who is looking for her friend mouse. She asks the other animals if they have seen him. He's looking at the bear here, who has not seen Mouse but who did find some honey. I think you can get the next line...

Ho Hum

I have been lazy with the camera so I'll give you one more shot from last weekend that Tara kindly sent to me of Ethan with his new buddy Adelyn. He is sporting the adorable overalls Auntie Mandy and Uncle Jeff got him for Christmas.

If you're wondering about the pictures from the last post, the top picture is of two apples and the bottom one is a banana. Now you totally see it right? Hey I think they're pretty good for a two year old but I'm biased. I think it's interesting that he started with fruit, isn't that what they teach artists to paint first?

Today is a little rough with the cold in full swing and the teeth giving him trouble Ethan is quite grumpy. He has been in his bed for a nap since 1- he is still babbling though it's quieting down some so I'm hopeful that soon there will be sleep otherwise it's going to be a LONG afternoon and evening.

We walked through Michaels this morning. It actually went fairly well, I just had to threaten to carry him or put him in the cart whenever he tried to run away. Mostly he was pretty good though, but it helped that we just went to browse and see what after holiday deals we could score and didn't have a real list of things we needed.

New Markers

Santa Claus put a package of short markers in Ethan's stocking. He's starting to have fun scribbling with them. Today for the first time he drew something and then announced to me what it was. He was so proud of himself, it was really cute. The picture on the top is what he drew. Ignore the orange lines, that was something I had drawn on the page before at his request (he wanted a school bus- I did my best). His drawing is the blue and the purple. Then he turned the page and drew "sumting else" for me. I'll eventually tell you what they are, I just want to see if anyone can figure it out first. And sorry the paper is bigger than the scanner, the bottom of each is slightly cut off.

Addendum: I should have clarified that in the top picture the blue lines are one item and the purple are another. Snowman was a nice guess but way off. And the bottom one is not a fish.

Marist Weekend

If you think it's cold go hang out by the Hudson river for a few minutes. We went to Poughkeepsie this weekend to visit some college friends who were in town with their little girl. She's about a month older than Ethan. They had a great time together. We started with a trip to the FDR Presidential Library. Our timing was such that we didn't get to go in the house, but it was probably just as well. Let me just say that it's a good thing there were no other visitors because Ethan's behavior was not up to museum standards. It was more like what gives two year olds a bad rap. Then we went to the Everready Diner where the kids got their lunches in race cars. They managed to stay awake till we got back to the hotel for naptime. Of course we went to the Palace for dinner, and some other friends met us there. We went to a basketball game last night and Ethan did pretty good being up very late, though I'm not sure I like him being up very late :) He sure enjoyed cheering. I think his favorite part was James buying him Cheetos though... He is going to be one tired baby tonight I am sure. This morning we drove around campus. It looks NOTHING like when we were there- about five new buildings including one under construction now, an entire new plot of land which we didn't even go check out, and an enormous library. On top of that, apparently they no longer let the crew team paint the "M" on the rock on the other side of the river- you can faintly see it still there, but it hasn't been spruced up in quite some time. We got the kids out of the car for a very brief photo shoot and then let them get warm again.

Books

Sorry I didn't get more than "the end" but that's the way the camera work seems to go these days. I thought I would share Ethan's favorite books of late. They are:
Eric Carle: Polar Bear Polar Bear, What Do You Hear
Dr. Seuss: Green Eggs and Ham and Ten Apples Up on Top
P.D. Eastman: Are You My Mother
Sandra Boynton: The Belly Button Book and Horns to Toes and In Between
Don Freeman: Corduroy
Mostly we still let him play with board books or inexpensive paper ones. The nicer hardcovers with paper pages are mostly in his closet and with supervision only. He still is a little over anxious with the pages and tends to tear them when he gets frustrated so it will be a little longer before he gets those on his own. He also still loves any books with texture or touchy feely stuff. He has one with farm animals that makes sounds and another where a lot of the board pages have cutouts where animals legs or tails made from cloth hang down. We read those a lot too.

More Letters

The Alexanders got Ethan a great set of cookie cutters, all letters and numbers. We haven't actually baked with them yet, but Ethan is really enjoying dumping them out of their container. He immediately found the "E" for Ethan and "L" for me and "J" for James. He also can find the "P" for Pumpkin Patch his dog. As you can see by his chair, we are quite well stocked on stuffed toys now. He wanted another one when we were in a store today and despite the 75% Christmas clearance I said absolutely not one more stuffed thing! Mostly he was cranky today, and he's definitely exhibiting more of the two year old behavior- a lot of things are "MINE" now and last night on the way home I heard "No home Mommy!" "Mommy Listen!" "NO Home! Go grocery store." He has his own will, not sure where he got that.
Yesterday at school he apparently orchestrated a tea party for his friends when he found a toy kettle in the kitchen. Oh, and another new thing is that he refers to tupperware as "boxes." It took me a while to figure this one out, he would say that cookies are in the box but tonight when I got out leftovers he said "it's in the box Mommy" and I finally got it. I have no idea where that came from.

More Piano

I guess James had a good idea with the piano, Ethan loves playing it. He sings "Jingle Bells All the Way" which is the name of the song according to him. I am not sure how well you can see it, but the little Santa decoration sitting on the piano is one of the presents Ethan made James for Christmas. He also got him a pair of Mr. Happy boxer shorts. I swear HE picked them out. Crazy Uncle Derek has been getting him that series of books Mr. Men and Little Miss for a while, and he likes them a lot. So when he saw those he insisted we get them. At least they weren't Mr. Tickle. And as I said to James, it could be something he has to wear on the outside like a tie :)

Morning Reading

I put books at the end of Ethan's crib so that if he wakes up in the morning before we're ready to go in and get him he has something to do. He likes to read them to himself. This one is called "Who Lives Here" and has a little dial you turn to choose who lives where- at least I think that's what he was reading- if you're having trouble understanding, he's telling the cow to go in the barn.

"I shobel snow!"

Yep, it snowed again folks. And we're not done for the weekend, supposed to get another 1-3 inches tonight. Yee haw. Gotta love living in New England. Well someone does I'm sure, just not me. Anyway Ethan wanted to play in the snow and "shobel" it so he went out with James after he cleared the driveway. He insisted on making a snowman though there wasn't quite that much snow, they shoveled up a pile and made a face. Ethan insisted on a carrot nose which we all know is only proper.

Happy New Year

Ethan couldn't have been happier- there were party hats! He LOVED running through a different space and knocking down the towers everyone was building for him. He slept through the ball drop but had a great New Year's day and hopes everyone else did too.

BEEFCAKE!!

We visited friend on New Year's Eve and Ethan enjoyed playing with Amy- here they are lifting the heavy barbells.