Happy Piano!

We enrolled Ethan in a piano class. He's so interested in music and we have so little ability in that area that when we saw a local park and rec was offering a class for 3-5 year olds, I signed him up. Turns out I was the only one crazy enough to sign up a 3 year old. The director e-mailed me Tuesday to say that he was the youngest (by a year and a half) to sign up and she was concerned that he would feel frustrated if he could not keep up. She offered to let us try it out and see how it went. I was hoping it was good because he was already very excited about it. For the first part of the class he observed, but did not really participate. As it went along, he started to get more involved. She thought he did just fine and said he's welcome to come back. I think she was worried that I was expecting him to be some child prodigy or something, but I assured her we just want him to have some exposure to on-key singing and playing.

Potato Family

Ethan made this at school a few weeks ago. Isn't it adorable? I'm a little concerned that he is frowning and very goth.

Smarshmallows

Ethan had his 3 year checkup today. There were no shots, according to them they do this so kids don't think they get shots every time they go to the office. He did a great job doing what the doctor asked. He weighs 30.5 lbs and is 37.25" tall.
It was a rainy sticky day, so after we got home we had some cocoa, baked a loaf of bread, and goofed around with new toys. This afternoon, we decided to make chocolate rice krispy treats. If you can't tell, Ethan enjoys the smarshmallows.
For inquiring minds, to make them chocolate stir 1/4 cup good quality dutch cocoa powder in with the melted butter before adding the marshmallows.  The better the cocoa, the better they taste.

Another Present

Ethan got another present today from the Alexanders.  He wasn't feeling great (with fall comes colds) so it was a very nice surprise.  You can see he was happy when he realized what was in the package, he ran over to the couch, jumped up on it, and started yelling, "Let's read it!" "Mommy, want to read it!"  So we did.  When we were finished he decided he wanted to lounge in "Daddy's chair."

Outdoors

Ethan and I spent some time outside this afternoon. We raked some leaves (yes, already), hula hooped (that wasn't pretty), and crawled through the tunnel. I had to get inside too according to Ethan- I managed to get my head in and take a picture of us. It was a pretty nice day out. I made us homemade soup for dinner, a tomato base w/ white beans and pasta- which I thought he would love. He used to eat beans. Well, the face he made upon biting into a bean made it clear that he doesn't like those beans. Once the offensive vegetable was removed, he ate. Next time I'll puree some of them in the broth. We had some of our homemade bread with it, and an apple with peanut butter for dessert.

Working

Ethan's been hard at work checking out his new toys. We also spent some time at the library and got a new stack of books.

Truck Party

Ethan wanted a truck party for his third birthday. He wanted a garbage truck cake. He had 12 little buddies here to play w/ him along with some other friends and family and he had a great time. He was so tired I thought he'd be asleep immediately but I think he only just now has gone to sleep. He must have had too much excitement. We had a place for them all to dig in sand, and that was very popular, as well as a building site with lots of assorted sizes of cardboard boxes, a bean bag toss (bean bags courtesy of Grandma Jo Ann) into a big truck I made from a cardboard box, and a "work zone" where we had a tunnel, a hula hoop, some cones and some trucks. The cardboard boxes were a huge hit. The sand was very popular. Sorry no pics of Ethan's school friends, I did not think to ask their parents if it was ok for them to be on his blog so I won't post those.

Thanks!

Ethan was very excited today. He got two packages from Uncle Metzner and Amy with more birthday presents inside. He found lots of dinosaurs, and a tool box. When he saw the tool box, he said "Tools! Can I dump it out Mom?" He then insisted on bringing it to his room before he went to bed. Oh, and he also got a special treat at the farmer's market today when the guitar player started singing one of his favorites, Basin Street Blues. He started talking to us, he seemed surprised that Ethan was happy to hear that. I said "that's one of his favorites" and he said "from me singing it?" and I had to say, "No, from Dr. John." Not quite Dr. John, but a nice fellow and sounds good anyway.

Happy Birthday!!!!

In case you can't read Ethan's birthday poster, it says "My favorite color is green. My favorite food is macaroni. My favorite center to play in is kitchen area. My favorite song to sing is New Orleans. Now that I am three I can play all by myself. My teacher's name is Miss Heather. My favorite activity to do with my family is playing with them." Ethan started his day with us singing "Happy Birthday" to him. He was playing all bashful and sticking his head in the pillows, when we were all done he said, "Today is my birthday? I can't believe it." I made him blueberry pancakes for breakfast but he didn't like them so he had "Hearts" intstead (Kashi cereal). Then he went to school where Miss Heather made him a birthday crown and poster. You can see him wearing the crown on the poster, he would not wear it for me to take a bigger picture. When I asked him last week what kind of cupcakes he wanted to take to school, he said "Apple." So I did my best. The cake was actually really good, it was the frosting that gave me trouble- I needed Aunt Linda's magic. Luckily the red got darker as it sat so it looked more red than hot pink. There were none left so I guess they liked them.


I picked Ethan up early and we took him to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner. It's decorated like a jungle and the animals move and make noise. They sat us near gorillas shaking trees and pounding their chests- Ethan was scared so we moved near a butterfly. He had a pizza for dinner. While we were on the way there we let him have one of his presents, a viewmaster. When we were at the restaurant he opened presents Grandma and Pa sent him. He loved them all. We made "sticker pictures" the whole way home, and I drew him lots of things on his magnetic pad. We had special birthday dessert for three. He blew out the candles, fortunately not the way Pa showed him, and shoveled in some of the yummy ice cream and chocolate.

He stayed up a little late to open presents and spend a few minutes playing. He got a band in a box so we had a little parade around the house a few times. He liked playing the cymbals. He also got a new garbage truck and a big farm themed box of lego duplos. I know he could have real legos now, but he has a much easier time handling these. When we finished washing up and brushing teeth, Ethan looked at us in the mirror and said, "This is my whole family! I love you everybody!" We read a few stories and then it was time for bed. Birthdays sure go fast.

Apples

James had taken today off too so we worked in the morning cleaning house and then we went for a little adventure in the afternoon. We picked apples at March farm then visited their playscape where Ethan rode on a tractor, climbed a mountain of hay, dug in the sand, and played in a couple of playhouses. He had one of the apples for dessert tonight.

Car Ride

Amber and Ethan made the most of the car time on the way to Ohio. This was during the approximately 30 minutes Ethan slept before we had to stop for construction.

Ohio

 We went to Ohio for Julie and Dan's wedding over labor day weekend.  It was a fantastic wedding and we had a great time.  Amber came with us and she watched Ethan while we went to the wedding.  Julie's parents were most hospitable, inviting us all for dinner Friday night and for Sunday breakfast.  Ethan and Amber went for that.  On Saturday morning we went to Wagon Trails, an animal park with a "safari" ride that took us to feed all kinds of critters.  The ostriches tried stealing our bucket but we held on tight.  Sunday morning we went to the Canfield Fair and looked at more animals and met the Cat in the Hat.  We also climbed on a steam train engine at the Western Reserve Village on the fairgrounds.  In the afternoon we took a ride to the William McKinley Memorial then we went to Lanterman's Mill and saw waterfalls, ducks, and an old mill before taking a good steep hike along the water.  It was back to CT yesterday and we dropped off Amber with Uncle Tom along the way.  We're so glad she could come we all enjoyed her being there, especially Ethan.

Daisies

Last night James stopped at the store to pick something up.  He got me flowers while he was there.  They are yellow gerber daisies.  I put them on the table, and the following conversation took place:
Ethan: "Dad, you got those flowers for Mommy?"
James: "Yes"
E: "Those are dandelions!"
J: "No, those are daisies."
E: "No, not daisies, Donald's."
L: (not getting it) "No, Ethan those are daisies."
E: "No, Donald's"
L: (finally getting it) "No, Ethan, Daisy duck is named for the flower.  The flowers are called Daisies." 
E: "Those are Daisies."
It's so funny the way their minds work...