Our family had a wonderful weekend celebrating Easter.  We kept ourselves busy all weekend and Ethan had a great time.  It sure is fun to do more things as he gets older!

We started at the Zionsville Easter Egg Hunt on Saturday morning.  We got there just as the 1-2 year old hunt started and it sure was crazy!  We now know to get there early next year.  Ethan got a total of 2 eggs and was thrilled.  He loved opening and closing the eggs and would have been happy if they were empty.

After Ethan’s turn we watched the 5-6 year old hunt.  It was pretty hilarious to watch all the kids take off!

After the egg hunt we went to one of our favorite places: Trader’s Point Creamery to pick up some flour.  Nothing like having someone freshly mill wheat for you!  Ethan loves looking at the cows.

Saturday night Ethan got to play with his gift from Papa and Gigi, Jason’s parents.  He was also quite pleased because I used the front facing camera on my phone and he loved being able to see himself.

On Sunday morning I told Ethan to go find his basket.  He could tell something exciting was going to happen!  He was pretty excited when he saw it.

Checking out his loot.

We amazingly made it to the 8am service at church on time and enjoyed the awesome service.  I wish I would have taken a picture – the place was packed, even at 8am!

After church went to visit Grammy and Grampy.  Ethan had lots of fun playing on the new toy Grammy and Grampy got for him.  He loved that he could climb up to the slide all by himself.

After playing we went to see Oma and have lunch with my family.  Ethan was the star of the show, of course.  This was the closest we could get to a picture of Oma and Ethan with bunny ears on.

After lunch and a failed nap attempt Ethan went egg hunting in Oma’s yard.  He got the hang of the egg hunting pretty quickly.

Of course Grammy would get cheetah print eggs.

After the egg hunt Ethan did a lot of walking with daddy and Grampy.  Right before I took this picture Ethan reached up to grab Grampy’s hand.

After our visit Ethan fell asleep almost as soon as we left.  He was very crabby when we got home but quickly snapped out of it.  it is now 10 and he is still laying in his crib refusing to sleep.  Apparently he had too much fun!

Happy Easter!

 

Our sweet little 17 month old shows more of his personality every day.  He continues to talk and talk and talk.  We are rapidly approaching the stage of “what is he trying to say?”  He still repeats a lot of words that we say and will pick up on a word and say it over and over even though he doesn’t really know what it is.  For example, lately he loves the word “day.”  If he hears it he says it over and over.  It’s hard to even keep track of all his new words because there are so many!  My favorite new word of his is cereal which he says “ah wee ah wee ah wee.”  He loves to sing along to one of his favorite songs and says “who who – ah bah (all aboard).”

Ethan has added no new foods to his menu.  We will have to talk to the doctor next month to see what we can do to get him to eat a wider variety of foods.  Luckily he is still super chunky so we don’t have to worry about him gaining weight.  His favorite foods are cookies, ice cream, and chocolate, and he would eat them all day if we would let him.

We have been beginning to work on discipline with Ethan.  He has always been a bit strong willed but lately it is apparent that he needs to be told “no” more often and needs to be corrected when he does something wrong.  The biggest thing for me is to not let him have whatever he wants whenever he wants it.  It is amazing how quickly he learns what is right and wrong!  When we have corrected him several times and he still will not listen, he gets a “time out” which is anything that takes our attention away from him.  We will usually just set him in another room and that is enough for him to understand to stop what he is doing.  Now he is learning what is right and wrong and if I say “Ethan, do you want a time out?” he will say “no!” and stop the bad behavior.  That being said, there are still times he gets mad.  He is bad about hitting us when he gets mad.  In fact, yesterday he got mad at me because I was holding him and he pulled on my necklace and broke it!

All of that being said, Ethan is overall a very sweet little boy who loves to smile and give hugs and kisses.  His little imagination is developing.  I love just watching him play and seeing what his mind comes up with.  He constantly makes us laugh.  He is continuing to become more independent.  Today after Jason left he climbed down the stairs to his playroom and played by himself for a while!  He loves to dance, read, and sing.  He is always good in the car.  He is starting to learn some letters but still gets them all mixed up.  He is still loving daycare and is usually very mad when we have to leave.

Ethan loves to go outside and we have loved this warm weather.  We are starting to wish we had a yard but we are making the most of what we have.  Ethan has a sandbox on our balcony and we frequently go for walks and stroller rides.  Sometimes we go to the play ground but most of the equipment is too big for him.  Several times a day we hear “ouh si” (outside), “why” (ride), and “wah” (walk).  He will even hand me his shoes and jacket when he is ready.

We are so amazed by how much he resembles a little boy.  Our baby is growing up!

Happy boy.

Playing outside.

Playing with sand AND water.

Sampling some delicious sand water.

Ethan put his bunny ears on all by himself.

And took his vacuum outside.

Such a silly bunny!

 

I can’t believe another month has went by and Ethan is a whole month older.

Ethan is still very talkative.  New words include “all clean, oh yeah!, hey! and no!”  He can also say several of his body parts including nose, hair, eyes and teeth.  He will also point to all of those body parts when asked.  Ethan loves singing songs and music will almost always put him in a good mood.  We sing lots of silly songs and have listened to his “The Music Class” CD from school about a hundred times in the car.

Ethan is starting to enjoying playing independently.  He especially loves his play kitchen, “ma man” (Little People Batman), legos, and anything that is under the sink or in the cabinet.  He likes to take everything out from under my sink and line it up on the bathtub.  He also enjoys pushing around his shopping cart, “dusting” and sweeping the floor.  He asks for the broom every day to “swee.”

Ethan is still a picky little eater and we struggle to get him to eat.  Though he still has chubby cheeks and a big tummy, so you would never know!  Most days he doesn’t eat hardly anything at daycare since they serve “normal” table food.  He is very hungry when he gets home from school and eats a bunch!  He is finally working on tooth #4.  We are hoping that he will be able to eat better with teeth!

We feel very blessed to live so close to the Children’s Museum here in Indianapolis.  It tastes 20 minutes to get there from our house to the parking garage, and Ethan absolutely loves it.  We go at least every other week.  His favorite part is the carousel.  He loves watching it go around and claps to the music, and occasionally busts out some dance moves.  As soon as we get off he walks himself right back into the line and do it again.  I think he actually likes watching it more than he likes riding it, but he takes his riding very seriously.  He pets the horse, says “neigh” several times, and then claps when the music starts.

Ethan is such a happy, sweet little guy most of the time.  The two times he hates most in life are when mommy is either taking a shower or eating.  When I shower he sticks his head in and cries the entire time.  I have learned to strip him down to a diaper because he ends up sopping wet.  When I’m done he goes off and plays like nothing ever happened.  He also hates when I am eating dinner.  Every night he stands at my side and cries the whole time, unless he is also eating.  He in general is not a fan of anything without mommy.  He is quite the momma’s boy and cries hysterically when we leave him with a babysitter (though he doesn’t mind being dropped off at daycare).

Here are some pictures of our precious little man.

All smiles!

Riding his “neigh” at the Children’s Museum.

This is why we keep the bathroom door closed.

 

 

Our baby is turning into a little boy!  Ethan has changed so much this past month I can hardly keep up with it.  He checked out at his doctor’s appointment as “healthy and totally adorable.”  He weighs 22lbs and 14oz (27%) and is 30.5 inches long (31%).  He has a grand total of 2 teeth.

Ethan’s vocabulary has exploded over the past month.  He is constantly talking and repeating words.  He especially loves animals and animal sounds.  He loves saying kitty cat, meow.  He also knows baa, moo, and neigh when he sees the respective animals or is asked what the animals say.  He is starting to say thank you and please at appropriate times.  He will also say no when he is not supposed to do something.  For example, if he is starting to play with the cat’s food we will say “Ethan, should you play with the cat’s food?” he will say “no!”  He is learning words that help him communicate what he wants (snack, milk, water, banana (which he says nena), applesauce, binky (bee).  He still loves music and singing and is trying to sing songs with us.  He loves baa baa black sheep (he will just baa on and on and on) and lately he likes to sing the alphabet (a, b, b, b).  He also likes to say “Go Dogs, Go!” (Doh Da Doh!) which is one of his favorite books.

Physically, Ethan is starting to walk very well and also tries to run at times.  He can now go up and down the stairs by himself, but we still have to stay close by when he is doing this as he is quite clumsy.  Luckily, he isn’t much of a climber.  He can climb into his chair but does not try to climb up on the couch.  He also hasn’t attempted to climb out of his crib yet.  He still enjoys tasks that practice his fine motor skills.  He is getting good at putting two blocks together.  He also likes tasks that involve using a spoon to put something in another thing.  For example, last week he spent 30 minutes scooping sugar from the sugar bowl into a coffee mug with the coffee scoop.  We ended up with quite a mess, but I got the rest of the kitchen clean and he was happy as a clam!

Ethan is still a very picky eater.  He enjoys crackers, waffles, and cereal.  He still likes bananas but won’t eat any other fruit or vegetable.  His doctor thinks it’s ok since he is still gaining weight.  We keep trying new foods but he doesn’t seem very interested.

Here are some pictures of our little man in action.

Watching Super Why (why why) in his chair (chae)

This is what most meals look like

This is why we don’t have many pictures these days.  Everytime I get the camera out he steals it from me, holds it up to his face and says “chee, chee”

Handsome man!

Our little man is getting bigger every day!  He is definitely much more little boy than baby.  I am amazed at how much he is leaning every day and the ways he communicates with us.

Ethan is starting to walk very well and even tries to run.  He frequently gets going too fast and falls a lot.  He is a bit clumsy and his gross motors skills don’t seem to be quite as refined as he would like them to be.  The poor thing has had several bruises from his injuries.  He seems to be advancing more quickly with his fine motors skills and loves doing things where he can practice.  One of his favorite games is taking the pump out of a lotion bottle and putting it back in.  He is doing really well feeding himself with a spoon (though he usually gives up and uses his hands) and does well holding and scribbling with crayons (though he prefers pens).  He also enjoys his shape sorter and especially loves “stirring” a bowl with a spoon.  Ethan still loves reading books and lately wants to read the same book over and over, 3 or 4 times before I tell him we need to pick another.

Ethan is becoming more and more chatty.  Daycare frequently tells us that he spent the whole daying saying mommy and daddy.  Ethan repeats almost every word we say.  He is picking up more words to his vocabulary and some words he repeats and likes to say even though he doesn’t have an association with an object.  New additions to his vocabulary are apple, down (dow), snack (na), no (na) and milk (mee).  He is also starting to sign “more” though he usually says more while he is signing.  We are working on the names of our family and he is doing well with Oma and Lorelei (yeh yeh).  Ethan is also perfecting a very whiney version of mommy.

Ethan is slowly becoming more independent but still loves being with his mama.  Some days are a bit of a struggle as all he is happy doing is reading books or being held.  He does enjoy getting out of the house.  We go to the library about once a week.  We are lucky to have such a great library with story time and lots of other activities for kids.  They have a nice play room with a train table and an area with big blocks to build towers (and knock down).  We recently got a membership to the Children’s Museum and Ethan loves to go and play.  It is challenging, however, because no matter where we go Ethan is determined to find the one thing he shouldn’t play with.  And since he is so clumsy I have to stay close to him so he doesn’t get hurt.

Ethan is doing really well eating – as long as he is eating something he likes.  His favorite foods include graham crackers, waffles, yogurt, cereal and muffins.  He still refuses to eat any fruits or veggies unless they are in puree form.  I’ve decided to stop fighting him and let him eat what he will and try to focus on him eating healthy.  He does have a sweet tooth and will devour anything that is sweet when he is allowed to.  He especially loves chocolate!  I was a terrible eater as a kid so I guess this is my repayment!

I am happy to report that Ethan is back to sleeping like a champ!  He will sleep 11-12 hours overnight and then take a 2-3 hour nap around 1.

We are all getting very excited for Christmas.  Even though this is not Ethan’s first Christmas it feels as though it is.  Last year I was so sleep deprived I barely remember Christmas.  And even though Ethan won’t understand what is going on, I know he’s going to love the excitement and he is going to love his toys!

The whiney face I’m seeing way too often these days (though it’s still pretty darn cute).

Ethan loves this bear at the library!

Playing in a boat at Shedd Aquarium in Chicago.

Ethan enjoying some ice cream and showing off his newest bruise.

 

 

 

Ethan is on the move!  He went from taking a few steps (for several weeks) to taking multiple steps, to standing up on his own and toddling with ease.  He is also constantly talking these days.  He will repeat almost any word that I say.  He is also frequently using mama and dada to refer to me and Jason.  His favorite words include kitty cat “kee ca,” puzzle “ba bul,” and hi and bye.  He also loves saying “uh oh” especially when he drops something (or throws something on the ground).  The other night he woke up around 4am and I went to settle him.  I picked up his pacifier and dropped it and he said “uh oh.”  It was pretty adorable and made being awake at 4am much more acceptable.  He is also mimicking a lot of things that I do.  After I brushed his hair the other night he grabbed the brush from me and tried to brush it himself.

Ethan still loves getting into things.  He loves opening doors and pulling things out.  He also loves bowls and spoons.  He will sit and “stir” a bowl with his spoon for a long time.  He especially loves a bowl when there is yogurt or applesauce in it.  He demands to feed himself, even though he can’t operate the spoon very well.  He usually ends up reaching into the bowl and picking up the yogurt with his hand and shoving it in his mouth.  Then he will stir his bowl for a while.  He ends up completely covered in yogurt, but he has a good time!

We spent Thanksgiving with my family in Bedford.  Ethan put on a good show for everyone and was adorable.  He seems to moving out of his grumpy phase and getting back to normal.  He is still refusing to take 2 naps a day, but is starting to sleep in a bit later.

Here are some pictures of our little turkey!

Toddling!

We cannot believe we have a one year old!  I am very late with my update as we have been very busy.  Our little guy is constantly on the go and keeps me on my feet!

Ethan checked out perfectly healthy at his 1 year appointment.  He weighed 20 lbs 14 oz (22%), is 29 inches (25%) and his head circumference is 51%.  He is a bit of a peanut but is right where he needs to be, as he was in the 22% in weight at birth.

Here is what our little guy is up to these days:

Sleeping – Ethan has recently deviated from his wonderful 2 nap a day schedule.  For the past few weeks he will not take an afternoon nap.  He first started sleeping longer during his morning nap (2.5 or 3 hours if I would let him) and then not falling asleep for his afternoon nap.  But now even when I wake him up at noon (his normal wake up time) he will not take an afternoon nap.  He will usually be quiet for a half hour to an hour, playing and walking around in his crib.  If I put him down later (11 or 12) he will only sleep for about 1.5 hours!  I have also been trying to get him to sleep in later than 6 so he can make it all day.  Sometimes he will go back to sleep, but sometimes he won’t.  We have also been putting him to bed earlier since he goes so long without a nap.  I think we are just in a bad in between time and hopefully will be back on a schedule soon!

Eating – Ethan is starting to do really well with table food.  The poor thing still doesn’t have any teeth, but really likes bananas and sweet potatoes.  He also still loves muffins, waffles, and crackers.  He is eating much better at daycare than he is at home.  The past few days he has decided he doesn’t want to eat anything except for Mommy’s frosted mini wheats, but I guess that is the age we are approaching!  I feel like I feed him the same things all the time because he is so picky, but I’m hoping to get him to try some new things soon.

School – Ethan just moved to the Toddler room at daycare and he is doing great!  He looks like such a little peanut compared to the other kids in the room.  There are a lot of changes in this room and I was a little nervous, but he is doing really well.  He can only eat table food provided by the school and he takes 1 nap a day on a cot instead of a crib.  Like I said earlier, he eats much better at school than he does at home.  Last week he ate a hamburger!  Goodness knows he wouldn’t even put it in his mouth here at home.  He also eats his meals at a little table instead of in a high chair.  He is doing well with his naps too.  He has never napped well at school and he is actually doing better because the room is quiet and the lights are off.  His teacher said that as long as he can’t see the other kids he will go right to sleep on his cot.  He loves his time there and is always happy when I pick him up.  It is so cute to see him sitting at the tiny little table with all his friends!

Activity – Ethan has really taken off with walking over the past few days.  He also loves climbing up the stairs.  He is pretty much constantly getting into things and making a mess.  Ethan loves putting things in things including his shape sorter.  His very favorite activity is putting things into trash cans.  We’re pretty sure we’ve lost several paci’s and blocks this way.    Ever since he stopped napping well he has been quite whiny and clingy.  I think it is because he is tired.  He wants my full attention all of the time and does not want to play on his own.  His favorite place to be is on my hip with his arm hooked around mine so I can’t put him down.   One day he was so rotten I ignored him, and after a few minutes of crying at the baby gate he got really quiet.  I went in his room to find him face down on the floor on his blankey as if to say “I’m sooooo tired!”  This makes me think he is just tired and hopefully soon he will be back to his well rested happy self!

Ethan’s vocabulary is really expanding.  He constantly tries to repeat everything we say.  He still loves “b” and “d” words but just recently started saying “mama” which is pretty cute!  Some other words he loves to repeat are kitty cat (kee caa), Uh oh, goof ball (boo baa), and the letter A.  He will try to repeat pretty much any word I say, but these are a few of his favorites.  He is almost always talking!  It will be so fun to see his language develop and becoming more refined.

Let me help you unload the dishwasher, Mommy.

Putting granola bars in the trash bag box.

This is what my house looks like most of the time.

And my handsome little dinosaur for Halloween.  We went to the Harvest Party at our church and spent time with friends!

I LICKED ALL THE CHOCOLATE OFF A TWIX BAR!!!

Our sweet baby is only a month away from his first birthday!  They really do grow up so fast!

Ethan has been such a little darling this past month.  He is eating and sleeping well and continues to grow, change and learn every day.  He is still sleeping like a champ most of the time.  It is so nice to have a predictable nap schedule and for him to sleep all night in his crib most nights.  He wakes up around 6:30 every morning.  He usually takes naps at 10am and 3pm and sleeps around 1.5 to 2 hours each.  He will usually sleep until 5pm, or we will wake him shortly after 5 so he goes to bed on time.  He is in bed by 8 for the night.  He is doing really well with purees now and has expanded his horizons to include broccoli, spinach and peas, and pumpkin.  I got so frustrated with him not eating any vegetables so I decided to try some combinations.  I bought several Plum’s Organic pouches for him to try and he loves them all, so I am buying most of his food now instead of making it.  It has taken a lot of srtess off me, especially since he will eat it!  He is still loving his puffs and crunchies and does pretty well with bread items (crackers, waffles, etc).  He even got to enjoy a few bites of my apple cider donuts this weekend (and it was delicious!).  He is still not interested in feeding himself chunks of fruits or veggies.  I am trying to not get too impatient with him, as I know all babies develop differently, but he needs to be on full table foods before he can go to the toddler room at school.  They are doing a fantastic job of working with him at school.  He does still eat much better for them than he does for me!

Ethan has been showing signs over the past few weeks that he is ready to learn how to walk.  For a long time we thought it was a long ways off, as he didn’t seem interested in taking steps or standing on his own.  He was very content crawling, pulling up, then getting back down and crawling to his next destination.  We have been helping him play with his walking push toys and that has seemed to help.  Initially he wanted to stand and push his toy, but he did not want to take steps, so he would have fell forward.  We held his toys so it wouldn’t move so he could very slowly take steps.  After just a few days of this, he took off pushing and walking by himself!  The past few days he has stood on his own for a few seconds (until he realized he is standing on his own!).  I can only imagine what kind of trouble he is going to get himself into when he can walk!

Ethan is currently saying two words.  Well really only one word, but two meanings.  He started saying book (buh) a few weeks ago but it took about a week for us to decide he was really saying book and not just babbling.  But if you point to a book and say “Ethan what is this?” he will say “buh” or if you say “Ethan can you say book?” he will say “buh” which he does not do with any other objects.  Over the past week he has been doing the same for ball, which almost sounds exactly the same as book.  Sometimes it sounds a little more like “baa” but he will say it when he sees a ball.  Sometimes it seems like he is saying “dada” when he sees Jason but we’re still not sure if he is just babbling.  He has also started doing this funny thing where when he says book he lets the pressure of the “b” build in his mouth before he says it so it sounds more like “bbbbbbbbbbuh!”

Speaking of books, Ethan still loves to read.  We are accumulating a lot of books with frequent trips to Half Price Books and Home Goods.  His favorite new book is a lift the flap “noisey” book that moos, baas, and oinks when you open the right flap.  We also go to the library often, which is one of Ethan’s favorite places.  Not only are there tons of books, there are aisles that he loves to crawl up and down.  There are also other kids which always want to talk and play with him.  We are very excited to go to the 1 year old story time at the library in November.

Ethan still loves singing and music.  His new favorite song is “If you’re happy and you know it” and he is learning to clap his hands at the apprioriate times.  He has also started “dancing” when he hears music – wiggling back and forth when he is standing or sitting down.  I’m hoping that we can take a music class at Gymboree this winter.

We are loving every moment with our little boy, and as much as I would love for him to stay little forever, it is so exciting to watch him grow up!

Sitting in the hand chair at the library.

Celebrating Grampy’s birthday!

He loves riding on Daddy’s shoulders!

Sweet little boy.

It is nearly impossible to take a picture of Ethan these days.  It usually goes something like this…

Ethan is doing something cute, I get the camera, he sees the camera and decides the camera is way more cool than what he’s doing.

“Ooooooo a camera!”

“Give me that!”

“Oh, wait, there is something more interesting on tv…”

“Nope, back to the camera.”

“Gimme gimme gimme!  I want it in my mouth!”

The end.