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.