Please and Thank You

We are trying to teach Ethan manners, it is a very long and tedious process considering he doesn't understand very well. But we're starting at the beginning, please and thank you. We just say please whenever he's grunting for something, give it to him and then say thank you. Occasionally he'll repeat "p." One of his favorite things to do is play in the garage with his daddy. Tonight, after Daddy got home later than usual (adding to the fact that Ethan didn't nap too well and was very tired), Ethan goes squealing to the garage door. I told him not tonight, it's late, cold and time for a bath. He starts crying and going "p" "p" like he was trying to say "please." So sweet, Daddy had to take him in the garage for a few minutes.

Forts, Airplanes and Pointing

Forts, airplanes and pointing, these three things have struck up a new found fascination around our house.

Personally, I have always been a fan of a good fort, somewhere to hide or a club house. Ethan currently has two forts in our house. The first is in the coat closet under the stairs, there is extra storage behind the coats, its like a little room. We have some stuff back there but there's just enough room for Ethan and either Mommy or Daddy. Plus, this is where we keep the basketball and football and he goes nuts over either of those. The other fort is the bottom bunk of the bunk beds we have set up in the guest room. We put the dust ruffle thing on the upper bed so it is quite sheltered, add a bunch of pillows and its a perfect hiding place. Yesterday he learned how to get himself in there, now we just have to work on not standing up while in there and then getting out.

Airplanes, oh airplanes, how we love you when you fly so close to our house. Ethan goes CRAZY for airplanes!! He wants to chase them, he even says airplane, it sounds like up but I'm a mom, I know the difference. Although this picture looks like it belongs in the pointing chapter of this blog, he is actually pointing to the passing airplane.
Now comes pointing, instead of just grunting to show that he wants something, Ethan now grunts and points (most the time we have no idea what he's pointing at but hey it's a step in the right direction). He points very frequently, as we've learned with most new skills, he likes to test them out. Here's some good pointing pictures:

What is Ethan to do without his Papa?

Anyone that knows my dad will probably not be surprised to hear that he has been having some trouble with his knee. For those of you that do not know my dad, he has run across the country several times (in mileage), bikes frequently to work, swims over 100 lengths of the pool every weekend and basically is never sitting down. Last Thursday he went in and had some work done on his left knee and is stuck on crutches for A MONTH!!! But that won't keep him down, oh no, he was up and playing on Friday and Saturday when Ethan went over. He even went outside with him. Ethan "helps" his Papa by holding his crutch and walking with him. Grandpa has a follow up appointment on Thursday, I wouldn't be surprised if the crutches were gone sooner than a month.

We're Finally Finishing Our Backyard!!

When we purchased our house, we had a small marsh in our backyard, the grading was off and the water didn't drain correctly to the street. Thankfully, Mike has a good friend that is a landscaper, that he also worked for for a summer, that helped us draw up some plans that would take care of the water. We dug a trench to the street, put in some pvc pipe and created a dry creek bed, we also planted a few trees for privacy. The part we never finished was the patio, we planned a flagstone patio and it just never got done. Last summer was out of the question considering we had a small baby. This year we finally have some motivation and are going to get it done!!

After Ethan's morning nap we went over to Pioneer to look at flagstone and get some estimates. I'm so glad we saved for this before I took a part time position. It just floors me to think about how much we're going to spend on rocks and dirt!!

Ethan liked walking on all the example patios they had set up, most the time he was carrying a rock or two.
Of course, after the excitement of talking with the rock people, Mike wanted to get started right away when we got home


Not too much progress on the patio so far n=but I'll keep you posted.

In other news, Ethan's fifth tooth has broken through!!!

Happy Birthday Dad!

Friday was my dad's ## birthday, for the convenience of all involved we celebrated last night. Since Ethan has his grandfather wrapped around his finger, and Ethan loves trains, we went to Giuseppe's, a restaurant that was an old train depot. Per the request of my father, it was a small gathering, the family and Chuck and Diane, an extension to the family.
Ethan did a very good job at the restaurant, he was very loud but just excited loud, not cranky.

The birthday man watching his grandson
No one but mom and I were taking pictures so this is our self portrait
This was the excited face of a train going by, and when anyone looked away he'd grunt at you and point to the train, like "You're missing it!!"
Since we were asked not to throw a big hoopla for his birthday, and it is a special birthday, we made him this:
We wrote down ## things that we thought of when we think of him, memories, qualities, etc. and put them together for him to read.

This is Ethan making a bee line for the presents when he thought no one was watching

Memories
I got two pictures of my dad with Mike is laughing in the background, at different times, we have good times
Happy birthday Dad/Papa/Sir/Steve!!

Wookey in training

Make sure you pause the music for this one!

He really enjoys wrestling the gorillas.

Where Oh Where Could That Credit Card Be?

My dear sweet little boy, my toddler, is learning and growing at a very rapid rate. Tonight we found that some things he learns cause us to have to be more careful. Here's the story:

Ethan enjoys playing with Mike's wallet, opening it, taking things out, flinging it around, etc. He has recently discovered that he can put objects into other objects, blocks into the box, the animals into the ark, and so on. Well, you can probably tell where this story is headed. When Mike grabbed his wallet today he noticed it was open on his nightstand but didn't think too much of it. When he was getting ready to pay is when panic set in, no credit card. No problem, it's probably at home on the floor somewhere like usual when Ethan plays with it. Thankfully I was there and had my card. We got home and scoured the upstairs, no card, then I remembered, Ethan puts stuff into other things, it could be anywhere by now, but most likely it is in the house. We did find the card, it was in the top drawer of Mike's nightstand. Hopefully there was a lesson learned, to be more careful with wallets and keys, anything that might cause an issue if turned up missing.

This Week in Pictures

Playing in the backyard. My grandma made this sweater before she died, I received it as a gift at my baby shower, it is very special.
All the pictures are now action shots, the boy doesn't stand still
Working hard?
We packed a picnic lunch and walked down to a new park.
Playing in the sand pit, he has a shovel but is using his hand instead
Helping daddy clean the cars, wearing his Where's Waldo hat

Naughty or Nice...

This picture is too funny not to post. Ethan has developed a smile lately that is so mischievous! It just looks like he's up to some trouble.

Don't worry, he's just as sweet as can be. The other day we were able to go to a friends house and have a play date. He wasn't that interested in Izzy, but her Mommy was a different story!! He kept going up to her and giving her kisses on her cheek. No pictures unfortunately.

Best Dressed

We got this shirt from some friends of ours for Ethan's birthday and I laugh everytime I put him in it so I thought you might enjoy it too. (Ignore the booger that I didn't realize was there)
Daddy was in the shower, I didn't think anyone would want to see anymore of him than this so I was very careful