Bedtime

Now that we have this whole bedtime/nap time routine down (for the time being) they are my favorite parts of the day, and not just because he goes to sleep and I get to unwind. I love that I can put him in his crib for a nap with his blankie and lovie and he doesn't cry or hardly fuss, he sucks his thumb and goes to sleep or plays by himself.

This is Ethan with "Blankie" anytime he gets ahold of this or his "Lovie" his thumb goes straight in the mouth

Then he's so happy when I come in to get him after his nap, he usually needs a few minutes in his crib after he wakes up but I go in and read to him, or hang his laundry or just snuggle whatever toy he gives to me. That's nap time, bedtime is a little different:

This is a nightly game of chase that we play, the clothes come off slowly but the excitement remains the same, by the time he's in the tub we are all wonderfully exhausted. As you can see he is getting very good at walking and very close to running.

Daddy's Boy

My son is positively, absolutely a Daddy's boy (and his Daddy loves it)! This is not a recent discovery, but I recently got to see some examples of his love for his Daddy. This past week Mike and I got to work together, that means, 4 out of 5 days we took Ethan to my mom's house together and then went to work. He cries when Mike leaves him!! I know, it makes me a little sick too. Does he cry when I leave, no way, but Mike leaves and there are tears.
It is very sweet to see the two of them together. When Ethan was first born, Mike had a hard time making the adjustment, it's not like he never loved him, he just didn't feel like they bonded, I think he just didn't know what to do with him. Now their best friends. Mike lets Ethan help him with important, handy projects and Ethan just sits and watches, if he has something to play with, Mike explains everything their doing to Ethan. If Mike comes home from a break at work, he'll take Ethan out to his van and let him play with some of the tools.

Make New Friends

Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Colorado Springs, we have been getting quite a few of those this winter, thank goodness, Ethan loves to be outside. After an exhausting morning of playing hard with Grandma and Grandpa (pictures to come, hopefully) and a much needed nap, I took Ethan over to the park. My little boy is growing up so fast, there were times that he didn't even want to hold my hand! He would ask for help when he fell down and then let go and take off! This is a little scary, and not just because I want him to stay a baby for a little while longer, but because he doesn't understand the rules of a playground. Excuse me, let me rephrase, the safety rules of the playground. For example, when he wants to go on the swings, he walks up to the swing, but he doesn't understand that when someone's on the swing he can't walk up to it or he'll get a foot to the face. And the ladder that he's obsessed with, I've let him try and he can't climb it yet, I let him play with it when no one else is but he doesn't understand that when other kids are trying to climb he can't stand there. The list goes on, so although I am so excited he is embracing his Independence when he's playing, I am a natural worry wort (meet my mother) and stay very close to him.
Something very cute happened while we were playing. There was a little girl (almost 10 months) sitting on the side of the playground with her grandma, watching her mom and big sister play. Ethan walked right up to her, sat down and started playing next to her. At this age, kids don't really understand how to play together but it's sweet to see him playing next to her.

He's such a big boy!!

Beautiful Weather in Colorado

We have spent the last three days going park crazy!! It has been gorgeous here, high 60s to 70! On Tuesday we took Grandma to America The Beautiful Park, located in downtown. I'd been there a few times for my dad's races but never with Ethan and never to see the playground. This is my new favorite park, it is gorgeous! A climber or spinners dream park with all kinds of gadgets to play with. Here are just a few of the pictures that we took:


He walked from these big bug things to the wall all by himself





On Wednesday we had plans to go back to Grandma's for some egg salad sandwiches (yum) but stopped at Palmer Park first, not as great as the day before but still fun


And then Thursday which was the end of our spring like weather streak for a little while so we went to our neighborhood park, we are very lucky that it's only a few houses away. This is where my little boy decided he wants to be a big boy. There were lots of kids there and they were all climbing up a metal ladder to get to the big slide and he wanted to have a go at. Now I know you have to let them try things but the kid can't even walk to the park by himself yet and the other kids were waiting so I had to pull him away and go over to the littler play area. Poor guy just wants to play with the big kids, we had fun anyways.

Another Video

For the Love of Teeth

I believe that we are getting paid back for Ethan's first two teeth coming in so beautifully and perfectly. Or maybe it was that I was in such a hurry for him to get more teeth. I'm not sure what it is, but these two teeth are wrecking havoc on that poor little boy. He has all the nasty side effects of teething. Hopefully yesterday was the worst of it. He had three messy diapers during the day, with diaper rash so bad I just stuck him in the tub to clean him off. He didn't eat a very good breakfast or lunch and hardly any snacks. His spirits are so high though, you wouldn't know anything was wrong until you had to change him. We went out to dinner for my birthday and he was great, eating everything as usual. Then we was a riot at my parents house afterward, making us all laugh with his faces and goofy behaviors. We got home around 8 and he was still wide awake, I gave him a bottle and put him to bed. Mike, his mom and I settled in to watch Eagle Eye, a movie. At 11 Ethan woke up fussing a little, we gave him about 5 minutes and then Mike went up to cuddle him and put him back in bed. Mike didn't know he was in for a big surprise! Ethan had thrown up while he was sleeping and it was EVERYWHERE!! All down his p.j.s, on the crib, on the floor, and it smelled!! I took Ethan, Mike tackled the room. Add to that another messy diaper and diaper rash that was getting worse and worse, it felt like we were in for a long night. But, we got everything and everyone cleaned up and settled down and he fell back asleep till three, another messy diaper and terrible rash and then he was back asleep till 8. When he woke up this morning it was like nothing happened! He was happy and hungry and ready to play. The diaper rash was still there but a lot better. He is currently taking a nap. As I said before, hopefully yesterday was the worst of it and these teeth will break soon.

Here's some pictures from my birthday:
Mike made me french toast, I gave Ethan a piece with jelly on it and somehow Milo ended up with jelly on his nose, hmmm
Another nice day in Colorado, we got to go to the park and burn some energyEthan finally got the hang of opening presents, too bad he'll have to wait almost a year till it's his turn againI was taking too long so he opened this one for meAnd then took off with the gift bag

Discoveries

New things in life worth lots of little boy attention:

1.) Turning the vacuum on. Anytime we open the closet door that the vacuum is in, Ethan freaks out with excitement. Take out the vacuum and there's even more joy. Trying to vacuum the floor is impossible, he pushes it from the front as far as it will go, now he knows to grab the handle and push it the right way but only in a straight line, we have to get the walking backwards part down before he can vacuum. Recently, he learned about the little switch that turns the vacuum on and off, so far he can only turn it on but that's good enough for him.

2.) A water fountain. We went with Auntie Bri to watch her friend play indoor soccer and they had a water fountain, this is the second one that has caught Ethan's attention. The first, the button was too hard for him to push on his own. This one though, was not in the best shape of its life and the button was very easy. First he had to push it with one finger, then with the other hand, then both at the same time. Then he had to try to figure out how to push it and stick his hand in the water at the same time (didn't quite get that part). THEN he had to go get Auntie and bring her to the water fountain.

I've been going through some of our older pictures and editing them and I found this one from last Christmas (2007). I thought it was funny because he now fits this shirt!

Momma vs. Dada

To prove my earlier point: