What can Ethan do?

Ethan will be 18 months old in a few days, so I thought it'd be a good time to make a list of the things that he can do at this point. This is not an exhaustive list because I'm an exhausted Momma and am sick with a chest cold, which is NOT helping. Still, I'll add what I can remember and will update this if I remember anything particularly cool later.

Motor skills: He can...
walk, spin, clap, dance, give kisses, give high 5s, climb up and down things (including the stairs), tiptoe, tiptoe while walking, walk backwards, run very clumsily (but cutely!), feed himself with a spoon (though he still prefers his hands), throw lots of things (with distressingly accurate aim, unfortunately for Daisy), roll a ball, sometimes kick a ball, bounce on his bottom, and today he learned how to stomp. Many of these actions are accompanied by his narration: "I bounce!" "I stomp!" "Spinning, Spinning!" "Down stairs!" "Stomp!"

Other skills: Ethan knows (and says)...
the full capital letter alphabet (he points out letters every time we're out and about), a handful of lower-case letters, numbers 0-9, how to count to ten (and he can tell us how many fingers we're holding up for him to count), most basic shapes (star, oval, heart, circle, square, diamond, cross, etc.), names of people he sees often, his own name, most farm animals and their noises, lots of other animals, names of the foods he eats and many that he still won't touch, lots of verbs, nouns

Songs he sings (only partially, still):
Old Mac Donald
ABC song (he gets almost all of it right!)
My Bonnie
Itsy bitsy spider
Hello Song from music together class

Still working on:
Adjectives, colors, jumping, eating a variety of foods, patience. Ethan has a low tolerance for frustration right now, and he gets really upset when he wants to have/do something that he can't have/do. I know it's just a stage and that he'll learn how to deal, but it can be very trying sometimes. But he'll get there. :o)

Feedback

Ethan is getting really good at telling us what he's thinking.

Today, during a diaper change, he said "Brrr, cold!" and smiled when I used the wipes on him. They are a little chilly, but he'd never complained before! :o)

We also went to the outlet mall looking for little boy shoes. Ethan was a pretty good sport, but he eventually yawned and said "I tired!". Normally, he'd just yawn and I'd get it and we'd go home, but how cool is it that he can also acknowledge that his yawn means he needs his nap and it's time for us to head home?

He knows his name now, too. He's recognized his name for months, but now he finally says Ethan when we ask him what his name is. And when we ask him someone's name, he usually gets it right...assuming it's someone he sees pretty often.

Anytime we go anywhere, he chatters on at a mile a minute about everything he sees! There are some things that he is just REALLY into, so when we see/hear them, chances are good that he'll comment on them: Fans (anything that spins like one), the sun (circles with lines radiating out), stars, all things Nemo, water (especially fountains), wheeled vehicles (especially trucks and motorcycles...not so much plain old cars), airplanes, guitars, pianos, music of any kind, cats...and SO many other things. I think it's pretty cool that he's so curious and interactive now. When he sees something he likes, he tells us and gets so excited when we let him know we see it, too. Communicating with him is so much fun, and it's really neat that he can express himself to us and unveil more and more of his little personality every day!

Long overdue update

Ethan is quite the talker! He knows most common animals and their sounds as well as dozens and dozens of nouns and verbs. He knows basic shapes (circle, square, diamond, star) and he also recognizes all the capital letters and can count up to 9. We're working on colors right now. He likes the word blue, but I don't think he knows what it means yet.

He can parrot pretty much anything we say, which is pretty scary. :o) But he's actually retaining and building on what he's parroting, which is really cool. A couple of days ago, we were playing at a local fountain and he threw an acorn at it. Then he announced "I throwed it!". I'm *fairly* certain "throwed" isn't a word Jim or I have used recently, so apparently Ethan has learned basic grammar structures and has decided to add -ed to the end of a verb he knows to make it past-tense. Cool, huh?!?

He's also finishing song phrases. This started in the last week or so. I'll sing "Daisy Daisy" or "My Bonnie" and stop at the last word of a phrase, and he'll "sing" the missing word. Not necessarily with the correct rhythm or tune yet, but sometimes he does even get those right. Again, pretty sophisticated stuff for a 17 month old. Today, during bath-time, I started singing "Old MacDonald" and decided to see if he'd pick the animal. He LOVES cats, so I thought for sure he'd pick cat, but he chose sheep. So we baa-baaed and I was so proud of my son for choosing an animal for the very first time, all by his teeny self! He's also got a favorite non-kid song. Coldplay's "Don't Panic". He requests it during diaper changes and sings along while I'm changing him. Hey, whatever it takes to keep him still!!

Ethan is already starting to create basic sentences. Stuff like "I want it" and "I wanna go outside" and "I throwed it!" He's also pretty decent at saying please and thank you. He's not consistent with that yet, but he's getting there. He requests books by name and he can give me nose kisses and puppy kisses...very cute! Oh, and he's learning his friend's names! He knows Mommy, Daddy, Grammy and Daisy, of course. But he also knows Vivi and Jannah and Hamza. It's good that he's starting to care that the other kiddos have names...he's starting to acknowledge other kids as people, not obstacles. Yay!!

Oh, and he's getting really good at narrating what he's doing. He'll spin and yell "Spinning!", run and yell "Running!", splash and yell "Splashing!" All with a big "whoa, check out what I can do!" grin on his face. Ahhh, that grin!! He is SO full of discovery and excitement and wonder at EVERY little thing! He'll examine, explore, or try something, then he'll look at me with this "Ah-Ha! Check this out, Mom!" grin, and I can't help but fall head-over-heels in love with him a million times a day! Ethan is absolutely exhausting, but I treasure every minute with him and am so grateful that I am able to stay home with him and show him all of these things that he gets so excited about all day long. He's a really cool little person, and I'm just so proud of how sweet and smart and yummy he is!! :o)

The latest...

We're sooo far behind on trying to maintain this blog! Ethan is just amazing right now, but he needs me to keep a very close eye on him! He's climbing on everything (including one of his baby gates) he likes to play with the stove knobs (which are no longer on the stove now...we took them off and moved them to higher ground to avoid gas leaks!), and he somehow manages to be everywhere at once. As I'm cleaning up one disaster area, he's busily creating a new one for Mommy to work on!

He's a handful, but he's SO MUCH fun! Kiddo is talking up a storm. He has dozens of nouns, and even a few verbs and adjectives. He's playing pretend. He's curious about everything...one of his favorite words is "what?" He's able to give me a breakfast or lunch order..." milk! Noodle! Cheerio!, Bana! (Banana in Ethan-speak)" He answers "yeah" and "no" to my inquiries. He recognizes a few letters and shapes. He's just so cool!

And Uncle Tom and Michele...he FINALLY started saying "three" the day after we got home!

We just got back from Seattle, and he was such a great little traveler! One guy on the plane home actually commented on his good behavior as we were getting off the plane. He slept well and was just generally good-natured during almost all of the trip. Yay!!

He's also finally started to give kisses. Before, he'd give us his forehead to kiss, but now he's smacking me with his little baby lips...so yummy!! :oD And he's calling me Mommy now. It's one of the sweetest sounds I've ever heard!

He's growing up SO fast! Every day brings at least a few new words, and he's just becoming SO smart! And he can walk backwards now, which delights him to no end! He's constantly cracking himself up, silly boy! He is just so cute and so much fun...we're really having a good time playing and exploring and just learning all about the world eight now. :o)

Oh yeah!

Forgot to mention that Ethan knows body parts now. He started with Ear, and that was the only one he knew for a while. Then came Eye and Nose, and he's saying foot, hand, and he knows Cheek but isn't saying it yet.

What else? He can sort of count to 3. Sort of...he knows the words, but I'm not sure that he "gets" the actual concept yet. But we're working on it!

Especially in the last few weeks, every day brings new words and new discoveries...it's SO MUCH fun!! He is sooo cute, and hearing him name new things in his little baby voice is just sooo adorable. :o)

Update

It's amazing how much can happen in just one month. Ethan has SO MANY words now! He has a favorite shape (star), a favorite household item (clocks), a favorite line from a book ("down, down, down, plop!" from Are You My Mother), and so many other cool things like that. He's not signing much, but he is talking a lot and is definitely communicating with us. Oh, he just started pointing at stuff and asking "dat?" a few days ago. He's so curious about everything! :o)

Some of his names for things are a little off. He calls his toy cow "moo" and his lamb is "baa." But he definitely knows what they are...if I ask him to get his cow, he grabs it and says "moo!" Pretty neat!

Today, he tried to share his water with a Winnie the Poo puppet. He's beginning to pretend!! He laughed when I made the puppet make "drinking" noises.

And today, for the first time, he called me Mama. No doubt about it. He was with Jim and was looking for me and asked for Mama. When I came into view, he looked at me and said it, then pointed at me and said it again with a big goofy grin on his little face. It made my mommy heart soooo happy!!

Also, he nursed for the very last time on July 24th. He wasn't nursing unless it was naptime or bedtime, and I figured he was going to be able to deal with it well enough to stop, so we did it. I cried after the last time, and I still kind of miss nursing him, but he's doing very well. Still waking up a couple of times a night, but he's generally going back to sleep fairly easily unless his molars are bothering him.

Another big event...I left him with a non-familial sitter a few times. I joined the YMCA and left him with their child care center. He did okay with them. I cried the first time I left him, and the staff were all concerned. :oP When I explained why I was crying, they were all really sweet and sympathetic. They'd all been there, too. :o)

Bird!

Today, Ethan said something that sounded kind of like bird. I wasn't sure if that was what he was trying to say, but then he started doing the sign for bird and kept repeating the word! Yay!

So that's kind of his 2nd or 3rd sign, if you count waving Hi and an occasional "all done" when he's finished eating. He's really resisting using his hands to communicate...he'd MUCH rather try to talk. But if he can manage to do both, that'll really help us figure out exactly what he's trying to say.

Woo-hoo!

Shutterfly is *finally* completely current! Click on the link to the left to see pics. :o)

Stuff our son can do now...

Ethan's behavior has really changed in the last few weeks. They're not kidding when they say that toddlerhood happens fast...!

He's doing a lot more walking and he very rarely crawls anymore. I'll pretend to "chase" him, and he'll walk/run away squealing in delight! I'm sure that game will get old pretty soon, but it's very cute right now! :o)

I noticed a couple of days ago that Ethan's not just swatting randomly at the pages in books anymore. He is actually purposefully turning the pages and trying to separate pages that stick together...pretty cool! He can also tell when he's holding a book upside down. He will look at it funny and then turn it right side up.

On Thursday, we went to Barnes and Noble to go get Harvey Karp's Happiest Toddler book. I was a Momma on a Mission...just wanted to go straight to the parenting section, grab the book, and get out of there. I heard Ethan babbling, but I wasn't really listening...he usually babbles non-stop, and I was focused on finding my book. But when I actually *listened* to his babbles, I realized he was saying "boop, boop, boop." Boop, meaning BOOK. My baby was all excited because there were books all around him! It was TOO adorable!

We've been playing peek-a-boo for a long time now; but just yesterday, he started hiding his eye(s) behind his forearm and hand. He only uses one arm to hide, so sometimes he manages to cover both eyes, sometimes he doesn't. But if he doesn't, he closes the eye that's not covered, so we may as well be gone...good enough! We'll say "Where's Ethan?!?" and he'll move his arm down really fast and look at us and crack up. I need to get it on video...it's so funny, and he is SO proud of himself!

A couple of weeks ago, he discovered that the throw pillows on the sofa are fun to pull to the floor and dive into. He's been yanking them to the ground and he'll get really upset if they're being anchored down by anyone...like Daisy. Now he's also attacking the pillows on his bed. Yes, we have pillows on his bed. Yes, I know the AAP recommends not giving little kids pillows. The AAP hasn't watched our son bang his head into the walls around his bed, either, though! So now, he dives into the pillows we have propped up against the wall on his bed, and he literally bites them and attacks them like a crazy baby, then he looks at us and *grins*! Such a little goofball!

I'm sure there's a lot that I'm forgetting to jot down, but the point is that he's just becoming so SMART. Something happened right around the time he turned 1. He's really a little kid now...my baby is almost impossible to see in this curious, funny, active little boy. He's still squishy and yummy and cute, but he's definitely not a baby anymore.

birthday stuff and sleep training

I meant to update this sooner, but we've been so busy with birthday stuff and sleep training. Better late than never, though!

We didn't actually do anything too special on the 11th...we were saving it all for his party on Saturday! It was a fairly typical morning...he woke up, we played, and then we had breakfast. After breakfast, we strapped him into his infant carseat (the one he came home from the hospital in) for the very last time, and we drove to Babies R Us. They were having a carseat inspection/installation clinic, and we had a 10:30 appointment. They were running very late, so we played on a blanket under some trees until they finally got to us. They installed his fancy new carseat, but they had to install it rear-facing since he didn't weigh 20 lbs yet, but that's OK...at least he's got more room now! He was tired and cranky by the time we finished, so we got him home and he took a nap.

After his nap, we went to the doctor for his 12-month appointment. He got a couple of booster shots, but I asked her to hold off on the MMR and chicken pox vaccines for right now. He's only in the 5th percentile for weight, which has me worried. Dr. Spellings says that if he continues to fall on the growth charts, we may want to do some metabolic testing to rule out any hidden issues. But she agrees that he looks and acts very healthy, and that he started out as a big baby, so maybe he's just dropping on the charts because he's just destined to be a small person like me and Daddy. Still, better safe than sorry. She recommended that we go ahead and start giving him whole milk, so we have been trying. So far, he is NOT interested. He loves water, so I've tried watering it down for him, and that seems to help a little. Some friends have also recommended trying a different brand of milk, so I'm going to try that, too.

Larry and Carla arrived to stay with Mo on Thursday, so we all went out to dinner at Rudy's that night. It was fun, and Ethan did pretty well, even though he hadn't napped. He finally got pretty cranky, so we had to cut the evening short.

My parents got to Austin on Friday evening. We played with Ethan a bit, then I took him upstairs so he could get some good sleep the night before his party. Jim went to the airport at midnight to pick up Keisha, so when we woke up on Saturday morning, we had all sorts of fun people at the house! Mom helped me finish decorating with streamers and they got Ethan's balloons. Jim went and picked up all the food, and everyone helped with final set-up and decoration stuff while I fed Ethan breakfast.

The party ended up being lots of fun! It was hot outside, and I wish I'd gotten an extra canopy for the back yard, but it was ok. The kids seemed to have a lot of fun splashing in the pools and playing in the sprinkler. We found a bubble machine at Target, and it was a HUGE hit! Mo gave Ethan a kid's picnic table and sand & water table, and the older kids had a blast with that. I felt kind of bad for the parents that it was so hot...but at least the kids were happy. :o)

We gathered the family and sang Happy Birthday to Ethan in his high chair. We tried to light the candle on his cupcake, but it just wasn't going to work outside. Probably a bad idea, anyway! He wasn't so interested in the icing, but he went to town on the cupcake itself! He was a gooey mess, and we have lots of pics.

After cupcakes, we all went inside (air conditioning!!) and opened up presents. He got lots of really cool toys, and a TON of outfits. Ethan is going to be a VERY well-dressed kid for quite a while! The party went way longer than we'd planned, so he was tired and cranky by the time everyone left. But he got to spend some good time with his grandparents and Aunt Keisha, so that was good! Later that evening, we went to dinner at Chuy's with some of Keisha's college friends. One of them is in our playgroup, so she's our friend now, too. :o) They are all sweet people, so it was a nice dinner.

Keisha spent Sunday afternoon with our mutual friend, and we had dinner at Mo's that evening. Jim woke up super-early to drive Keisha to the airport on Monday morning. It always makes me sad when she goes home, and I was sadder that I didn't get the chance to drive her from/to the airport. But Ethan was sleeping during those times, so I didn't get a choice. :o(

After everything finally settled down, Jim and I discussed the whole sleep situation and agreed that it was time to make a change. Ethan needs me to go to sleep, but only because he was used to nursing to sleep. Anytime he'd wake up, I'd have to nurse him back down. So, we decided it's time to stop that. We've been doing it since Monday, and so far, so good! He refused to nap without nursing on Monday, so he was exhausted Monday night. He cried and cried and cried for a couple of hours Monday night, but he finally fell asleep. I was right there with him the whole time, but I just wouldn't nurse him. He woke up several times looking for milk, but I didn't give it to him. He cried, but each time was shorter than the last. I was exhausted on Tuesday, so Jim watched him so I could nap for an hour. He actually did finally nap on Tuesday. He fought it at first, but he finally went down that afternoon and konked out for an hour and a half or so. Bedtime took a while, but he fell asleep with out too much yelling. Since then, he's been pretty good about going to sleep. We read a few books, he cries a little bit, but then he's out. :o) He still needs help lying back down when he wakes up in the middle of the night, but I put him down and he usually falls asleep again without too much of a fuss.

Our little boy is 1!

Actually, Ethan won't "officially" be 1 until 3:11 am, but I'm not going to be able to stay awake that long! :o)

He has completely turned our world upside down, and we have loved every minute of our first year with him! It seems like just yesterday that I first saw his sweet little face. It's hard to believe that a year has flown by already. But then I compare this walking, talking, laughing little boy to the teeny, helpless little newborn we met one year ago today, and it's even harder to believe how much he's changed in just one year!

Having him in our life has really been one blessing after another. Watching him grow and learn and discover the world around him brings us so much joy, and we love him SO much! I guess he's not really a baby anymore, but he'll always be my sweet baby boy.

Happy Very First Birthday, Ethan! Your Mama and Daddy love you very, very much!!

FINALLY!

New pics have FINALLY been added to Shutterfly. We still need to add May pics, but there are a LOT of new ones out there. As soon as May is added, I'll send out an e-mail to let everyone know it's finally current. :o)

I'll write more later...too sleepy now!

Busy day!

We took Ethan to the pool for the first time today! He was so cute! We went with some friends and their little boy, and Ethan was mesmerized by all the splashing water and the kids playing and laughing. The pool has a big sprinkler/waterpark area, and he loved watching the fountains flow up and down. At one point, he found a small piece of wood at the edge of the pool. He'd toss it in, climb into the pool via the steps, retrieve the wood, toss it out of the pool, climb out and get it, and start all over. So funny!

A little girl puked in the pool (sigh...that'll be our kid one day, I'm sure), so we decided pooltime was over and we came home. I needed to rinse out my swim suit, so I hopped into the shower and took Ethan with me to wash his sunscreen off, too. So, Ethan has now had his first shower! He wasn't too happy about water falling on his head, so I think we'll stick to baths. :o)

I thought he'd konk out after all of his adventures and a good lunch; but he was still pretty hyper, so we packed him up and headed out to the Domain, an "upscale" outdoor shopping mall. I'd never been there, so I wanted to window shop and check it out. We went to a bookstore first and got a bunch of books. Jim got work books, Ethan got a toy book and a bath book, and I got a book about toddlers. Yikes...he's a toddler!

Then we walked around a bit, Jim looked at watches, I looked at sapphires, we went to the Sony store to look at the tv we may get soon, and we did some more window shopping. Ethan also got a chance to play in some more fountains...kiddo loves moving water!

Ethan was still pretty cheery, so we decided to get pizza...why not?! We ate out, I had a glass of wine (yay!), and I was all for ordering dessert until a spider landed on my arm. I HATE spiders, and this sucker came out of nowhere, so I freaked out and we had to leave. No worries...there was a chocolate shop next door, so we got a few truffles for the road!

We left the pizza place in a hurry, so I let Ethan take a piece of pizza crust to nibble on when we left. As we were leaving the mall, a lady commented on what a cute, sweet baby he is. I looked at the little guy on my hip, and he was COVERED in goobers from dinner and the pizza crust! He was an absolute MESS, and was grinning from ear to ear. That's my kid! So, we got home, and he got a bath as soon as we got here. Now he's a squeaky clean baby boy again!

It's 9pm and Ethan is finally sleeping. I'm worn out, but in a happy way. It's so nice to be able to go out and do things. Ethan is finally getting to an age where we can relax and enjoy being out with him and we don't necessarily have to spend every moment focused on him...he can kind of entertain himself by checking out his surroundings. Not that we're ignoring him or anything! But when they're teeny, you are their whole world, and all they are interested in is you. Now he knows who we are, and he knows we're always here, so he's more willing to see what else is going on around us, which frees us up to do the same thing. I adore our son, and I LOVE watching him experience new things, but it's nice to be able to step back and enjoy things for your own sake every now and then, too. :o)

New words

Today, we had dinner at Mo's house. Ethan entertained us with 2 new words. Grammy gave him a new spoon, and he kept saying " 'poon." After dinner, he was looking out the window and saying something that sounded like "bird." Silly boy!

He also had sweets today. He stole a bite of one of my brownie bites, ate part of a strawberry struedel bite, and tried a cupcake, but he spit the cupcake out. Not his thing, I guess. :oP

Up and down

Ethan has been able to climb up stairs for a while now, but today he climbed down an entire flight! Wooow! I was impressed. :o)

The reunion was great! Even though Ethan was a sleepy boy (he screamed instead of napped in the car), he was so interested in seeing all the new faces and just checking stuff out that he really didn't fuss. Too busy!

On the car ride back to Austin, I sat in the back seat with Ethan. I had handed him a book, Pat the Bunny, but Jim and I were talking and I wasn't really paying attention to Ethan. Suddenly, he said "Hi!" really loudly. I looked, and he was playing peek-a-boo with one of the characters in the book whose face is covered by a little flap of fabric. It was one of those moments when you think your heart is going to pop because it can't possibly hold that much love...! He is just soooo funny and cute!

Hello from Houston!

We're in a La Quinta in Tomball right now. Tomorrow is the big Butcher family reunion...yay! We drove here today and met the Shimeks for dinner at Goodson's cafe. Great place, if you're ever in Tomball!

It was good to see them...I hadn't seen Mr. Shimek in forever, and last time I saw Mrs. Shimek was at my baby shower in Edinburg more than a year ago. For those of you who don't know them, my mom and Mrs. Shimek used to work together when I was growing up. Shimek (that's what everyone calls her) has 2 sons. Her baby, Chris, is my age and Stephen is 2 years older. Anyway, Shimek has always kind of been like a mom to me. She's funny and silly like my mom, but she was always easy to talk with about serious stuff, too. They're just really great people, and it was fun to catch up a litle and introduce Ethan to them. :o)

Anyway, so this is Ethan's (and Daisy's) first hotel stay. Neither of them seems to care one way or the other. Daisy is passed out on a chair, and Ethan is playing Godzilla with Jim. Godzilla is when Daddy stacks up blocks or toys or whatnot, and Ethan crawls or toddles over and knocks the tower down. They love that game!

Oh, our pictures turned out well...I'll add a couple to the blog in a bit. Not the best results ever, but they were free, so we really can't complain! She got a few cute shots of Ethan, though. Well, of course she did...he IS a cutie, after all!

Chompers

I should be sleeping because we're getting up super-early for family pics tomorrow morning. But I wanted to just note that tooth #8 finally popped through today! The one next to his top left front tooth *finally* came through. :o)

Kiddo is getting a full set of little chompers. And he knows how to use them...he latched onto my knee this morning during an "I'm really, really tired but don't want to take a nap" hissy fit. He left teeth marks and a bruise...ouch!

Tooth, clown, and a haircut

Yesterday, I noticed that tooth #7 (next to his bottom left tooth) is through now. I thought # 7 was going to be the top left tooth, but nope. We're still waiting on that one.

Also yesterday, we went shopping for something for E to wear for the family pictures we're taking on Wednesday. While we were at the mall, we saw a clown at the candy store. Ethan had never seen a clown before, so I thought it might be nice to wheel him on over to say hello. Now, I am NO fan of clowns. I don't get them, and I think they're just generally creepy. But kids like clowns, and I'm not going to let my aversion to them keep him from checking out something new...he's not a little Michelle. He can form his own opinions.

So, Mr. clown was a young guy, and he was very sweet. I explained that he was the first clown Ethan had ever met, and he did a couple of juggling tricks to try to impress Ethan. It did not work. Ethan looked at him, looked at me, looked at him again, and completely fell apart! It was kind of funny, in a sad way. Mr. Clown was so disappointed and kept apologizing, and Ethan just screamed. I ended up having to take him out of the stroller and carry him a while before he finally settled back down. So, if anyone was thinking about hiring a clown for Ethan's 1st birthday, let me go ahead and recommend not doing that. :oD

Today was a biiiig day for Ethan (more so for his Momma.) He got his first haircut. I was so sad that he wasn't going to have his crazy baby hair anymore; but I have to admit, he does look pretty darn cute! We went to a salon called Cool Cuts 4 Kids, and I think the girl's name was Hilda? Anyway, she was really sweet and good with him and explained everything she was doing to me and Jim. We plopped him into a firetruck chair and he was mesmerized by the Barney show pretty much the whole time. We don't usually let him watch tv, so he was really interested in the colorful characters. After a while, he started playing with the firetruck's steering wheel, and that made him pretty happy. He stayed calm until the very end, when she tried to use the clippers. He didn't like that. But she *did* nick him behind his right ear, so I'm sure that didn't help. It didn't really bleed or anything, and he didn't cry; but after that he got fussy and was just done with the whole thing. Overall, it was a pretty good experience, and now he looks like the big boy that he is.

Poor Baby...or toddler...

So, we had a brunch playdate this morning. Spaz that I am, when I went to the grocery store yesterday, I forgot to get the mini-muffins I had promised to take. I had to get Ethan up, fed, and changed lightning-quick (which anyone who has a kid knows is laughable) so that I could go to HEB for the second time in as many days just to get the muffins and avoid being the "lame mom."

So, I'm dressing the squirmy kid, and I have to make a choice: t-shirt and shorts, or cute little 1 piece jumper? One piece...quicker, right? Fine, that's what he's wearing. Except, it's all baby blue with little cartoon animals all over it. But hey, he's a baby, that's what babies wear, right?

Whatever, I get him dressed, we get in the car, we get muffins, we show up on time, the world is a good place. But then I start watching Ethan playing with the other kids. He's standing up, cruising, (no walking this morning), and bouncing along to music. In a baby blue jumper with little cartoon animals all over it. He's totally a toddler, and he was wearing a baby outfit. It was just wrong! So, I still ended up feeling like the lame mom anyway.

Forgive me, Ethan...that jumper is going into the pile of clothes that Mommy will not make you wear anymore, I promise!

Look who's walking!!

Yesterday at Music class, Ethan took two steps! He was chasing a little girl (Samantha), of course. :o) He's gotten up to 4 steps at a time. Still a work in progress, but he's walking. And no, he's not a toddler yet, darnit. Not till his Momma says so! Sigh...such a big boy!

Also, he drank from a regular cup all by himself today. No spills, until he got tired of drinking and tossed the cup over the edge of the highchair. But that was on purpose. :o)

And I also taught him how to say Cheese. Not as in "Ooooh, Mom's going to take a picture!", but as in "this gooey stuff I'm squishing in my hands is cheese, and now I'm going to eat it!" Babies saying cheese is very cute!

He's so much fun!

First Mother's Day

This is a holiday I've celebrated all my life, but it's kind of cool this year because it's my turn to be celebrated, too. Being a mom is such hard work, and sometimes I miss how easy life was before Ethan came into our lives. But then I see his gooey little smile or hear him babbling away in the little language that only he can understand, and my heart is so full of love for him that it almost hurts. There is nothing in the world I would rather be doing with my life right now...being his mom is a 24/7 job, but he is worth every second.

Ethan is growing up so fast! I've been busy planning his 1st birthday party and finding all the stuff we're going to need to create a fun and safe pool party for a bunch of little bitty kiddos. It's going to be a short party since little ones get cranky pretty quickly and it'll most likely be hot outside. :o( But still, I think we've planned it all out pretty well, so everything should be ok! I know he won't remember this, but Jim and I will, and we're going to take lots of pictures! I'm also planning on taking a picture of all of our guests gathered around the birthday boy and having them sign a photo mat so we can have a nice framed photo. If this goes well, I hope to make this an annual birthday tradition! If you can think of any other b-day traditions that we could start, please let me know...I'm looking for more ideas!

Anyway, Ethan got tooth #6 (next to the top right tooth). We saw that it had come through yesterday evening, but I'm not sure exactly when it did...top teeth are hard to see and it's hard to get him to let us poke around in there! But I had checked a few days ago and it wasn't quite through yet.

His latest feat...he makes kissing noises! I say "kisses!" and make kissy faces at him. He can't pucker up his lips, but he figured out that he can make the noise by sucking on his tongue, so he sticks out his tongue and starts sucking on it when I say kisses. It's hilarious!! This all started yesterday.

He's getting better about saying Hi appropriately. Dad will come home from work and come around a corner. As soon as E sees him, he lets out a big happy Hi! Very cute! Oh! And he learned how to High 5 last week! That's pretty neat! He doesn't slap hands very well yet, but he smiles and puts his hand on the hand you're holding up. Sometimes he claps afterward if he's really excited.

A couple of stories to illustrate E's personality:
Most babies grab anything near them and stick it in their mouths, or they dig into food and make big old messes. Ethan's not like that. He likes to check stuff out, but he's very cautious and would rather observe things visually instead of just diving in. So, we went to a birthday party at a playground last weekend. I put Ethan down in the gravel by the playscape to see what he'd do. He looked at me like I was crazy for dropping him into the weird stuff, but he finally started playing with the rocks. He stared for a while, then picked one up, squeezed it in his fist, dropped it, then got another one, pinched it, held it up so he could see it better, tried to eat it (I stopped him there), and then picked up another one. Meanwhile, our neighbor plopped his son right next to Ethan. Hamzah is a week older, and he immediately grabbed two huge fistfuls of rocks and just dove right in and started digging! His dad mentioned that he'd never been in gravel before, either.

A similar thing happened on Friday at lunch. A friend and I got mashed potatoes for our little ones (her daughter is 2 weeks older than Ethan.) Vivi grabbed fistfuls of potatoes and immediately smeared them into her mouth, hair, cheeks, everywhere. It was adorable! Ethan looked at his, stuck out his pointer finger, slowly poked at the potatoes, scrunched up his eyes and nose, and just looked at me as though he were saying "this feels icky, but I want to eat it...help!" Then he opened up his mouth so I could spoon them in for him!

That's our kiddo! He's just very cautious and he likes what he likes. Squishy things are just not cool in his mind...not yet, anyway! He will hold and eat a banana until he's squeezed it so much that it's become soft, and then he'll get mad at it and I'll have to feed him the rest with a spoon. He really is a funny little guy! But he's a lot like his dad, and I love seeing those similarities unfold. He looks a lot like a Garza, but he's definitely Jim's little boy!! It makes this Mommy's heart happy to see her two favorite boys playing together. :o)

What we've been up to!

Well, things are still crazy here, but I think things will start settling down soon....I hope!
Let's see, Ethan got tooth #5 on Saturday the 19th. It's the tooth next to the front bottom right tooth. He'll be ready for steak soon! :o)

I turned 30 on the 21st, the same day that the movers packed up Mo's house in Houston. She showed up in Austin later that evening, so we all went out to dinner at the Olive Garden. We ended up sitting right next to a couple that had just found out that they are a few weeks pregnant. The guy kept asking questions like "How old it that?" and "Can it walk?" with a deer-in-the-headlights look on his face. At least Ethan was a sweet baby during dinner, but he just kept staring at them. I think the girl was amused, but the guy was a little freaked out. Quite funny!

The movers came and dropped Mo's stuff off all day Tuesday, and she went back to Houston that night to finish cleaning up the old house. They closed on the sale of her house, and she came HOME to Austin on Friday afternoon. YAY!

Friday, I caught Ethan clapping while I was folding laundry. I got all excited so I started encouraging him. He's clapping a lot now, and he gets SO excited!

My parents came for a quick visit on Saturday. They loved on him and enjoyed watching him show off his crawling, cruising, standing, talking, and clapping skills. We went to dinner at Rudy's BBQ with Mo. We brought Ethan home and gave him a bath. He learned how to splash last night. He was cracking himself up!! There is nothing in this world more yummy than his little laugh!

So, stuff on the horizon...Mo's still got to get settled in to her new house. Jim will probably not be employed after May 1st (so we think, but probably.) We're still hopeful that things will get straightened out soonish, but ugh. And my dad is having knee surgery on May 8th. He needs both knees done, but they'll only do one at a time. Ethan is getting really good at standing on his own and balancing, so we kind of think his first steps will come any day now.

Jim mentioned that it's been a really odd time because everything is so up in the air. The economy, the election, Mo's move, my parents' situation, and Jim's job. Maybe I should be more concerned, but we're happy and life is good, even thought it's been stressful.

Busy, Busy!

Wow, where to begin?!?

Well, Jim's work situation is still up in the air, but it's looking good right now, and we're hopeful that it will all work out for the best. My parents are in Mexico, presumably working on getting their kitchen installed. They've been gone a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping they'll be home soon...when they are in Mexico, we have no way of contacting them to see how things are going. :o(

But the BIG news is that Mo found a house and signed a lease yesterday! So she's going to be packing up her house and moving to Austin over the next couple of weeks! We've been talking about this for so long, and it's kind of hard to believe it's finally actually happening!! I'm really looking forward to Ethan getting the opportunity to grow up with at least one of his grandparents. Mike and I only saw our grandparents once or twice a year...if we were lucky. We just never really had a chance to get to know most of them. Mo will be a part of all of Ethan's milestones, and I think that is really special. We're looking forward to sharing those memories with her. I adore him, and Jim adores him, and now his Grandmommy is going to be here to love on him too...lucky little man! :o) Of course his other grandparents adore him, too, and we'll work hard to make sure they're not strangers to him like my grandparents were.

So, over the past few weeks, Ethan has just been talking up a storm! He's really cute...he just babbles and babbles. A lot of his babbles are starting to sound more like conversations, and sometimes like actual words. He says something that kind of sounds like Daisy, but the one thing he's getting pretty good at is waving his hand and saying Hi. I'm not 100% sure he's doing it on purpose, but it's still really sweet!

He's also figured out how to get off of the bed (mattress on the floor) without landing on his head. He skooches one little leg over the edge, then he finds the floor and stands up. Not rocket science, I know, but it took him quite a while to figure it out and then to do it consistently! Hey, he's a baby...it's all new to him!

Also new...yelling and hissy fits. He yells just to hear his voice sometimes. He likes that it can be loud, and he thinks it's fun so it's kind of cute sometimes. But the hissy fits are not cool. Sometimes they're because he's teething, but usually they're because he's just not happy with how things are going. He will pitch a fit if he wants Cheerios but I want to feed him chicken, that kind of thing. We're trying to not let him associate his fits with making us do what he wants us to do. But he just doesn't have the words to tell us that he wants something else, and he's still not picking up sign language yet (except for sort of waving hi), so we'll just have to deal with it for now. But I am still trying to work on signs with him. I hear that once they start mimicking your hand movements and clapping, then signing really starts to work. But he's not there yet...bummer for us!

Ethan is now fascinated with closing doors. This leads to hissy fits because once the door is closed, he's stuck in that room and he can't go anywhere. And he can't play with the door anymore because it's closed. It's driving Mommy a little nuts, but it is funny! He's also grinding his teeth and starting to take little bites out of cheerios with his front teeth, pretty cute!

Catching up

It's been a while since the last blog because Ethan and I both got really bad colds. But we're all better and finally getting back into the swing of things!

Ethan was having issues with his appetite while he was sick, but now he's eating almost anything we put in front of him! He's eating chunks of cheddar cheese all by himself. While I was still sick, we made chicken and veggie soup and a beef pot roast, and he had bits of both meals. We went to Chuy's with Mo on Easter Sunday and Ethan ate some of our beans, rice, guac, and cheese. We had chinese food and he ate some of my chicken and soft veggies. At a birthday party on Friday, he chowed down on bits of my hot dog. He got upset when it was all gone, so I ended up getting a second one so we could share it, too! We went to the County Line last night and he ate some brisket, chicken, smoked turkey, beans, and a taste of potato salad. I gave him some cottage cheese and pineapple that I had for breakfast recently, but he was not happy about that snack. But kiddo is an eating machine, which is great because he burns SO MUCH energy playing!

Ethan is cruising like a champ, and he's starting to let go of whatever he's supporting himself on to see how long he can stand on his own. So far, he's still pretty bad at it, but he does stand a little longer each time he tries! :o) He's also got this hippo toy that he can pull up on and push around. It's so funny to watch this teeny little baby walking behind a big blue hippo! But he's really good at walking as long as he has something to hold on to. He even runs sometimes if he's excited and gets in a hurry...like when he's chasing Daisy!

He's also talking a lot now...sort of. He's been saying something that sounds kind of like "Daisy" when he sees her, but it's not really consistent yet. He's also been saying "Hi", but we can't tell yet if he realizes what he's doing, or if he's just making noises. It kind of seems like he knows he's saying Hi, though, because he says it when looking right at us, and he waved a couple of times while saying it...? Hmmm, I guess we'll know for sure soon enough!

Tomorrow we are going to start his Music Together classes, and we're really excited about that. Ethan looooves it when Jim plays Ukulele, keyboard, or guitar for him, and I'm always singing to him or playing CDs. He also "plays" his toy piano and xylophone all the time. He seemed to really enjoy the free sample class we went to last month, so I think he's going to really enjoy it.

Other than Ethan stuff, we've got a lot of crazy stuff going on over here with Jim's work, my parents' whole drama, and Mo's sale of her home and upcoming move to Austin. There is a lot of change and upheaval in the air right now, so we're just trying to take everything one step at a time and just have faith that everything will work out the way it is supposed to. Please keep our family in your thoughts and prayers as we muddle our way through these crazy times!

Oh yeah!

Oh, and as of today, Ethan is no longer a vegetarian. He had chicken and sweet potatoes for dinner. Mmmm, meat! He also had a bit of cookie at the wedding....mmmm, sugar! :o)

Recent adventures

Well, Ethan's schedule has been a complete mess all week because of daylight savings time last Sunday. He turned 9 months old on Tuesday, and we had a check-up at 8am that morning. I didn't factor in the time change, so I woke the poor little man up waaaay earlier than he was used to getting up! He did surprisingly well, though! He's at about 17.5 pounds now...still a little on the skinny side for his height, but he's happy and healthy and doing great. They did a routine blood draw to check for anemia and lead poisoning (thanks, Chinese toys!), and we should get them soon. Doc says not to worry, though. She hasn't seen any lead poisoning in any of her kiddos yet.

As far as mobility, he's crawling all over the place. He climbs anything that stays still (including poor Daisy). He's also cruising like a pro...he can walk around his activity tables, furniture, and along walls pretty darn well. He's stood on his own a couple of times, but just for a few seconds at a time. Then he gets too excited and falls down. But he's working on it. He's also doing well at "walking" by holding our fingers for balance. A couple of days ago, he practically ran down the hall after Daisy, laughing hysterically the whole way!

Ethan's also "talking" much better. He doesn't just repeat the same couple of syllables over and over, or just make gooey noises anymore. Lately, he's been babbling and stringing different sounds together. No words yet, but it sounds much more like people-speak as opposed to baby babbles. We laugh because he's starting to sound like a little boy now...crazy stuff.

I've noticed over the last few weeks that Ethan's attention span is getting much better. He's much more interested in books than he used to be. He actually looks at the pictures and can sit through the whole book now. In some books, he recognizes the pictures...in Goodnight Moon, he always reaches for the mouse on the "Goodnight mouse" page. Every time! He's also watching my hands through all of the alphabet song (I sign the letters to him as I sing it)...I used to lose him around HIJK! He's also getting better at playing with toys. He examines and manipulates a toy until he's got it all figured out...he doesn't just toss it aside after banging on it for a minute or two anymore.

On Thursday, we went to the Blanton museum (UT is on spring break, so perfect time to be on campus!). There were a couple of exhibits that had him absolutely riveted. Our baby likes ART! :oD One exhibit was shaped like a big raindrop filled with water. Air bubbles came from the bottom of the drop and bounced around a bunch of colorful obstacles (kinda like a pachinko in reverse). Ethan LOVED it! It made bubbly sounds, it was colorful, and there were bubbles!! The other exhibit was a big tv screen in a dark room. The artist had mounted a camera above a 5-lane highway and assigned a musical note to each lane. So as a car showed up on each lane, the corresponding note would play as the car drove down the screen. There were lots of colorful moving cars, music, and a big tv. Ethan just sat there grinning for almost 15 minutes! It was adorable!

We were in the museum for a full hour and a half. A couple of the other babies started fussing and getting upset, but not Ethan...he was having so much fun! Besides all the exhibits, the most fun part of our outing was people's reactions to Ethan. The little guy draws attention! Several people came up to us to talk with him because he was smiling at them or just to tell me that he's a pretty or a sweet (or both!) little boy. He got a couple of comments about how great it is that someone so small could already enjoy a museum. I know it's silly, but I just loooove taking him places! He's so sweet, smiley and social, and I just think it's so cute when he engages strangers...he brings out the best in people!

Today, we went to our friend Henry's wedding. (YAY Henry!! We are sooo tickled for him and his wife!!) There were lots of friends there who we hadn't seen in a very long time. Some didn't even know we had a baby! Ethan hadn't napped, but he managed to not get too grumpy and charmed friends and strangers alike! He did get upset a couple of times when the crowd laughed or applauded during speeches...the loud noises startled him. But he settled relatively quickly. They had hired a string quartet, so I took Ethan over to them so he could watch them play. He really liked the cello, or maybe he just liked flirting with the cellist? Either way, he had fun!

Crazy week!

Not sure if I blogged about this already (I think not, but I just can't remember!) but Mo was in town for the last part of last week. We had such a good time with her. Ethan just LOOOOVES spending time with his Grammy! They are so cute together! He just smiles and grins at her (and her dog, Tucker), and Mo's just crazy about him and loves to watch him show off all of his new skills.

On Saturday, we went up to her property in Jonestown and took Ethan and Tucker to the lake. Ethan had never seen a lake, ducks, or geese, so he had a pretty good time. Someone had broken a branch off of a biiiig oak tree, so I took Ethan over to it so he could check out the leaves, branches and bark. He didn't seem to like it, but I'm determined that he's going to like nature, unlike his daddy! :o)

On Monday and Tuesday, Mo and I (mostly Mo while I took care of E) picked a bunch of colorful perrenials, cleaned up my front flower bed and planted the new plants. They look great! I'd been meaning to fill in our bed for ages, but after the bed was created, it was the middle of summer (too hot to plant), then I got pregnant in the fall and was sick, was huge last spring, and then was busy with Ethan last fall. So, I am SO GLAD that Mo was able to help me with all of her gardening knowledge and actual manual labor! She is AWESOME!!! She also gave me lots of ideas for other things to plant, and I'm looking forward to doing that this spring!

In other news: Ethan's first top tooth (3rd tooth) broke through on Tuesday. It was his top left tooth. Only part of it came through, though, so he's been pretty miserable all week. The worst of it seems to be over for now, but his other top tooth looks like it's getting ready to come through, so I'm sure we'll be going through some more cranky days and sleepless nights very soon. He hadn't been eating much because of the pain, but now it's like I can't get enough food into him fast enough...he's ravenous! I'm just taking advantage of this while I can. I hope to help him chunk up before the next hunger strike! :o)

A couple of days ago, I went to the store and got him some Earth's Best Barley teething biscuits and some Mango and Pear baby food. The biscuits were a complete mess, but he LOVED them! He was covered in gunk, but he was soooo happy! And apparently, the kiddo is a big fan of mangos! I'd been having a hard time getting him to eat any fruit but bananas, but he went through the jar of mangos really quickly and kept looking for more when it was gone. It was pretty funny!

All week was pretty crazy with Mo in town, Ethan having fits because of his teeth, and the termites. Yes, the termites. Our house has termites. So, I called around for estimates after Mo left, and inspectors came by on Wednesday and they did the treatment yesterday. It was funny, all 3 companies (Terminix, Orkin, and ABC Pest and Lawn) use the same chemicals and techniques, but ABC was about 1/3 the cost of the two national companies. The guy who did the treatment was very sweet, and he was great about answering all of my questions.

I'm late for Ethan's dinnertime, so I need to sign off!

Uh oh!

Ethan's already getting to be a handful! This afternoon, I was sorting mail at our dining room table, and I watched him crawl toward the foot of the stairs. No biggie, I figured. He can't climb them yet, but he likes to pull up on the bottom step. I looked away for a few seconds to open a piece of mail and pull it out of the envelope, then I looked back at the stairs...no Ethan! I could hear him making baby noises, but I couldn't see him anymore.

I dropped the letter and hurried to the stairs. He was on the second step, working his way up to the third one! He learns a new skill every day! He made it all the way up to the 4th step before he decided that he was tired of climbing. We have already installed baby gates at the top of the stairs to keep him from falling, but I guess we need to go ahead and install the ones we got for the bottom of the stairs, too. Kiddo is everywhere. It's amazing how quickly he figures stuff out. Great for him, but scary for Mommy!

Other than that, what have we been up to? His sleeping is getting better, thank goodness. Today, we played outside in the grass (without a blanket) for the first time. He wasn't happy with that. The grass is all winter brown and crunchy, so he didn't like it at all. He also drank out of a cup in his high chair, but I took the lid off the sippy cup and let him make a mess. He was sopping wet, but it was new and interesting to him. He's used to tipping sippy cups over without worrying about a mess, so this was a surprise. We went to a mom group yoga class yesterday. I didn't get to do much yoga, though. Spent most of the time chasing him and keeping him out of trouble. :o) But we still had a good time! Ethan and daddy are sleeping now. Mommy's going to go join them!

Today

Except for the fact that naptime was a complete mess, we had a great day today! After breakfast (and no morning nap), we met Tatem and her 3-month old daughter, Eliza, for lunch. The kiddos slept through most of lunch perched on the table in their carseats. They were awake by the time we left, so we looked at windchimes at Wild Birds, Unlimited. Then we went to a kids' resale shop where I got Ethan an umbrella stroller, a foam ABC playmat, and BabyLegs since crawling on carpet is tearing up his knees. (BabyLegs are kind of like baby legwarmers, only think less '80's pop chic and more crunchy Austin hippy chic...).

Anyway, after that, we went to a pet store to show the kids hamsters, fish and bunnies. Eliza was less than impressed...I think she was actually asleep?...but Ethan liked the fish. Finally, we ended up at Barnes and Noble and hung out in the kids' book section, where we found a playgroup pal, Eli, and her nanny, Elyse. Eliza and Tatem read books and looked at pictures while Eli and Ethan crawled all over the place, looked at books, and just made weird baby noises...they had fun!
Also, Ethan climbed up a step, all by himself...crazy kid! He just started really crawling, and he's already climbing stuff. Yikes!

We finally left because I could tell E was getting tired. He napped a bit on the way home, but mostly he fussed. When we got home, I tried to get him down for a nap, and he just lost it! He cried for a good 45 minutes...just inconsolable. I thought it might be his teeth, so I gave him some Tylenol after about 10 minutes, but it didn't really seem to help. He finally wore himself out and napped for an hour and a half, poor little guy. He's having such a rough time sleeping right now, but he is an absolute sweetheart angel when he's up and playing.

At dinner tonight, I gave him some avocado. I think he liked it, but hard to tell. Anytime I give him any new food, he makes crazy faces, but he always opens up for more...? He's also had macaroni noodles, kiwi fruit, and black beans this week. Trying to introduce more variety to him. We got a book, Super Baby Foods, recently. It's all about how to prepare homemade food for babies. It's advocating feeding him yogurt and egg yolks, so I asked his doc about it. She recommended no eggs till after 1 year, and said to take it slow with the dairy since I'm lactose-intolerant. She said to start with hard cheeses first since they have less lactose, and just see how he does with those. So, we'll be trying that soon.

Oh! And he started taking baths in the big-boy tub a few days ago! I think tonight was the 3rd or 4th time? He likes it! He cried the first couple of times, but I think he's gotten used to it, and he likes being able to splash and play with more toys now that he has more room!

Anyway, it was a good day! We're going to a yoga class with the playgroup tomorrow...yay!

And he's off...!

It's been really hard to post anything lately because Ethan is now officially crawling! Our study is a baby danger-zone, and I can no longer plop him next to me with a toy and reasonably expect him to stay there. Crawling has also really messed up his naps, but he is napping right now, so here I am!

We've had a very interesting couple of weeks! With Ethan learning how to crawl, our bed is no longer safe for him. We fully expected to transition him into his crib by this point, but we didn't anticipate all the sleep problems crawling would cause! Plus, all 3 of us had a cold last week, and now Ethan is getting tooth #3 (his top left tooth!), which means even more fussy nights! So, for the time being, we've got our mattress on our floor.

I personally am going to miss having my cuddly baby in our bed, but we're just not sleeping very well anymore, so it's time for a change. Co-sleeping worked for us, especially in the beginning with all of the constant nursing and his reflux issues. Then we were all just kind of happy with the arrangement, so we kept it up. But it's getting to be too hard to get a good night's sleep.

Sigh. I hear a baby voice from the other room. Well, that was a 15 minute nap...I'll take what I can get! It's way too hard to blog 1-handed (carrying him now), so I'll have to finish this later! And no, still no new pics on Shutterfly...sorry!

Progress!

It's the little things that make a Mommy happy...This morning, I gave Ethan breakfast and offered him peas straight from the jar. No hiding them in cereal or mixing them with other food. He ate them up! There were no icky faces, no tantrums, just an open little mouth asking for more! He gobbled down the whole jar!! Woo-hoo!

I'm trying to get him to eat chunkier foods. That's not going very well...he definitely doesn't like it so far. I gave him some tiny chunks of well-cooked carrot and potato this morning, and he just wasn't interested. I thought babies were supposed to stick everything into their mouths? Not my kid. He just looks at the food, maybe grabs it and squishes it between his fingers, then looks at me as if asking...now what? I'll try spooning a little into his mouth, and then he starts making all these faces and drooling like crazy till the offending matter is expelled. SOMEtimes he'll actually eat it, but not usually.

It's so funny watching him learn about new things. We were playing with a toy fire truck a while ago. He'd seen it several weeks ago, but he's grown up so much since the last time we played with it. Last time, we played with it for him, and he just watched it zoom around. This time, he pushed and pulled it and got all excited when he realized that he could make it go. It was pretty cute!

Butchers and Garzas, and other stuff we've been up to

It's been a crazy busy couple of weeks. Jim went to Boston for work a couple of weeks ago. Apparently Boston in January is pretty darn cold; but other than that, the trip went really well. We should hear in a couple of weeks exactly how well it went, but all signs so far seem very positive.

While he was gone, though, Mo called with bad news about his Great Aunt Wanda. She'd been fighting cancer for 16 years, but she'd been doing really well lately. Last time we saw her, in late October, she looked great and was her usual funny self. But she took a rapid turn for the worse, and she passed away the Saturday morning after Jim got home. We went to Houston on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week to say goodbye to her. She was a classy lady, and it was always a treat to get to spend time with her. She was funny and animated and just so full of life...it's hard to believe she's really gone.

The circumstances were unfortunate, but her passing brought all sorts of Butchers together. Jim's dad flew in from Florida, so we got to spend a little time with him. Jim's uncles Ernie and Larry and his Aunt Carla were also there. Jim's grandmom took us all out to dinner on Tuesday night, which was really nice. I was worried that Ethan was going to pitch a fit since we were out so late and surrounded by lots of people, but Kiddo was on his best behavior and was a sweetheart. He got lots of ooohs and aaahs and comments about his being the newest Butcher. He's not the newest Garza anymore...the newest one was born right after E turned 6 months old, but it's nice to know he's still the baby on the Butcher side. :o)

Jim had to work Thursday, so we headed home after the funeral on Wednesday. Not long after we got here, my parents arrived. They were here until Saturday morning. It was kind of neat, though...Wednesday was the first time Ethan saw all 4 of his grandparents in the same day! Heck, I think the only time Jim and I have accomplished that was during our wedding! So, that was a big first for E.

Anyway, my parents had a good time loving on Ethan and watching his attempts at mobility. He's getting a lot better at moving around. He's not "good" at it yet, but he's getting better every day! He's really fussy right now. I hear that happens a lot when they're working on milestones. His big problem is that he just doesn't want to sleep! I put him down for a nap, and he immediately flips himself over onto hands and knees and starts trying to take off. But he's crying the whole time, because he's super-tired! It's like his little brain wants sleep but his body wants to get up and go, and he's having a rough time getting them to cooperate.

We've ordered a ton of babyproofing stuff...gates, cabinet latches, furniture brackets, etc., and it should be arriving soon. Our next big project is getting everything babyproofed, starting with the gameroom and the rest of the upstairs. Right now, when we play downstairs, he's either in my lap, in his exersaucer, or his play yard, so I'm not too worried about him sneaking away down there yet. But the upstairs is a free-for-all, so I'd feel better getting it babyproofed first.

Also, tonight was Ethan's first Superbowl. Woo-hoo! Mommy was rooting for the Giants because why not?...and they won. Ethan got excited when Mommy got excited about their game-winning touchdown. It was pretty cute!

So, hopefully things will settle down a bit now. We're not expecting any more family visits for a while, Jim's work will get back into his usual routine after a release on Tuesday, and I'm hoping Ethan's naps will start going better soon. I'm going to do my best to not try to do too much with him this week...minimal playdates and errands...so he can get his little schedule back on track.

We'll be posting January pics in Shutterfly soon. I'll post to let you know when the new album is out there.

Any day now...

Ethan is going to start crawling. He's scooting right now. If we put something that he really wants (a remote, cell phone, etc...why do babies love those so much?!?), he will get on all fours and slowly but surely make his way to the desired object. Half the time is spent on his tummy or with his head smushed into the floor, but he does eventually get there. He's not crawling, yet...it's more like a sea lion's belly flop in super-slow-mo. But he's right there, and you can tell that he's going to figure out the knee-hand-knee-hand thing soon. He moves them now, but in no particular order yet.

I'm hoping he'll hold off a couple more days. Jim just left for Boston and won't be back till late Friday night. It'd be great if he can be here for the first real crawls! :o) But E's already got a mind of his own, and the kiddo is really determined to get this motion thing figured out, so we shall see!

As far as new foods, he had plums and apricots late last week, and I finally got him to eat the carrots I made on Monday, but only if they are mixed with his cereal. That's the only way he'll eat peas, too. We also got him some little baby finger-food stars over the weekend. He grabs them but forgets they're in his sticky little hands until he goes to grab something else and the star snack is in the way. He's not wanting to eat them yet, but mom and dad think they're yummy. We and Daisy have eaten more of them than Ethan has!

New Stuff

This blog is serving as a baby book of sorts, so I feel obliged to note that Ethan has had several new foods this week: On Wednesday, he had pear and raspberry baby food...1st raspberries. Thursday, he had some instant potatoes and chewed on a french fry (didn't actually eat it, though.) Today, he had peach, oatmeal, banana baby food and some beets mixed with his rice cereal. Beets...talk about a colorful mess!

Today, he also had his 2nd flu shot (babies need it in 2 doses). He ran a fever with the 1st one but seems a-ok this time.

Being a Mommy

Ethan didn't like the carrots I made, but he likes jarred carrots. He didn't like the green beans I made, so I decided to try giving him the jarred version for dinner last night. At first, he was having none of it. But then I mixed them with a little bit of oatmeal, and he started scarfing them down as fast as I could give them to him! I was on the phone with a friend and I was excitedly telling her what a little green-bean-eating champ my son is. Oh, what a proud momma!

As soon as I finished praising my son's love for a new veggie, he put me right back in my place. All the green beans, oatmeal and water he'd had for dinner made their way back up. His face, his bib, his clothes and his high chair were covered in yuckiness! And what does the kid do?? He *grins* at me and opens wide for more green beans!! Yeah, right!

Today, dinner went much more smoothly. I was leery, but I decided to go ahead and try the green beans again. They stayed down...woo hoo!! After dinner, Jim and I decided to put on a bubble show for him. He was not impressed, but Daisy had fun trying to catch them, and Ethan got a kick out of watching her.

It really is amazing to be a mom. I bundled Ethan up in his sling today and we went for a walk in the neighborhood. He is so much fun to watch! Everything is so new and exciting to him. We walked past a stop sign, and his eyes were riveted to it until it disappeared around a corner. A school bus and a Fed-Ex truck passed by, and he got all excited when he heard their loud engines. Later, he was playing with some toys on the sofa, and he was so cute, I just had to cuddle him. He started to laugh, so I tickled him to keep him laughing. His little face just lights up and those giggles are the best sound in the world. I don't have the words to describe how much I love him and how he makes me feel, but I know all of you who are parents totally get it. It's just amazing!

Hee, he just sneezed a little baby sneeze in the other room, where he and Daddy are getting some quality alone-time. But it's way past time for bed, so Mommy's gotta go help him settle down. I can't say it enough...I looooove this kid! :o)

Shutterfly is (mostly) current

Ok! Finally got most of our holiday pics up on Shutterfly! Please see the link to the left to access our collection. It is password protected, so please e-mail me at mlbutcher "at" gmail.com if you need the password!

We haven't uploaded any January pics yet (except for New Year's day...in the Holiday 2007 album.) We'll probably wait and do the rest all at once at the end of the month. :o)

Our weekend so far

Grammy Mo is in town. Yesterday, we went and got her a car seat base for her new car, and then we went to a playgroup buddy's 1st birthday party at a local park. Ethan was really tired and it was kind of chilly out, so he stayed in his sling during most of the party. But he enjoyed watching everyone and literally hanging out with us.

Jasmine, the birthday girl's mommy, provided snacks for grown-ups and for babies. One of the other moms recommended that Ethan try these funny Gerber apple-flavored wagon wheel crisps. We handed it to him, but he was more interested in just looking at it, so we packed it away and brought it home with us. Last night, right before dinner, we gave it to him again. Once he stopped examining it and started gumming it, he went nuts! He was a complete mess, but he had so much fun feeding himself and getting all sticky! I think we'll have to get some of those for him. That treat had corn and a bunch of other chemicals that he's never had before, but he seemed to tolerate them ok. And like Jim says, he's eventually going to start being exposed to all of that junk eventually, anyway. Still, I'd like to limit his chemical intake as much as possible while he's so little.

For breakfast this morning, I gave him a new organic baby food...apples and blueberries. He had already eaten sweet potatoes and oatmeal, so he didn't eat much of the new food. I think he was just full and ready for his morning nap, though. I don't think he was reacting against the blueberries, but we'll give it to him again at dinner and see what he does. So, now he's playing with Dad while we wait for Grammy to get pretty so we can go do stuff. We may go look at houses/neighborhoods for her upcoming move to Austin...not really sure what the plan is yet. Anyway, that's what we've been up to!

Dinner Adventures

Today was Ethan's 7 month birthday, by the way. He tried homemade green beans for the first time today. Apparently, he likes those as much as he liked my homemade carrots. :o( Have pics of him making some cute very but upset faces at my green beans...will upload and post later.

His Grammy Mo is in town, and she got him some of those mesh feeding spoon things. I put a banana in there, but after the green bean debacle, he went on strike and wouldn't let anything else into his mouth...not even bananas.

Why won't he nap?

I don't understand...when I'm tired, all I want to do is sleep. Ethan, on the other hand, will be exhausted, rubbing his eyes and yawning and fussing...but lay him down for a nap and he's all smiles, raspberries, and coos. All he wants to do is talk to Mommy and play! He's almost 3 hours overdue for his morning nap, and he's fussing and rubbing his eyes as I type. I'm going to go try this nap thing again. Wish us luck!!

Welcome!

I've been meaning to set one of these up for months so that y'all can keep up with Ethan and see how fast he's growing:

He'll be 7 months old on Friday...already! Our baby is getting so big. He's about 17 pounds now, based on our home scale.

He got his 2 bottom front teeth the week before Christmas, and he's been sitting on his own since the Saturday before Thanksgiving. He's getting up on hands and knees now, but he hasn't figured out what to do next. He'll be crawling soon, though! We need to get to babyproofing!!

He started eating rice cereal at 4 and a half months (doctor's recommendation) to try to help him with his constant spitting up. It didn't really help, but he looooves to eat, so we started introducing veggies. He started on peas, then carrots and sweet potatoes. He was ok with peas at first, but he hates them now and will only eat them if mixed with something else. He started fruits a few weeks after veggies. I think we started with apples, then pears and bananas. He's not so crazy about pears and apples, but he loves bananas! So does Grandma Ofie, if I remember correctly...right Mom? This past Sunday, we got him some baby Oatmeal, and he's liking the new cereal. He'll be eating Cheerios soon!

I've also been making a lot of his baby foods. I prefer to feed him organic foods, so it's much less expensive to just make them rather than buy jarred ones. I've made sweet potatoes, acorn squash, carrots (he didn't like my carrots...threw them up!), and bananas. I just made him some apples, pears and beets, but they are in the freezer right now. I hope he likes them!

So far, Ethan is a very social baby. He needs lots of interaction and always wants to be held. He's getting a lot better about needing to be held now that he can sit up to play. But when he's sleeping, he needs someone right there with him or else he gets upset and won't sleep. We're working on that, but it's been tough on all of us! But overall, his need for interaction has made him into a really sweet, friendly kiddo. He's a big flirt at his playgroup, and we get lots of comments from strangers about how cute he is because he's constantly smiling at and talking to everyone. He wants to engage them...he's a real charmer!

Bedtime, so more later!