May - Week 1 (Sole Burner, Mother's Day, My Birthday)

We spent the first weekend of May in Appleton, WI. For the past two years we have gone to participate in the Sole Burner 5K walk/run through the American Cancer Society. This year, we made an entire weekend out of it and stayed for two nights in a hotel with a pool. The kids loved being able to play and swim together. Ethan is finally at the age where his cousins can communicate and play with him a little bit. Luckily, that means much less fighting and crying. When we got to the hotel, Ethan loved running around pushing the luggage cart. He also made sure to say "Hi" or "Hello" to every single person in the lobby.
After a quick lunch and a nice nap, we didn't waste any time heading to the pool. It was as warm as bath water! Ethan mostly liked crawling up and down the stairs entering the pool, but he did play a little with the beach balls and filling/dumping cups. Surprisingly, he also thought it was really funny to lean over and put his face and hair in the water.After an eventful first day, we had just as busy of a second day. In the morning, we all ate breakfast and headed out for the Sole Burner. Doesn't Ethan look cozy? Aunt Courtney got us this really neat blanket that you can make part of the stroller. I have to say it made for a pretty cozy ride for Ethan.

This is a picture of our walk/run group. Mike, Kel and Chad ran while Peg and I walked with the kids. It was a really pretty walk through the streets of Appleton, except for at the end where there is a HUGE hill! After we all finished, we spent some time in the park where the kids could play.
Once again, we headed home for lunch and a quick nap. Once again, you guessed it, we headed to the pool. After pool time, Mike's mom, Mike, and the kids went to the the kid's museum while Kel, Chad and I went shopping. Mike said they had a really good time. Ethan loved the part where they had to wear these little ponchos and could play in a little water area. Although he doesn't look thrilled in the picture, he had lots of fun. They even had a complete Kwik Trip with kid's size food and everything else you could find in a normal Kwik Trip.
We spent the rest of the night just hanging out in the hotel room. We ordered some amazing Italian food, filled our bellies, relaxed, and went to bed early. We woke up early the next morning and headed out. It was Mother's Day and my birthday so we had lots of celebrating to do.

We got back to Janesville, changed our clothes and headed out once again. We had a family picnic on my mom's side to celebrate Mother's Day. They had a blow up castle for the kids to play in but both Ethan and Kileigh were a little nervous. After I got in with them, they decided it was actually pretty fun!
Ethan liked jumping but liked it even better when the big kids jumped around him, which made him bounce just a little bit.
After playing in the castle and eating a big lunch at the family picnic, Ethan and Kileigh played super well together digging in the rocks at the park. They even worked together to fill up and dump out this cup of rocks.
After a couple of hours at the park we had to head out. Ethan had only napped for a few minutes and was getting a little crabby! So off we went. Although he fell asleep in the car, we were able to make it to my dad's house and put him down for a nap while we visited. Lea and Braelynn were there too! Ethan loved walking around on the deck and naming all of the little animals (see the video below). After hanging out for a couple of hours, we headed home (FINALLY!) Mike even made us an amazing Mother's Day/Birthday dinner of Filet Mignon, asparagus, and pineapple on the grill - YUM! My mom, sister, and Kileigh came over to visit for a little longer too. At the end of the day, as I'm sure you probably guessed, we all slept very well!

Ethan's new thing to do is instead of telling us no, no, no for things, he now shakes his head with a dissapointed face and goes mmm, mmm, mmm just like I do :)

April 2011 - From Snow to Sun

On the first day of April, Ethan and I were watching the huge snowflakes come down as we were eating lunch. They were some of the biggest snowflakes I have ever seen!

I think over the course of the month of April, not only will you see a huge change in Ethan's looks, we also saw a huge explosion in his ability to communicate and problem solve. One of his new favorite things to do is to put things back where they belong - finally! - and to put his toys in straight lines. Although his trucks are usually lined up along the couch (there's probably about 15 of them), he decided this day that they ALL needed to go in his toy box. He spent a good amount of time making them all fit and was pretty proud when he finished.

As you may have noticed in the picture above, his little boy hair was getting pretty shaggy again. I took him to Kid's Cuts and had him cleaned up. She even put gel in his hair and made him look pretty snazzy.

Now that it is finally getting nice outside, Ethan and Mike spend a lot of time outside. Whether it is cooking on the grill or just roaming around the yard, outside is definitely his favorite place to be. He discovered how hard it is to walk up and down the hills on soft grass, especially with hard bottomed shoes on. He also noticed how the different surfaces sound different. He especially loves walking on rocks!

Like I said, he is really growing with his problem solving skills. Instead of completely destroying any order to his toys, he now loves organizing and putting things away. Let me tell you, it makes clean up at the end of the day MUCH easier! Here he is with Mike putting together a puzzle. He can easily find where the pieces go and can put them in pretty much by himself. Sometimes he gets a little frustrated when the pieces don't go in right away and needs a little help figuring out the right position. His favorite right now are the puzzles with the chunky wood pieces.Although it seems like it should have maybe grown old by now, hide and seek is still one of our favorite games. The only difference is that he is getting really good at finding new hiding places. Here he is in his little car from his Great Aunt Mel. He loves zooming around the basement making car noises and crashing into the furniture!

One of our nightly traditions has become watching the news and Wheel of Fortune. Apparently this night it was even more fun because he watched the shows perched on my back. He loves Wheel of Fortune because we can clap, cheer and even say some of the letters (R, W (said dubee)E, T, L, A, O, S (although Ethan thinks this is yes), and I to name a few)

Although it was a pretty stinky way to spend some time in April, Ethan did have a touch of the flu for about 24 hours. Not only did he throw up three times, he chose some pretty awkward times to do it. The first one was right when the insurance guy was pulling into the driveway and the third was just as we had pulled into the carwash and had to keep all of the windows shut. I sure hope we can stay away from the flu in the future, talk about no fun!

Finally, at the end of the month, we got to celebrate Easter. We started off the weekend with a trip to K&W greeneries with Kel, Chad, and Lainey. We thought Ethan would be afraid of the Easter Bunny, but he loved him! He even tried to pull his ears.

At K&W, they had lots of animals including goats, little ponies, chicks, dogs, and cats. I think the favorite of the day was the little chicks. Here are Ethan and Lainey petting the little chicks while Kel held them.

Our plan for Easter was to spend time with Mike's side of the family. However, church service did not start until 10 this year, so we went over to my dad's in the morning so Ethan could open up his Easter present. Doesn't he look precious in his little sweater vest?

Although it isn't the greatest family pic, here we all are on Easter morning!Part of Ethan's Easter present was this super cute blue Easter bunny. It was perfect for a quick Easter pose.After our quick visit, we went to the morning church service. Since it went pretty late, they had lots of snacks and napped right after the service. While they slept, the grown ups were able to enjoy a nice Easter meal kid free. When they woke up, we went out the cabin. The weather was nice enough to spend some time playing outside in the sandbox. It is huge and lots of fun!Ethan also took some time to help out with the yardwork that needed to get done! Do you think he has helped his daddy rake a time or two?After we finished up at the cabin we zipped over to say hi to Ethan's other grandma, my mom. Although she had already stopped over to drop off Ethan's Easter gift the night before, we decided since we had a little extra time, a quick visit might be nice!

Our final big event in April was Ethan's first injury followed by his first dentist appointment. Although they don't usually see kids this early, they thought it would be good to take a look at Ethan's chipped tooth. Earlier this month he was running around in the basement carrying his toy piggy bank. He tripped, fell, and his chin landed on the piggy bank. At first I thought he just bit his lip, but when I went to change him later in the day I noticed he chipped off the inside corner of his front tooth. Anyway, after a quick visit with the dentist, we were given the good news that his tooth is going to be just fine! She also reassured us that although he is 17 months old and only has 4 teeth, there is no need to worry!

Since Ethan's words are growing by the day, I won't continue to post all of his new words. I do want to mention that his first, and new favorite phrase, is "there ya go." He says it about EVERYTHING!!! He also no longer says "see ya" and has replaced it with "buh bye"

Turning into a Toddler

The last few weeks have been pretty quiet for us. We haven't done much of anything other than work, hang out at home, and the usual play time at night. Ethan and I have also come down with some pretty nasty colds recently and haven't felt like doing much other than sitting under a blanket, cuddling, and watching some Ellen.

A couple of weeks ago, on St. Patrick's Day, Ethan and I did go with Lainey and Mike's mom to the library for a story and play time. Before the story started, Ethan played puzzles with Lainey and Peg for a little while. Otherwise, he ran around saying hi and asking for high fives from the other moms and kids.Overall, Ethan is a pretty laid back, fun, happy little guy. We have been battling a bit with hitting, but he is definitely getting better at listening lately.

We can usually tell when he is thinking about being naughty. He either looks right at us with a little grin or is suddenly silent. In both of the cases below, he was especially quiet. The first one was when I was attempting to do dishes after lunch. He had been running around in just a diaper when suddenly he was way too quiet. Sure enough, when I turned the corner, there he was completely naked playing with his toys, his diaper sitting nicely in the corner.

The next pic is me catching him in the act. He had been reading stories nicely in his room, banging around in the closet, when suddenly it was quiet. He had figured out the buttons to the TV and was turning it on and off.

A little over a week ago, we actually had some really nice weather. While I was at work, Mike and Ethan had lots of fun outside. Ethan is getting pretty good at kicking the ball around, so Mike took him out for some soccer practice - we will have to work on the whole hands on the ball thing.

They also went for a bike ride on this cool bike my dad got Ethan for Christmas. It transitions from a bike we can push/steer to a little bike he will someday be able to ride all alone. Mike said Ethan loved it! As I'm sure you can see from his face - he thought he was pretty cool too!

As a side note, this week while Ethan and I were eating lunch, I noticed something big moving in the tree. Sure enough, there was a huge hawk hunting in the greenbelt!

Finally, here are a couple videos.

The first is of Ethan's awesome phone skills! At the end you can hear his new favorite thing to say, "see ya!"

The second is Ethan dancing/being crazy.


New words: bye bye, love you, turn turn turn, Bubba (my mom's dog), all done, all gone.

Ethan The Builder

Over the last couple of weeks, we have started to see a few new sides of Ethan. Most of which include even more fun and games, but there is one side that we aren't enjoying quite as much. At times, Ethan becomes quite the little dictator. When he has his mind made up, he's pretty good at letting us know. He yells "No!", hits either us or the furniture, throws temper tantrums, and screams. Luckily, this doesn't happen all that often. Although I'm sure it's a sign of the terrible twos that are getting closer and closer.

Fortunately, along with this naughty attitude he his developing, he is also becoming more and more aware of what hugs and kisses really mean. He has made it pretty much a routine to give hugs and kisses each time he either arrives or leaves a family member's or his babysitter's house. He also loves giving Mike and I kisses right away in the morning (we usually each get 3 or 4) and anytime he is feeling lovey. Funny thing is, if Mike and I are both around, he makes the number of kisses even between us. Sometimes, as we are watching our daily Ellen and he is sitting in my lap, he will just look up at me and ask for a kiss. I could get used to this!

Last week, I didn't see Ethan for a couple of days because I was working and Mike had lots of time alone with him. The first morning I spent with Ethan alone, he kept walking up to me with his hands over his ears and saying "boo." It took me a bit to figure it out, but soon realized he was mocking the game Mike and Ethan had been playing over the last couple of days. He got the general concept of peek-a-boo, but had mistaken his ears for his eyes. (You might also notice his nice scrape over his nose, he took a bit of a tumble on the driveway).

This is just a pic of one night playing I'm gonna get you. As you can see, he gets pretty excited (and drooly)!

Just to prove how much Ethan loves going to bed, here he is waiting for us at the gate to go upstairs and go to bed.

As I said in the last post, Ethan is really starting to love building towers. When he first started building, sometimes we would end up with some pretty creative towers.

He works really hard at making the towers nice and sturdy. It takes lots of concentration!
Sometimes, he doesn't make just one tower, but a few smaller towers. (Notice the nice fake smile) :)

As the weeks have passed, he has gotten better and better at building the tallest tower possible (all by himself)
And is pretty proud when he succeeds!
He is especially proud when there are new people to watch him perform his tower building skills. The night he built this really tall one, his grandma was around. He loves when grandma comes to visit (usually once a week or so for dinner). He likes sitting with her, cuddling, giving kisses, and playing with the Santa game on her cell phone.

In addition to his tower building skills, he has also perfected his cat wrangling skills. He has figured out that he can't just grab them by their tails and expect them to stay around. He needs to act fast and pin them down. It's pretty funny to watch. He sneaks up pretty slowly, puts one hand on the shoulder and the other on the butt and lays down on them. He is then free to pet, cuddle and kiss as he pleases. Surprisingly, both cats actually tolerate it pretty well (Yes, even Lexi).

Another big event we had this week was on Saturday all of the Mercy Hospital babies got together for a reunion. We hadn't made an effort to make this happen since the babies were about 4 months old so it was really fun to see how big everyone was! As you can see, the house was full of kids! They had lots of fun playing and watching each other play. The little ones that were Ethan's age mostly watched while the two year olds had lots of fun playing with the older boys.

Finally, on Sunday, we went to church and helped host the coffee hour held between services. The kids had lots of fun playing in the playroom! They were even sharing (as Lainey told me) :)

Over the last couple of days, we have also started a new game. When we are looking for something (sometimes I know what we are looking for, sometimes I don't) we walk around with our hands out saying hmmm.. we then search all over (under the couch, behind the curtains, in toys, under blankets, etc.) and when the object isn't there, we say "Nope!" If we find it, we yell "Yeah!!!" and clap our hands. He loves it! I just wish I always knew what we were looking for.


New words over the last two weeks: nope (says nahhh), see ya, up (says uppy uppy), thanks, juice