Ethan's 2nd Christmas (so far)

A couple of days before Christmas we realized there was a little Christmas train downstairs from my Mom and family, so Dave decided to get it out for Ethan (who's been very much into choo-choos lately). He was actually pretty good around it, as far as not taking it apart!

On Christmas Eve, we put milk and cookies out for Santa with Ethan. Luckily we've been given some goodies and I also went to a cookie exchange, so there was plenty for Santa to choose from. Honestly, next year we'll have to better at the whole cookie thing....I drank the milk and proceeded to put the glass in the dishwasher! :-)

Here are some pics from Christmas morning..Ethan in his cute reindeer pj's!

His favorite toy of Christmas day was his new lawn mower!

Christmas Day the Rochford grandparents came over to celebrate. Ethan got a nice wagon to use next summer!

The day after Christmas we celebrated with the Hickman side...Ethan loved his new Thomas suitcase - he worked on those zippers for at least 10 minutes (open...close..open...)



Who needs a sippy cup - I can handle a cup of water!!
And, there is one more side to celebrate with in the coming week, so more to come on that I'm sure!! Hopefully everyone had a GREAT Christmas!

Other random weekend pics

Just a few more cute photos from this weekend. And just in the few hours since I posted Ethan's new vocabulary words, he's added another.."Hippo" - he's got a hippopotamus toy in his tub and Daddy taught him to say hippo! :)

Yes, he is definitely Dave's son - he likes cars and tractors!! Ethan even makes noises sometimes while he drives the tractor - Daddy taught him that too

I love my little boy in overalls!! He is now fond of saying "hi" and "bye bye". I thought it was adorable when I gave him my cell phone and he would either put it on his shoulder and say hi or else put it up to my ear.

This is the best shot I could get of him putting the phone on his shoulder. He'd do it so quickly I could barely catch him with the camera.

Mr. Slick in shades..

New Sled...and plenty of snow!!

This weekend we decided to get out the new sled we bought Ethan a while back. We didn't take him out long, but he was a bit fussy on Saturday morning, so this was something new to try to entertain him. Unfortunately the camera lost battery so we didn't catch any smiles. But, trust me..he was giggling in the end.

Walking videos

I realized the other day that I've never really posted any videos of Ethan walking. I'd say he primarily walks around now. He'll still crawl sometimes, but more and more he's gravitating towards only walking. Here are a few from this weekend.

Increasing his vocabulary

I swear Ethan learns a new word every day lately! Some of his newest...

"No" - Honestly, he really seems to know the difference between "yeah" and "no" when you ask him questions! When he says no to us, I try to at least reinforce "no, thank you".

"Please" - When he whines for something, I usually tell him to say, "please, mama" and it sounds like he says "me mommy". Manners, manners, manners - this boy will have good manners. :)

"Uh-Oh" - what he says when something drops to the floor (like his fork at dinner). Funny that today he was holding a cracker and said "uh oh" before he dropped it - but as soon as he said the words, he then dropped the cracker. So, he was warning us that he was about to drop it! Cracks me up!

"Hot" - We taught him while Dave was at the stove

"Hug" - he gave us several hugs today on command and said the word. I love little cuddles!

He also has reportedly try to say Lola and Jaden at Lauren's house. :)

Other updates...he absolutely LOVES to have books read to him lately! He'll grab a book and shove it towards your direction, indicating - READ TO ME!! I usually ask him if he wants to sit on Mama's lap and he squeals and says "yeah". So cute!

He's warming up to the tree these days. He was a bit afraid of it at first, but now he'll go touch it and then squeal as if he just did something so exciting.

Travels to Wisconsin

This past weekend Ethan and I went up to Wisconsin to celebrate a belated Thanksgiving/30th birthday for my cousin on my Mom's side. He was a bit timid at first with all the unfamiliar faces, but he warmed up after a while and gave big grins to everyone. My cousin even tried to win him over with bits of brownie and M&M's...mmm!

Just a few pictures of Ethan with Grandma. He got a few belated birthday gifts from my aunt and cousin...among his favorites were the little doggy pull toy and thomas the train book. He loves his choo choos!!

Other updates...we've transitioned out of bottles during the day (as of Friday) and now it's just the morning and evening bottle. I will be so thankful once we can stop cleaning bottles. :) Ethan learned the word yellow at Lauren's house, so Dave and I now point out yellow things to reinforce what the color is. Ethan's bedtime story used to be Mom and Dad's pick for the night - he's now showing his independence and brings YOU the book HE wants to read - very cute! One of his favorites right now is "Go Dog, Go"...when he pulls it out he says "Ga-Go, Ga-Go". Of course he knows how to say doggy, but he definitely gets the point of what the title is!

I don't know if I mentioned this before, but Dave and I bought him a toddler sled a few weeks back, so we need to get that baby in action one of these days. Pictures to follow once we try it out.

Thanksgiving Tour

It was a whirlwind tour to visit all the Grandparents during the week of Thanksgiving. Ethan was a trooper with traveling, despite the cold he had all week (and still has). We took him to the doctor for a second time this morning actually, because he's had a horrible cough that keeps him up for hours at a time at night (I was paranoid he had bronchitis - turns out that they allow kids to have colds for 2-3 weeks before they'll do anything!!!). But, usually he was his happy-go-lucky self during the daytime.

Ethan and I went to visit my Mom at work and stayed for dinner on Monday evening. Here he is, dancing with Uncle Adam and giving Grandma a big smile..

Giving Mom a big smile..We went to the Rochford side the night before Thanksgiving. Ethan is dressed very 'GQ' for the day with a spiffy sweater. Here he is, chatting with Uncle Patrick during dinner

Last, but definitely not least, was our visit to the Hickman side on Thanksgiving day. We were lucky enough to celebrate with the Great Grandparents as well. Sorry, I didn't get any pictures of the day, but that's probably because we were having so much fun! We thank everyone who hosted us this week and made us yummy food! We look forward to hosting Christmas at our place!!

We took the opportunity to decorate the house for Christmas since the day after Thanksgiving was warm. Dave did a GREAT job decorating outside and Ethan helped him put up the candy cand lighting around our inside post (he had trouble parting with the pretty lights)...I taught him to say "pretty". :)

And most importantly, on a daily basis Ethan is becoming more and more confident at trying to walk on his own. At this rate, I can bet he will be walking pretty well by Christmas!

08 Christmas Pics

Christmas cards to follow soon! Enjoy a few of our family Christmas pics

Winter Gear

A few cute shots of Ethan with his new winter gear on...I think he looks absolutely adorable in his little hat! I got some big grin shots with him wearing it this weekend.

Here's Ethan helping Mommy get some food ready for her Tastefully Simple party this past Friday night. He decided to take the whole apple and try to take a bite out of it himself. I was too slow getting the picture taken while he had the apple in his mouth, so you'll have to take my word for it.
Ethan likes to walk around with his little walker all the time now. A week ago he would get frustrated every time he ran into something...he's now very good at steering and chasing Daddy around the house.

Something cute that Ethan just started doing today (and I have no idea where he learned it), was drinking from his cup and then saying "ahhh" - as if his the drink he just took was oh so refreshing! Now it's a game!! Sometimes he forgets to swallow before he says it and it comes dribbling down his chin! But, it's the cutest little trick, so I don't worry too much.

Walking soon?

Ethan took his first few steps last Saturday, and I don't even think he realized he did it. We went to his little play class and they had some colorful cones on the floor, which intrigued Ethan. He was moving them from one pile to another and had to take a small little step to grab another cone and it was all on his own. He also just took about 5 steps tonight all by himself when I got him down from his chair after dinner! He of course looked like Frankenstein, but a cute little stiff boy he was! He grinned the whole way! I know he could be walking any day now!! He's got great balance, I think it's more just that he needs to work up the courage to do it on his own.

Lately Ethan likes to dance. After work when we come home, I ask him if he wants Mommy to put on some music and he points to the stereo area and sometimes claps his hands. He now can say 'baby' and is either saying "buddy or birdie" (I sometimes call him 'buddy' and he has a favorite stuffed animal that is a 'birdie', so it's a toss up sometimes).

Dave and I are off the entire week of Thanksgiving, so we're looking forward to extra time with the little man (and our families of course). We're going to get our family Christmas pictures on Monday, so hopefully those will turn out nicely for cards! That's all for now....

Silly Face

Ethan has this "silly face" that he does sometimes..it's almost as if he's batting his eyes and saying, "aren't I cute?!". He was heavy in the action tonight at dinner and I quickly ran and got the camera. So glad he performed for me. Sorry about the bad picture though..I really need to learn how to upload from our regular video camera. But, this was too cute to pass up!

His 8th tooth popped thru his gums this weekend, so once they're all in place, he'll have the 8 front chompers - next to the molars - yikes, not looking forward to those! Not sure if I mentioned but his regular routine is now "brushing" his teeth after breakfast and before bedtime. He actually doesn't mind it really. We try to get a few brushes in ourselves and then let him play with the toothbrush himself - good practice!

He started mimicking the word "cracker" this weekend. He obviously can't say the word - but he makes the same voice intonations as if he's trying to say it. He is also pretty good at what a sheep, cow and duck noise sounds like. "baaa" of a sheep is more like "ahhhh" and the cow is sometimes "boooo", but he surprisingly knows the difference when you ask him - hopefully we can get that on video sometime soon.

7th Tooth

I forgot to mention that Ethan had his 7th tooth pop thru his gums this past Sunday! It's the other upper incisor (right side). So, he's officially got 7 teeth thru the gums..now we'll just wait for the 8th one on the bottom left to pop thru so he's "even". :)

Also, he tried tomatoes tonight!! I was eating tacos while he had his own dinner of pizza, broccoli, peaches and applesauce and he kept pointing behind me where the tomatoes were sitting. I figured he'd definitely not like them, but he ate 2 small tomatoes on his own (not the inside seeds of course, but the entire outsides!!) Funny how I have to somewhat coax him to eat things like pizza and chicken fingers and he's perfectly happy eating things by choice like pickles and tomatoes!? Had a suggestion from a few people to try avocados, so that will be a purchase this weekend at the grocery store!

Halloween Travels

Friday I took a half day to take Ethan into Dave's work. They always allow kids to come in and trick-or-treat at everyone's desks in the afternoon. We of course turned down ALL the candy offered, knowing that we'd be the ones to actually eat the stuff. Ethan was very cautious while we were in the office, only warming up at the end (although he woke up from his afternoon nap and I basically shoved him in the car, so I think he was still a bit groggy).

Halloween weekend was a busy one for us; we traveled down to Champaign to see my brother Adam in school as well as Dave's grandparents. It's always nice to visit, but it seems like we're always rushing to get all the visiting in and I sometimes wish we would stay two days to really catch up with everyone.

Saturday Dave went to the game with my step-Dad and brother, and Dave's grandparents also had tickets, so Ethan and I hung out and played. We had brought several toys to entertain him, but the Great Grandparents were all set with toys and Ethan preferred the new toys they had to his "old" ones.

Here's Ethan visiting when we first arrived...Great Grandpa was very anxious to get on the floor and play!

Here's Ethan playing with the "choo choo" or as he calls it...the "Do Do" or "Tu tu" (hard to explain how it sounds from his words)

Ethan knows that a duck says "quack" now. He usually performs it...but of course once i get the camera out, he'd rather say "Da da". I did get a "quack towards the end though"
Speaking of words that he's catching on to, besides the previously mentioned "Choo choo" and "quack"....he's saying doggy, cheese, Sash more often; as well as what sounds like 'hi' sometimes.

Fun and quirky things he does these days...he used to fall onto his butt to get back to a sitting/crawling position from standing. He now very cautiously bends over and plants his hand on the ground, gracefully flowing from one position to another. He seems to test himself on this technique when he's standing by a table or couch and drops various items off the side and then picks them up.....only to do this again, and again, and AGAIN!! He likes to take things out of his dresser drawers and then put them back (see previous statement...and again, and again...well, you get the point!) He's obsessed with hanging out in Dave's closet. So, he gets a lot of crawling exercise up the stairs! He did surprise me the other day when I was getting his outfit ready for daycare and I put his pair of socks on the ground and he grabbed them and lunged towards his feet with them - guess he knows where socks go! He also thinks it's hilarious to put Dave's shoes on his feet. We took him to a new play class this weekend offered by our park district and I attempted to revive my old hula hoop skills - luckily Ethan just thought the few seconds that I tried to do it was absolutely histerical.

Oh yes, twice so far I've stood him up by himself and he's taken one step and fallen into me. I know he could take a few steps now, because he's gotten real good at his balance. I think he's just more cautious and needs to get comfortable. I'm not being pushy, because then he'll be all over the place!! He now loves to dance/squat to music. Usually when he hears music, he stops and claps his hands....he definitely gets those skills from Mama!! :)

Just a few pics from Sunday where Ethan found climbing in and out of our old desk a great obstacle course. The house is still a mess from our library being done over!! Dave's now studying to take an engineering test in April, so most of his time is devoted to studying. I'll eventually get pics of the new setup on the blog...or, you should just come and visit and see in person. :)