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. :)

Halloween with Friends

I will update with more pics later, but this is from Friday with Ethan and all his little friends at daycare. (Ethan is the green dinosaur)