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. :)