2-year Check-up

Finally, as promised and long overdue, here are the stats from Ethan's 2-year wellness check back in April along with an overall update on our little guy. As expected, he is doing well and as a bonus was already caught up on immunizations, ie NO SHOTS!

Weight: 24lbs. 8oz. 11th percentile
Height: 34 1/4" 47th percentile

What Ethan knows:
COLORS - knows white, black, brown, blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink and purple. (At least we know he's not color blind!)
WORDS - vocabulary is well over 300 words, but I lost track months ago.
NUMBERS - counts to about 15 without help and is getting better at the concept of quantity and correctly counting a certain number of items. Can also identify all single-digit numbers (i.e. 0-9).
LETTERS - correctly identifies all of the letters in the alphabet, knows what sounds they make and is learning the alphabet song.
SHAPES - knows circles, triangles, squares and stars.
VEHICLES - correctly identifies fire trucks, ambulances, police cars, school buses, mail trucks, VW Bugs, dune buggies (not that we see any of those, but he has a matchbox car dune buggy), jeeps, vans, utility trucks, monster trucks, PT Cruisers, garbage trucks, "digger" trucks (from the construction of the fire station across the street), mommy's truck (our SUV), daddy's car (our little Honda), grampa's red truck, gramma's white car, T's car and all blue pick-up trucks are a "blue Silverado".
ALSO... still knows all the body parts (and has added fingers, chin, elbow and bum to the list), animal sounds and which is his left/right hand.

What Ethan likes:
FOOD - Pasta, pizza, chicken, hot dogs (no bun), goldfish crackers, tortilla chips, fruit snacks, peas, carrots, cucumber slices, pickles, waffles, mandarin oranges, grapes, peaches, pears, apples, pineapple (this is a new favorite), string cheese, homemade mac & cheese (asked for seconds last time), "Grover cookies" (ie cereal bars), cereal, strawberries, bananas, milk and juice.
TOYS - Currently, he is obsessed with Matchbox and Hot Wheels cars. He pulls them out and then lines them up across the windowsill, coffee table, end table, etc. He also loves his ride-on dump truck, Handy Manny tools, blocks, puzzles and just about anything else with wheels!
MOVIES/SHOWS - Handy Manny, Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, Thomas the Train, Cars, Peter Pan, Rescuers Down Under and Letter Factory (new learning DVD from uncle Ryan, aunt Amy and fam).
GAMES - He loves to wrestle! Watch out if you get down on the floor, especially if you lay down, he takes that as his cue to come climb on you! He also likes to play chase me/hide-n-seek and "tickle torture"!! :) And now, with the nicer, warmer weather he loves to be outside.

What the Doc said:
Dr. Hemsley was seriously impressed with how well Ethan is growing and learning. He said he had excellent verbal and social skills and that he behaved much better than most 2 year-olds. While he was checking him over on the table he kept asking Ethan to do various things and then afterward told me that he doesn't usually expect that out of his age group. After the main exam, Dr. Hemsley and I were talking and he mentioned again how good Ethan's language skills are, so I let him know that Ethan is counting and then that he also knows his colors. I had noticed on the back of the PDQII form I had to fill out (a form that helps the doctors determine how a child is developing - just yes or no questions and you stop after 3 "no's") that it asked you to have your child identify colored boxes. Well, I had already gotten 3 "no's" on the form before we got to that question, but filled it out anyway because I knew Ethan could answer it. This was Dr. Hemsley's exact response: "He knows his colors?!" I was a little taken aback by his shock. So to test it, Dr. Hemsley picked up a banana that Ethan had pulled out the diaper bag and asked him what color it was. Oh crap, I thought. Yellow just happened to be the last color Ethan had learned and he still wasn't very good with that. Right on cue, though, Ethan proudly stated, "yellow!" and went back to what he was doing. The doctor stopped him again and asked him what color the table was. "Blue!" Ethan said correctly and I breathed a sigh of relief and silently thanked Ethan for not making his mommy a liar! Thoroughly impressed, Dr. Hemsley said, "what is he, a girl?!" Apparently it is a lot more common for girls to learn and develop so quickly, but he said Ethan was beyond even most 2 year-old girls. Then he noticed that I hadn't filled out the Autism sheet they give you (which I hadn't noticed on the clipboard at first). He took one look at it and said, "don't bother." During all of this, Ethan was playing with some toys in the room which included a wooden alphabet puzzle with all the pieces already spilled out. Ethan picked one up and brought it to me, saying, "T, mommy." And he was absolutely right, he had brought me the letter "T"! The icing on the cake to this visit (besides no shots) was when Dr. Hemsley said it was obvious Ethan was well-loved and thriving and that normally he'll see a child again at 3 or 4 years (sometimes both) to check-up on them and then again at 5 years for their next set of immunizations. For Ethan, though, he said he didn't need to see him again until that pre-Kindergarten appointment.... he would like to see him, but won't need to unless we ever have cause for concern with his development. AWESOME!! We always knew Ethan was a smart kid, but it was sure nice for the doctor to confirm it! And now, if you've made it this far, thank you for tolerating some bragging about my favorite little guy. I try not to do it too often, but I really wanted to share this and to get it journaled.

It was a good day.

Saturday.
June 20, 2009
It was a good day.

Last week (mid-week) I was thinking of weekend/Saturday plans for us and was leaning toward a trip to Woodburn... not exactly high on Sean's list of favorite things to do. Then, the more I thought about it, the more I thought that if I was going to drive that far to get to Woodburn and the outlet mall, we really should go to the temple because it's not that much farther. Well, then, if we were going to try to make it to the temple, we may as well try to make the 12pm chapel session/12:30pm endowment session for our ward temple day. Sean and I talked it over and started making plans... but what to do with Ethan?? We hate leaving him here all day because it's pretty much a guarantee that with drive-time, Temple time and grab-a-quick-bite-to-eat time, we are usually gone most of the day unless we leave at the bum-crack of dawn. I prefer not to leave at the bum-crack of dawn. It's much too early. Other options?? We thought of having my sister or uncle Tory come with us and watch Ethan on temple grounds while we were inside, but both ended up being busy. Hmmm.... Well, we were determined to go! At the very last minute (as in, the night before) we called up grandma Sandy and grandpa Chuck to see if they were available and willing to watch our little munchkin while we were gone and they agreed!!!
So...
We dropped Ethan off in Junction City at about 10am and continued on north to the Temple. It was a long-overdue visit and I am SO HAPPY we went! The stress and anxiety of getting there (and getting there on-time for our ward session) was well worth it. I love going to the temple and I really enjoyed being able to go with Sean. It was nice, too, to have the drive there and back to just talk to each other and enjoy one another's company without having to try and keep the little one in the backseat entertained and well-fed. We stopped for a late lunch and then headed to Woodburn on the way home. We found something for everyone! New (on sale!) Nike shoes for Ethan, some jeans for Sean and a new white cardigan for me. Our last stop was Harry & David for some Moose Munch (for us and the dads).
Meanwhile...
Ethan had quite the day with his grandparents! Grandpa Chuck brought out the toy semi-truck he had found at a garage sale (paid $1!!!) for Ethan to play with. Ethan was in heaven! According to grandma he pretty much played with that thing (loading and unloading it with matchbox cars and driving it all around the house) all day. They also took a trip to Jerry's for a new faucet and on the way home spotted a petting zoo! Ethan got to see/pet some goats and alpacas, hold a baby pig and feed some ducklings. Ethan loves animals, especially farm animals because those are the ones he can identify really well, so I know he must've just loved this!
And that's pretty much it!
Sorry, no pictures. But, if you want to see some recent pictures, check out our garden post below... it could seriously use some more comment love! ;)

THANK YOU to Gramma Sandy and Grampa Chuck for watching Ethan for us!! Sean and I really appreciated our trip to the temple and I know Ethan loved spending time with you.

The Prophet Said to Plant a Garden...

The notes for this primary song say it should be sung Joyfully... does that mean I have to keep a smile on my face even when I'm weeding?! Because I really don't like weeding. I dislike it only slightly less than when I was younger, and only because I am doing yard work at my own place and on my own schedule. You know, as opposed to my mom announcing to my sisters and I on a Saturday morning that we were having a "weeding party"! I hated those dang weeding parties.

Anyway... Last summer Sean and I kind of let the backyard go to pot. We, um, saved money and water by not watering the lawn. Yeah, that's right, we, umm, didn't water to help the environment and to conserve water.... Ok. You can stop laughing and rolling your eyes at me now! This year is a different story! Thanks to the magic of living in Oregon, nature watered our lawn for us during the fall... and winter... and spring... so then we were back in business with tall, green grass. A month or so ago we spent most of the morning and early afternoon of a Saturday
outside doing yardwork and cleaning up our back yard. We're talking lots and lots of weeding, tilling the garden beds and clearing away a clover patch at the edge of the lawn. And then uncle Tory came over and mowed for us. Unfortunately our grass wasn't quite as healthy as we originally thought once it was trimmed. Oh well, it was still better than last year. As you can see, Ethan thoroughly enjoyed playing outside all day. He was in hog heaven with his dump truck just sitting in the dirt!
We have now planted a small garden: 2 roma tomato plants and 1 slicing tomato plant (all are starting to have blossoms and we even have a few little green tomatoes!!), 1 cucumber and 1 jalapeno. I also planted a bunch of flower seeds under one of the dining room windows, but the soil there has a lot of clay in it so we'll see if anything comes up. I'd still like to plant a bell pepper and some lettuce, but I'm not sure if we have the room. Still, it is a start! I also got some annuals planted in pots on our patio. Our biggest problem two years ago when we planted a garden and flowers was remembering to water. This year, we knew of our bad habits so we specifically put the flower pots on the far corner of the patio so that when we put the sprinkler in the middle of the yard and turn it up high enough it waters the lawn, the garden and the flowers!!

So here are our before pictures... monster weeds and all!

Lush, green grass... wasn't so lush and green once it was mowed.The garden beds before they were weeded are the pictures above and below. Pretty scary, huh?

Nope, this isn't a tree sapling, it's huge weed! What looks like a thick trunk and branches, are actually hollow and flimsy.

And some after pictures with the garden, flowers and lack of weeds:

The tomatoes... I can't wait!

Cucumber... we call it "Ethan's cucumber" because he eats more cucumber slices than anyone in the family!Jalapeno. Fresh, homemade pico de gallo here we come!And some of the annuals we planted. Have had a hard time this year with snails. Grrr.... stop eating my flowers!!

I can no appreciate why people love to garden so much! It's not a number one hobby for me, but it has definitely moved up quite a few spots on my list. There's just something very satisfying about growing your own yummy veggies... especially when you grow things you know your family likes to eat! I check on my little garden ever day now and I can't wait until we really start to get a harvest.

Don't you just love this face?!

Taco Night

Umm... Have you ever seen anyone eat a taco like this?!
Well, we had tacos for dinner tonight - first one for Ethan and he took a slightly different approach to eating his. Very creative wouldn't you say?

He liked them so much that he ate TWO!!

Baby Brother for a Day

Actually, it was more like baby brother for an hour...

Saturday, while Bro. Blair, Jeromy, Danae and I were decorating for the church dance Lizzy was helping to watch Ethan and also Danae's 5mo. old, Sam. Ethan really loved playing with Sam while he was on his blanket. He knew to play softly with him and had fun trying to get him to smile. It was really cute to watch him interact with a baby and not try to beat up on him or anything!

And then I hear it.

"C'mon, baby brother, c'mon!"

And then I feel it... Danae nudging me in the ribs... and laughing.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm getting it from the Relief Society ladies too. "Aren't you ready for another one??" Um, I'll let you know.
But no, I'm not pregnant. Thanks for checking. Again. ;)

Never a Dull Moment with the Stk. YW presidency!

Oh boy, what a weekend!
Well, it started out (at least in my mind) as an "oh, I have no plans this weekend other than chaperoning the youth dance on Saturday night and going to Oakrdige on Sunday" type weekend... what a joke!

Friday night Sean left for the ward Father/Son camp-out... leaving me with Ethan. Go figure - father/son camp-out and just the father goes! Ethan's still a little young though, but Sean had assignments so he had to go. No worries. We picked up auntie Lizzy and headed to Wal-Mart (there was a very specific request for s'more fixin's and we were almost out of milk). We made a pit-stop to pick up our pizza on the way home... 1/2 cheese and 1/2 Hawaiian, just the way Lizzy and I like it, and then settled in to watch Miss Congeniality. "I am in a dress, I have gel in my hair, I haven't slept all night, I'm starved, AND I'm armed! Don't MESS with me!" And my other favorite line from the movie: "Hey! I'm gliding here!"

Saturday morning Ethan and I got up bright and early to go and decorate for the Hawaiian-themed youth dance later that night. That was an adventure. I thought that I had a key to the closet where the decorations were... turned out we were talking about different closets. Luckily, Bro. Blair from the YM presidency was there and he had the right key. Phew! After that we went to go visit Eileen (our 2nd counselor in the presidency) and her new baby girl!! Her and her husband have 2 older boys and decided not to find out the gender for this one. Their little Lillian just arrived last Thursday and she is already such a cutie! Next we headed home for lunch and naps. Sean got home too and we were all three exhausted! We rested up, though, and then went to Christine and Shalene's (my cousin's wife) graduation BBQ for dinner before I zipped off to chaperon for the youth dance. Of course, since Shelley (our president) was gone it meant that I had to be the "bad guy" for any girls who did not meet the dress standards. Not a fun job.

Sunday morning I was up bright and early again to meet up with Shelley (who was back in town) to make the what-should've-been a 50-minute drive to Oakridge for their branch conference and training. Instead, neither of us knew where we were going, received bad directions and traveled nearly every back road in the Westfir/Oakrdige area except for the one with the church on it! An hour and a half later, we finally made it for the last 10-15 minutes of sacrament meeting. After the 3-hour block was Girls Camp Sunday, then a luncheon (Thank you Oakridge for the yummy lunch!) and finally the training. To add insult to injury, we received great directions on how to get back on the main highway and had no problems finding our way back home - not a single wrong turn!! Of course, it really didn't help that everyone failed to mention that the first turn off the highway is right across from the Ranger Station!! Umm, hello, that's a pretty big landmark and a whole lot easier to spot than a road sign. [[sigh...]] We got home by about 4pm. 9am to 4pm is a really, really long day on limited sleep with lots of driving.

I'm looking at our calendar right now, so far nothing is on there for this Saturday. Sounds like a good plan to me!

Makin' Pancakes

About a month ago, Ethan was playing in the dining room area with some measuring cups and pans we've designated for his use when he decided to pull out our small George Foreman grill. Next thing I know, I see Ethan lifting up the lid of the grill and using a measuring cup to "pour batter" onto the grill. He closes the top again and proudly announces, "I'm makin' pancakes!"

"Pancakes?!" I thought, "where did he get that idea???" It's not that we don't ever eat them, but it's not very often. Hmmmm....

Well, his "makin' pancakes" game has continued off and on since then - it is the first thing he says when he plays with his kitchen stuff. Then, just yesterday he is watching Special Agent Oso (a new show on Disney) when I hear on the TV that Oso's mission for that day was to help a kid mix up pancake batter. Aha! That has to be where he got it from because he often watches this show in the morning while I am getting ready for work. Sure enough, as soon as Oso and the kid were done mixing their batter Ethan decided he too was going to make some pancakes! And Sean, being the good dad that he is, made Ethan pancakes for breakfast since he was off yesterday.

Is anyone else drooling over that pancake picture at the top and craving pancakes now??

May Recap

Ok, this is just getting ridiculous. I can't believe it's time for another recap post. Maybe this wasn't such a good idea... trapping myself into a mandatory blog post of any events I may have missed from the previous month. So much pressure! Luckily, once again, I think I covered all major events already: Ethan's staple removal, Mother's Day, 27th Birthday, etc.

What you may have missed...

* Annie and Addie came over for one last play date. Very bittersweet. I was so happy and excited for Annie to be getting married, but sad because it means that she's moving to Arizona. You know what else is really sad? We live about 2 1/2 blocks away from each other, but because of opposite work schedules we never saw each other and our kiddos never played together. [[sigh...]]* New hair. It was time to renew the "summer blonde" and get a little trim. I thought about going "crazy short" (i.e. above the shoulder instead of just to the shoulders) but opted against it because summer is here and I know I'll be pulling my hair back in ponytail a lot to stay cool. Sorry folks, no picture yet! I just don't think to take any self-shots. Guess I need to take some pointers from "T" - she is the queen for taking self-shots!!

* Wedding #2: Cassie Ruhnow and Nate Goodrich tied the knot May 30, 2009 in the Portland, OR LDS temple. My sister, Christine, was a bridesmaid so she spent the day with the happy couple. We just showed up for some free cake at the reception. ;)(Wedding #3 was last weekend, then I think we're done for a while!)

* Date night movie of the month (drumroll please...): Paul Blart: Mall Cop. This was... ok. We definitely laughed, but I'm glad we only paid a couple bucks to see it at the dollar theater. Kevin James is pretty funny, though. Plus, he reminds me a bit of my uncle Gale! :) Click here to see Christine's siting of Eugene's very own mall cop!

* Play date with my friend Heather and her little girl, Kaitlyn. After my hair appointment on Saturday, Ethan and I headed out to Heather's house. Her little girl is so cute and talks so well! As soon as Ethan and I got there she said, "Hi Ethan! Hi Jennifer!" I was impressed that she knew my name. The kids quickly changed and headed for the backyard pool. They had so much fun playing in that little pool! We forgot a swim diaper for Ethan (wasn't sure if we were going to the park or doing the pool) so his regular diaper was completely saturated! I don't know if I've ever seen a diaper so full. There was absolutely no give to it... it was solid! Poor Ethan thought he had a ball in the back of his swim trucks, so eventually we just took it off and let him go commando for the last 10 minutes or so before we went in!

And that's pretty much it! On to June, sunny weather and all of my prego friends' due dates. It's gonna be baby city around here folks. I've lost track of how many friends are due in June and July... Tomorrow, Eileen (from the YW presidency) is being induced - can't wait to see whether it's a boy or girl!

Memorial Day Weekend and My Birthday

What a busy weekend we had!! Busy, but fun and surrounded by wonderful family, good friends, yummy food and fabulous weather!

I'll start with Saturday, May 23rd...
- First thing in the morning was a baby shower for my good friend, Jessica Joy. She was a little hesitant originally about having a boy, but with the help of me and some other friends we have convinced her of the joys of boys!! Her little guy is due in July and will be named Jet James. You just know already that this kid will be one cool dude!
- Sean left as soon as I got back from the shower to go to Portland with one of his former young men from church. He just got his mission call to Fiji and was going to the temple for the first time.
- Ethan agreed to be my date to my friend Annie's wedding. Her little girl, Addie is just a week and a half younger than Ethan. And get this, Annie married a guy named Andrew. Yup, they are Andy, Annie and Addie!! He he he, I love it! It was a beautiful day for an outdoor wedding in the park. Here's just a couple pics I managed to get. None with me and the blushing bride, though. Warm weather, a slightly antsy toddler to control and pollen and other allergens in the air made me a bit stuffy nosed and teary eyed. Not the cutest for pictures.
- After Ethan and I snuck away from the wedding reception (he had had it, but they were just getting started on the toasts and dancing) we made a quick stop at Oakway mall to get 1.) Ethan some new khaki pants for church (on sale at Old Navy... sweet!) and 2.) my favorite tomato/basil hummus with cheese flat bread crackers from Trader Joe's. Ethan actually loves this stuff too. Yeah, my kid eats hummus... how cool is that?!
- Of course, it was much too late for Ethan to take a nap so we didn't get much done in the evening. At one point, Ethan accidentally stepped on one of his matchbox cars and hurt his foot pretty bad. This led to a big crying spell (aka BHS, too) and lots of rocking and cuddling in the recliner. We started watching a movie and by 7pm Ethan was out cold. We finally woke him up at about 8:30pm, though he was very reluctant to get up. After some pasta and grapes for a little dinner/snack he was feeling much better, which was good because Sean had to go run some errands (ie pick up my birthday present) so Ethan and I needed to get to the store. Nothing like a 9pm grocery run on a Saturday night!

Moving on to Sunday, May 24th (aka my birthday!)...
*Birthday Breakfast: Sean and I stayed up late Saturday night and into Sunday morning to do the housework we weren't able to do with our busy Saturday. Even still, Sean got up when Ethan did to let me sleep in a little. Once I was up, he made breakfast upon request... cheesy scrambled eggs (his are the best!), bacon, toast and orange juice. Mmmmm...
*Church: was much more peaceful than I expected. Just as Ethan and I were getting there (a little late) we ran into another mom in the ward with her toddler that is Ethan's age. Her little girl, Evie, was already cranky and throwing fits and her mom and I were talking about how our kids never fall asleep in church - even when they really need to. So Ethan and I go and sit down in the chapel with Sean and guess who falls asleep laying on my chest?! Ethan! I couldn't believe it. I'm so used to trying to keep him busy with books, snacks, coloring, etc. I almost didn't know what to do with myself! Actually listen to the speakers, I guess! It was nice to snuggle with my baby boy, too. Also, during Relief Society, I got to hold and cuddle Leslie's new one-month-old foster baby. He is so adorable and it has been way too long since I've got to hold a newborn!
*Birthday BBQ: After church Sean and I got to work finishing the last-minute preparations before our guests came. I was so happy, the house looked great! Fresh flowers on the dining room table (bright pink roses) and the end table in the living room (pale peach Birthday roses from Sean). And talk about a full house! Everyone we invited came... oh, the love! We had my family, 3 sets of grandparents, my auntie, cousins, uncle Tory and one of my good friends from high school, Saffron. Sean was at the grill cooking up burgers and hot dogs and then we had pasta salad, fruit salad, a veggie platter (man, that ranch dip went fast!), chips, soda, lemonade, lemon bars (from Shalene :) and brownies for dessert/my birthday "cake"!
*Birthday gifts: What awesome gifts I received. I never really expect much for birthdays anymore, but am always pleasantly surprised! My parents (but we all know my mom did the shopping) got me a beautiful new and much needed swimsuit! And can I just say my mom is an awesome shopper?! She found it at Ross for $17.99, regularly $84... Sweet deal, mom! I also got some gift cards and cash (yes! :) a cookbook I've been wanting since my sis-in-law got it for Christmas, perfume (a yummy new scent), lotion, pearl earrings, the Enchanted DVD, a cute necklace, a new cooler (so I don't have to keep borrowing my parents!) and a Jillian Michaels (trainer from Biggest Loser) work-out DVD (so I can look even better in my new swimsuit!).Once the party had died down a bit and most everyone had left, Tory's parents came over with my "birthday cookies"... Melanie makes some of the best chocolate chip cookies and I have begged her for her secrets (she's divulged a few). They were excellent as expected!
Eventually everyone had left but Tory and Ethan was finally in bed. Sean, Tory and I sat down in the living room to relax and chat for a while and ended up staying up for hours!
It was a great birthday weekend! Thanks to everyone who helped make it special!

The Katie Weekend

Tomorrow I get to be a part of some very important and special life events for two of my favorite friends - both named Katie!

Katie Blair will be married to her fiance Javier for all time and eternity in the Portland, Oregon temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I am so happy for them!

I almost wasn't able to go to this wonderful event... my temple recommend is due to expire at the end of the month, but when I went to check that it was in my wallet... it wasn't there!! I have searched my purse numerous times and various other bags it may be in, along with practically turning my house upside down in search of it. Finally, when it seemed there was no hope, I called a counselor in our Bishopric and a member of the Stake presidency to get some interviews PRONTO!! Both men were so nice to do last minute interviews for me on Thursday night with less than 24 hours notice. Phew! Crisis averted.

Second, Katie (Dutton) Feldman (one of my absolute best buds in high school and my first year of college, though she's a year ahead) just had her baby last night!! Her and her husband Charlie opted to not find out the sex of their first-born, so it was a surprise to everyone! I could not be so patient. Molly Rose was born at 9:55pm on June 4, 2009 weighing in at 9lbs. 2 oz. I absolutely cannot wait to see her and hold her and inhale that new baby smell. Tonight I plan on shopping for lots of cute baby girl clothes since I had only given her 1/2 of her baby gift. Just stole these pics off of Charlie's Facebook page... hope they don't mind!

Yay!! Portland, here we come! Be sure to check back for pictures of Katie's big day and other Katie's new baby. :)

How come?

Conversation between Ethan and Sean this morning....

Sean: Ethan, do you want waffles for breakfast?
Ethan: No.
Sean: Do you want cereal for breakfast?
Ethan: No.
Sean: Do you want a banana for breakfast?
Ethan: No.
Sean: Well, what do you want for breakfast?
Ethan: Ice cream!
Sean: No, you can't have ice cream for breakfast!
Ethan: How come, daddy?
Sean: Because ice cream's not for breakfast.
Ethan: How come, daddy?
Sean: Because it's not for breakfast.
[[pause by Ethan...]]
Ethan: How come, Izzy? (my little sister's over today)

A little while later...
Sean: Ethan, so what do you want for breakfast?
Ethan: Umm, how about... flowers?! (looking at the flowers on our dining room table)
Sean: No.
Ethan: How about... fishies?! (looking at the stained glass fish thing in our window)
Sean: No.
Ethan: How come?

And for the record, he had cereal and apple juice for breakfast.

Sleepin' in the Big Boy Bed

After all the excitement and busy-ness of Saturday and Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, Monday we had NO PLANS!! We were up SO LATE with family and friends on Sunday that not even Ethan was up before 9:30am... what a great day for him to sleep in! After a leisurely breakfast and enjoying the fact that our house was already clean (other than some floors that needed to be swept again), Sean and I ended up in Ethan's room. It was time to say goodbye to the baby crib and hello to the toddler bed that it converts in to. As you can see, Ethan decided that Daddy's tools were much more exciting than his Handy Manny tools! We also rearranged Ethan's room and he is loving it! "I have a new bed!" he says. I had just recently gone through and reorganized his toys, books and puzzles so that everything was more accessible, etc. We also got his kid-size table and chairs put in and it's like a whole new room!

Here's some BEFORE pictures w/ some CLOSE-UPS of the transportation-theme decorations (oh, and the shelf, shadowboxes and wooden train and plane I made, well painted at least... what do you think?):And AFTER the bed was converted and the furniture rearranged:Ethan slept very well in his "new bed" and we had no problems... of course, he was already getting up and out of bed with his crib, so we expected that, but now he can climb back into bed when he is tired and ready to sleep and that's exactly what he did.

Toddler Checklist:
Transition out of crib... check!

Next on the list: Potty training... though not any time too soon!