The most exciting news to report this month is that Ethan is walking!! Yay! He took his first few tentative steps last weekend and one week later he's beginning to prefer it to walking. It's so great that he's walking now. It's fun to see Ethan and Maddy play together and Ethan being able to keep up with Jeh-Jeh.
This month was definitely a challenge in the sleep department. Ethan went through a phase where he'd throw his binkie out of the crib and without his binkie he'd have an even harder time trying to fall asleep. After about a week of trying to go in and firmly tell him 'no' and replacing the binkie, I finally decided to just sew the binkie to his sleep sack. Worked like a charm. Just after the binkie debacle, came the time change. I was not looking forward to this one because we're just getting to the point of stretching Ethan all the way to 1:00pm for his one nap. If we get in the car, then it's lights out even as early as 10am (then it has to be a two shorter nap day). Anyway, he did well for the most part. We have a great video of Ethan trying to stay awake long enough to eat. I'll try and post it later.
Ethan still does not have many words. He does say Mama and Dada but it doesn't always mean that he want Josh or myself. I get the feeling that he calls Jeh-Jeh "Bah Bah", but again I'm not sure. Though he doesn't have words for things yet, his comprehension is definitely there. He can no longer hide his naughtiness with "I'm too young to understand". I believe that he also knows this, because whenever I tell him that he's not allowed to do something and that he should know better, he cries and pouts. He's quite dramatic and his pout/cry is soooo cute. I have to remember to stand my ground and not give in.
Another great development in the last month is that he gives the best kisses. Before this last month, his kiss was just leaning in towards your face with his mouth open. Usually ending up with a wet, slobbery kiss. He now gets that you close your mouth and make a noise. I love the kisses. He also loves to blow kisses and usually that's what he does when we tell him to say goodbye. In the morning, he loves to give Jeh-Jeh kisses as he's so happy to see her again.
Ethan's favourite things:
Activities at Strong Start- he LOVES the sand table. He's way better at not eating the sand. He also loves this magnetic board with homemade magnets made from juice can lids. Ethan isn't one to sit still at the carpet time, but every single time the felt board comes out, he'll come crawling back to my lap and watch intently.
Food- Dhal. He'll gobble this up faster than we can spoon it into him. He had chili today for the first time and that was a hit too. By accident he had a jalepeano (sp?) pepper from the bread. NOT A HIT!! Poor guy.
Things to do at home- he loves to follow Jeh-Jeh into the bedrooms and make a mess. Not sure who starts it, but Maddy is sure to tell me that Ethan did it! He likes to put little objects into containers and could entertain himself for quite a while doing this. Another one of his favourite games is to stuff and ball or stuffed animal up his shirt and walk around the house. The other days he did this as he was pushing the stroller around. He was me 1.5 years ago!! It was hilarious to see him bend down and kiss the doll every once in a while.
Books- not sure that Ethan is so into books yet. He does like the books with the furry/textured parts. "That's Not My Lion..." from Usbourne books is one he likes.
Fruit- Grapes, grapes and more grapes. He's yet to get tired of them. He really eats all fruit without any problem, but with grapes even if he's full, he'll get a few stuffed in there.
Sorry, we've been busy around here and so the pictures are not yet downloaded off the camera. I'll update later with pictures.
