Ethan, 16 months

Well I typed this up last week with the hope to get some pictures in before posting. Here it is without any pictures and I'll post pictures later on

It seems like Ethan changed from a baby to toddler over the last month. He's so confident, curious to explore new places and generally more communicative with us. The greatest change is that he's doing so well with pottying. He's been pooping in the potty for a while but in the last month we've been working on peeing in the toilet or potty too. At home he is in underwear now and the accidents are becoming less frequent. He's getting better at telling us that he needs to go by walking over to the potty and calling for us. He's yet to learn the sign for potty or the word, I think that will come further down the road. I've also noticed that now when he does have an accident, it's usually just some pee, then he'll come and tell me and finish off the rest on the potty, so I know that he can stop mid-stream. I think he's definitely learned to control his muscle and can hold it for much longer. For now, I'm still happy using pull ups for when we go out, but usually he can keep them dry (Gotta love the little design that fades when wet so you can actually tell if they've had an accident). Right now it seems like Ethan has a different type of undergarment for all occasions. Underwear for at home, pulls ups for when we're out, cloth for naps and regular disposable for night time.

(Edited on January 17th: In the last few days he's regressed a little. I don't know if it's because he's sick right now or if he's just testing the boundaries. Today was better, of course it's the day that I put him back in pull-ups at home. Go figure)

Although Ethan doesn't really have many words, he can sign "thank you" and "more please". The way that we get around the lack of words is we usually say, "Put your hand up if you want _____" and he'll only do it if he truly wants it. The key for us is to be able to guess what it is that he actually wants. Ethan understands A LOT and that certainly helps. His frustration comes when we don't understand him. Poor guy.

In this last month, Ethan has also been testing his boundaries a lot. There have been several times during dinner when he'll refuse his food. He just keeps pushing it away. As tempting as it is to just give him something else, we've held our ground and just insisted that he doesn't have to eat, but he does need to stay with the family during meal time. It's quite funny to see because you know that Ethan is not one to go hungry. Usually after about 10 mins of protesting, he'll gingerly begin to pick at his food and before you know, he's right in there chomping away as though it's his favourite food. For us the test is just getting through the 10 mins of him screaming and fussing in the chair while trying to pretend that we are having a lovely family dinner! This has happened several times that now I'm pretty comfortable and know that he will eventually eat and is just testing us. The times that I find hard are when he wants to eat, but won't go to visit the potty before getting in the high chair. Oooooh, he's stinky mad at those times! :) It's a tough one, but if he doesn't potty first, he always has an accident in the highchair because he's so into eating. Let's just say it's a work in progress.

In the last month we have also let him start to self feed with a spoon. He really likes the idea of feeding himself and is so proud when he gets a bite into his mouth. Sometimes, you'll see him in the high chair and every single bite, he wants to get your attention and have you watch him put it in his mouth. Such pride in his eyes, such a mess on the floor.

Just for Laughs

You may have already seen this on Facebook, but I just came across it and was laughing out loud. I don't know the original source so I can't give credit.

Enjoy!

11 Step Program for Those Thinking of Having Kids

Lesson 1

1. Go to the grocery store.

2. Arrange to have your salary paid directly to their head office.

3. Go home.

4. Pick up the paper.

5. Read it for the last time.

Lesson 2

Before you finally go ahead and have children, find a couple who already are parents and berate them about their…

1. Methods of discipline.

2. Lack of patience.

3. Appallingly low tolerance levels.

4. Allowing their children to run wild.

5. Suggest ways in which they might improve their child’s breastfeeding, sleep habits, toilet training, table manners, and overall behavior.

Enjoy it because it will be the last time in your life you will have all the answers.

Lesson 3

A really good way to discover how the nights might feel…

1. Get home from work and immediately begin walking around the living room from 5PM to 10PM carrying a wet bag weighing approximately 8-12 pounds, with a radio turned to static (or some other obnoxious sound) playing loudly. (Eat cold food with one hand for dinner)

2. At 10PM, put the bag gently down, set the alarm for midnight, and go to sleep.

3. Get up at 12 and walk around the living room again, with the bag, until 1AM.

4. Set the alarm for 3AM.

5. As you can’t get back to sleep, get up at 2AM and make a drink and watch an infomercial.

6. Go to bed at 2:45AM.

7. Get up at 3AM when the alarm goes off.

8. Sing songs quietly in the dark until 4AM.

9. Get up. Make breakfast. Get ready for work and go to work (work hard and be productive)

Repeat steps 1-9 each night. Keep this up for 3-5 years. Look cheerful and together.

Lesson 4

Can you stand the mess children make? T o find out…

1. Smear peanut butter onto the sofa and jam onto the curtains.

2. Hide a piece of raw chicken behind the stereo and leave it there all summer.

3. Stick your fingers in the flower bed.

4. Then rub them on the clean walls.

5. Take your favorite book, photo album, etc. Wreck it.

6. Spill milk on your new pillows. Cover the stains with crayons. How does that look?

Lesson 5

Dressing small children is not as easy as it seems.

1. Buy an octopus and a small bag made out of loose mesh.

2. Attempt to put the octopus into the bag so that none of the arms hang out.

Time allowed for this – all morning.

Lesson 6

Forget the BMW and buy a mini-van. And don’t think that you can leave it out in the driveway spotless and shining. Family cars don’t look like that.

1. Buy a chocolate ice cream cone and put it in the glove compartment.

Leave it there.

2. Get a dime. Stick it in the CD player.

3. Take a family size package of chocolate cookies. Mash them into the back seat. Sprinkle cheerios all over the floor, then smash them with your foot.

4. Run a garden rake along both sides of the car.

Lesson 7

Go to the local grocery store. Take with you the closest thing you can find to a pre-school child. (A full-grown goat is an excellent choice). If you intend to have more than one child, then definitely take more than one goat. Buy your week’s groceries without letting the goats out of your sight. Pay for everything the goat eats or destroys. Until you can easily accomplish this, do not even contemplate having children.

Lesson 8

1. Hollow out a melon.

2. Make a small hole in the side.

3. Suspend it from the ceiling and swing it from side to side.

4. Now get a bowl of soggy Cheerios and attempt to spoon them into the swaying melon by pretending to be an airplane.

5. Continue until half the Cheerios are gone.

6. Tip half into your lap. The other half, just throw up in the air.

You are now ready to feed a nine- month-old baby.

Lesson 9

Learn the names of every character from Sesame Street , Barney, Disney, the Teletubbies, and Pokemon. Watch nothing else on TV but PBS, the Disney channel or Noggin for at least five years. (I know, you’re thinking What’s ‘Noggin’?) Exactly the point.

Lesson 10

Make a recording of Fran Drescher saying ‘mommy’ repeatedly. (Important: no more than a four second delay between each ‘mommy’; occasional crescendo to the level of a supersonic jet is required). Play this tape in your car everywhere you go for the next four years. You are now ready to take a long trip with a toddler.

Lesson 11

Start talking to an adult of your choice. Have someone else continually tug on your skirt hem, shirt- sleeve, or elbow while playing the ‘mommy’ tape made from Lesson 10 above. You are now ready to have a conversation with an adult while there is a child in the room.

Holiday Wrap up

In a word, the holidays were...AWESOME. It was such a fun holiday for many reasons. Ethan is taking only one nap a day and Maddy can go a day without napping. This made getting to holiday events and doing general activities very manageable. With Maddy being three this year, she was really excited for Christmas and she understood the magic of it all a lot more than last year. Finally, it was wonderful to have Josh home for a whole week! He's been so busy lately and it was nice to see him get some rest and have fun with the kids too.

Our first Christmas was with my family and we celebrated the actual day a little earlier. Cousins Frances and Pippa were in town and the kids had a great time playing. It was so cool to see Ethan up and running around with the bigger kids and he loved the attention he got from his cousins. We had a nice dinner at my parents house, complete with Christmas crackers (I'm not sure how that tradition started, but it's now a Lee-Young tradition and the kids get a kick out of the toys inside).

Cheers!


Ethan LOVED unwrapping the present this year.

Gong Gong trying on his new robe.

Po Po and Auntie Jo

On Christmas eve, we celebrated with just the four of us. A little sushi take-out followed by opening presents (We only do stockings and gifts from Santa on Christmas morning) and we were one happy family. Maddy helped to put cookies out for Santa and mandarins for the reindeer. I was pretty amazed that Ethan didn't ask to eat the oranges, but perhaps he knew they were for someone special. :)

Look at those smiles. It's present time!

Leaving treats for Santa and his reindeer

Christmas day was nice and quiet for us. Stockings were opened followed by a yummy breakfast and then my family came over to hang out and play in the afternoon. The following day we saved for cleaning the house, laundry and packing for Revelstoke. We did sneak a quick trip out to the Carousel at Burnaby Village Museum just to get out of the house. Maddy decided that she was ready to go on the big horses this time and she loved it.

The next morning we packed the car nice and early and started our long drive to Revelstoke. What a trip that was. Ethan doesn't like to be in the car for long, so I packed a bag of toys to distract him. Little did I know that all the toys I brought only entertained him for about 1.5 mins each. So I had to improvise with many finger puppet shows, funny voices and fruit leather as a last resort. I'm glad to say that we made it there without too many stops and we even got to go back to the Amsterdam restaurant in Kamloops again (We haven't been able to stop there for a while because it never matched properly with nap and feeding times).

That evening we celebrated our last Christmas of the year with the Blommesteins. As I sat eating my Christmas dinner, I had to smile to myself and enjoy how nice it was to not have to go and nurse or to prepare a different dinner for Ethan. We sure have come a long way in just one year. Presents were a lot of fun to open as we got to see the surprisa people made for everyone. This year Josh and I had each other and because things were just so busy for us in the month leading up to the holidays, we didn't have time to make the surprisa. Sorry babe! The most memorable moment for me was when Ethan started to 'get' the whole present thing and he signed for 'more'. The look on his face when we told him the next was for him, he faced just lit up and he signed a sloppy, very happy 'thank you'.

I just love the look on his face in this picture.

Opa opening his 'Surprisa' this year.

Kaes got a Transformer and everyone had a turn trying to 'figure it out'.

The kids did so well together, helping each other out and then sharing the toys.

During the week in Revelstoke we had a great time. We played out in the snow, made a great snowman and built a make shift sled run in the Oma and Opa's backyard. We also visited the pool, went sledding down a real hill (Ethan loved this!), had lunch on the ski hill and I even got to go cross country skiing with Lyn one afternoon. Oma and Opa kindly offered to babysit the kids and Josh and I were able to go out TWICE!

Ethan's first sled. He didn't quite get it at first!

Auntie Lyn and Uncle Aaron

Maddy enjoying some cuddles with Oma

For new year's eve, went out for dinner with the adults leaving the kids at home with Oma and Opa. It was a lot of fun to get out and enjoy some adult conversation that wasn't interrupted. When we got home, the kids were still up and we played the present game before bed (This is a game that we play every year, but we ran out of time on Christmas). Ethan sat with Josh and was really into rolling the die and even understood that he had to choose a present. After the kids were bed, we watched a movie to wait for the new year.

The Blommesteins 2010

It seemed like the week went by in a flash and it was time to pack again way too early. This time I made sure to pack A TON of miscellaneous items to entertain Ethan in the car. Did it work, you say? Let's just say I'm seriously considering a portable DVD player for future trips! We did make great time and didn't stop until Hope for lunch. With the exception of the frantic driving conditions, (Ethan crying, not the road conditions) traveling is really great. I love not having to time it with nursing (as we can easily just throw food back there) and we can now get a whole lot further before having to stop.

A new year...time to refocus and get back in to routine. Our January calendar is quickly filling up and I can't wait to see what the rest of the year has to bring for us!

HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!

I know it seems like I'm saying this every time, but stayed tuned for photos. We just haven't gotten around to downloading them.