The Latest

I realized it's been a while since I did a post to update the latest things going on in our lives, so I thought I'd take a minute to do so. (Sorry there aren't any pics, I don't have them on this computer) Where do I begin? The first thing that comes to mind is that we had a big party to celebrate Ethan's 2nd birthday! My lil guy is officially a toddler! Chris' parents came down for the weekend, and that was so nice. There are families I know who don't make an effort to see their grandchildren more than once a year, but Linda and Jim see our kids every couple of months, and they love it! Ethan knows exactly who they are, and remembers details from the last time he saw them. I'm really blessed to have such great in-laws, they're awesome! We had a great weekend, and a great party. Ethan loved waking up to a decorated house, and he ran around looking at all the balloons gasping and saying 'wow' each one he saw. He also loved eating cake which he had for the first time! As for Ethan's development by the age of 2, here are some things he can do:

- count to 15 without error
- count things. Eg. I'll say "look at those tractors" he'll say "there's 2 tractors" or if I ask him to count how many blocks he has, he will, and he gets it right
- knows his shapes and colours without error

- speak in pretty much full sentences (using: and, the, that, this)

- he can't figure out the proper ways to use personal pronouns and it's pretty funny

eg. he either talks in 3rd person or says 'yours' when he means 'mine.'

One time I asked him "do you want to get that, or do you want me to get that?" his answer was "me get that," meaning me, not him, lol! (Did you get all that??)

- he loves jumping

- he loves singing, we spend a lot of time singing. He can sing his whole ABC's, and twinkle twinkle, and mostly all the songs we sing

- he's a goof, and loves to 'bug' me. Eg. he sticks out his tongue when I wipe his face, and I say "EW" which he finds hilarious and does it more. He also will grab things and run, and loves to be chased.

- he loves playing hide and go seek, but especially loves to find us. When he hides, it's pretty funny cuz he always hides behind the curtains, then when we say "Ethan where are you?" He says "hiding in the curtains" LOL! Or he'll just crouch in the middle of the floor with his face down. One time I couldn't even find him when he did that! Haha!

- He's very easygoing and doesn't mind sharing for the most part. He doesn't care if kids take or play with his toys (unless it's something he REALLY cares about), and loves giving toys to Anthony

- he will not smile and say hi to Anthony! I always ask him to say hi to him because Anthony just LOVES him, but he refuses. Sometimes if Anthony is smiling at him and he sees, he'll smile back, but that's not too often a day

Ethan is a wonderful kid, who obeys really well. We've found timeouts to work really well. All we have to say is "Ethan do you want a timeout?" He'll say "no timeout," then we say "well then stop doing that" (whatever he's not supposed to) . He'll stop instantly. It took a good week of following through on giving timeouts and now we just have to threaten. It's pretty nice. I can see how having a baby now would be SO much easier because Ethan is easier to discipline and he listens so much better. Oh well, I'm glad we had them close together.

One thing that kind of bothers me about Ethan is that he has developed a speech delay (that's the only way I know how to describe it). It pretty much developed in one day, and what happens is that he stalls on the first sound of the words he says. It's not every word, but it is quite a lot of them and it isn't getting better. It started about 1 1/2 months ago, so we're keeping our eye on it, and are on the waiting list with a speech pathologist. It's quite sad to watch because he often can't even get the word out, but he tries really hard :( He even stops breathing because he's struggling so hard to say the words he's thinking in his head. I really pray this is just a developmental phase because I can see that it would be quite hard to deal with when he's older.

That's where Ethan's at, and I just did a post about Anthony, so now for me and Chris. I have started weight watchers and I'm pretty excited to lose weight. I started doing it on my own in January, but it just wasn't enough accountability and encouragement for me, so I just joined the actual meetings last night. Since January, I've lost a total of 14 pounds, and hope to lose 60+ pounds (including the 14). I've got quite a ways to go, but feel like the meetings will really help. As for Chris, he recently got a promotion at work and a nice raise!! His bosses really trust and appreciate him, which makes him want to work very hard for them. This was a huge blessing, we really needed it!! There's another possibility of a raise and promotion in April, so that would be even better! We feel like we can finally get ahead. It's been a long journey of ups and downs with his career, and it's like we're finally going to be on an uphill journey from now on (meaning it only gets better now). I think that's about it. My life isn't too exciting, I take care of kids, which I love, and I'm looking forward to warmer weather so I can get out for walks AND THEN, I'm looking forward to summer so we can SWIM!!! Yay!