Out of his shell

We all know that Ethan can take a while to warm up to people. Even people that he sees on a regular basis. But the last while has been different. Ethan has started responding when random people ask his name. Like the guy sweeping the floor at the supermarket. And the health insurance guy at John's office. Today at preschool he even jumped up on the mom teaching and started having a tickle fight! (During free-play, of course.) It's strange to see him coming out of his shell. I love that he's more comfortable out in the world. It's great to see him play more and not cling so much. But I also don't like that he's more comfortable out in the world. It was easiest when he was afraid to leave my side when we ran errands. Now, taking him out can be a major ordeal. And it'll be worse with two. I'm not completely sure whether or not I like this yet. I guess it depends on the situation.

Getting Dressed

I realized that the top picture on the last post has more of a story behind it. So here it is...

Typically, Ethan isn't interested in dressing himself. Strange, because he wants to do nearly everything by himself. (This is the cause of his fits 90% of the time.) But clothing has always been different. He'll start off great, get frustrated by something, bang his fists, and then cross his arms defiantly until we remind him that he needs to ask and say please if he wants help. Then we help.

The day of the photo, Ethan had been dressed earlier in a different outfit (possibly the same shirt.) Mid-morning, I was in the kitchen folding laundry when I realized he hadn't come in to pester me in a few minutes. (Glorious minutes.) So I poked my head into his room and saw this little naked butt sticking out while Ethan dug through his pants drawer. I asked what happened to his clothes and Ethan replied that he had had an accident and needed new ones. After he told me where he had been standing when he peed, I left him to his pants search while I cleaned the carpet. Meanwhile, Ethan retrieved not only new pants, but new underwear, socks, and a sweatshirt b/c I'd told him earlier that it was cold outside. He put them all on without complaint and came out to find his shoes, which he also put on. Finding him all ready to go (with nowhere to go), I had to take a picture. And then we went to the park as a reward for such a big accomplishment.

I'm not thrilled that it took an accident for him to do it, but I'm so proud of my little guy for dressing himself. Although it made me realize that he knows he can do it. He just chooses not to when he doesn't feel like putting in the effort. Somehow I need to convince him that it's worth it every day. Maybe I'll start the morning "chore" list I've been thinking about and reward him when he does all of it. (Stuff like getting dressed, eating breakfast, making his bed, etc. Probably one for each finger so that they are easy to keep track of. Don't worry, I'm not making my son a slave. Yet.)

Photos of our cute boy

Ethan dressed himself. Note the too small sweatshirt, the "sweater" pants hiked up to the knees, and the mismatched socks. But he did it himself, so I'm so proud!

So cool.

Ethan has just started posing for photos and this is his new cheeseball grin.

Pinwheel Preschool's First Fieldtrip. The kids climbing the hay mountain at the farm we visited.

Ethan has a horsey!

Weirdest Symptom

Did you know that your eyes can swell when you're pregnant? I'm lucky that my hands and feet don't swell much. (Just enough to keep my from wearing my rings.) But apparently, my eyes have taken on some of the extra fluid. Any time I wear my contacts, they are so tight I burst blood vessels. So I'm resigned to wearing glasses until sometime in December. At least they're cute pink ones!

What is that on the couch???

I came out of the shower this morning, and after getting dressed, went into the living room to see what mischief Ethan had gotten in to. Immediately my eyes were drawn to something bright red all over the couch. The markers are on a high shelf, so I racked my brain for what he could have smeared all over the couch that's so red. Then it hit me! BLOOD! A quick check and I discovered Ethan's first three toes on his right foot covered in it. Asking what happened was fruitless, so I began cleaning his foot to find the source. It took some looking. Apparently, all this blood came from a tiny, tiny scrape on the bottom of his second toe. Of course, while I was finding the little bandaids and bacitracin he ran all over the house leaving little spots of blood on carpeting, clothes on the floor, and again, the couch. When I finally found the bandaids (they'd fallen behind the medicine chest), I had to clean off his bloody foot again. Now he is complaining about the bandaid (he hates them), but I'm not letting him take it off until the bleeding has stopped. I already have enough to clean. (Maybe we'll go to IKEA and buy another slipcover for the couch. I don't think it's worth attempting to clean.)

Update : Thanks to Beth's mom for the heads up that peroxide gets out blood. I replaced the couch cover anyway b/c it was nearly destroyed pre-blood and so shrunken from many, many washes that it was ripping at the seams. But I'm totally going to use peroxide on those carpet spots. Thanks!!

Updated Sidebar

Just an update on my sidebar. I think G&G J are buying the stroller. And I removed the diapers from the "want" list b/c I'm realizing that it's just more work and expense than I want. But I did add a baby sling. I didn't like the one I had last time and barely used it b/c it didn't fit well, had no stretch, and had this annoying padding. After looking around for a while, I found these. They come in something like ten different sizes, are all stretch cotton, can be ordered with or without padding, and are so adorable to boot! Just in case you were wondering, I think I'll wear a size 23, unpadded, and I really like White Lotus, White Lily, Natural Bamboo (the bluer one), and Spellbound Stretch. I also like Blue Acadia, but definitely no solids b/c it'll be harder to hide messes and stains.

You've gotta watch this!

With nothing else to watch Wed nights, John and I discovered a new show and we LOVE it! It's called 'Pushing Daisies' and you can watch full episodes here. (It's not on iTunes yet, but we can hope.)

Narrated brilliantly by Jim Dale, it's about a pie-maker who can bring people and things back to life by touching them (and killing them again by another touch.) The owner of a small shop called the 'Pie Hole', his PI friend roped him into using his talent to solve murders and collect the reward. He brought back his child-hood girlfriend to solve her murder and can't bring himself to send her back. So now they live and work together, but can't touch. Creating more fun is the girl who loves him (played by the amazing Kristin Chenoweth), but can't figure out who this new non-contact girl is. They even make great use of her voice with fun musical interludes.

Really, I can't describe how great it is, so you've gotta watch it. So quirky. Way to come back ABC!

Shout out

Check out my friend Steph's new etsy store, "So Called Mommy"

Only a few things so far, but she is willing to customize any of them. They are all so cute! And I'm loving her sexy photo. Proof that moms really can look good!

What a great guy

I'm managing today b/c John stayed home from work. I didn't fall asleep until after 4am, so it was wonderful to sleep in. He's keeping Ethan out of the house so that I can clean, plan my preschool lessons for the week, run to the store, etc... without them in my way. This would have been a horrible day without him, so I'm sooo glad I have a great husband. I love you, babe!

...can't...sleep...

It's 1:30am Monday morning and I can't sleep. There are a million reasons that I should be totally zonked.

1 - I just worked a grueling three days that pushed me so far past my limits I started having contractions. My body can barely handle my regular days at the moment. Work days are much longer and require me to be on my feet more. It doesn't help that before work on Friday I insisted on making a HUGE grocery store trip with Ethan. I need to do those when I have someone else to unload the car for me. (For anyone who is unaware, I work the evening shift. So after most of my regular day with Ethan, I hand him off to his dad and spend another eight hours on my feet at the hospital. On the weekends I do get to sleep in a little more, but my pregnant body doesn't recover very quickly.)

2 - I'm into the not-so-fun part of the pregnancy where I'm swollen, sick, and tired all the time. Already. I'm exhausted. I can't even pretend that I don't want this baby out NOW!

3 - I take a sleeping pill! The anti-nausea meds I still need are also a sleep-aid, but somehow have never seemed to help me sleep. Even my dr is confused by this one.

So really, I should be sleeping. The nausea and muscle spasms from pushing my body too far keep me from my rest. I have no idea how I'm going to function tomorrow, but Ethan won't disappear, so somehow I'll have to.