Not all Bad

Ethan said two things today that are so great. This morning, he picked up a block and said "twiangle". He was right! (Thanks Blue's Clues!) And just a little while ago, he was saying "two pen". I looked over to see that he had picked up the two pens on my nightstand. I've been asking him every few minutes how many pens he has and he says "Two!" He's very proud and so am I.

A Hard Day

It's 10am and already I want this day to be over. One of the women that I have direct responsibility for lost her baby this morning. She has been on bed rest for longer than I like to think about, and at 27wks gestation, delivered a baby that couldn't be saved. It takes three hands to count the number of babies she's lost, but this one was the oldest, and the doctors said that a baby born now had a good chance. As I spend the morning alternately on the phone and on my knees I am again so grateful for my wonderful husband and my healthy son. I just wish that this day would end sooner.

My Strength

Lately, I've been so grateful for John. When I've seen couples suffering from loss and trials, I have been constantly reminded of a post I made months ago. I can't imagine how I'd live my life right now without John, much less through these larger trials our friends are facing. I am so blessed to have him.

I Love You

Ethan won't let John finish the bedtime routine until I've come to say goodnight and give him a kiss. Tonight, he said "I Love You" back to me. It's the best feeling in the world.

Blessing in Disguise

Our ward has had more than it's fair share of heartache and pain recently. And several of the families still need almost constant care. As I've been serving these sisters who are struggling with loss, spending every possible moment at the hospital with a suffering child, or trying to maintain a good attitude while confined to a bed, I've been so grateful. Not only for our family's relative peace, but for the opportunity to serve. It makes my burden seem so much lighter. It helps me to refocus on what's truely important. Spending my days crying with, praying for, and serving other sisters has helped me remember why I am here, why I chose this life, and where my strength comes from. And for that, I feel blessed.

Proud Father

I must be the most proud father in the world. I was getting ready to give Ethan a bath on Friday and put him on the potty, like I've been doing the last few days. Except that this time he actually went! I clapped and cheered him on so that he would know that this was a good thing.

He was very proud of himself too. And then he reached back and flushed the toliet. Which is another thing that he likes to do.
((I know Mia already wrote about this tonight, but I got to be here for a first with him. I was so excited))

Also, his vocabulary has been growing so fast. He is really repeating alot of what we say now days. I guess we'll have to clean up our language 0_0

EDIT: See John's blog, which is where this really should have been.

"See ya pee"

That's what Ethan says when he flushes the toilet, after he PEES IN IT! Ethan started peeing in the potty on friday and hasn't looked back. He still doesn't tell us when he needs to go, but we've started asking him on a regular basis and he went 4 times today! Plus, he seems to be holding it until we make it to the potty! We couldn't be more excited!!!

Loss

John mentioned the death of one of Ethan's playmates. He was about 6 weeks older than Ethan when he was hit by a truck. I did want to make the correction for John that he didn't run out into the street. He was standing next to his mom, waiting to get into the car. A complete accident that no one could have prevented.

We've been reminded of how precious every second we get to spend with Ethan is. And of how glad we are to be sealed as a family. That we will be together for all eternity, even if our time here on earth is cut short.

6 years

Our 6th anniversary was Tuesday. We've made it past 95% of Hollywood marriages, so we must be doing something right! I don't think we did anything for our 5th, so we decided to at least get out of the house for this one. We decided on a picnic on Boston Common. There turned out to be a play on the common that night, so I sat to watch it while John ran over to PF Changs to get our take-out. The play was HORRIBLE! So after eating we didn't stick around. We walked over to the pond on the other side of the common and watched the swans and ducks. It's so nice to occasionally get away from all the immediate needs of the house, be able to look back at what we've done so far, and think about the future. We realized we've been saying 'just one more year here in Boston' for about 6 months now, so we need to think about what comes after Boston for us. Yikes! Here's to hoping that in another six years we're feeling more settled.

The Potty

I know that people think I'm crazy to consider potty training this early. Most boys aren't trained until they are well over two years old. But I don't want to change diapers for that long, and Ethan's a smart kid, so I don't see why I should wait.

We've been teaching Ethan the words he needs for a while. Then we let him come into the bathroom with us. Once he started telling us what we were doing, I knew he was ready. So today I took his diaper off, waited for him to tell me about peeing, and then asked if he wanted to sit on the potty. He sat there for 5 whole minutes! He didn't go, but he was talking about it the whole time and wasn't afraid of the toilet. I'm so excited!! We've got four months until he's 2, and I think we might be trained by then. Wish us luck!

(Just a note about Ethan's fear of everything. He ran through the tunnel of water at the spray park ALL BY HIMSELF!. I was jumping up and down and cheering, making a huge fool of myself. It was great.)

How old is he??

Ethan says "I'm twee" when asked how old he is. (He also holds up one finger and laughs.) Some days, I'm conviced he really is three. We've discovered that Ethan knows words like 'pirates' and 'slide', and speaks only in complete sentences. He's not just repeating sentences that he's heard. No. He understands what each word means and shuffles things around to say exactly what he wants to. Really, as he approaches two, (I KNOW! TWO!), learning so many new words is normal. But Ethan's understanding of sentence structure is a sure sign that Ethan is a product of his nerdy parents. (My extended family will probably point out that all babies born in the G family are super-smart. It's in the G genes. And John's would mention that they have their share of nerdy genes too.)

Primary Secretary

Wow! I forgot that being a secretary in any organization of the LDS church means you are soooo busy! My first time, it was in the Relief Society. Granted, that president was a flake about keeping track of anything (I've never known anyone who was so loving, and so in-tune with what our sisters needed, though). But it was soooo much work! This time, I have the downside of not having served in the Primary before. I haven't been in the Primary since I turned 12 and officially graduated from it. I had no idea what I was getting into! I'm lucky that it should only require me to do things two days a week, once we get going. But because we are still setting up a new presidency, rearranging the way we run things, and dealing with the beginning of our fall influx of new families, the president and I email several times a day, calling if we need to brainstorm a little more. Hopefully, once the presidency meets and settles in, it'll get easier. We haven't met yet b/c we are still missing a 1st Counselor! (Although the 3rd, yes, the 3rd, is already gearing up to help ease the load of our HUGE primary.) If we aren't complete by next week we are going to meet anyway so that we can at least get everyone's responsiblities hashed out. Then maybe I won't walk around all day getting flashes of things I need to do (or wonder who needs to do them.)

I know this all sounds absolutely nuts (especially if you're not LDS), but I am LOVING it. I am in my element. Secretary callings are by far my favorite. So, my life just got crazier, and all I have to say is "Bring it on!"

Trucks

When Ethan woke up from his nap today, he stood at the window for nearly half and hour telling me about the trucks driving by. This was so amazing because of the complete sentences! He said "I see the truck!", "There is the truck.", "Where did the truck go?", and "Where is the truck?"!!!!!!!!!!! The most incredible part was that he wasn't leaving out a single word of those sentences. Every 'is' and 'the' was there. SO SMART!

More Vacation Pictures

Hanging out on the swing with the Great-Grandparents

So many gorgeous pictures from their backyard!

Loved the trampoline at Mariah's wedding reception. He saw a girl doing flips and was trying so hard to do one by throwing himself down and rolling around. So cute.

Ah. Dominos at the grandparents. A much anticipated part of the vacation.

And this was our day out with some Avlis players. (Read "John is a gaming nerd") We had lots of fun and a great dinner. Even Ethan made some new friends.

Alright. I've got work to do now (I'm the new Primary Secretary! Scary!), but I promise more pictures tomorrow.

Growth

We had Ethan's follow-up visit with the pediatrician today. Just in case you don't remember, last month was his 18 month well-baby checkup where they found he hadn't gained any weight, and more importantly, hadn't grown any taller. So we've been pushing a variety of proteins and making sure he had a little more fat in his diet (he used to be such a healthy eater, now he eats like us.) At this appt, he'd gained a pound and grown 3/4 of an inch. IN A MONTH! (That's alot for his age b/c their activity level usually keeps their growth pretty slow.) Apparently he had quite the growth spurt. No more worrying. YAY!

She also commented that he is so intelligent. He calmed down as soon as I told him he wouldn't be getting any shots. And he tried to tell her that he was three. She agreed that he seems almost three. He's been learning nearly a word a day and is forming nearly coherent sentences (meaning we can tell what at least two of the words are!) What she didn't get to see is how helpful and obediant he is. Granted, he is still a toddler and often doesn't listen, but only when he knows that he is in a safe place. Most of the time, he listens very well and helps to do chores and clean up his messes. He even knows that he can't go off the porch unless he is holding my hand, so he will stop and wait for me. What a cute guy! So easy to love.

As promised....

We are in the middle of the 3rd "SUPERSTORM" to hit the northeast this year. It sounds cooler than it is. The first two caused flooding. Who-ho. Although this one did have golf-ball sized hail and an unconfirmed tornado sighting yesterday. We are high enough to not worry about flooding (unless we get hit by a tsunami when La Palma collapses), and the hail was in NH, so we just worry about big lightning storms. The point is, we are stuck inside yet again and I had a little time to download the pictures!! Yay!!

Getting ready for his first plane ride!

Picking fresh sweet peas

Eating sweet peas with mom under the orange tree

Loved those peas

Hanging out with Great-Grandpa

More to come later!!

Dancing around the world

I know. I promised pictures. But they're not on the computer yet. So you'll just have to wait.

I did just discover this little video. More for fun, but strangely inspiring. I still can't really figure out why. Maybe it's seeing so much and still enjoying it enough to dance. (I tend to be a cynical traveler.) Or maybe it's simply that he managed to do something so cool without setting out to (at least the first time around).

Anyway, it makes me want to be less cranky about life. And that's enough.

On Vacation

With our vacation nearly over, I thought I'd use a little of this lazy day to update everyone.

We spent 5 days in Cali with John's grandparents. Grandpa LOVED Ethan. Most days we hung out in the back yard, eating sweet peas and strawberries from the garden. But we did hit the beach (apparently the Pacific is not always warm) and visit with friends. All in all, it was better than we thought!

Now, we are ending our week in Colorado. John's sister had Ethan's 1st cousin a few weeks ago, so we are in a house with them and John's parents as well. A little cramped, but we all get along, so it's not so bad. (It would be better if we could sleep in the same room as Ethan. We wake him up when we just roll over, so he has been sleeping in the nursery while we are on the living room floor!) We've seen lots of family while out here, but the best part was our weekend away. John's parents agreed to take the boy for a few days, and we went to a hotel in Denver for a little getaway. It was WONDERFUL! No getting up early. No toddler schedule. Plenty of time together. Besides just lazing around, we drove out to Dinosaur Ridge and hiked around to the sites. Really interesting. And we had dinner with a newly married college friend. We need to get away more often. It was good for us.

Anyway. We'll be back to real life in a few days and I will put up some pictures of the trip.

So Chatty

Ethan has suddenly started picking up new words. (Finally!) But never ones we expect. He says things like "See ya" or "wiggle, wiggle, wiggle". He even started singing the right words to a song in the car today! We were listening to an old tape of 'The Monkees' and there is a song that goes "I..I..I..I..I'm not your stepping stone". Ethan usually sings the I's and dances along, but today he said 'stepping stone'!!!!!

This bodes well for potty training as he seems ready, but doesn't have the words he needs yet. YAY!!

And for those of you who it matters to, we will be in California for the next week, and then Colorado the week after. If we don't see you out there, we will see you when we get back! I will try to post some pictures of Ethan at the beach, with his great-grandparents, with his new baby cousin, etc.. while we are gone if I can.

Bedtime giggles

John is getting Ethan ready for bed. I don't know what's going on in there, but they are having fun. Hearing my two favorite guys burst into giggles is the best sound in the world.