Things to know about Ethan
Ethan's age can now be counted in years... well, one year. ;-p
Ethan has now walked as far as 15feet without falling and can sometimes turn corners!
Some of Ethan's favorite activities include:
-placing small objects into and pulling them out of larger objects with lids (i.e. balls in & out of boxes, small toys in & out of his little backpack) (he squeals with delight to find the objects still there) (the other day he "helped" a friend of ours get the money out of her wallet when she was preparing to pay for her lunch!) LOL
-swinging his arms back and forth very quickly through a pile of mega blocks to send them flying across the floor (he wears an evil grin while exhibiting this destructive behavior) LOL
-taking apart mega blocks and trying to put them back together (occasionally succeeding!)
-making the music go on any of his noise making toys
-carrying his new giggle ball by the hair and plopping it into his little train, then pushing the smokestack to send it chugging across the room (he sits back and watches the results of his efforts with pride then turns to another toy, leaving the train wherever it ends)
-smacking anything onto his new drum to create a sound
-chasing/being chased by grown ups around the house (we say "I'm gonna get you" or "You can't get me" and he laughs and takes off at full speed crawling)
-saying "uh-oh" before/after deliberately dropping something
-turning pages in board books (only under supervision- otherwise he prefers to eat them)
Two nights ago Luke and I started a game to teach Ethan please and thank you. For example: Luke will have a toy. I will say "Please toy." Luke will give me the toy. I will smile and say "Thank you." Then Luke will say "Please toy." I will give Luke the toy. Luke will smile and say "Thank you." And so forth. Ethan watched in absolute fascination. After a few turns, we included Ethan in the game and tried to encourage him to say "Please" and "Thank you".
Well, last night ETHAN started the game! Okay, so he doesn't say "Please" and "Thank you". But he makes very polite sounding noises at the appropriate times and uses obvious body language that shows he is trying to play the game. He uses one syllable for "Please" and two syllables for "Thank you". They aren't always the same sounds, but they are always rythmically correct. Occasionally he forgets to make a sound at all, and we encourage him, but it's obvious to see that he's trying to catch on and his attitude is noticably improved. (He was getting very "mine" and "gimme now" in his behavior and sounds.) It's very exciting!
For those of you who haven't been around at meal times lately, you might be interested to know that Ethan now eats table foods almost exclusively. He is still eating infant fortified oatmeal at least once a day and uses the store bought pureed foods for when we're out and about, but at home and at restaurants he usually eats cut up veggies, fruits, breads, and meats. He also has cheese, eggs, & pasta, and now drinks nonfat/2% milk, straight water, or watered down juice. Ethan is also now having an infant's liquid multivitamin everyday. Ethan's favorite snacks are Cheerios and the thick sourdough pretzels we buy in a barrel from Costco. For his birthday at home (on his actual birthday) Ethan ate veggie fried rice and a mini cupcake. He didn't end up having any cake at his birthday party... it just didn't work out that way. He was having too much fun playing and visiting with all of his guests.
For those of you who were unable to attend, we had a bday party for Ethan at a local park where we set up a table under a shady tree, laid out a tarp on the grass for clean crawling space, and set up an easy-up for extra shade. I had also pre-painted some large boxes to look like number and alphabet blocks and to be used to crawl through and play in. They were a surprisingly big hit with all the kids who's ages ranged from 1 (Ethan) to 8. There was a playground immediately adjacent to our table area for additional play for the older kids, as well as a coloring book and crayons and a bubble machine. The adults played two games: One where everyone filled in the blanks for a story that covered Ethan's birth and first year of life. Another where everyone had 30sec to draw Ethan then passed their paper to the person on the left and then repeat for 4 turns. There were some very interesting results! Both games were well received and everyone seemed to have a great time. At the end Ethan opened his gifts with notable help from Mom, Dad, and 5yr old guest Lindsey Miller. ;-D He came away with a very nice balance of toys, books, and clothes. We could tell everyone had put a good deal of thought into their choices and we greatly appreciate it.
More things to know:
Ethan is afraid of stuffed animals which are bigger than him and will wake up crying at night if we forget to plug in his blue nightlight or turn on his sleeping music.
Ethan loves stuffed animals that are smaller than him and wants every one that he sees! He's just reached that age where he now makes a fuss when he sees a toy (or anything brightly colored and appealing) in a store. We're having to change parenting tactics as a result. Previously he would be satisfied to hold the toy for a few seconds and then didn't mind when we put it back. We can't do that any more. We have to either tell him "no" or just keep moving. If we let him touch it, he thinks he can keep it.
Ethan LOVES bathtime! He usually will play contentedly with his bathtoys, the faucet, the shiny drain on the side of the tub, and the plug at the bottom of the tub for up to an hour before he's ready to get out (although he rarely gets more than 20minutes). He's not too happy when we don't have any time for playing during bath. He is just now beginning to enjoy splashing. I don't mind so long as we have time to play and so long as I don't have to go out in whatever I'm wearing (I usually end up wet when he splashes). I never care if the bathroom gets splashed. It's just water. It'll dry. Besides, I love splashing myself! :-p
Okay, well that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed learning these amazing facts! ;-p
Ethan has now walked as far as 15feet without falling and can sometimes turn corners!
Some of Ethan's favorite activities include:
-placing small objects into and pulling them out of larger objects with lids (i.e. balls in & out of boxes, small toys in & out of his little backpack) (he squeals with delight to find the objects still there) (the other day he "helped" a friend of ours get the money out of her wallet when she was preparing to pay for her lunch!) LOL
-swinging his arms back and forth very quickly through a pile of mega blocks to send them flying across the floor (he wears an evil grin while exhibiting this destructive behavior) LOL
-taking apart mega blocks and trying to put them back together (occasionally succeeding!)
-making the music go on any of his noise making toys
-carrying his new giggle ball by the hair and plopping it into his little train, then pushing the smokestack to send it chugging across the room (he sits back and watches the results of his efforts with pride then turns to another toy, leaving the train wherever it ends)
-smacking anything onto his new drum to create a sound
-chasing/being chased by grown ups around the house (we say "I'm gonna get you" or "You can't get me" and he laughs and takes off at full speed crawling)
-saying "uh-oh" before/after deliberately dropping something
-turning pages in board books (only under supervision- otherwise he prefers to eat them)
Two nights ago Luke and I started a game to teach Ethan please and thank you. For example: Luke will have a toy. I will say "Please toy." Luke will give me the toy. I will smile and say "Thank you." Then Luke will say "Please toy." I will give Luke the toy. Luke will smile and say "Thank you." And so forth. Ethan watched in absolute fascination. After a few turns, we included Ethan in the game and tried to encourage him to say "Please" and "Thank you".
Well, last night ETHAN started the game! Okay, so he doesn't say "Please" and "Thank you". But he makes very polite sounding noises at the appropriate times and uses obvious body language that shows he is trying to play the game. He uses one syllable for "Please" and two syllables for "Thank you". They aren't always the same sounds, but they are always rythmically correct. Occasionally he forgets to make a sound at all, and we encourage him, but it's obvious to see that he's trying to catch on and his attitude is noticably improved. (He was getting very "mine" and "gimme now" in his behavior and sounds.) It's very exciting!
For those of you who haven't been around at meal times lately, you might be interested to know that Ethan now eats table foods almost exclusively. He is still eating infant fortified oatmeal at least once a day and uses the store bought pureed foods for when we're out and about, but at home and at restaurants he usually eats cut up veggies, fruits, breads, and meats. He also has cheese, eggs, & pasta, and now drinks nonfat/2% milk, straight water, or watered down juice. Ethan is also now having an infant's liquid multivitamin everyday. Ethan's favorite snacks are Cheerios and the thick sourdough pretzels we buy in a barrel from Costco. For his birthday at home (on his actual birthday) Ethan ate veggie fried rice and a mini cupcake. He didn't end up having any cake at his birthday party... it just didn't work out that way. He was having too much fun playing and visiting with all of his guests.
For those of you who were unable to attend, we had a bday party for Ethan at a local park where we set up a table under a shady tree, laid out a tarp on the grass for clean crawling space, and set up an easy-up for extra shade. I had also pre-painted some large boxes to look like number and alphabet blocks and to be used to crawl through and play in. They were a surprisingly big hit with all the kids who's ages ranged from 1 (Ethan) to 8. There was a playground immediately adjacent to our table area for additional play for the older kids, as well as a coloring book and crayons and a bubble machine. The adults played two games: One where everyone filled in the blanks for a story that covered Ethan's birth and first year of life. Another where everyone had 30sec to draw Ethan then passed their paper to the person on the left and then repeat for 4 turns. There were some very interesting results! Both games were well received and everyone seemed to have a great time. At the end Ethan opened his gifts with notable help from Mom, Dad, and 5yr old guest Lindsey Miller. ;-D He came away with a very nice balance of toys, books, and clothes. We could tell everyone had put a good deal of thought into their choices and we greatly appreciate it.
More things to know:
Ethan is afraid of stuffed animals which are bigger than him and will wake up crying at night if we forget to plug in his blue nightlight or turn on his sleeping music.
Ethan loves stuffed animals that are smaller than him and wants every one that he sees! He's just reached that age where he now makes a fuss when he sees a toy (or anything brightly colored and appealing) in a store. We're having to change parenting tactics as a result. Previously he would be satisfied to hold the toy for a few seconds and then didn't mind when we put it back. We can't do that any more. We have to either tell him "no" or just keep moving. If we let him touch it, he thinks he can keep it.
Ethan LOVES bathtime! He usually will play contentedly with his bathtoys, the faucet, the shiny drain on the side of the tub, and the plug at the bottom of the tub for up to an hour before he's ready to get out (although he rarely gets more than 20minutes). He's not too happy when we don't have any time for playing during bath. He is just now beginning to enjoy splashing. I don't mind so long as we have time to play and so long as I don't have to go out in whatever I'm wearing (I usually end up wet when he splashes). I never care if the bathroom gets splashed. It's just water. It'll dry. Besides, I love splashing myself! :-p
Okay, well that's all for now. Hope you enjoyed learning these amazing facts! ;-p
posted by KMD | 12:53 PM
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