I love my Aunt Shanna! 
Well we just returned from Winter Haven (home of the world famous Cypress Gardens) for my sister-in-laws wedding. We had a nice time and enjoyed being in the wedding. Because both of us were in the wedding (George gave her away), Ethan was with a sitter that was hired to watch him during the rehearsal and the wedding. He did great with her and even slept relatively well considering he was in a new place. He didn’t even scream himself to sleep for an hour as he usually does when we are out of town. He did however keep asking to go home saying “Bye Bye, House.” Which we took to mean that he wanted to go bye bye and return to our house. Ethan was able to join us at the reception and paid a dollar to dance with his aunt. Cute pictures to follow.
Ethan finally figured out how to open the pantry door and has been rearranging the items on the shelf ever since. He has been moving cans from one side of a shelf to the other and then from one shelf to another.
Ethan started refusing his nebulizer treatments and our first response was to hold him down and force it on him. This then caused him to freak out and we weren’t able to get him to do it at all. (Even with two of us holding him down we couldn’t get him still enough). We stopped for a few days, decided that forcing wouldn’t work, and let him play with the mask to help him see it wasn’t going to hurt him. Then I found a child’s mask that looks like a dinosaur and he really likes that. I discovered that he likes Higglytown Heroes on the Disney Channel so he is allowed to watch that while he gets his medication. So far it is working and he has been quite cooperative. Lesson learned on forcing him, there is always another way.
We were looking at one of Ethan’s picture books where there are pictures of kids doing things and he was kind of crouching down with a serious look on his face. I thought he was trying to go to the bathroom or something and then he stood up fast. Then he pointed to a picture of a child jumping in the book and I realised he was trying to jump. I tried to help teach him how and he has been trying ever since and has been quite serious about it. Today he also learned how to blow bubbles. In the past when I tried to get him to blow bubbles he would try to eat the stick but today he actually blew and made a bubble! Today he also figured out how to open the pantry. He pulled out a box of crackers and brought it to me doing the sign for more and saying “baba baba” which uses when he wants something. Lastly, today he was poking at my belly button and poked rather hard and I said “ow.” He started crying and then leaned down and gave me a kiss. What a cutie!
Making mischief instead of napping. I watched him on the video monitor his shirt was half off covering his face and he was jumping up and down in his crib trying to get it off.
Ethan is expanding his vocabulary beyond “ticka, ticka” and dada. When we were in the car today, he saw birds flying by and said “bird.” When we return home from being out he says “house.” When I ask him to try and say something he often attempts to try and copy what I am saying, though it is not often very clear. His favorite words are ball and clock.
