My birthday was this Sunday. Thankfully George didn’t have to work so we were able to hang out as a family. Ethan and George made me waffles for breakfast and George’s mom came over and went to dinner with us. Ethan got me a gift card to Starbuck’s-I guess he knows we go a lot. I’m starting to think Ethan may be ready to give up his nap. He’ll go a few days without a nap and then take one one day and then go a few days again without it. And honestly he is not tired in the least, not until 5pm which is too late. I do everything possible to wear him out, it doesn’t wear him out but it does me. Oh well.
Going antiqueing is one of my most favorite things to do, next to reading of course. My favorite shop in town closed last year so I hardly ever go, plus it’s dangerous to go with Ethan. Today we were meeting George for lunch and there’s a nice shop near his office so I took Ethan with me. I carried him around the store. He was excited when all the old clocks went off at once at noon. He kept saying “ding dong.” Anyway, I bought this beautiful old armoir that is just awesome and was soooo inexpensive. I am so excited-happy birthday to me!
Since I quit working, I’ve been helping George with doing bookkeeping for two local companies. It has been a nice way to make some extra money which I have faithfully used to buy furniture. As Ethan has cut back more and more on his sleeping, it has been more difficult for me to accomplish it. Also, George does do the more difficult tasks which he has to do at night or on the weekend since all his time is taken up with two other full time jobs. I have wanted to stop doing the bookkeeping for over a year now. God has made a way for us to transfer one of the companies to someone else and I am very grateful. Ethan and I had to go to this business at least every other day to pick up checks and bills and then had to make deposits nearly every day at the bank so that will definitely free up some time for us. Anyway, yay!
I think Ethan is working his way out of a nap. Although it could just be that he is in a stage where he is not growing so he’s not tired. He hasn’t been eating anything either. Anyway, he’s been climbing out of his crib every afternoon when I put him down for his nap and we battle it out for a hour or more and sometimes he ends up falling asleep but then I have to wake him up an hour later so he will sleep at night. I thought for sure he would be really tired yesterday-we went to the park and to gymnastics-but after a half an hour of making him stay in his crib I finally gave him a bunch of toys and told him to play in his crib. I walked on the treadmill and took a shower expecting to get him out after I had finished but he finally fell asleep at 2:45. That is just way too late for a nap. So I’m hoping it is just a stage and that he’ll get back to napping at least for a short nap. He really can’t make it the whole day without one because by 5pm he is a mess if he hasn’t had one.
The other night George and I got to go out like grown ups and see the broadway musical “Annie.” It was amazing to me that I remembered all the songs from when I was a child. I loved the movie Annie when I was growing up and sing the chorus to “Tomorrow” to Ethan at bedtime. Anyway, it was a nice time and Ethan had great fun with his babysitter whom he adores. She always comes with some activity planned and the next day he talks about her and the fun they had. She took pictures of him when she was here and just emailed me a cute online scrapbook page of Ethan with background music. Too cute!
We went to my inlaws for a short weekend for my mother-in-laws birthday. Ethan had a blast playing with the cats and his Mamu (grandma). He woke up Saturday morning and the first thing he said to me, “Okay. Cats. Mamu. Milk.” He also gave us directions whenever we went in the car. “this way. that way.” Such a funny man.
Since Ethan has turned two, I have noticed that he has been significantly less negative and quite pleasant to be around. This is good because I know that the next negative period comes at about two and a half so I intend to enjoy this time. God has also been answering my prayers for patience. Ethan is also constantly parrotting what we say. Being in gymnastics has made him think he is capable of anything. He even thinks he can climb the climbing wall at the Y. I found him one day trying to swing and do a bat hang from the bar in my closet. Such a funny man.
I was talking to friends today about Ethan’s pottying a realised I hadn’t updated the blog about it. Right before we left for vacation I had an epipheny (sp?) that we needed to stop potty training. We realised that Ethan had just been teasing us about being ready for it. While he is physically capable and has demonstrated ability to use it, he’s just not emotionally there yet. It quickly turned into something that only I cared about and not him. So I figured that since we had spent a month on it, he knew what to do, and if he wants to go he can take himself but I’m not going to take him or nag him about it. So he wears pullups all the time in case he wants to go. So far he’s been going about once a day on his own initiation. Of course after I wasted a month of my life I read something suggesting that 3yrs old is a better age to work on it because of the increased maturity. I also had a few friends who said that their kids after turning 3 just one day said, “I’m ready to be a big boy now.”
I had planned a fun party for Ethan’s birthday to be had this past weekend. Since we were getting him all train stuff we had the whole Thomas the Train theme going. Well the night before the party I started feeling sick so we had to cancel it. I was quite sad for him but he didn’t know any better and enjoyed eating cake with George and Grandma. Turns out I had a stomach virus. I’m starting to feel better today, but weak. Thankfully George was home all weekend and could entertain Ethan because I could not do a thing. At the same time, we’ve had problems with our well not working and then a pipe burst under the house so it feels like we have radiant heating under the floor in Ethan’s room. So the house is destroyed because of the plumber’s doing their thing.
