Ethan at age 2

So I am beyond awful at updating my blog, but I do enjoy looking back at the boys' birthday information.  Ethan is technically a month past 2, but here's some information about him.

Height: 36 inches (90th percentile)

Weight: 26 pounds (50th percentile)

Loves:

Having you read him stories, especially the books My No No No Day and People

Being silly - chase, tickles, teasing

Anything noisy - banging, toys, etc.

Pouring things - flour into the sugar bowl, salt out of the salt shaker, water or milk out of his sippy cup

His binky for naps and bedtime...although we are weaning him this week and it seems to be going well

Talking - he says a lot!  We will get 5 or 6 word sentences at times!

Singing - remembers many songs after only one time!

Helping me unload the dishwasher - he loves to pull out matching items and stack them

HIding in the lockers at the YMCA (he pulls the door shut and won't answer when you call him, so you have to go down the row opening all the lockers to find him!)

He is:

Still taking naps (hooray!)

Climbing stairs up and down only holding a hand rail

Quite adventerous and independent

Running everywhere

Adding extra "s"s to the ends of plural words: oranges becomes orangeses, princesses is princesseseses (not exaggerating!)

He is not:

Super stubborn yet (we aren't getting a lot of "no" or "I do it myself" yet)

At ALL interested in potty training - diapers all the way!

Hitting very much any more - he seems to have learned not to do that!

He is so fun and easy going - he really makes our family better!  We love this little 

guy!

Aidan at age 4

The visiting teaching message this month was about family history.  One of the things it mentioned was keeping your own journal, and it has given me a renewed desire to keep up with this blog.  Even though I feel like no one reads it much any more, I want to keep the records for ME!  So without further ado,

Aidan at age 4:

Height:  44 inches (into a booster seat - hooray!)
Weight: 42.5

Skills he has mastered:

• Writing Aidan, mom, and dad
• Knows all the letters, can write many of them, knows the sounds for most
• Riding a bike with training wheels
• Washing hands independently
• Using a tissue most of the time (we finally got him stop picking his nose!)
• Drawing stick figures
• Counting up to 20 easily (and sometimes into the twenties), with the exception of "thirteen" and "fourteen" which sound the same when he pronounces them, so sometimes he only says one of those numbers instead of two
• Counting given items, including simple addition and subtraction

Skills he is working on:

• A few sounds are still difficult for him to say (r, sh, ch) - shark sounds like soawk, ouch sounds like outs, etc.
• Staying dry all night (he's working on it!)

Things he enjoys:

• Staying awake during the day (naps are rare to never)
• Art!  This kid could do art projects all day long!
• Riding his bike
• Going on walks
• Helping Mom make pizza
• Going fishing with Dad
• Play with Legos
• Play the Where's My Water app on the iPad
• Digging in the dirt and grass to build an "ant hill" with our neighbor David

Overall, Aidan is a very sweet and happy boy!  We feel so blessed to have him in our family!

Ethan at 1

Did you notice that blogging went out the window right when Ethan got mobile?  Coincidence?  I think not! 

In my fantasy world, I would go back and do some catch up posts.  In my reality world?  I just panicked driving home from the grocery store today because I thought, "Did I do a post about Aidan at age 3?  I know I didn't do Ethan at age 1 yet, but I can still remember that.  If I didn't do Aidan at 3, though, there is no hope!"  Luckily, I DID do one for Aidan.  Now I've got to get the other little man while I'm remembering!

Ethan at age 1:

Height: 31.3 inches (87th percentile)
Weight: 22.6 pounds (44th percentile)

Loves:

• eating and drinking real people food
• BANGING!!!  Anything on anything to make a noise - future drummer boy???
• being tickled
• walking - he took his first steps just days after his first birthday, and nothing has kept him down since
• playing with the buttons on the piano
• throwing things through the baby gate and watching them fall down the stairs
• pulling silverware out of the dishwasher as soon as it's opened - taking things out of any drawer, for that matter!
• bath time
• both the toilet paper and the toilet water are irresistible!
• B-I-N-K-Y

Dislikes:

• sleeping through the night (went for about one golden week once, but otherwise it's not uncommon for him to still cry at least once a night)
• being put down (as in not being constantly held) if he is thirsty/hungry/tired
• textures of certain foods, like small noodles

Skills/Development he has mastered:

• has middle four top teeth, 2 molars on the top, and the 2 middle bottom teeth
• excellent pincer grasp - loves to pick up strings, small papers, etc.
• turns pages in books
• crawling, standing, walking
• waves bye bye and night night
• rolls and throws a ball

Skills he is working on:

• starting to try words, especially imitating what we say
• keeping food on his tray rather than throwing it on the floor
• staying out of the trash can
• hasn't started running (yet!)

Personality:

• likes having a routine at home (VERY into his nap and bedtime!) but is very flexible when we are out and about
• pretty easy-going overall - puts up with a LOT of wrestling/carrying/loving from Aidan!
• can be hesitant to try new things that WE introduce (food, expectations, rules, new people), but very happy to explore things independently (toys, kid's care)
• won't smile for strangers (or the family Christmas picture!), but very giggly and happy with family at home

We sure love our little one year old!
(Sorry no pictures yet - I tried several times and can't get any to upload.  I'll have to come back and add some later...)

Ethan Trying to Crawl

So Ethan is very mobile - he rolls everywhere, can get from laying down to sitting up and then back down again, has stood alone several times, is starting to pull himself up on furniture, etc.

But for some reason, he can't quite figure out crawling yet... and I think the poor guy is getting frustrated about it!

My very favorite part is around :20, where he does the downward dog thing.  And I just love all the babble - can't you just HEAR him saying, "Dad, I'm trying to get this and it just isn't working!!"?

Hold your horses, people - once he figures this out, we're in for a wild ride! :)

Ethan in Video

As mentioned, I take more videos of my little guy than pictures.  So here's the good stuff:

Mike is so good at making Ethan laugh.  Adorable!

First solid food - he didn't go for it nearly as much as Aidan did!  It also took Ethan about 2 solid weeks to really get into it (instead of 4.2 seconds like Aidan in the linked video!).

Demo of his mad sitting and banging skills.  Future percussionist, perhaps?

Finally, Aidan had a community ed class in a school building, and there I discovered Ethan's completely irrational fear of public toilet flushing.  Kind of mean on my part, but super hilarious!

Ethan in Pictures and Words

Oh no... second child syndrome!  Not only have I published about Ethan less, but I have fewer pictures, too.  Shhh - don't tell Ethan!  It doesn't mean I love him any less, just that I have less time!

Here are some recent pictures of my cutie.  I regularly call him nicknames that involve the word fat (Fatty Fat, Little Fat Fat, Chubby Fat, etc.) because I just love his cute fat legs!

I promise, my child is usually in clothes.  But really: why bother when he leaves lovely gifts like this?!

And also, he gets quite a few rashes in his fat rolls from sweating, so I figure that going naked can only be good for those, right?

Milestones:

Rolling over - he can, but doesn't often

Sitting - now a champ all by himself

Chewing toes - obviously, yes

Eating solids - total pro

Moving - some pushing and rotating, but no crawling yet (thank goodness!)

Blowing raspberries - one of his new favorite things, especially when he has a mouthful of food!

Seeing, Reaching, Grabbing, Putting in Mouth - um, yes.  He'll get a leaf, my necklaces, his food, YOUR food... you name it!

Teeth - none yet, but I think it will be soon

Sure love this little one!

And part of why I don't have many great pics is because I tend to take more video of him, so look for that post soon.

Three Years Old

People talk about the terrible twos... Aidan really wasn't terrible!
And then all these experienced moms told me that they though 3 was way worse than 2.

While Aidan still is a really wonderful kid, turning three has certainly brought some temper tantrums, especially about "doing it by myself!"  Here are some hilarious videos for you to enjoy!

I can't even remember why he was so mad in the car seat, but I thought the leg kicking was particularly amusing.

(In case you can't tell, he's upset because he got his arm twisted in the shirt when he put in on by himself, but he didn't want me to help him fix it.)

Does it make me a terrible mom that I laugh at these??