nursery project

I've had my eye on this project forever it seems. I finally bought it and put it on the wall. Ethan seems to enjoy them, too!

clapping

It's funny, just a couple of days ago I thought that it's strange that Ethan hasn't been clapping yet, considering how much we clap for him. He loves to mimic the things that we do, and say (try to anyway) and since we clap whenever he does something you'd think he would have picked up on it. Well, it seemed that no sooner did I think that thought, then he started clapping. It's pretty funny, he holds his right hand out and his left hand does a big circle when clapping, but he's doing it a lot now. All I have to do is say "yayyyy" and he'll start clapping for himself.

On another note, we survived his sickest week yet. Tuesday he came down with a really bad head cold, coughing and sneezing, runny nose, etc. Then some tummy troubles and fever joined in the mix late Tuesday and early Wednesday. The fever really worried me, and got up to 102 but I guess according to the doctor, babies over 6 months old aren't recommended anything to reduce their fever until it's 103 or higher. That really shocked me, I gave him tylenol anyway, he was really miserable and slept the day away. Now he's back to just coughing and sneezing and hasn't regained his appetite yet at all. Hopefully Steve and I will avoid it, we've been able to stay healthy so far.

kisses

It's really striking to me how much he comprehends. He started doing this all by himself when he hears me say "kisses". And when I was brushing his teeth the other day I said "brush brush brush" and he stopped, gave me a puzzled look, and pulled the toothbrush out of my hand and put it up on his head. I realized that I also say "brush brush brush" while I'm brushing his hair! So I said, "no, brush your teeth" and pointed to my teeth. He put the toothbrush back in his mouth. Wow, I can't get over how much he soaks up.

only word, but it's his favorite

practicing

I've been propping Ethan up on a ledge to get him used to a crawling position :) He hates it, but it's kinda cute.

And when I put him in a crawling position, he's stuck there and whines until he either face-plants or kicks his legs out. Either way, he's not happy about it. It's his new "tummy time". He's not one to be motivated to do something he's not ready to do :)

10 months

Ethan is now 10 months old. He's interested in absolutely everything, although he's not making much progress in getting into everything yet. Still no forward motions for crawling, just scooting backward slightly still. Maybe this month will be the month that it clicks :)

He tries to mimic the things that we say, and spends a lot of time studying our mouths while we talk. Says 'ball' (bah) and also calls books 'bah' too, not sure if he's trying to say book or just babbling. He got his top two teeth this month, making 4 total. He loves to eat everything except bananas. He especially loves to feed himself. He is so funny when he tries to get people's attention, he certainly loves to interact with others. He loves to "bop" along with music, or just bop when he's happy about something. Our bathroom scale (which can be slightly off) puts him at 22 lbs.

first word and new teeth

First chicken nugget:

He really likes it! Actually, he just loves to eat! He's started refusing his baby food, so I have to allow him to be an independent baby now and let him feed himself and get dirty. He lets me sneak in a bite or two of baby food still, if he's in between feeding himself bites.
Ethan's top two teeth popped through this week, the week that he turned 10 months! He makes some interesting faces now that his top teeth are in...



He also said his first word yesterday, Ball (sounds more like "bah"). But he definitely knows that he's saying it. He picked up a ball, held it out to me and said "bah" before I had even said it to him. How fun. Now he says it all the time, and looks around for a ball to show us.

I also have to show this funny video, he loves his little walker. I call it his go kart :) He really can go, I wish we had more floor space for him to scoot around on.

more house projects

Before:
dirty, scratched up floor boards

After:
smooth, clean, beautiful :)

A good project to do before our little guy becomes mobile. Keeping us from stepping on the boards was work enough, keeping a toddler off would be an impossible task.

projects

Our soon-to-be amazing shower in our master bathroom. I am so ready to be able to get ready in my own bathroom again and not have to walk down the hall. And it will be amazing, Steve's got big plans. Stay tuned (in a few weeks) for the final pictures.

Ethan started a game over Christmas break

Christmas visit to South Carolina