more cute pics

split personality? or just being a boy :)

It amazes me that this little angel...

Is also this little bug killer...

I love the way he yells "I got it!!" in his angry voice :)

Pets!

Meet the newest 5 additions to the family :). We used some of Ethan's birthday money for a new fish tank. Ethan loves his new little buddies and calls them all by name now. We have Pumpkin, Oreo and Mickey (all platys) and Gilbert the guppy, and lastly Bob the zebra danio. Steve and I are enjoying having a tank again.

2 year stats

Ethan had his 2 year appt this morning and here are his stats:

Height - 38" (99%ile)

Weight - 28.6 lbs (58%ile)

Head Circumference - 20" (93%ile)

Following in his daddy and my brothers' footsteps, I believe we have another tall one in our family.

Everything looks good, and he sure is growing like a weed :) I have heard some old-wives tales about how you can tell how tall they will be based on their 2 year height, so I looked up some height calculators and I got 6'2.8" on one and 6'1" on another. We'll just have to wait about 18 more years to know for sure.

2 years old

a 2 year bear pic

how fun it is to compare to these pics

Ethan be two!

Ethan's reply when you ask him how old he is today is "Ethan be two!" That's right, Ethan turns two today. He is quickly turning into a little boy, that's for sure. His language is developing rapidly, and he's now saying "me" and "you" correctly much of the time, as well as using him, her, our, my, although I love to hear him ask for help by saying "mama help you?" because I know that these little grammar slips are going to be disappearing all too quickly.

When people ask me what his personality is like I'd always had a hard time describing. I want to say that he's social, but it's not quite the right word because he actually takes quite a bit of time warming up in social settings and does best with one or two friends on play dates. The closer word I'd use now is relational and interpersonal. He is very interested in people, wants to know who they are and likes to know the relationships (that's the baby's mommy, etc) and in big groups loves to just watch what people are doing, and what kids are playing with more than actually playing with his own toys. He loves to talk to people and talk about what's going on around him.

His favorite thing in the world right now is the computer. Many days the first thing out of his mouth is "watch computer please?" and it's really the only thing that I've seen him have the patience to sit down and study and learn how to use. I guess he comes by it honestly since Steve and I both have computer-related bachelors and masters. Go figure.

I'm hoping that he'll want to spend less time in front of the technology in our house as the weather warms up, because a close second to the computer is being outside, and being adventurous! This guy loves to explore, throw rocks and sticks and snowballs, draw with chalk on the driveway, and go sailing down the street in his toy car.

We certainly love our little buddy and are having so much fun watching him grow! Happy birthday, Ethan!

Play corner!

One of the projects that I have had in my brain to do before Ethan's 2nd birthday (which is on MONDAY!) has been to finish part of our basement into a play area. I wanted a craft area, a magnet area, and we majorly needed toy storage. After shopping around we bought some stuff at Ikea (which Ethan calls Ikea's house) and here is the just-about-finished product.

The magnet board (a large drip pan on the right) still needs to be attached to the wall, and I have some magnetic photo ropes to display artwork that still need to be hung on the wall above it. I love that the stools (red ones next to his craft table) have storage in them for play doh, crayons, etc. and I'm amazed at how many toys that dresser really does hold.

It is so much easier to hang out downstairs now that there are not toys piled up in every corner! We love it so far, and it was miraculously finished in time to call it a birthday project for Ethan. I also bought some trains, and that craft table can double as a trains/cars table too.

amazing grace

Amazing grace is now one of Ethan's favorite songs. I'm sitting here listening to him sing it to himself in his crib as he winds down to take a nap. How precious :) Here's his version:
A - ma - zi race

How swee da soun

Da save a touch wike MEEEEE

Ah one was wos

But now I foun

Bline but now I SEEEE

The E-man hits Ikea

Pics from a while ago

These were taken over thanksgiving. I don't think I ever shared them since they're from Steve's phone so here they are.