Times truly have changed!

Friends and family who thought I'd have more time on my hands after leaving my formal job are probably as surprised as I am that my hands are literally full more of the time as a Super At Home Mom.  Did you know the average toddler takes 176 steps... a MINUTE!  I think Ethan has that average beat too, every teacher he has from his music class to swim class comment on "wow, your son sure is... active."

Have you wondered why almost all of the photos I post are of him sleeping, well that's usually the only time I have my hands free to take a picture! :)

But I finally have had the time to fix some bugs on our computer and sit down and bring you up to speed.  Motivated by my Grandma and Grandpa who always show such great interest in their Great-Grandson's latest escapades, I will try to be better about sharing our silly stories.

Let's see, what are some new things that Ethan has done since I've last updated you...

1. He's a sign language machine.  I'll have to post some videos and details on that later, but he signs to us the words "more," "milk," "eat," "all done," "car," "bird," "dog," "airplane," "please," and "thank you."  He communicates all the time and it's really preempted a lot of whining instead.  The funniest part is when he signs what he wants in the middle of the night, in the dark, and I play Helen Keller feeling his hand to read what he's telling me!

2. His teacher calls him her little gold fish at swim class as he dives right in the water and giggles the whole class through.  (Unless he didn't have a big enough breakfast and stops to sign "eat" and "milk" with fierce urgency!).

3. Ethan's kissing.  Kissing other moms at play groups, little girls he thinks are cute, and his Daddy and Mommy most of all.  The time he kisses the most?  When he's being put to bed.  How hard is it to be firm when this little red head is bobbing up and down giving you open mouth drooly kisses. If I resist, he pulls my face to him to give me 10 more!

4. He's obsessed with dogs.  Small dogs.  Large dogs. Black, white, brown, spotted dogs.

5. He's even more obsessed with books.  That line above is from Clifford the Big Red Dog.  I didn't need to look it up because I've read it outloud to him over, and over, and over.  I could type the entire book to you right now.  Whatever you are doing in the house, you can count on a little red headed man tugging at your pants with a book in hand.  Sit for a moment, and he snuggles right next to you ready to help turn the page and point to any dogs or birds he sees.

6. Ethan's eating a much larger variety of foods!  His favorites? Hummus, steamed broccoli, hamburger meat (his Mom's son there!), and the forever favorite, plain cheerios.

7.  The biggest development of all?  WALKING!  Two weeks after his first birthday, he took off! I was saddened that all of our family didn't get to see him run around during their visit during his birthday until I realized he wouldn't have cooperated for any of the site-seeing!  Now that he knows he's mobile, strollers and carrying are so beneath him!

The biggest change lately has been more of this:

We have had so much more time together as a family and it's been such a blessing to raise our son together instead of in shifts.

Now here's the video I tried to post from my phone of our little man walking around.  This time it will work (if you are viewing this from a reader, email, or Facebook, go directly to www.livingingear.blogspot.com to view the video).