Just a quick update. Ethan has a growing vocabulary! He says "Da Da", "Ma Ma" and more recently "Hi?". His grandad taught him "Hi", but Ethan frequently asks it at as question. Yesterday for the first time he said "Uh Oh" and "Woah"- appropriate, since he watched as an entire shelf of jars of sauces collapsed and fell on top of me (big mess but no injuries thankfully). When he says those two words, his mouth forms the cutest, most perfect little "o". Then, last night for the first time, he combined two words and said "Hi Da Da!". We are enjoying this so much and Ethan is very proud of his new words. I think this is the begining of a new stage.

Welcome to the crazy world, Luc!

Okay, so I have been really really bad about updating this blog! The biggest news is that our friends the Sombats have a new addition to their family, Luc Gabriel Sombat! Boy is he a cutie (check out the Sombat's blog for pics)! We haven't met him yet, but we are really looking forward to it, and are daydreaming about all of the good times we will share together in the future. Ethan and Luc are sure to be great pals- as soon as Luc is old enough to handle Ethan's abundance of daycare germs :) So- this is the news that is foremost in our thoughts right now.

Ethan is doing so well! He isn't speaking English yet, but he understands it pretty well. He is also great at tuning us out when he wants to pretend he doesn't understand us. He says "ma ma" and "da da", but it is really hard to tell if he is referring to us when he says it. He loves walking around with a phone (or a remote control, or a shoe) up to his ear and babbling into it. His conversations are complete with pauses, pacing, and changes in expression (both in his face and in his intonation).

Ethan turned 1 in August with MUCH fanfare- we enjoyed every bit of it. We had a nice party at his daycare and they showered him with love and gifts. He was beside himself that day, dismayed at all of the attention (but relishing it completely!). At the begining of September, Ethan graduated from the infant room (diploma and all) and moved up to the first toddler room. It was hard for us to leave familiar territory and to no longer see the faces of the teachers that had loved him so much during his year. But, Ethan is thriving in the new room, lead by Ms. Colleen. She leads them through a number of activities each day- artwork, music, dancing, playground, buggy rides etc. Miraculously, she get's all of the 10 or so toddlers to lay down and take a 3 hour nap each day. Why doesn't this work at home??? Okay- please don't answer that question.

Gosh, there is so much I could say about our little guy. In a nutshell, he is a lot of fun! We are savouring every moment.

Steve just turned 30 and we had a couple of really nice celebrations. He also just got his MEI (multi-engine instructor) rating- for which I believe he had to fly and land a twin engine plane with just one engine running. Steve's mom and I agree that we'd really rather not think about the specifics. Things seem to be moving along nicely for him in grad school. We are both so happy & productive as long as we have our 0.38 Uniball Signo RT black ink pens and Moleskine books to write in. We are still waiting to see if Ethan got a double dose of whatever gene causes this.

I've been busy, but never happier. Sorry if you're checking this and I haven't communicated in a while. In addition to my usual stuff, I'm teaching a biology course to artists now and am loving every bit of it (hopefully the students like it too). My computer is broken now, so I am not going to download any pics today.

The Phillie Fanatic

Ethan's first swim


Ethan's a "Phillie Fantatic" at his first baseball game


Roshan, Ethan, and Christopher


Ethan and Matthew


We have been having a nice summer so far and had a great July 4th holiday! Today we went to a Phillies game- Ethan was all decked out in a miniature Phillies uniform for his first ever baseball game. He had fun clapping and shouting right along with the rest of the fans. At one point, there was a horrible thunderstorm that passed through dumping buckets of rain on the stadium accompanied by thunder and lightning. During that storm, the big television was playing a Mets game, and at one point the guy standing next to us went nuts cheering after a good Mets play. This really disturbed Ethan though and he burst into tears!

Last night we took Ethan to a Salsa festival and also to a Philly Pops concert in front of Independence Hall. He really loves music. Any time he hears upbeat music he bops up and down to the beat. Is this normal? It seems that he has an unusually good sense of rhythem for a baby. Perhaps I am biased (and sorry for so much bragging).

Also this weekend we met up with some friends (and Ethan's friends Christopher and Roshan) for a trip to the zoo. The boys had a great time looking at the animals and staring at each other, though they didn't interact too much. The Hippos were a big hit with Ethan.

Yesterday, I took Ethan to the new Wegmans. They had a cart there with a big car on the front that could seat two kids. I strapped Ethan in and cumbersomely navigated my way through the store. Ethan was sitting between the two steering wheels (steering both at once) and honking both horns and shouting. Needless to say, we attracted a lot of attentino and we got a lot of funny looks. He escaped the seatbelt three times before I gave up and let him crawl all around in the car. When I was checking out, I put him in the cart and he stood on top of the watermelon. Such a handful!

Last weekend we met some friends (including Ethan's friend, Matthew) at a park in New Brunswick, NJ. We had a really nice picnic and a nice time catching up- even if it was a bit rainy. Ethan was delighted to get pulled in his Radio Flyer wagon by Matthew! He also was incredibly eager to join in (shouting etc) when Matthew and his dad kicked the soccer ball around.

Other excitement included Ethan's first trip to the kiddie pool. Wearing his cute little bathing suit, at first he wasn't too happy with being dipped in the water, but after a few minutes he was having a blast and didn't want to get out. The pool is about 2 feet deep and Ethan get's very slippery when wet, so we had to hold on tight! He even kicked his feet like he knew how to swim already. We need to get him into some swim lessons soon!

Ethan's favorite toy these days seems to be the wooden spoon- he carries it with him everywhere!

The most exciting developement has been that Ethan is starting to walk. His first few steps happened on June 23, with Steve and me cheering him on. Now, sometimes he can take 10 steps or more at a time. It is amazing to see how quickly he is learning to master walking!

Every Moment Counts

Ethan at the Zoo (5/31/06)


As I begin the fourth decade of my life, it is ever so much more precious to me. So much to be thankful for- my marriage with Steve, our amazing little guy, our loving family and friends. We are so blessed. I am savouring every moment of Ethan's life, even the difficult (sleepless) ones. He is a little angel; I can almost see his wings and halo!

Yesterday, I attended a pot-luck event at Ethan's daycare and got to see him in action. He is a busy guy! Ethan is constantly in motion, playing with everything and everyone. Occasionally, he crawls up to me (or someone else) and rests his head on my leg for a few seconds. Then his battery is recharged and off he goes again.

The Three Amigos Sleeping at Just Children


Ethan & His Four Angelic Teachers


Last weekend, Ethan had his first dip in a pool. He only stuck his toe in and it was a bit cold, so he started to cry. I guess we'll try the kiddie pool at our apartment soon when it is hot out.

Ethan's First Dip


Tonight, we just got back from a very nice visit with some friends. Ethan and his buddy Roshan had a good time interacting. By 8 pm both babies were getting rocked to sleep.

Ethan is cruising a lot now (walking while holding onto something) and sometimes stands on his own for a few seconds. He has climbed half way up the fence of his play yard (and probably would have gone all the way over if I had not caught him). While having a nice picnic with some friends on Memorial Day weekend, I had to fish a live bug out of his mouth. And Ethan has managed to put cat food in his mouth a couple of times (yet he often resists people food!). He cracks up when we play peekabo around a door and likes to open cabinets now. He keeps us on our toes!

Crazy Ethan


P.S. Sorry for updating this blog so infrequently and also for being bad about calling/email. Ethan has kept me incredibly busy at home, and the Herpesviruses and mice have kept me on my toes at work!

Cheerio

Ethan's vocabulary has expanded to include many different sounds, most of them happy banter, but he has also recently learned to make his crying sound particularly urgent. He adds this sort of constricted scream component in hopes that he will sway us to act more quickly in granting his wishes. He does this on occasions like when we take him out of the swing at the playground or when we stop pushing him on his purple bus. The trouble is, it is sort of funny and it is tough not to smile (which is for sure not what the desired response Ethan hopes for). We need to watch out!!!!!

Other Ethan news: he is working on growing his 7th tooth and is a Cheerio fanatic. He is able to "cruise"- walk along something while holding on- like the pews at church (poor folks behind us didn't get much peaceful time for reflection with Ethan grinning at them!).

Happy Ethan!

Again, it has been a while since I've put up a post. We have been busy! We have had some really nice visits from family and friends and a nice Easter with the grandparents. Ethan also enjoyed a visit to his friend Christopher's house. Things are going well at daycare, though he did come home with three sets of baby-teeth marks on his arm the other day. We wonder if Ethan got any bites in on the other baby?

Ethan likes mangos and even enjoyed a "Mango Lassi" (an Indian yogurt drink) the other day. He is so happy when we push him around on his purple bus or his red car, but he cries when we stop. We are entering spoiling territory now! We are having so much fun with him every day- every moment is so precious! It is amazing to watch how he learns. He can say "Ma Ma" now, though it means something different to him than it does to us. He can also push his bus or car around the apartment in an assisted "walk". Still, it may be a while before he walks on his own because he is pretty wobbly on his feet.

Va va va voom!

Ethan's new word is "Va Va Va"!!! I guess you need to have upper teeth to make that sound b/c "va" has come in with the two front teeth. Ethan is pulling up on everything (even things that will topple easily) so we have to watch him constantly. And even under our constant supervision, he still manages to bump his head on everything. Hopefully his standing skills will improve rapidly.

Ethan is eating his solids much better now and even gets upset if we don't feed him fast enough. He likes "puffs" a lot too and makes the cutest little crunching sound when he eats them. He can pick them up himself, and most of the time can get them in his mouth (though much of the time the puffs remain stuck to various parts of his sticky little hands!). Ethan has been smiling and laughing more and more these days. It must be a relief for him to have more mobility.

Steve went on a "life saving" mission last night in a multi-engine plane. He picked up some doctors, flew them to Cinncinati where they collected an orgran and then flew them back to Teterbourough NY to put the organ in a patient. As for me, I am looking forward to playing my trumpet this Sunday in Church for Palm Sunday as well as next Sunday for Easter. I am not ready though! Some nights I don't get a chance to practice much (or at all).

Crawling and pulling up

Sorry it has been a while since the last post. Ethan has been changing at a blinding pace the past couple of weeks! He has four teeth now. Still having some issues with noisy breathing most days. He is getting very good at crawling, not letting obstacles get in his way- he just goes right over them. Ethan can crawl from one room to another now, so we are getting a true taste of how much babyproofing we need to do immediately. One week ago, while Ethan was having a playdate with his friend Christopher he went from a crawl position to sitting for the first time. Then as the week progressed his crawling took off and he learned to pull himself up- on laundry baskets. We have to be careful that he doesn't go pulling himself up on laundry baskets unless we are holding them, since they are light. He has been having many more bumps on his head these days from his new found mobility. He even had an "incident report" at school when he was "playing inside the toychest and bumped his head". It is getting very difficult to change his diaper these days too- he immediately will turn over and start crawling away, diaperless. We are just amazed and full of joy watching him blossom. We are so proud of our little guy.

Ga!

Just a real quick update- Yesterday afternoon I picked up Ethan from daycare and couldn't believe my ears! As soon as I had Ethan in my arms he excitedly began demonstrating what he learned that day. "Ga. Ga. Ga.". I thought, "are my ears deceiving me?" But sure enough, after months of "Da Da" and indiscriminate vowels, Ethan has learned a new sound. When we got home, he smiled at Wendy and said "Ga Ga Ga" with gusto. It is almost hard to tell whether it is a "G" sound or a "K" sound.

Ethan's teacher, Judy, has declared with utter certainty that Ethan is going to be a judge when he grows up. She says he lets no action in the room go unnoticed and that he is very intelligent. She has a good frame of reference since she has been teaching in the infant room for over 9 years! Now, I need to ask her if she thinks he will have his own show or if she thinks he might be a contender for the U.S. Supreme Court!

Splishin' and a' Splashin'

Sorry for not updating in a while. It has been a rough few weeks with the latest round of daycare bugs infiltrating our family! Ethan's two bottom teeth are growing bigger and are very obvious now when he smiles. Ethan is getting more and more mobile and interested in his surroundings. He LOVES Wendy- his eyes follow her everywhere and he smiles and laughs when he sees her. This morning he managed to grab a big chunk of her fur. Wendy will learn quickly not to get too close!

Last night, as I was drying Ethan off from his bath, he crawled over to his blue tub and pulled his upper body up over the ledge. He then proceeded to splash away vigerously with both hands, drenching himself, me and the surrounding floor. Ethan is getting better and better at "crawling", but he still employs the roll technique to get to points of interest quickly. These points of interest are most often, pieces of (important) paper- such as sheet music, electrical cords, or anything else we don't want him touching or sticking in his mouth. His favorite toy, though a distant second to paper, is the plastic colored rings that his Aunt Lindsay gave him. He LOVES playing with these! Ethan also loves "the passing game"- he reaches his arm out to get passed from one person to another, over and over. And he gets a huge kick out of looking in the mirror these days. Ethan is getting more and more interested in books. His favorite is the "Airplane" book. We have to read him the cloth and board books though b/c he likes to chew on them (and would most certainly tear the paper ones).

Ethan had been refusing to eat with a spoon and I asked the doctor what I should do about this. Dr. Banner told me to let him hold a spoon (or two) while we feed him. This worked like a charm and has made meal time much easier (still messy though!). Ethan has an expanding repetoire of foods that now include his first meat- chicken. He doesn't seem to like anything that much though. Hopefully this is just a stage that will pass quickly. Ethan does like to hold foods himself (like teething bisquits and boiled carrots), but he is still not coordinated enough to chew and swallow, so we will probably have to stick with purees for a bit longer. Ethan weighs almost 19 lbs now!

Two teeth!

It has been a busy week for Ethan! His breathing has improved tremendously, though we still have to get to the bottom of some health issues by meeting with some specialists. The current though is that, since he spits up a lot, he may be getting some milk into his lungs, causing him to weeze. While we were at the hospital last week, his first tooth popped through. Then, on Saturday night, his second bottom tooth broke through. They are sharp! On Friday/Saturday Ethan's Z grandparents visited and then on Sunday, he had a visit from his Brittle grandparents. He basked in all of the attention and had a great time (despite being a little cranky from his toothaches!)!

Other Ethan news- he is getting up on his hands and knees now and moving forward & back. He will be crawling very soon once he figures out what to do!

Steve is still in Florida and is planning on flying back today. It was nice for him to get a few really good nights of sleep!

Any suggestions on easing Ethan's teething pain? We are using oragel, teething toys and tylanol.

Ethan's visit to the hospital

As I have mentioned in previous posts, Ethan has been pretty sick this winter. He catches one thing after another at daycare. Last week was particularly rough and on our third visit to see his pediatrician in less than a week, Dr. Banner told us to head straight to the ER. Basically, Ethan was weezing a lot and breathing fast. At the hospital, a number of doctors looked at Ethan. One doctor called him a "happy weezer" since he was still pretty energetic despite his illness. We stayed overnight. The room was for two babies. The other baby, Kyree, was born about the same time as Ethan but was only at 26 weeks gestation and weighed only 1 lb at birth. That just shows how lucky we were that Ethan was born on time and at a good weight. The crib had metal bars and Ethan kept hitting his head on them, so he snuggled up with me on this little chair/cot and Steve slept on the floor. They monitored him every two hours. They gave him prednisone, a steroid, to help control the inflammation in Ethan's lungs. That seems to be helping and Ethan is getting better gradually each day. We were in the hospital about 24 hours and were released before the massive snow storm hit. We are going to try to keep Ethan home this week by juggling our schedules. If anyone wants to come babysit, now would be a good time!

Other news- Last week, Steve got his "CFII" rating. That stands for: certified flight instrument instructor. This coming weekend, Steve has been hired to fly a father and son down to their condo in Daytona Beach, Florida. He will be instructing them on the way. They plan to take a day trip to Miami while they are there. That will be a nice vacation for Steve! I told him, at the very least, he will have three straight nights of uninterrupted sleep!!!

Another Cold!

Ethan loves his bathtime!


Ethan can't wait to drink a chocolate milkshake!

As I write this Ethan is snoozing on my lap. He is really not feeling well and any time he is awake he is very cranky. We took him to the doctor just a few days ago and are taking him again today. Ethan could be getting an ear infection as a result of his cold. Poor little guy! As you can see from the pictures though, he is normally pretty happy. He is really getting around well too. Last night when I was preparing his infant bath- he rolled over to it and latched on to the rim. I guess the shiney blue tub looked like a great thing to suck on to Ethan!

Sitting up and spitting up

Another few illnesses have swept through the Z "household". Wendy is immune from illness. How could she catch a kitty cold if she is never in contact with any other kitties? Unfortunately (or fortunately?) we DO come into contact with lots of others of our species and suffer the consequences.

Ethan is saying DaDa less these days and spends most of his time just sqeeling with delight and making the "razz" sound by vibrating his lips. Just this past weekend he made great progress in the sitting up department. He can sit up for a while by himself before either toppling over or until we feel sorry for him for leaning so far forward. And, as the title of this blog suggests- our little guy still spits up very frequently, so watch out!

Feel free to let us know that you read this blog by adding a comment (you can just say "Hi" if you want)! I didn't think anyone was reading it until recently when Carlyn and Aunt Margaret said they've been stopping by. We'll try to be better about updating it more frequently.

Z news 1/19/06

Ethan is still having some breathing issues. We took him to the doctor this evening and the doctor wants to take a "wait and see" approach. Most likely, it is nothing serious, just a slightly soft trachea which he will outgrow.

We have had some very nice visits the past couple of weeks. Two weekends ago, Steve's parents visited. Last weekend, my parents and Godparents visited. Then, Lindsay came to visit and we went to the zoo- it was cold but fun. Ethan has really enjoyed himself (as well as Steve, Wendy and me)!

Ethan is still jumping a lot. In fact, he continues to jump even when he is not in his "Jumperoo". He tries to jump during his bath, while eating and while lying down! Speaking of baths- yesterday I was pouring some water on his tummy from his favorite red cup and he reached up and "felt" the water. His eyes were twinkling with concentration and one could just imagine all of the new neural connections being reinforced by these new thoughts/feelings. The next morning, while at the sink with Ethan on my hip, I poured some water from a cup and again he reached for the stream.

Peas, Carrots and Rice

The nights are still a little sleepless, though we are getting used to a new routine. Ethan sleeps for 3 hours in his crib, next to our bed, then wants to be in bed with us and nurse the rest of the night. Many people have been advising us to let him cry it out in his own room. This just doesn't feel right to Steve and me. We feel really good about being close with him at night, especially since he is in daycare for around 10 hours every day. It seems natural that he would want some snuggly comfort too.

Ethan has been saying "Da Da". It all started about one and a half weeks ago when he imitated Steve (the first instance of Ethan obviously imitating Steve. He says Da Da a lot when he is cranky- so it sounds very mournful a lot of times. He also says "Da Da" while jumping in his "Jumperoo". At daycare, they say he is able to crawl all the way across the room.

Another big milestone has been the eating. He is getting really good at being spoon fed. We started with Rice cereal on his four month birthday. And followed that with Carrots then Peas. He has liked all three of those foods. We tried Oatmeal briefly but he hated it. The doctor says we should wait a little longer before feeding him oats anyway. Last night, Ethan ate an entire jar of peas and was demanding more peas; "faster with that spoon please"!!!!

Well, that's what is going on with us for now. Sorry for the infrequent blogging. We will try to be better. Ethan is the center of our universe!