A Month + in Pictures

My new teaching position, along with my aversion to sitting, and finally clinched by the fact that Ethan "hid" our camera cord, I have been neglecting this blog. There have been plenty of things to write about but finding the time has been difficult. I hope this story in pictures will make up for my absence.

Here's Ethan (and friends) at his buddy Erin's birthday party. Erin's in the crown. Derek, Ethan's best bud, is across from him.
Feeding Daddy cake.

Yum...cake!

The next day was Easter, so here is Jake and Ethan during their Easter egg hunt at Gram and Pop Pop's.

The kids didn't really want to stop the hunt to pose!

Proud Auntie "La La" and Uncle "Kiss"

We celebrated the March/April birthdays that day as well.

Both Jake and Ethan got a wheelbarrow (literally) full of loot from the Easter bunny!

Daddy reads to Ethan before bed. Recently, Ethan has started requested Daddy read every night by saying, "Dadda dooks! Dadda dooks!" Fine with me.

At the end of April, Ethan came down with a strange bug that really knocked him down. We did a lot of cuddling.

So sad, yet so cute.

Here are the best buds playing on a rainy day. My good friend, Catherine, is Derek's mom. Ethan is a little in love with her. He talks about her non-stop. Whenever I say we're going anywhere, Ethan asks, "Derek Mama?"

The boys' favorite thing to do is to push their little push toys from our garage to our neighbors and repeat the process over and over.

Ethan and I made blueberry lemon almond muffins on Mother's Day. Ethan tried to eat the peeled lemon rind. He did not like it.

Two pacifiers! That's so silly!

More reading. This kid is definitely the product of two teachers.

Ethan with his rake, helping Daddy. One of Will's students gave him an Empire Guy bobblehead that Will has now given to Ethan. Super.

We don't get tired of giving him a mohawk.

Here are Will and I at a friend's wedding. Congratulations Marty and Debbie. Sorry I didn't take any pictures of you two!

My best college girlfriends, Annie and Susie, and loyal followers of the blog. This is your shout out!

We went to see the dinosaur exhibit at the zoo over Memorial Day weekend. Despite this face, Ethan really liked it. He was not scared at all!

Here we are in the dolphin underwater viewing area.

And this is Ethan watching for sea lions, his favorite. Every time they come near him, he backs away from the glass. It's hilarious.

Here is a far away picture of one of two window boxes now up on the house - and filled. Part of my Mother's Day present is that Will put them up and I got to fill them. My mom helped.

Here's a view of another one, along with the front porch, which is also filled with red geraniums. I just love it!!!

And a closeup.

Teaching Again

Awhile ago, I wrote about going through training to be an adjunct professor for Ashford University's online program. I made it through the training and was thrown into the hiring pool. Last week, I received an email from the scheduler, asking me if I'd like to take an Introduction to Literature course that would start April 28th. I said yes. So, back to teaching I go!

It's a larger class and one that actually comes with a TA of sorts. There is another person assigned to grade the essays in this course. I'm thrilled for two reasons: 1. I will teach English without grading essays, and 2. I will not have to SIT down to read all the essays and comment on the computer, something I was afraid of when I took on the teaching assignment. But, while it will be nice to not have to be grading essays all the time, it will likely make instructional duties a little more difficult since I will not be seeing all the work of my students'. I imagine I will have access to the essays or at least be able to discuss common issues with the person assigned to grade them. If not, how will I know how to better my instruction? As time consuming as grading essays can be, it is a chance to see how my students are progressing and also see where they could use more thorough instruction. I just want to get through this first class so I know a little more what I'm doing. Going through a class the first time is always going to be the most difficult because everything is so new.

I'm really pretty excited about being back in the classroom again, albeit a non-traditional one. The course itself seems pretty challenging with a good amount of reading every week. Fortunately, I am familiar with a lot of the stories, poems, and plays. Some I do not know, though, so I am looking forward to the anthology arriving. I pulled out some old college anthologies today, as well as my Seagull Reader from a class I taught, which have some of the stories and poems I need to read. I read three short stories and some poems just now during Ethan's nap. I want to get a handle on the reading so that I can focus on my "lectures" next week.

As an update to my physical therapy situation, I am looking into going to the therapist my orthopedic surgeon originally recommended. This therapist, of course, is not in network for our insurance, but with a discount, it shouldn't be too much out of pocket. I called yesterday, got her contact information, and actually emailed her with my history. I didn't want to have to make an appointment only to find out she was not really going to be able to help. I am awaiting her reply anxiously. I also put a call in to a friend, Waqas, who is an orthopedic resident. It's my way of getting a second opinion from another surgeon. We'll see what he has to say. My recent surge of activity on the PT front comes mostly from my frustration at still being in pain a lot and my terror at the thought of having to sit at the computer a lot more when my class starts. I really need to get on the road to recovery!

Happy Easter

I'll post Easter pictures later, but here's the great picture we had taken of Ethan and his cousins Ben, Drew, and Matthew. We think it turned out pretty cute!

Andrew, Matthew, Ethan, and Ben

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

The Good

All in all, I am a very lucky mother of one. Ethan is so good in many ways. He is a terrific sleeper and napper. He goes to bed with no argument every night and takes about a two hour (often longer) nap daily. (If you're reading this, please, please knock on wood.) It took us some time to get to this point, but he's been a great sleeper for a long time.

Ethan is also a very good eater. If I put chicken nuggets, strawberries, and green beans on his plate, he will eat the fruits and veggies first. Then he'll ask for more of those. Maybe then he'll eat the nuggets. Last night, he ate brocolli, aspargus, and Asian rice noodles for dinner. Today, he ate a swiss chard and cheddar quesadilla for lunch. Not many kids I know eat greens willingly. I hope his habits could change as he gets older, but I have a feeling he will not be a very picky eater.

Along with being a great sleeper and eater, Ethan is also pretty dang smart. At least I think so. He LOVES to read books, and, in fact, it's the only thing he'll focus on for longer than a few minutes. I often catch him in his room reading. He knows most of the letters of the alphabet and can count up to 10, though not always in the right order. He has more and more words every day. This morning he said, "Oh man," which I think he may have picked up from me.

In general, Ethan is a pretty happy kid, too. He can have his tantrums, of course, but he is content most of the day, it seems, and he is usually pretty distractable. He gives great hugs and kisses, when he's so inclined, too! I love when he's in the mood to snuggle.

The Bad

***Grandparents: You may wish to skip this section since you may take issue with the idea of your precious grandson being anything but perfect.***

To be honest, Ethan is a bit of a bully. Just this morning, his friend Derek came over while his mother went to an appointment. Within seconds of Derek entering the house, Ethan shoved him. And I'm not talking a one handed how's-it-going-pat-gone-wrong-kind-of-shove. I'm talking a two-handed-full-force-knock-him-to-the-ground-shove. Okay, maybe it was just the excitement. Well, a few minutes later, Ethan shoved him down again, causing Derek to start crying for his mother. Ethan's reaction: laughter. Things escalated when Ethan started throwing matchbox cars at Derek's head. (Derek has a red spot now.) When I reprimanded Ethan, he gave his typical, diabolical little laugh. Eventually, I locked Ethan in my room to keep him away from Derek. He doesn't always act this way, but it is getting worse. And it's completely unprompted. Poor Derek was just sitting there being attacked.

To make matters worse, he really does not in any way respond to my discipline. While he's a little young for time outs, I do try it (often) and end up having to literally hold him in the time out place. When he's out of time out, he does whatever got him into time out again. And then he laughs. He also laughs when he pulls my hair and I tell him sternly to stop. He really seems to like being reprimanded. I have really been tested in moments like these. While I completely believe that hitting a child while telling them not to hit is ridiculous (or pulling their hair), I will not say I haven't tried it. The other day, I tugged on Ethan's hair and said, "You see how this hurts?" When he laughed - again - I knew it was silly of me to even do that, but you just get so fed up.

Another really annoying habit of Ethan's right now is his need to shut doors. When we leave the house, he has to shut the door. Not allowing him to do so creates a big scene sometimes. But if I let him, he shuts it only to open it again and keep opening/shutting over and over. Yesterday, we had lunch at an old friend's house, and when we got there, he insisted on shutting the door. It's cute at first because he says, "I shut" very clearly, but his idea of shutting the door is standing inside the door as if he's going out. I had to pry him away kicking and screaming. It seems like a small thing, but it's really a very trying thing for us right now.

The Ugly

Okay, so I don't have anything to put in this category. While some of the "bad" behaviors may seem "ugly," I can't, as Ethan's mommy, bring myself to categorize them in this way. I know that all of these behaviors are likely age appropriate and that he will, hopefully, grow out of them. That doesn't make them any less bad or frustrating as his parent. I am grateful, though, that most of his behaviors do not seem purposefully aggressive. This may be the naive parent speaking, but I really don't think he is trying to hurt Derek when he shoves him but is just expressing himself in a naughty way. And he never gets angry and then hits me or pulls my hair. He only does it when he's in a good mood. That's got to count for something, right?

And, really, he's just so darn cute. When he gives me a great big smile, it makes all those bad moments easier to handle. Thank goodness he's not an ugly kid, right? :)

We're getting some good smiles for pictures now that he has started saying "CHEESE" every time he sees a camera. Add that to the good list.

Posing with Uncle Brian.

This is our new computer background. Cracks us up.

Will (and Ethan, sort of) made two snowmen Sunday.

Sunday was March 30th, Will's last day of SPRING break. Go figure.

Tail of Woe

One day shy of a month of no posting here, I thought it was time. It's not that I've been too busy or that Ethan has not been performing any blog-worthy antics. One major thing has hindered me from blogging: my butt. It hurts. I'm not sure I've posted about my "tail feathers," but I know most of you know I've been dealing with this since the summer and in therapy since the fall.

The basic story is that this summer I noticed tailbone pain while sitting but chalked it up to a long day of sitting at jury duty. Come fall, when the pain seemed to be getting worse, I went to an orthopedic surgeon who took x-rays, told me my hips were out of alignment and that I had a slight scoliosis, and gave me a prescription for physical therapy. She recommended a specific therapist and told me I'd be cured after one or two visits. Well, of course the therapist she recommended was not "in network" and therefore not covered by our insurance, so I found another therapist. She put me back in alignment, but I did not in any way have a miraculous recovery. My therapist started to suspect that the problem stemmed from a tightening in the pelvic floor. An exam confirmed that this was, in fact, the case. At the risk of getting too graphic, basically the muscles in my pelvic floor are tightened for some reason, mostly on the left side, and this causes my coccyx (tailbone) to pull to the left, resulting in pain from sitting.

At this point, I switched therapists so that I could see a woman who specialized in women's health. She was helping me slowly. The process for any kind of coccyx pain is a long one, apparently. I wasn't sure how much my new therapist was helping, though, until I had to stop going to her for a few weeks. (Another insurance thing, of course.) I've been therapy-less for a few weeks, and I've been getting worse and worse. I cannot sit for long at all, and my hamstrings get so tight every time I sit at the desk chair for some reason. I workout and stretch, but nothing helps. Also, my lower spine always hurts in the morning. Essentially, I'm a mess.

I did find a new therapist who is in network and specializes in women's health, and I will see her Thursday. Today, I had to go back to my orthopedic surgeon because my new therapist wanted a current prescription for therapy from the expert. The O.S. gave me one and also did some acupuncture on me today, which was interesting to say the least.

I am hoping this new therapist will help me because this has been a very frustrating process for me. I'm a fairly fit person, so it's very annoying to be in pain all the time. The silver lining is that my last few weeks of pain inspired me to rejoin the gym and also sign up for a triathlon this summer. I'm doing the same one I did a few years ago, which is a sprint distance with a little longer run (perfect for me since that's my strong leg of the race anyway). My hope is that getting back into good shape will help with my recovery, especially being in the pool. And I just feel better being sore for a good reason (like I was running or biking) other than just being in pain for no reason at all. It feels good to be earning my showers these days. I've run, swum, or biked 6 out of the last 8 days, and I just feel happier to be moving again.

If therapy/training doesn't work, my last resort is to get pregnant. My old therapist is pretty sure my pain will go away when I get pregnant again because the hormones will relax the muscles "down under". Will claims that tailbone pain is not a reason to get pregnant, but he's also not the one in pain!

I have so much more to write about (i.e. Ethan's sudden talking burst, my new obsession with local food/gardening, etc.), but it will have to wait for now. I need to stand up and give my bum a rest. Until next time, here are some recent pictures of Ethan, pre and post haircut.

Blueberries, anyone?

Nap time often makes for some pretty funny hairdos.

Biker baby.

I love that he's pointing just like Babe Ruth.

We put sand in the sandbox for the first time. There's a lot on our grass now, so we moved it to the patio so we can at least use the spilled sand to fill in the cracks.
Ethan gets his third haircut. He's keeping busy with the spray bottle (a lifesaver!) while Will snips after using the clippers.

Handsome boy.

Winter Blahs

We are really starting to hate winter over here, but rather than let it get me too down, I've kind of just decided to pretend like it's spring. Here are some pictures/videos to prove it.

Spring cleaning...
...without pants even, because who needs pants in warmer weather?

Baseball!

Little league, here we come!

Yellow, springlike cupcakes.

Okay, this has nothing to do with spring, but it's cute. Will and Ethan are watching Spiderman cartoons.

Another non-springy picture, but, again, cute.

Ethan was trying out his new potty chair.

Not bad for a 1 1/2 year old, I'd say.

Poor Ethan doesn't have a chance at not being a comic nerd.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MOM! LOVE YOU.

These are the Moments

Ethan does about a million tiny things daily that, to me and Will, are so cute and precious that we'd love to bottle them up to enjoy at a later date. We could have a wine cellar of sorts, but it would be an Ethan cellar, with bottles and bottles of utter cuteness. And when we're old and gray, we could pick out a different vintage every once and a while, relive these moments, and toast to our happiness. But since we can't do that, reading about these adorable tidbits in my cyberjournal will have to suffice. Most of these little idiosycrocies are difficult to describe adequately, but I'll do my best.



Ethan - here are the little things we love:



-You now use Mama and Dadda often and greet us by name in the morning. The other morning, Daddy went in first and I came shortly after. When you saw me you said Mama with a big smile then looked at Daddy and said Dadda like you were so lucky to have us both there at once.

-You LOVE to read and point out the same things over and over in your many books. One of your favorite items to point out is a moon. You even point to the plastic disc in the ceiling of the car and call out, "mooooon."

-You turn a lot of one syllable words into two syllable words. Among them cuuu-lock for clock puuuu-llow for plow.

-Because I sometimes put ice in your water, you now yell out "eyece" (not quite two syllables but close) everytime I give you your water cup.

-If either me or Daddy tries to lay down while we're playing with you, you go behind us and literally lift our heads up off the ground as if to say, "No sleeping on the job, mom and dad."

-When you want to read a book, you grab it and then back into our laps like a car backing into a parking space. Often, we fight the urge to go, "Beep, Beep, Beep."

-At random times, you will furiously roll your hand in circles until we start singing Wheels on the Bus.

-When we sing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star you now say "uppa" right before we get to the part that goes "up above."

-At breakfast, lunch, and dinner, whenever I tell you to get your bib, you do a lap around the house laughing and make me chase you to put it on.

-If we say thank you, you return it with the sign for thank you (palm against mouth then pulled away) and say, "Ga Ga."

-You eat your fruits and veggies first always. We love that. You also refer to all vegetables these days as an avoca, your word for avocado.

-Your word for pacifier is Tata. Don't think the pun is lost on us here. :)

-When people you don't see often (or strangers) talk to you, you either give them the puffed out lip stink face or you run into our legs and hug us.

-You give really wet, open mouthed kisses.

-In the morning, while I clean up the counter and get breakfast ready, you bring your stool to the counter and eat Kix or Cheerios while you watch me.

-Recently, you put your whole face in the water during bath. You are in no way afraid of water and we pour it over your face with little warning. You just laugh.

-You are slightly obsessed with looking at pictures. You take them off the shelf and point to everyone while naming them. Your recent obsession is with Aunt Moe (Malia), which sounds like Ammo, and you run around the house with her picture.

-You've started doing your own grocery shopping at Trader Joe's with your own cart. You know exactly what to do, and it's cute beyond words. Today, you started putting your items on the counter before the patron before us was finished. You were just too excited.

-If I ask you to come help me cook, you run and grab your stool, put it next to the counter where I prepare the food, and say, "I cook, I cook" with a large emphasis on the C in cook.

-While this is you being naughty, we can't help but giggle when you kick us (lightly) and say, "kiiiick" and then run to the couch where I put you in time out. I guess time out is not working quite yet.

Ethan, we love all of these little, and big, moments with you. Thank you for making us smile all day long.