Thankful

It's not quite Thanksgiving yet, but since I'm already listening to Christmas music (sue me - I love it!), I figure I better have a post on all the ways I am thankful. There are so many things I have to be thankful for, but here is just a sampling:

*For Ethan's health after a case of croup and then a terrible fall down the stairs. Easily our scariest parental moment to date, Ethan came out of the fall with just some small scrapes and bruises. And thanks to the thorough staff at Hinsdale Hospital who ordered x-rays and a C-scan just to be sure. Thank God he's okay!

*For new friends in the area. Last year, I longed to find some stay-at-home mothers in the area. Now, I have the women in playgroup as well as classes, and I finally feel like I have a nice network of women near to lean on and with which to have fun as well. (Book Club, here I come!)

*For a date with my husband. With finances being pretty tight this year, I was very thankful for a coupon to fancy french restaurant, Mon Ami Gabi, as well as leftover Lettuce Entertain You gift cards, which allowed us a "free" meal and rare date at a scrumptious eatery.

*For Ethan's latest sleep patterns. While he certainly is not a perfect sleeper, Ethan has been taking good naps and sleeping in until around 7 most mornings. And since he's content for a while after waking up, I can lounge in bed for a bit longer, feeling pretty spoiled for our lazy mornings. Between 7-8 am is a lazy morning in my family, sadly enough.

*For the LaGrange library and LaGrange Park District, both of which provide weekly morning outings for Ethan and I. Even though Ethan spends most of Library Story Time trying to escape or open the fridge in the room, he does really enjoy it when I sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to him back at home. And he now wakes up marching in his crib thanks to the Dinosaurs Marching song.

*For a husband who works hard all day and then comes home at a decent hour to allow me to get to tutoring and/or PT appointments. After speaking to many moms around here who's husbands are not home until after 7 pm and often out of town, I realize I'm very fortunate to have married a teacher who is able to get home earlier and help out.

*For family and friends. We may not get out much on our own, but Will and I do have a fairly lively social calendar, getting together with our friends and family often. We're lucky to have many nearby.

Really, there is so much more and so many teeny tiny tidbits I could report. I could have one long post each about Ethan's funny marching, his obsessive compulsive habits, his toothy grin, his grocery store hugs, his shoe fetish, and his unfortunate food throwing. But I'll have to let this be enough for now. Happy Thanksgiving!

11/20 Addendum: ***For President Elect Obama. God, it feels great to say that. Thank you, thank you, thank you America! (Thanks for the reminder, Annie!)

My favorite thing about his costume was the way it made him say "Buzzzzzz" over and over.

The first attempt. He finally took a piece from the basket...and the another, and another. Then, at the next house, he reached into his own bag and tried to put one of the candy bars into the bowl. We'll work on it.

Lots of candy made him thirsty!
We made a stop so grandma could see Mr. BEEthan.

This is Ethan the day of his tumble. It's hard to see, but he has a round bruise on the right side of his forehead (his right). Amazing it wasn't worse.