I never intended this blog to be a burden, but I have to admit that it has been the source of some stress. Since it was started to catalogue Ethan, I can't help but feel pressure to keep up with it. I don't know where the time has gone this summer, but I hope to be a bit more regular in my posts from now on. Also, since I haven't posted pictures since June, I am just going to put a link on here to our Shutterfly share site, which I just today updated (the last album was from July of last year!), and you can look through the July and August albums if you'd like. There are some great pictures of Ethan at the lakehouse, where we spent a lot of July and August. Here's the link:

http://ethansantics.shutterfly.com/

Since it would be impossible to describe all of the latest Ethan business, I'll try a top 10 list of "What's New with Ethan." In no particular order, here goes:

1. Ethan talks a lot now, like non-stop. Most of his talking involves telling me what he's doing. For example, "I put this in the trash in Mama's room" or "I play with the bus in the driveway." He's a huge fan of the prepositional phrase. I find all of his talking hilarious.

2. Along with talking, he's also become a bit of a sassy boy. The other day at lunch, he asked for milk. I said, "How about some water?" to which he replied, "How 'bout some milk?" Now, when he asks for any drink, he says, "How 'bout some ________."

3. Over the course of the summer, Ethan's hair has gotten quite blond. I guess spending every waking moment out in the sun will do that. It's also pretty curly. He is in need of a haircut, but I sort of hate to cut off his curls since they're so cute, especially when he wakes up from a nap with sweaty head.

4. Wednesday, Ethan will start a pre-preschool class called Parents Day Out (PDO). It's at the Methodist church in town, within walking distance. He will go every Wednesday for 3 hours! I've been warned there will be crying the first few times. A lot of Ethan's friends are in the same class, including his best bud, Derek, so I don't think it will take too long for him to get used to it. I'm looking forward to having one day a week to get some things done without a toddler in tow. But I'm also feeling a bit anxious about how he will do. I know it will be good for him, though, and this is the same place I hope to send him to preschool next year, so it will be great practice.

5. Ethan's moving to a big boy room! Just today, we made a lot of progress in his new room, and we hope to move him in sometime in October. I will put pictures up once the room is finished. His quilt is a transportation theme, so I already have a few ideas for some homemade decor. Stay tuned. Oh, and any advice on making this transition is very welcome.

6. Two year molars are making an appearance and they are coming with a vengeance. This past week was a challenging one for me, and likely for Ethan, as he battled some pretty severe teething. Long story short, he was acting like a beast - all day. He was up very early, thus making him cranky, and I heard the word NO screamed more times than I could count. He was exceedingly irrational, too, yelling NO to things like, "Would you like a popsicle?" Ugh. People have told me these molars can take around two months to fully come in. Pray for us.

7. Since we spent so much time at the lake this summer, Ethan became even more comfortable in the water. In fact, his Aunt Laura had a breakthrough moment with him at her pool by getting him to blow bubbles under water. He does it all the time now, in the bathtub now, and has no fear of water. His other favorite water activity, besides blowing bubbles, is going One, Two, Three, Plop (in Ethan's voice, it was "Ya Ya See Pul-LOP") off the pier. He talks about it all the time and wants to do it whenever there's water.

8. If I had to think of the activity we did most this summer it would be reading. Ethan loves reading more than anything else. I think it's the main reason he doesn't give us any trouble going to bed or down for naps. As soon as he's up in the morning, he's bringing me books. He takes books in the car. He reads books to himself in his room. We have books in about 5 different places in the house because we need to have a stash of them everywhere. And if we didn't, he'd just bring them to us anyway. I'm thrilled he loves to read, but I admit there are days when I really, really, really don't feel like reading Katy No Pocket (about an unfortunate pocketless mother kangaroo) for the 1,000th time. I do it, though, because he loves it.

9. Other than books, Ethan spends quite a bit of time playing with his garbage truck. It's pretty cool, really, since you can make the garbage bin go up and down and dump it into the truck then push the trash (in Ethan's case, the trash is just crumpled bits of paper that he has kept all summer) in the back. He loves all things trash and enjoys seeing garbage trucks in person, watching them through the window, following them down the street, and pointing them out from the car. I'm honestly thinking about having him be a garbage man for Halloween but perplexed as to how to make his costume recognizable.

10. One last obsession of Ethan's is the car. When Will comes home from work, he often lets Ethan sit on his lap as they pull into the garage. It started out as an adorable little tradition. Now, though, Ethan wants to play inside the cars all the time! He would honestly sit in the car for hours on end if we'd let him. We typically have to bribe him somehow to get out or simply take him out kicking and screaming. We've recently taken to trying to lock the cars in the garage so he can't get in and play.

Despite the challenges Will and I have faced this summer with the daily grind of simply having a two year old, it has really been so fun as he's started communicating. I love that he can tell me what he's doing and ask for things. One of my favorite things he does is say, "Oh, hi Mama" if I walk into a room or if he comes to where I am. It just melts my heart every time. And even when he's being a total terror, I love him to bits.

I do have a few pictures to post. There were all taken by Will's Aunt Marge, who is a fabulous photographer. She took about 200 pictures this night. Here are a few of my favorites:

In and effort to end the pity party I've been throwing for myself lately, I decided to do something that's been the cause of some stress around here: update the blog. Because pictures will take far too long, though, I will just be writing today.

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you already know I'm pregnant, which is my main excuse for any kind of deficiencies in my life as of late (deficiencies including, but not limited to: energy, cleanliness, good humor, beauty, and, of course, blogging). All energy the past couple of months has gone to a) growing a baby, and b) completing school work to earn a paycheck. I'm still going strong with letter a, but I am not teaching a class this cycle, so I'm hoping to catch up with some other things.

But since Ethan just woke up from his nap and is crying rather pathetically, I guess that will have to wait...

Birthday Week

Ethan's had a pretty busy week. We were at my parent's house last Sunday for a Father's Day/Lisa and Malia Birthday celebration. My dad's brother, Scott, and his wife Connie, were in town and staying with my parents. It was a yummy rib dinner and a fun time.

Later in the week, Will, Ethan, and I went to the Shedd Aquarium. Will and I were thrilled to find out we get in for free as teachers. We weren't sure, but all we needed was proof that we teach, and we didn't have to pay. We were prepared to buy a membership, but we didn't have to, so that was nice. It costs almost $50 for two adults to go to the aquarium, so free is quite a discount! Lisa and the boys met us there, too, but I actually ended up losing Will and Ethan for almost 45 minutes, so I was a little disappointed to not spend as much time with them as I wanted. We still had fun, and Ethan really liked the sting rays that are under his feet in one section of the aquarium. He also liked the little penguin play area with the slide.

On Thursday, we had Ethan's little playgroup birthday party. Only a few kids were there (in summer, everybody's schedules fill up with camps, etc.), but it was a lot of fun. It was super hot, so I had the pool out and the sprinkler going. The moms (and Will) sat in the shade by our garage. I made cupcakes and we sang to Ethan. He ate two cupcakes and made a royal mess. Later that day, we decided to go to my Uncle Johnny's house to go swimming in his awesome pool. We had Ethan nap in the car and then spent the rest of the afternoon there. Ethan is fearless when it comes to the water, which can be a bit unnerving as a parent. He would get out and then run along the side and make like he was going to jump in without us. Will and I kept rushing along the edge to make sure we caught him. He'd never actually jump until we were ready to catch him but just loved to keep us on our toes.

The next day was his actual birthday, and it was a very busy day. We decided to take the train to Downers Grove, where there was a festival going on. Ethan has never been on the train, so we thought he'd get a big kick out of it. The plan was to get to DG about 9:30, stay for a little over an hour, and then come home. We walked around a bit, played at a park, and then Ethan and his friend Derek rode on a car carnival ride a couple times. (We invited Derek and his mom, Catherine, on our adventure.) Then we headed for the train platform, which was right there. Our train arrived shortly. Once on, we were discussing how we had had just enough time in Downers Grove. It was pretty hot, and we were glad to be heading home. Well, as we were talking, we noticed that the train was not making any of the stops between DG and LaGrange. Catherine said, "Uh, oh, I hope we didn't get on an express." I assured her that Will had checked the schedule and that the train would stop at LaGrange. Well, I was wrong. We blew right past the LaGrange stop, and we realized that we had boarded the wrong train and were headed to Union Station in Chicago. Oops. Ethan, who hadn't had a snack and was mighty cranky, was not too pleasant on the ride. He kept wanting to go up and down the stairs and would not sit still. We finally made it to Union Station and learned that we could get a train back to LG at 12:30, meaning we had about an hour to kill. Catherine's husband, who works in the loop, met us at the station for lunch, so it ended up being fun for them, which is good because I felt bad that we had let them astray. The ride home was better since Ethan ate his hot dog while on my lap and then chatted randomly. He seemed a bit delirious - I couldn't blame him. Since we had walked to the train station, we had to still walk back, and it was nap time. Ethan promptly fell asleep since he was exhausted. Luckily, we were able to transfer him easily to his crib when we got home and he took a nice, long birthday nap. Our plan for dinner was originally to go to Pilot Pete's in Schaumburg, a restaurant near a local airport where you can see planes land and take off. But after our morning adventure, I was pretty tired and didn't want to brave the northbound traffic on a Friday night. Instead, we had pizza, one of Ethan's favorites, and went to downtown Western Springs, where they had a little carnival. Ethan rode on the carousel and also went on a blow up bouncy obstacle course. My parents and Uncle Scott and Aunt Connie drove out and met us there for a little while so that they could see Ethan on his birthday. It was a long day, but a fun one.

The celebration continued today when we had another adventure to the city, but this one was planned. We went to 31st street beach this morning, which is a great little beach downtown. It only takes us about 20 minutes to get there from our house, which is nice. It's great to go there and play in the water with Ethan with the beautiful Chicago skyline just to the north of us. Ethan had a great time playing in the sand and wading out as far as he could in the water. He just walked in until he was floating from Will holding on to him. Again, no fear.

We've really been enjoying our summer so far and trying to have as many adventures as we can. Next week, we'll head to the lake, and we are excited to see Ethan there this summer when he's even more mobile. He's going to love it!

Snuggle Ethan!
Ethan naps and sleeps well these days but he is not going to bed easily lately. He goes to bed later now, closer to 8:30, and the last few days he is crying at bedtime. He seems to be fine if we stay in the room with him, but he doesn't like if we leave. It's been a bit trying, and we're hoping the phase ends soon.

Ethan had a fun time naming all his foam letters at bath time.

Will took this one. Not sure why it's upside down. Still cute.

This is Derek and Ethan playing with Ethan's "Jah" (Garbage) truck.

They play pretty well together, and it can be pretty funny.

Dinner at mom's on Father's Day.

Relaxing in the hammock.

Matthew, who is constantly attached to Lisa, has a big smile! (Aunt Connie is not picking her nose...I don't think.)

Brian and the boys.

Uncle Scott, my dad's older brother.

Ethan with a great big "cheeeeese" smile.

Close up on Matthew.

Dad, Malia, and Cameron, who's playing peek-a-boo with Matthew.

Ethan, our little scholar, found a quiet place to read.

Daddy and Ethan at the Shedd aquarium.

Ben and Drew dressed as penguins.

Ethan's trying to get to the penguin eggs.

Down the slide!

Cupcakes and a Dots/cookie bouquet (idea from bf Sarah!) for Ethan's playgroup.

The cute display was likely lost on all the two year olds.

From left: JJ, Derek, and Erin.

The moms (and Will) relax in the shade while the kids play. Everyone's jealous of me that I have a husband home all the time. :)

Ethan comes in to see the camera.

Cupcake time!

Yummy!

Jumping in at the pool.

Waiting for the train.

Hooray! Ethan's first train ride!

Ethan loved to point out everything he saw from the train.

Riding the ride at the carnival.

Fire truck ride with Derek (he switched from the Jeep).

Finally, cake and candles for his real birthday! Even after the candles were blown out, he kept putting them back in and pretending to blow.

On the carousel with daddy.

Ethan is really good at these!

Climbing.

On the way down. Not a bad way to end a birthday.

Yesterday, we had Ethan's 2nd birthday party. It was a little early (his b-day is the 26th), but it was the only time both sides of the family could be together. Lisa had Matthew's first birthday party on Saturday, so it was a party weekend for us!

We did a Curious George theme, which was really cute. I made Ethan a shirt with George on it that says Birthday Boy. My mom made a fabulous cake that took over 2 hours to do. She's a perfectionist. It's so cute! (see below) I froze all that was left, which is the George's head, so we can have it on Ethan's actual birthday.

Our fence came in on time, too, so it was very nice to have all the kids corralled in the back without worrying about them making a break down the driveway. Good times!

Ethan got a lot of great presents, too, including a Tonka garbage truck, a puzzle with all different kinds of latches, a tackle box for his growing collection of Matchbox cars (Will's gone slightly insane), and his very own tricycle!