Adventures in Beds

My lack of blogging lately is twofold: I started teaching online again after a break and we have been transitioning Ethan into a bed. The extra computer work, as well as a lack of extra sleep then, are the reason for my absence.

Ethan has been in his big boy bed for over a week. We started two Fridays ago, but we gave in to the crib at 10:30 pm, when Ethan was still awake. Saturday night, though, he did sleep in his bed. It's just been a week of adjustments for all of us. Sunday and Monday, he did not take naps at all and played in his room the whole time he should have been napping. Although when I came in to get him after his non-nap, he did look me in the face and lie, "I just woke up, Mama." Little rascal. Those days he didn't sleep made the nights easier, though, since he would fall asleep while reading for bedtime. On Wednesday, I left him alone for nap, and after 15 minutes or so, he was in bed asleep. Success! Will's been leaving him at night, too, and closing the door, but he's taking a while to get settled and has been up until 9 most nights. We adjusted our schedule a bit and started putting him down earlier last night, which helped since he was asleep by 8:15. He's been up in the middle of the night most nights this week, though, which we've had to get used to. (He has fallen out, despite our safety rails, twice!) When he's up, we're having to stay in his room until he's back asleep, which can take a while some nights. And the biggest adjustment is that he's been up at 6am every day but one. Ugh! It wouldn't be so bad if he wasn't also up at night, but I'm used to going in to his nursery around 7:30 to get him. Now that he can get up by himself, he comes running into our room yelling, "Good morning! Good morning!" It would be cute at 7 am. 5:45? Not so cute. We need to fix his door, which gets stuck, so we can close it all the way easily. We can do it while he's still awake, but we've been checking on him before bed and then we don't close it all the way to avoid waking him up. Plus, we are having to unplug his light at night or else he will just turn it on or off or, worse, pull the plug out of the outlet. It's been a week of discovering how to make his room the most safe, and least fun, to assure that he can be in there without us. I don't know if other people have these kinds of problems, but our kid is very curious and mischeivious. Really, besides the new wake up time, which is probably good for me to get used to less sleep, I'm pretty happy with how the transition is going. After the first couple of days, I thought it would take much longer. He hasn't asked about his crib at all and knows now that he sleeps in his "nyoo yoom." I know that soon he will sleep a little later (I hope!) and that he will stop getting up in the night, so I'm just trying to stay positive. I'll post pictures of his new room soon, as soon as I have time to get it back in order. We've rearranged things, and taken things out, most every day, trying to make it has boring/safe for him as possible.

Other than the new bed, we've just been getting used to being inside more as we've had a lot of miserable weather lately. We did have a few nice days early last week and over the weekend, but then the cold rain returned. And since Ethan is no longer going to school, we have four days a week with nothing definite to do. We have playgroup Monday mornings and that's it. I signed up for a couple of Park District classes that start in November, so that will be good. I've also started going to Lisa's about once a week to hang with the cousins. Ethan has a great time there, and we discovered I can even have him nap there if I want since the two older boys don't nap during the day anymore. No need to have a pack 'n play anymore, and there's two big comfy beds to choose from! Lisa and I really want our kids to grow up together since we were so much older than our little cousins.

Most people who see Ethan lately comment on how much he's talking. He really does talk a ton now (non-stop), and it is very fun. Here are a few of his great stories from lately:

*Ethan has two favorite songs: "Hey Yo (Snow)" from the Chili Peppers and "Poker Face" from Lady Gaga. Every car ride, Ethan requests "Hey Yo," and while I try to resist for a while, I usually end up turning it on after 10 minutes of "I want Hey Yo!!" coming from the backseat. The other day, we had a longer ride, and I think we listened to it five times in a row. Thankfully, we don't have the Lady Gaga cd, so we just have to sing that one from time to time. He has taken to singing it, as well, and there's nothing funnier than a two year old singing "Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa -pa-pa-pa-Poker Face." I have to sing it before naps, too, since he interrupts my lullabye and requests "Poker Face." What can I say? My kid is ahead of his time.

*Another favorite song of Ethan's all of a sudden is the ABC's. We didn't even know he could sing the whole thing until last week, when he just busted out with it at dinner one day. He has a "microphone" he carried around with him and he asks Will and I to sing it for him. The funny thing is, while we sing it, he holds the microphone up to his mouth and lipsincs.

*One thing we captured the other day on video is Ethan's new saying, "I have issues." The other day during the news, Ethan asked Will what an issue was after hearing the word. Will was telling me this at dinner that night and I said to Ethan, "What's an issue?" He responded, "I have issues!" and then added "...in the garbage can." We laughed so hard. Then he said, "I need to throw them away." If only it was that easy to get rid of issues. Later, I realized he was thinking of the word tissues since his favorite pasttime is pretending to blow his nose and then throwing the tissues in the garbage can. Of course, because we laughed when he said it, he has started announcing, "I have issues!" all the time now.

*The first morning Ethan slept through the night in his new bed, he came out of the room around 7:15 (he only did this once) and literally bounced through the living room into the kitchen, where Will was eating breakfast. With each bounce, he said, "Hallo! Hallo! Hallo! Hallo!" Will said it was pretty funny, especially since we are not used to Ethan being able to get out of bed on his own. He really is waking up in the best mood - it's hard to be mad at him for being up so early.

And now for a ton of pictures I've been waiting to post.

My friend, Laura, had triplets in August. They are doing wonderfully (and their mom is supermom!), and I usually see them at least once of twice a week. This, I think, is Elizabeth.
Here's my friend Catherine with Anna.

And here is sweet little Kate, who slept through most of my visit that day.

Elizabeth?

Here's Supermom, Laura. She is eerily calm all the time!

Here's Ethan at Sonny Acres Pumpkin Farm. He didn't actually ride this because he freaked out when he realized we couldn't stay with him, but I snapped this picture beforehand.

Lisa and Matthew riding the slide.

Ethan loved this little obstacle course - I think he did it three times, which only cost us $6!

The Berkleys

Us - Did I mention how freezing cold it was this day?

This is the first night we had Ethan in his bed. Of course, he didn't sleep in it this first night. :(

Last weekend, we went to Graue Mill in Hinsdale. Etha ground corn with an old man who called him Brad the whole time. He also made flour with a giant millstone. It will be fun to be so close to here when he's a little older.

Not sure I've mentioned the great fort Will made for Ethan in the beginning of the school year. He found this giant box and school and made Ethan a palace complete with windows, a skylight, and a doorknob. We got pictures of it recently because it was on its last legs and we wanted a record of it.

Poking through the window with the fort on its side.

Ethan's been having a lot of fun in the leaves lately.

I know, he needs a haircut - bad.

But he's so darn cute!

I love that you can only see him from the top up.

Here's Ethan asleep in Drew's bed this past Sunday when we were there for the Bears game. Proof that he can sleep in a big boy bed.

I LOVE this picture of the cousins.

A family that dresses alike, well, they look like nerds. :) Just kidding.

This is a picture from a playdate with Ethan's bff Derek. They like to make a "beaver dam" out of the couch. It is very funny. Ethan kept asking, "Where'd the beaver go, Mama?"

I realize it's a bit cold, but I've really been enjoying the fall weather around here lately. Mostly, I think I am thrilled because I have a lot of borrowed maternity clothes for winter, as well as my own. I did not have a lot short sleeved items, and I stain one every day, it seems, so it is good to have more options now. Plus, I just love brisk weather like this sometimes. But I am also very aware that soon it will be more than pleasantly brisk (this weekend even), and Ethan and I will be exiled inside for the duration. But, we're making the most of the not so brutal weather as much as we can.

The last couple of weeks, we've had quite a few fun outtings, including a trip to the Morton Arboretum with my grandma, lunch at Millenium Park with my friend Brent, and several trips to the library and around town. I also took a day trip myself, traveling to Augustana for the day with a great friend. It was a very fun trip, and I loved seeing the campus again. I made my college decision based on this campus, so needless to say I love it. Most every building smells exactly the same, and it was a comforting thing for me. I like thinking that the students there now will have similar memories of mine, visual and olfactory. Of course, we stopped at our favorite sandwich shop for the best sandwich in the world, and we rounded the trip off with ice cream from the famous ice cream shop.



I'm going to have to cut this post short, as some nagging nausea is getting the best of me. Time to go keep the couch company for a while. Enjoy the pics.

He he
Grandma and Ethan at the Arboretum

Running in one of the treehouses

Wading in the frog pond

Navigating the web

My amazing sandwich from Arthur's

View of Old Main from the side of Denkman language building

View of the walkway to the admissions office

Slough picture from the new bridge to the new dorm

Planetarium

Clock (and Kristin taking a picture of flowers by the clock)

Kristin and random cab like car outside of OlinView of the slough

Pretty bench set up by slough with new bridge in the background

Another campus view

Back view of Old Main

A look at the house I lived in senior year, a little worse for wear

Future Viking sporting his new shirt

The Little Stuff

There are so many millions of moments that I wish I could permanently imprint in my memory when it comes to Ethan. And as much as I think, Oh, I will definitely remember this, I know that's just not true. One story runs into the next, along with the days, and before you know it, I have lost so many of the little things that make Ethan so cute. That was the major reason I started the blog. Lately, Ethan's cuteness factor has skyrocketed, mostly due to his increase in talking. Here are a few of my favorite stories from recent days.


*The other day, we were eating lunch, and I was on the phone with my friend, Susie (hi Sus!). Ethan got down from his chair, came over to me, and said, "I want to give you a kiss." Tickled, I said, "Sure," and leaned down so he could plant one on me. When he had done the deed, he said, "How about a hug?" So we hugged. Then he said, "How about another one?" It was one of the greatest hugs!


*In a similar story, we were eating at Subway the other day, and Ethan could not have been being a better behaved little boy, eating his sandwich and sitting nicely in his chair. All of a sudden, though, he started to climb up on the table toward me. I asked him what he was doing, and he responded, "I want to kiss the baby." :) "Okay, okay," I said, "but I'll come to you." So I had to stand up in the Subway, with all the other patrons around, and walk to Ethan so that he could kiss my belly.


*Recently, Ethan has taken to putting these pegs into their square foam holder and pretending like it's a birthday cake with candles. No one suggested this to him, and I think it's pretty creative. This afternoon, we were playing in the basement, he decided it was Clifford's birthday, so he brought the cake, and Clifford, into his fort with him (giant box will has fashioned into a pretty cool fort, complete with skylight), and sang Happy Birthday. He did it about 8 times before it was time to go upstairs for nap.


*Ethan knows what most farm animals say and has for some time. You know, the whole moo, baa, quack stuff. But when it comes to all other animals, they roar. According to Ethan, a giraffe says "Roar!" To be honest, I'm not sure what a giraffe does say, or if they say anything at all, so I'm not exactly sure how to correct him.



*One thing I really love, too, is how if I walk into a room, Ethan always says, "Oh, hi Mama." Or if I come home from being out, he'll hear me come in and say, "There she is!" Also, Ethan says, "Kay?" after about everything he says these days. As in, "I'll get some milk, Kay?" or "You read this book, Kay?" or "I throw this in the garbage, Kay?" There's something about his high pitched "Kay" that makes it hard to say no to. He's a sneaky one, my boy.

Ethanism

Yesterday, while driving in the car, Ethan started grunting and writhing in his seat. Knowing exactly what was going on, I asked, "Did you poop?" Ethan replied his typical no, which usually means yes. A minute later, he yelled out, "It's stuck! My poop is stuck!" Likely too much information for many people, but really it was one of the funniest things Ethan's said to date. Just too funny. Pooping while sitting can't be easy.

School Days

This past Wednesday was Ethan's first day of his Parent's Day Out pre-preschool. The days leading up to it were filled with anxiety, with both Will and I wondering how Ethan would do when I left him someplace. The night before, I had orientation and when I came home and told Will about it, he really started to panic. He did, though, as requested go out and get Ethan a little backpack, as we were told to bring one with a change of clothes and any emergency items such as a pacifier, blankie, etc. Will came home with a Spiderman backpack big enough for a 6th grader. That's okay - Ethan loves it! When he got up on Wednesday morning and I showed him the backpack, he was so excited. The excitement continued as we pulled up to the church where his classroom resides. We had talked a lot about him going in the days before the start so that there were no surprises, but of course you never really know how much they are understanding. When we got out of the car, Ethan said, "Dadda in there?" which is when I realized he was thinking that we were going to Lyons Township to Will's classroom, where he's been a few times and just loves. I carefully explained that this was not Daddy's school but Ethan's school and his classroom. When we got up to the room, the door was open on top, and Ethan could see all the new toys I had been talking to him about. He immediately yelled, "I want to go in there!" I was a little flustered because I still had to sign in and do a few other check in procedures. He was so anxious to get in, though, that one of the teachers opened the door for him and ushered him in. Apparently, they wash hands right away, and I heard his teacher say, "Okay, Ethan, let's go wash hands." He looked at her like, Who in the world are you? and seemed to panic a little. But he did not cry. I went out in the hallway then and watched on the monitor to see if he was doing okay. For a while I could not locate him but then I finally saw him come into the camera's view and he just went to playing. I stuck around for a little longer and then left.

The first session was only an hour and a half instead of the usual three, so I wasn't sure if I would even leave him that long. Will had left a frantic note on his backpack that morning that said, "Maybe you shouldn't have him in school. He's too young. If you do go, only leave him for a half hour. Yahhhhhhhh." It was somewhat cute how he was freaking out but also made me second guess what I was doing. I put that in the back of my head then and left. I came home to pick up my cell phone, which I had forgotten and wanted in case the school called, and then I came back. I checked in with the cameras again at a quarter to 10, and Ethan seemed perfectly happy, playing away with his buddies (he knows 5 kids in the class from playgroup). I then walked over to the library, checked out a couple of movies, then sauntered over to Starbucks, feeling a bit strange to be walking in town mid-morning sans child. My friend Maureen was there, too, so we sat and chatted with our lattes until it was time to pick the kids up from their first day.

We were a couple minutes late and most of the moms were already there. When I got to the door of the classroom, I was very sad to see that Ethan was softly crying, being comforted by a teacher. I immediately called out his name and he came running toward the door when he saw me. I asked if he had been crying long, and the one teacher said not at all, that he had just started when he saw the other moms come to the door. It was probably then that he realized that I was not there. They said he was really great the whole time. As I walked him out, I asked if he liked school, to which he replied emphatically, "Yea!" I asked what he did, but the only thing I got out of him (and understood) was that he ate Goldfish and drank juice. I had told him he would get to drink juice out of a cup, and I knew he was pretty pumped about that.

All in all, I was really pleased with the first day. I know that just because he was good the first time doesn't mean he'll be fine the next, but I don't anticipate many problems. I'm hoping he will learn a bit more about sharing since lately that can be an issue while playing, and I also am selfishly looking forward to 3 hours to go to the gym, run errands, clean house, or just lounge. It will especially be nice when the baby is born to have one day a week to have some alone time with the baby. So far, I'm really pleased with the program and look forward to hopefully sending Ethan to preschool at the same place next year. My baby's growing up, but it's all fun stuff, I think, and I like being home to share these new steps with him.

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...