Pink

Ethan has taken note of everyone's favorite colors. He will say "I blue" (I am working on him to say "I like blue," which sometimes he will say). Then he will go through everyone's favorite color. Dylan likes yellow, Jayden likes red, Mom likes Green, and then he gets to my favorite. "Daddy pink." Hahahaha! I get the biggest kick out of this one. It all stems from a conversation he heard between his Dad, Dylan, Jayden, and I. We were talking about favorite colors, and somewhere in the conversation I remember Devon saying something about liking pink if Mommy is wearing it. I think the boys might have asked if he likes pink. Anyway for days, Ethan would go through everyone's favorite color and he would always say Daddy likes pink. I told Devon about it one day, and then the next day when Devon was around and Ethan was starting to go through everyone's favorite, I tried to cue Ethan to show Daddy what he says. So I ask "Ethan, what's daddy's favorite color?" "Blue" I looked at Devon, and he says "We had a little talk."

Ethan is such a talker now, and he is fun to listen to. I love his cute little voice and the personality that this boy has. He loves to be silly. He loves the movie Cars and toys from it - not to mention the slippers we have. We have had them since Dylan was little. They really haven't been worn until now because nobody cared to. Now all the boys want them. Tough - they are now Ethans, he is the one who decided he loves them first, and they are actually his size. He loves Thomas the Tank Engine. He loves tractors, superheros, race cars, GeoTrax, trains, books, bikes,... really anything. He is a fun loving boy. It is fun to watch him play. He plays like Dylan did at that age but on a smaller scale... instead of every toy in the toy room pulled out, he gets 10 cars or trains and carries them around, lining them up, racing them...

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Ethan is definitely a people person. He loves to make people smile. He loves to talk to people and tell them what shirt he has on for the day. He makes friends with random strangers. At Dylan and Jayden's Karate he made a friend with the man sitting next to us. The next week, he wanted to go sit by him again. Of course there are those times when you wouldn't believe he is so friendly. He has been known to give expressionless stares to strangers, and not even respond to me repeating the question the stranger asked them - like how old are you, or even do you want a balloon (that seriously just happened the other day).

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Ethan is relishing in his abilities to be more independant. He loves to try to get dressed himself. He is good at putting his boots on and off, putting his coat away after he takes it off himself, and is frequently saying "I do it myself." He always wants to be the one to answer the door when someone rings the doorbell, and is so sad when an older and faster brother beats him to it.

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One of my favorite tricks is reverse psychology. It works wonders with this boy. "Whatever you do... don't eat your chicken. It is too good. Don't eat it." Instantly this boys smiles and laughs and eats it and LIKES it. Funny boy.

Family - it's what counts

There is something about distance that seems to make family matter all the more. I remember leaving to college, and how hard it was to be just two hours away from my family. It was a fun time, but at times kind of hard on me being away from family, and yet it was so good for me too. Then a few years after that we moved to New York. Man, I thought Logan was far from home! Yet again, those times with family were so cherished, and that love made only stronger. Now my sister Rachel is the one far away from family, and I hope she has fun during these years as her family gets to really grow together. In some ways I miss that feeling of totally sticking together and just having each other to depend on for a lot of things. I had fun just hanging out with my boys, and going and doing lots of things with them, because there weren't all those family things happening that just add fun to the day to day things in life. Nate and Ethan are great buddies, and they both keep asking for each other. Of course neither understands why they can't just go play with their friend.

Here's Nate, Spencer, and Ethan playing together. Spencer is another cousin that we love. These three boys are lucky to have each other. I wish we had a picture with Megan in it as well... put that on our to do list the next time Nate is in town! (Megan and her family had something the night this was taken... dance reviews, work - bummer)

I couldn't pick between the three pictures of these boys, so I put them all on here.

Emi and Austin.

Some silly fun after playing it up on Super Mario Bros. Wii. That is a great game. We had two nights of fun before they began their trek to their new digs.

Oh, how I love my sister!

My cute little babe

Austin is about 3 1/2 months now, and we are finally getting into a groove. I have found that this little boy can be patient about eating. He will be smiling and happy even if he is starved. The thing this boy can't handle is being tired. I have been trying to figure out his schedule the last few weeks and I have discovered he is good and happy for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. Past that, and this sweet boy falls apart. He gets to that point where he just can't fall asleep and will cry and cry, not matter what you try. It will take about 1-2 hours of fussing and crying in my arms, in his bed, and in his swing just for him to get to sleep at this point. If I am paying attention and I get him down by that 1 1/2 hours mark, he will lay down (sometimes smile at you), roll onto his side, stick his thumb in his mouth, and go to sleep. Sometimes he will fuss for a few minutes, and then if I stick the binky in his mouth, he will go to sleep. Sometimes I have to stick the binky in a couple times. If that isn't working, turning music on seems to help, too. But really, it doesn't take too much to get him to sleep if I am on top of things. The only downfall: if we aren't home, it sure is hard to get him to go to sleep because he doesn't have his bed to lay down in. We will have to figure that one out.



Austin already knows who he should be cheering for!




I love Austin's smile in this picture.




Gesundheit!




Austin and his cousin Emi. They stayed with us the night before they moved to Oregon.




Austin loves his thumbs- either one. He sucks on them to go to sleep; he sucks on them for fun. He is also starting to chew on them - I hope that doesn't mean teeth anytime soon!




Austin is starting to love his bouncy chair. Austin also loves to talk to me. He tells me all sorts of stories. I can't wait for when the giggles start. He is getting so close, with half of a giggle here and there. He seems like he will be another ticklish one. He squirms and smiles when we tickle him now.




Austin is getting pretty good at sitting up with support. He loves to sit infront of me on the floor, on the couch, in front of the mirror, and he tries to sit up in his car seat. I have a little car seat cover on his car seat, and it has a little flap where his head is. Sometimes, if the flap is closed, you see his little head popping up out of the whole, becuase he is trying to sit up inside. Devon and I had a good laugh the first time he did it. I'll have to try to get a picture sometime.

Austin's most recent new skill - batting at toys. He just started this on Friday, and he loves to hit at toys now!