On Friday, 12/5/08 Ethan, Kari, Grandma Smith and myself made a trip to Valley West Mall to get me new work clothes for Christmas. Yeah... it saddened me a little too. Long gone are the days of Transformers, He-Man and slot track racers I could actually enjoy the day the Jolly Fat Man makes his appearance. On the bright side, at least I won't be dressed like a giant tool in Sydney. Every little thing helps with how awesome my first impressions usually are. Wow... got off track there. Anyway... after a small melt down at dinner cause I finished all the chips that I was sharing with Ethan and he apparently wasn't done things went pretty smooth for the most part. Out of a possible 5 Happy Faces, I give Ethan's performance a 3. He did pretty good as long as you let him do whatever he wanted to in the stores. So, that was the strategy I adopted and just followed him along replacing what he removed/knocked over. All the while Linda and Kari were loading the stroller with some pretty fly, yeah that's right, fly, clothes for me. After that they went to check out and Ethan and I went to watch the mall train which he loved. I taught him trains say "choo choo" and each time it would turn the corner I would say, "Here it comes!" and eventually he started saying it as well. That held his interest for quite a while but Kari and Linda wanted to do some shopping for Kari... and here I was thinking the night was all about me... so I had to turn to the escalator for entertainment. We must have went up and down that 10-12 times in a row before that got old. As we were leaving and Ethan was entering dangerous territory with his attitude we ran into Jim's sister Nancy and her husband Rick. So close... so, back to the escalators to prevent the melt down. This time I let him actually ride himself instead of holding him and he loved it! It took him about two rides to figure out how to get on and off and then each time we'd get to the end he'd sprint around to the other side to do it again. I held his hand to prevent injury, but I didn't provide a lot of assistance. After that we left.
Saturday morning we had Ethan's two year pictures at Target. Target sucks and I'm never going back. A couple of the pictures turned out pretty good but for the most part the photographer had her head lodged in her southern orifice. Terrible. So, be looking forward to our Christmas Card this year! :)
Saturday night Kari's co-worker had a party at her house. It was a lot of fun and Ethan did really well right up until we tried to leave. He played with the other kids, played with some trucks, trains and overall just seemed to have a really good time. After a strong start its becoming apparent details are being left out... but you get the gist of it.
Sunday we had lunch with some friends at an actual sit down restaraunt and Ethan did really well considering it was about his normal nap time. No screaming, no throwing objects and only a little bit of coloring on the booth itself. I'm sure they scrub those down every night though... While there he got a visit from Santa who gave him a high five and some Tootsie Rolls and creeped out our friend Lacey. Apparently she has Santa issues and I don't want any part of that...
Last week I finally got the Christmas Tree setup and for the most part Ethan seems to like it. His biggest enjoyment related to the trees is pulling the balls off, pulling the hangers out and saying "Uh oh..." over and over and over. Like most things Ethan finds entertaining, Kari and I disagree. As long as he doesn't try eating them or throwing them like gernades like Nick and I did back in the day I guess its fine.
Sticking with the holiday theme, this last week day care taught Ethan what Santa says... Ethan's interpretation is "ho, ho, hoooooooo." Its pretty funny. Last Thursday Kari and Linda took Ethan to see Santa at Guide One's family night. He did really well from what I understand. He ran right up to Santa and didn't cry or anything. Sounds like how I would have handled the situation at that age. Actually, I'm not sure I would do that well even at 29. I still don't like strangers. Anyway, I think he played a couple games too and then threw up in the car as they were pulling in the drive way. I think that's closer to how I would have handled the situation.
Friday we kept him home from daycare and I watched him in the morning and Kari took the afternoon shift. He was pretty good for the most part, a little testy but then I would be too if I were blowing out diapers at a 1 per hour rate. Eventually I had to give him a bath cause he had a major one. And wouldn't you know it... Kari gets home and he stops. Anyway... not sure what they did to kill time in the afternoon but I had the longest day of work ever and I only worked 6 hours. I spent a lot of time staring out the window.
Yesterday Ethan had one of his better days... if you enjoy constant whining, crying and temper tantrums. It was great! And it started at 5:45 am! Super! Today we all met Grandpa Smith and found me a suit since I don't actually own one. I believe that completes my 12-Step Process to becoming and adult. Depressing... The way I look at it any 15 year old can make a kid, but they more than likely won't own a suit. A suit is the final nail in the coffin of childhood. Only took me 29 years to get here. Anyway... Jim helped me out quite a bit with selections and kept Ethan entertained as well. He, Ethan, not Jim, really seemed to enjoy the mirrors you stand in to see yourself from all angles. After that Ethan got his haircut by Michele for the last time before we leave.
Funny story from this morning... before the artic air mass moved over Iowa it was 50 degrees this morning which thaws Homer's poos in the back yard which apparently makes them impossible to not eat for him. Kari saw he was doing that so she yelled at him to "quit eatting poop!" After that Ethan walked up to the door, looked out and said "He eat it... ucky." :) So, we can check not eating poop off the list of things we need to teach him. What a relief.
Today Ellen came over for a haircut as well and to just spend time with us cause we're awesome and she was playing with Ethan upstairs in his room. He loves to play in his crib. He throws himself around and launches stuffed animals/balls at you. Anyway, she found a sheet and made a fort for Ethan in his crib and he loved it! Everytime you'd peak in on him he would be laughing and rolling around or kicking the sheet. Anyway... it was fun to watch and a really easy thing to do to keep him entertained. I'll post pictures later.
Random Stuff I don't feel like elaborating on:
- Ethan loves helping. With everything. He gets upset if you don't let him. "I help, I help" may be his new favorite words.
- Ethan took his first self portrait with the camera today cause he wanted to "help" as I was taking pictures of him playing in the fort.
- He finally seems to be eating better. Nothing super fancy, but meals with actual substance may be on the horizon.
- He's getting to know his shapes and colors really well. He still struggles with a few but for the most part has them all down. At least the main colors people care about... everyone know fuscia isn't really a color.
- He's getting pretty good at the stairs as well. I still hold his hand on the way down, but I'm not 100% convinced a trip to the emergency room would follow if he tried to do it himself one day.
- The Tiger stuffed animal he got at the zoo has replaced the exorcist puppy as Ethan's side kick to Elmo.
- He's really learning quite a few animals as well. Every night we go through his book and he seems to know more and more each week
- Each time I burp Ethan says "oh my". Not sure where he picked it up... thankfully it only happens once a day tops.
That's it. I'm done for the night.
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