One of his 'performances'
Happier times.
Passed out on the couch
Ethan tried pizza... and LIKED it!
The last couple days have been pretty uneventful, but I thought I’d give an update anyway.
Saturday Steve left and we spent most of the morning just hanging out in the apartment. It was a really nice day though so once Ethan got up from his nap we went down and spent some time playing in the pool. Ethan loves jumping off the side of the pool and telling you where to go next to jump. He also enjoys going under the waterfall as long as not too much water hits him in the face. That night I went to the bar to celebrate a co-workers birthday. I forgot to mention last time that on Friday the Australian Navy did a small ceremonial firing of the guns from a battleship and flew some helicopters in formation around the harbour. We got to watch it all from the office so that was pretty cool. Anyway, Saturday the navy had a parade through the city that we didn’t know about and then the sailors were free to roam. By the time we headed out for the evening a lot bars were only letting you in if you had a reservation or if you weren’t wearing a navy uniform cause I guess there had been fights all day. I think it was kind of a dickhead move to not let anyone in a naval uniform in, but I guess if there had been shenanigans taking place all day and stuff was getting destroyed you can’t really blame the bar owners.
Sunday I was miserable. We ended up at a German bar and they had really strong beer and as Daniel put it on Monday, I was setting ‘a blistering pace’. That morning we went grocery shopping. Ethan was very helpful putting things in the cart… most of which we actually wanted. Every so often he’d pull something random off the shelf and try and sneak it in. After naps that day(I participated), we decided to head to the maritime museum across the harbour and see what it had to offer. It was surprisingly interesting for everyone in the family over the age of two. However, since the one person who is not older than two controls our lives it wasn’t the most successful outing we’ve had here. There is a lot of information that requires reading as well as several videos to watch all of which held Ethan’s attention span for no more than a minute at a time. I would like to go back and see it again… next time it’ll be sans the little person. After that we wandered into the mall next to the museum we hadn’t been in yet and shockingly enough Kari found several stores that will require return visits. Ethan really didn’t eat lunch so we got him some chicken and afterwards had ice cream.
Yesterday was a typical Monday. I showed up to pick Ethan up and he walked up and said ‘daddy, nappy’ because he needed to be changed much the chagrin of the teacher who had just changed him minutes before. It worked out well for me… we’ve had several discussions with him about how he is supposed to get that all out of the way at day care so we don’t have to deal with it when he gets home. When we got home he and I were playing like normal and I ended up singing to him and he said, ‘daddy, shhhh!’ I’m really starting to think he doesn’t appreciate my singing. After dinner we went for a long walk around the harbour. Ethan spent quite a bit of time playing in the fountain that is surrounded by giant bird sculptures. Every time we’d try and grab him to go he’d run off and turn and grin at us as he did so. Its becoming more and more obvious there are few things he enjoys more than getting in trouble. Wonderful.
Another normal Tuesday. When Kari dropped Ethan off this morning the teacher said he’s doing really great and does a great job playing with others as well as keeping himself entertained. Today when I picked him up he was pushing a buggy around with a bunch of scrap pieces of material in it and when he saw me and brought it right back to where it belongs and put all the scrap pieces back in the basket where they belong. The teacher said he’s really good at picking up as well. When we got home he of course immediately requested a snack. I asked if he wanted crackers and he said yes so I went to the kitchen to get them and as soon as I got them out he came running over and said ‘no, put them away’. Apparently he had a change of heart and ended up with a fruit bar instead. Tonight I was killing time with him and started showing him some of the videos we’ve taken of him here. 30 minutes later I was still sitting there watching the same handful of videos… Ethan was very entertained though. In one of the videos Kari tries to put his hat on and he immediately rips it off and throws it on the ground. I laughed at that and every time that part came up in the following viewings he’d laugh at himself and say ‘Ethan funny.’ Funny and narcissistic…. Quite the combo.
Anyway, that’s about all for the events. Since it wasn’t very long I spent some time brainstorming what things Ethan is up to on a daily basis.
Though I’ve mentioned in the past Ethan is a very independent little person its becoming worse. He is going to do what he wants, when he wants and how he wants regardless of what you think. When he knows he’s doing something wrong he does everything in his power to ignore you. And when you finally do get his attention he usually gives you a quick glance before going back to doing whatever it was he wasn’t supposed to be doing in the first place. Most of the time its like talking to a brick wall. Then if you move to physically stop him from misbehaving he immediately throws himself on the floor and starts screaming at the top of his lungs. Sometimes its just screaming, but often times he likes to make it dramatic and add a ‘Noooooooooooo!’ in there as well. He’s really perfected that move. And the screams are getting really loud… often times I wonder what the neighbors think. Usually the screaming is followed by his binky getting launched through the air and sometimes he balls his hands up into fists and squeezes so hard his muscles shake. If it were anyone but my kid I’d think it was a very entertaining performance. As I type this we’re in the middle of one right now because we did the awful thing of putting his PJs on.
His new favorite thing in the world is jumping off any and every thing. You name, and he’ll jump off it. The couch, the bed, the side of the pool, steps, curbs and whatever else he can get himself up on. Usually he waits for you to help him, but the other day he started jumping off the couch without any help. I quickly put a stop to that so he didn’t bounce his head off the coffee table and end up in a pool of his own blood like his father did back when he was just a wee lad. On top of the jumping he really enjoys roughhousing with me on the couch and bed. He thinks its fun to stand on me and then jump.
On top of racing out of the bathroom naked as soon as the bath is over Ethan has a new found hated of having his diaper changed and putting on his PJs. I have no idea why… but putting a diaper on him after the bath is quickly becoming my least favorite activity of the evening. He squirms, kicks, cries and yells. It’s a blast. And that’s just the first part of the battle. Then you have to get his PJs on. Apparently that causes him physical pain.
The most recent thing Ethan has picked up on is using ‘Hey’ to get your attention. Usually it’s done in a less than polite manner though. He hasn’t quite figured out the concept of tact.
Lastly, Ethan really enjoys standing out on the balcony watching the cars on the highway behind our building. He gets excited whenever he sees trucks, busses and motorcycles. His taste in vehicles doesn’t exactly match up with mine… but I’ve got 16 years to badger him into seeing things my way.
Anyway… I think that’s everything for now. Sorry it wasn’t more interesting but I guess that’s our life… : )
But, here’s a short video of Ethan playing. He had done this several times already. Instead of stopping him I got the camera… perhaps some of his behavioral deficiencies can be attributed to my parenting style. : ) ( I would upload more videos but this 4 second clip took 40 minutes to upload and that makes uploading any other videos out of the question)
Saturday Steve left and we spent most of the morning just hanging out in the apartment. It was a really nice day though so once Ethan got up from his nap we went down and spent some time playing in the pool. Ethan loves jumping off the side of the pool and telling you where to go next to jump. He also enjoys going under the waterfall as long as not too much water hits him in the face. That night I went to the bar to celebrate a co-workers birthday. I forgot to mention last time that on Friday the Australian Navy did a small ceremonial firing of the guns from a battleship and flew some helicopters in formation around the harbour. We got to watch it all from the office so that was pretty cool. Anyway, Saturday the navy had a parade through the city that we didn’t know about and then the sailors were free to roam. By the time we headed out for the evening a lot bars were only letting you in if you had a reservation or if you weren’t wearing a navy uniform cause I guess there had been fights all day. I think it was kind of a dickhead move to not let anyone in a naval uniform in, but I guess if there had been shenanigans taking place all day and stuff was getting destroyed you can’t really blame the bar owners.
Sunday I was miserable. We ended up at a German bar and they had really strong beer and as Daniel put it on Monday, I was setting ‘a blistering pace’. That morning we went grocery shopping. Ethan was very helpful putting things in the cart… most of which we actually wanted. Every so often he’d pull something random off the shelf and try and sneak it in. After naps that day(I participated), we decided to head to the maritime museum across the harbour and see what it had to offer. It was surprisingly interesting for everyone in the family over the age of two. However, since the one person who is not older than two controls our lives it wasn’t the most successful outing we’ve had here. There is a lot of information that requires reading as well as several videos to watch all of which held Ethan’s attention span for no more than a minute at a time. I would like to go back and see it again… next time it’ll be sans the little person. After that we wandered into the mall next to the museum we hadn’t been in yet and shockingly enough Kari found several stores that will require return visits. Ethan really didn’t eat lunch so we got him some chicken and afterwards had ice cream.
Yesterday was a typical Monday. I showed up to pick Ethan up and he walked up and said ‘daddy, nappy’ because he needed to be changed much the chagrin of the teacher who had just changed him minutes before. It worked out well for me… we’ve had several discussions with him about how he is supposed to get that all out of the way at day care so we don’t have to deal with it when he gets home. When we got home he and I were playing like normal and I ended up singing to him and he said, ‘daddy, shhhh!’ I’m really starting to think he doesn’t appreciate my singing. After dinner we went for a long walk around the harbour. Ethan spent quite a bit of time playing in the fountain that is surrounded by giant bird sculptures. Every time we’d try and grab him to go he’d run off and turn and grin at us as he did so. Its becoming more and more obvious there are few things he enjoys more than getting in trouble. Wonderful.
Another normal Tuesday. When Kari dropped Ethan off this morning the teacher said he’s doing really great and does a great job playing with others as well as keeping himself entertained. Today when I picked him up he was pushing a buggy around with a bunch of scrap pieces of material in it and when he saw me and brought it right back to where it belongs and put all the scrap pieces back in the basket where they belong. The teacher said he’s really good at picking up as well. When we got home he of course immediately requested a snack. I asked if he wanted crackers and he said yes so I went to the kitchen to get them and as soon as I got them out he came running over and said ‘no, put them away’. Apparently he had a change of heart and ended up with a fruit bar instead. Tonight I was killing time with him and started showing him some of the videos we’ve taken of him here. 30 minutes later I was still sitting there watching the same handful of videos… Ethan was very entertained though. In one of the videos Kari tries to put his hat on and he immediately rips it off and throws it on the ground. I laughed at that and every time that part came up in the following viewings he’d laugh at himself and say ‘Ethan funny.’ Funny and narcissistic…. Quite the combo.
Anyway, that’s about all for the events. Since it wasn’t very long I spent some time brainstorming what things Ethan is up to on a daily basis.
Though I’ve mentioned in the past Ethan is a very independent little person its becoming worse. He is going to do what he wants, when he wants and how he wants regardless of what you think. When he knows he’s doing something wrong he does everything in his power to ignore you. And when you finally do get his attention he usually gives you a quick glance before going back to doing whatever it was he wasn’t supposed to be doing in the first place. Most of the time its like talking to a brick wall. Then if you move to physically stop him from misbehaving he immediately throws himself on the floor and starts screaming at the top of his lungs. Sometimes its just screaming, but often times he likes to make it dramatic and add a ‘Noooooooooooo!’ in there as well. He’s really perfected that move. And the screams are getting really loud… often times I wonder what the neighbors think. Usually the screaming is followed by his binky getting launched through the air and sometimes he balls his hands up into fists and squeezes so hard his muscles shake. If it were anyone but my kid I’d think it was a very entertaining performance. As I type this we’re in the middle of one right now because we did the awful thing of putting his PJs on.
His new favorite thing in the world is jumping off any and every thing. You name, and he’ll jump off it. The couch, the bed, the side of the pool, steps, curbs and whatever else he can get himself up on. Usually he waits for you to help him, but the other day he started jumping off the couch without any help. I quickly put a stop to that so he didn’t bounce his head off the coffee table and end up in a pool of his own blood like his father did back when he was just a wee lad. On top of the jumping he really enjoys roughhousing with me on the couch and bed. He thinks its fun to stand on me and then jump.
On top of racing out of the bathroom naked as soon as the bath is over Ethan has a new found hated of having his diaper changed and putting on his PJs. I have no idea why… but putting a diaper on him after the bath is quickly becoming my least favorite activity of the evening. He squirms, kicks, cries and yells. It’s a blast. And that’s just the first part of the battle. Then you have to get his PJs on. Apparently that causes him physical pain.
The most recent thing Ethan has picked up on is using ‘Hey’ to get your attention. Usually it’s done in a less than polite manner though. He hasn’t quite figured out the concept of tact.
Lastly, Ethan really enjoys standing out on the balcony watching the cars on the highway behind our building. He gets excited whenever he sees trucks, busses and motorcycles. His taste in vehicles doesn’t exactly match up with mine… but I’ve got 16 years to badger him into seeing things my way.
Anyway… I think that’s everything for now. Sorry it wasn’t more interesting but I guess that’s our life… : )
But, here’s a short video of Ethan playing. He had done this several times already. Instead of stopping him I got the camera… perhaps some of his behavioral deficiencies can be attributed to my parenting style. : ) ( I would upload more videos but this 4 second clip took 40 minutes to upload and that makes uploading any other videos out of the question)
1 comment:
Um, I don't see the video. Is it on youtube?
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