I can do it myself, dad!

Ethan and I made the trip up to Minnesota last weekend. Ethan had a blast and told me next time we go we are staying for 2 weeks. I can't claim the fun he had was really much of my doing. Mom and dad spent a lot of time playing with and he really loved that. And, when he wasn't playing with them he was playing with the neighbor girl Jessica. I spent a lot of time doing nothing. Go, me. We got up there Friday night and Ethan spent somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 minutes at mom and dad's before going next door. He played with her right up until bed time. The next morning he was up WAY too early. I let him come lay with me and tried to convince him to go back to sleep. He was more interested in rolling around in bed and keeping me awake. Thankfully, a short time later I heard mom and get and gave Ethan a hint she was up and out he went. I then slept another 90 minutes. Parent of the year. Ethan had his breakfast with papa at Perkins before he, dad and I piled in the truck and headed to the hockey shop to get Ethan a helmet. I was hoping to get him a used one just to make sure he continues to like it before spending a lot of money on equipment. Sadly, Ethan's head was too small for every used helmet there so we walked out with a brand new helmet. After that, dad took Jessica and Ethan to the park and I once again did nothing. However, that afternoon mom, dad, Aunt Di, Ethan and headed to Braemar so Ethan could show mom and dad how good he was at ice skating. And, he did great! I was so impressed with how much progress he made in the time we were there. When we first got there they had some braces sitting out Ethan could use to help him with skating. After a couple laps with the brace he wanted to try it without. He did so, so well. He was mostly marching, but he was doing it all himself. Stepping into the box, stepping out of the box and all the skating/getting up when he fell was all Ethan. If I even attempted to help I was scolded. I heard 'I can do it myself, dad!' no less than a dozen times. He of course fell some and I think his knees and butt started to get sore so he wanted the brace again. By the end he was actually skating, gliding and making strides. It was awesome! Everyone was so impressed and made sure to tell him and Ethan was smiling ear to ear. We of course hung around to watch the zamboni because by the end Ethan cared more about that than he did the actual skating. But, Ethan is very excited to return to Minnesota when it's colder and skate outside. I can't wait to do that with him. See the videos below to watch his progression from the weekend.

Ethan Right Away:

By Himself:

At the end:

Mom and dad also came down a couple weeks before and we went back to the pumpkin patch/orchard and did a lot of the same things we did the year before. This time we had more time and got to try a few new things and spend more time doing the things Ethan enjoyed. We did the corn pool, checked out the animals, jumped on the inflated jumpy thing(thats the technical term), rode the big slide, shot some apples with the big slingshot, rode the tractor and picked out some pumpkins. The only way to get ethan to move from one thing to the next was to promise to come back and do whatever it was we were doing at the time again. Ethan had a blast racing on the big slide. He and I dominated the competition for the most part. I think he lost once and he was not happy about it. I think we are going to continue to make that an annual event because everyone has so much fun.

This past Friday Ethan had tubes put in his ears. He again did great. He was very brave before in the waiting room. He got a little nervous when the nurse came to get him and it was kind of sad watching him walk down the hall with his hand in his mouth clutching his frog. But, the surgery went really well and was literally over in 5 minutes. I hadn't even finished one racing game on my phone... :) The doctor said the "fluid" they removed from behind his ears was almost the consistency of glue and clogged the suction device. He said even a little fluid behind the ears will cause hearing degradation. He didn't use that word... I did. Just wanted to show off my vast vocabulary. After maybe another 10 minutes of waiting Ethan was awake and we sat with him in the recovery room while he woke up. He REALLY wanted no part of the IV they still had in his arm. Other than that though, he really didn't complain. Within in a few hours he was back to his normal self with no side effects. He said his ears don't bother him at all and he's noticed an improvement in his hearing so in the end I am really glad we did the surgery.

Ethan also started basketball a couple weeks back. He's only been able to attend one practice so far though due to various reasons. But, he enjoys it. The dribbling is a little frustrating for him, but other than that he had a lot of fun at practice with Coach Mom. I am totally fine deferring the coaching on this sport to Kari. Unless the kids want to learn the art of the shooting up some bricks or dodging a basketball that your brother throws at your head from two feet away because despite the fact we both suck we both also take it way to seriously I have nothing to contribute.