At 15 months (part 1)

Now that I have the blog caught up, I can focus on our protagonist, Ethan! This is going to be a multi-part post, or I will never get it done!!!

Ethan has just grown up so fast! I can't believe it! He's always such a happy guy--I only wish I could bottle that little laugh of his. He really does have the greatest "HA-HA-HA" laugh. 

And he's FAST. He started walking almost spot on his first birthday, and he's been running full speed ahead ever since!

His teacher at school is convinced that he's going to be an engineer (with her disclaimer that of course, he can be whatever he wants to be when he grows up!) because he is just so detail oriented. Nothing makes it past him. If something in his world moves, he notices it immediately. He sees small details everywhere. Things also have to be "just so." If you put a cup on his highchair try, he will immediately put it into the cup holder. What do you do if you have two cups on the tray? Why you stack them of course, so that they are BOTH in the cup holder! 

Putting the cups where they belong!

Many toys have to be played with a certain way. The cement mixer driver belongs to the cement mixer. He may not ride in the back of the dump truck- that's not where he belongs. A piece of dirt or thread on the stairs! Oh no! That doesn't belong! And he sorts and arranges things constantly. Last week at school he was playing with the Velcro board and 5 ducks. He placed all 5 in a row, exactly spaced, and spent time making sure they are all straight! Always in the details!

Ethan's communication skills are also really taking off. He says dozens of words, and he's willing to try and say just about anything..and he usually gets pretty close! Recently at school he said "Kelly, snack please." Pretty good, right?! He likes to sing, and I recently recognized him singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" on his own! He sings other songs I don't recognize too. He really likes music and song. We have Sprout (PBS preschool channel) on almost all the time. He really likes it, but his attention is focused when there is singing and music- commercials or programming theme songs. His favorites are Play with Me Sesame and The Wiggles. At bedtime we watch Pajanimals and RubberDubbers.

He also knows quite a bit of signing: more, please, thank you, star, roll, dirty, diaper, airplane, all done, kite, bug, eat, and most recently, hippo and hurts. Of course, he can also "wink" (really blinking both eyes at the same time- good try!) and he sticks his tongue in and out for "lizard." He knows lots and lots of animals and what sounds they make. He's quite the little sound machine! The signing is great. It definitely have giving him confidence in his communication skills, and when his speech is coupled with his sign, where one falls short, the other picks up, making him much easier to understand!

Ethan signing "more"

Every Saturday we still attend classes at The Little Gym. He's getting quite good. His favorite things to do there are walk on the balance beam (one foot in front of the other!) and hang from the uneven bars or rings. He likes to flip backwards over the uneven bars...or as always,  do anything that involves him being upside down. And of course, he loves the bubbles at the end of the session! Little Gym is a great fit for Ethan because he loves to be active. They do a lot of dancing at daycare, and he dances a lot--sometimes even while he's walking. If you're lucky, he'll do a spin when you ask him! Miss Sherri has also done a lot of baby yoga with him at daycare. If you ask him to "do yoga," he'll immediately do his favorite yoga stretch!

Downward facing dog!

So that's it for now! Post 2 is in progress!!