He can hold a little conversation, recall information and answer questions. He'll keep repeating things until you acknowledge what he has said. It's pretty neat actually to hear his impression of his day, or of his friends. Even more fun is to hear what he recalls about the world around him. "Water under the bridge. Boats in the water. No cars in the water." When he's thinking, Ethan says "ummmm" He says it quite often...
For the longest time, ABC song was a favorite. He can pretty much make it the whole way through, although he occasionally misses one or two letters (usually JK- probably out of excitement to hit that great LMNOP stretch!) He did it, now he's bored with it. He went through a BaBa Black Sheep phase. He sings a lot. Often he just sings made up songs to the tune of the ABC song/Twinkle Twinkle.
He likes to sing the last verse of Farmer in the Dell. "The mouse gets the cheese." I sing it, and he calls out a name of someone he knows and then we sing that they get the cheese. "Ethan gets the cheese, Daddy gets the cheese, etc." He thinks it's very funny and he likes to call out the names. It's a good trick to use when we're doing diaper.
He counts a lot. Just randomly counts out loud. Usually skips 1 & 2. Sometimes remembers 11 & 12, but usually it's 3-10. Although I'll admit, this is starting to lose favor, just like the ABC's
Ethan's shins are just one black and blue mark over another. He probably has about 10-15 bruises on each shin. He doesn't mind the bruises, but it drives him crazy if he gets a boo-boo. Not really that it hurts as much as it's a mark that's not supposed to be there. Until it's gone, he asks for ice and band-aids constantly. "Hurtz, Hurtz."
The early spring weather has taken us outside- a lot. Ethan would spend every minute outside if he could. I've really got to dig deep and start coming up with some activities to keep him busy out there this spring/summer. I do like that our outside time often buys me a few moments to work outside--something I haven't really had the opportunity to do for quite some times. He's a good helper too. Helps plant or weed. He likes to go to the park too. LOVES to slide. The bigger the slide the better. He likes to swing, but he has to swing HIGH or he's bored. He can climb up the playground rung ladder without any help.
Ethan can be a bit bossy with his friends. He's a rule follower for sure, and he's quick to tell his friends when he thinks that they are doing something wrong.
I've been calling Ethan "Bugaboo." He likes it and thinks it's very funny.
Ethan loves to see trucks and he knows all sorts of names for them. Some of his favorites include: pickup truck, tanker truck, backhoe, bulldozer, van, jeep, bus, school bus, car carrier truck, and tractor. He is getting familiar with a good 1 mile radius of the house, and he knows when we're near the truck car wash where all the tanker trucks are parked as well as when we're near the small tractor/bulldozer/backhoe store. He asks to drive by the tanker trucks almost every time that we're in the car.
Our Saturday morning routine has grown from going to Little Gym to include going to "The egg store" (S. Clyde Weaver) before Little Gym. Ethan gets egg on a plate. He loves it.
This week, Ethan did a forward roll off of the couch. Crazy baby!
Lastly, I am happy to report that some of the picky eating is coming to an end and his appetite is picking up again. He's getting better at trying things, or asking to try things. He's even starting to like noodles. I thought we were going to have the only toddler who didn't like noodles or mac-and-cheese! Right now he's on a peanut butter kick. I think he may turn into a peanut. Yesterday I got him some PB on a spoon and he asked for goldfish crackers and dipped them in it. I asked him how he knew to do that. "Daddy teach me."
We also just got home from a weekend trip to Philadelphia, but this post is long, and that's a fun time in and of itself!
