Adventures with Ethan

I have struggled for some time trying to enjoy staying at home instead of working. The guilt for not loving this "job" can be overwhelming at times. I've decided to try to make this a little adventure, and come up with academic and physical activities for Ethan and me to do together to make our days more full! (and easier on the pocketbook than shopping) I found this great website, http://www.toddlertoddler.com, that has tons of ideas to do with your toddler. SO. EXCITED!

We started with numbers and airplanes. Have I mentioned Ethan has a healthy obsession with airplanes?

Putting the airplanes high enough for Ethan to struggle to grab them off the wall..

Ethan posing for the camera. Lately he enjoys doing this, and then running to me to see what his picture looks like!

Ethan mid-run to see his picture :)

AND.. he thought the airplanes wore better on his shirt than the wall. He was right.

...On a side note, make sure you watch the tape around a toddler. There's just way too much fun to be had with it!

Creme Brulee

A few weekends ago, I had a girls' night in Portland with some friends, and we finished the night off at Papa Haydn's. SERIOUSLY the best dessert I've ever had! I tried some from all my friends, but I have to say, my creme brulee was the best. I'd been thinking about it for weeks, and of course driving all the way up to Portland, ordering this delicious meal, and driving back are just not financial options for us right now! So... I decided to try my luck at making it myself. Here was the end product:

It was so amazing! Really hit the spot. I did feel a little wasteful, because I ended up throwing away the leftovers, since it's SOOOOO fattening. Very worth it. Can't WAIT to make this again! Anyone know where to get cute little individual dishes to make it in?

Puke

Yes... Puke. Seriously, so disgusting. Billy will tell you that I don't deal well with ick. Can't stand anything that smells or looks weird. My gag reflex is WAY too active!

Ethan's been sick for several days, and yesterday, his puke made its debut. He spit up plenty as a baby, but somehow, that was so much more benign than what came out of his mouth yesterday. So. Gross. I somehow managed to keep my OWN puke inside, although not without significant effort on my part. It's things like this that make me think maybe I AM cut out for motherhood after all! If I can clean up puke, there's nothing I can't do :)

Superman

Betchya didn't know I was related to Superman, did you? Ethan is in this stage where he likes to have both milk and water AT ALL TIMES. So you see him walking around with 2 sippy cups quite frequently. The other day, Billy tied his blanket around his neck like a cape, and he was ECSTATIC! So, so precious. His little personality grows bigger every day.

Naptime/Popcorn Time

Ethan has had a pretty rough time napping, even when he was a brand-new newborn. I was so confused when people said newborns sleep all day - because mine didn't sleep EVER!!

Lately, I have learned how to get him to sleep longer. He normally wakes up after 45-60 minutes, and all I have to do is go in, settle him down, and tell him to go back to sleep. Well, this is what was awaiting me when I went in his room to do just that this afternoon:

Yeah... there was no getting this baby back to sleep! He was an unstoppable force today. On a side note, so was his hair...

This isn't really relevant to this post, but I love this photo! Ethan loves his popcorn, and I love this because it's kind of an inside joke in our family :) Note the mismatched socks. He's all boy.