my little butter flinger

My smart little boy has grown taller.... yay... meaning he can reach into more drawers and also reach more stuff on the counters or stove. The other day I left the kitchen for a moment, and came back to find that Ethan had pulled the tub of butter, which I had just taken out of the fridge, off the counter and was flinging butter everywhere. Later I was making biscuits, and so I had the container of flour on the kitchen table. Apparently it wasn't far enough back on the table and he was able to pull it down and get it on himself and a little on the floor before I got to him. Today he opened one of my top drawers in the kitchen and pulled out the plastic wrap and started pulling it out of the box, and when I took that away from him, he proceeded to the silverware drawer... oh, and he's also learned to climb. So, I've decided I want to buy two child gates to keep him out of the kitchen and dining room. I'm running out of places to move the stuff to in the kitchen so he can't reach it, and I don't like that he can reach the top of stove. I've looked at baby gates before, online, but I don't really know what gate to get. the gates would have to be from 28" for one door way, to 36-39" for the other (expanding gates would be best I think). I would love it if someone knew something about baby gates and had any advice as to which kind to get. I want the gate to be sturdy enough that Ethan won't be able to get past it (he's a determined boy). Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

Easter

Easter weekend turned out to be really nice. Saturday Ryan, Ethan and I drove down to Boise. We hung out with Brandon, Ryan's brother who lives and goes to school in Boise. We went shopping in the mall, and then went to dinner at the Olive Garden. The next morning we went to the temple to see my sister's choir sing. it wasn't what I was expecting, but it was still nice to do something special on Easter morning. It was FREEZING cold, so we ended up taking Ethan inside the stake center. Ryan walked around the building with him, and I sat in one of the classrooms listening through the windows to the choir. It was just too cold to stay outside. A lot of people came prepared for the cold- all bundled up, with huge blankets and thermoses, so I figure they muscome every year to the performance. It was a monologue-type presentation on Christ's life from birth to ressurection, which was nice, but I would have prefered if they had just sang songs about Christ the whole time, like "I Believe In Christ", etc. It was nice to go though.
After the choir performance we headed back to Jerome, where we ate lunch at Ryan's parents house. Joan had fixed a really nice ham dinner, so that was fun. Later we went back to our house, and had some friends over for dinner. I made Chicken Cordon Bleu and it turned out pretty good. It was fun to have my friend Charity and her husband and son over. Next year I plan on doing the whole Easter basket and egg hunt, but this year Ethan is still young enough that he wouldn't know what was going on.

Ethan is sick again, but it's not too bad this time. I think it is because of his teething. Last week, when I tried to take away the bottle, we discovered that he was actually getting some new teeth. Right now he has three new teeth poking through, but I think a fourth is trying to come up also. So we gave up on taking the bottle away for the time being since he seems to be a little miserable from getting the new teeth. Normally when he is teething he gets sick, and has a temperature, but this time there isn't a temperature so far, so that's good. He has a cold with a runny nose and cough, which he hasn't been able to shake for several weeks now, but today it is a little worse than it has been. We went to a play group this morning at the church, which he loved for the most part, so Ihope we can continue to be able to go to that. The only bad part was when Ethan threw up on my and the floor in the gym- serves me right for wearing my dry clean only coat :). He wasn't playing with any of the children so I wasn't extremely concerned he would get them sick, plus his tummy is very sensitive so something like mucous in his throat will make him throw up. Fun stuff. I realized the other day that my blogs oten seem like complaining, so I apologize for that. I'm not trying to complain, to me this kind of thing is just my normal day to day stuff. I am going to try, though, to come up with more uplifting, up-beat things to talk about in the future.

taking away the bottle

I decided to take Ethan's bottle away this week, and so far it has not been fun. I gave in and decided to let him have one before bed, and also if he woke up during the night- which he did. three times. He has been grumpy all day today, crying and throwing fits over everything. So I hope that this gets easier, cause it's wearing me down :). We both got a nap in today, it was short but I'm glad we at least got it in. The pediatrician said it should only take a week to get him off his bottle, but I'm not sure I believe her... or it might take a week but that week is sure going to be miserable! There, I'm done complaining.... :)

I'm so proud of Ethan. Today we went for a walk, with him in his stroller. When we got back I took his coat off and handed it to him. I then pointed in the direction of the coat closet and told him to put it away, and he walked around the corner and over to the coat closet! I opened the door and he threw it in. I was so proud!! yeah, I know it's not that big of a deal, but to me it's awesome!

speak to me!

So, I think my boy is so smart. When I watched him put his coat away in the coat closet yesterday I was so proud. You have to put the coat in his hand and direct him towards the closet, but he put it in himself (and then picked it back up and wanted to play with it). He's finally carrying around his sippy cup, so I'm happy about that. Up until recently, my biggest concerns with Ethan have been if he's eating enough, if he's eating the right foods, if he's getting enough sleep, keeping him away from harmful activities or objects, and things of that nature. As long as he was content playing with his toys, eating healthy, sleeping well, and not sick, I was okay with life. I'm beginning to be a little worried about his lack of speach, though... He doesn't say any words at all, except a range of sounds that he repeats, but I have no idea what they mean- if anything. He says mamama and dadadada (they are not directed towards Ryan and I, though), and his favorite- duh! duh! duh!. He doesn't wave to people, play patti cake, or clap his hands (but I just figured he didn't want to, that he just wasn't interested in it). It's not that I think there is something wrong with him, it's more that I don't feel I've been doing enough to teach him. I see other children the same age (of course most of them are girls, so I know that makes a difference) speaking and pointing to things they want. Ethan will guide me to something he wants, but he never talks, or assigns noises to any object. He makes his noises, when he's happy and when he's sad, but I don't know what they mean. I've been trying to teach him the word milk, or the sign for milk, for several months now, and still nothing. I decided today that I haven't been trying hard enough. I was content to see him happy, playing, and eating, and I didn't worry too much about teaching him a whole lot, at least not yet. It didn't help to see the video of the 17 month old girl on the Today show that can read, but I know that is not normal. So, I've decided that I'm going to try harder to point out objects to Ethan, saying their names over and over. I thought that maybe I should make flash cards (the artist in me wants to make them myself), and find a bunch of hard picture books. The hard thing is that Ethan doesn't hold still. The only time he stays in one place is if he is drinking his bottle, going to sleep, or sick, which makes it difficult to read stories to him. I know that I need to try harder. I thought that maybe I could get those signing time videos, but Ethan didn't seem too interested in watching them when I brought it up on the internet, so I don't know. He would rather be playing. I welcome any suggestions or thoughts anyone might have, I need the help. :)

We were able to bring Ethan home from the hospital thursday evening, and both Ethan and I were so happy to be home again. He was so exhausted from it all that he fell asleep shortly after coming home, around 5:30, and slept the entire night. He only woke up once to eat and didn't even eat a whole bottle before falling back asleep. He was so tired when I first put him to bed, I was able to move him from his crib to the pack and play in our room, and change his diaper twice, and he never woke up.

The doctors have not figured out exactly what caused the seizures. We are thinking that it was caused by him being sick. Apparently that is the most common, or one of the most common reasons children have seizures. It's frustrating because doctors, nurses, and everyone else has their own opinions, so you hear all these different explanations for what is causing it. Along with that, you get the opinions on the severity of it- some people are telling you that it's nothing to be concerned about, that you shouldn't even take him into the hospital cause it's harmless, or normal. Others are saying that we need to take Ethan down to Salt Lake to Primary's to see a neurologist. We decided that if Ethan were to have more seizures, once he is well again (he's still sick with diarhea and upset tummy), that we would take him to Salt Lake. We are hoping however, that it won't happen again. I will just have to be extra careful every time he gets sick to keep his temperature down, and watch him closely. I would like to just avoid him getting sick at all till he turns 6 (that is the estimated age, i guess, when the children stop having this kind of seizures) but I know that is probably unlikely. Next friday he will get an eeg test done, to check for things like epilepsy, but we are not too concerned that he has that.

I want to thank everyone for their comments of concern- that is what is most comforting/helpful, when people tell you that they are praying for you or that they hope things will get better. I really appreciate that. I know that this is probably "normal" and not as severe as I feel it is, but it is still hard to see your child in that condition. He is gettin gbetter though, he is starting to play with his toys again, even though he is still really tired, and he has started to giggle again, which I'm really happy for. I really missed his smile and giggling.