My Little Boy Blue

Ethan was born on October 15th, so he is now approaching his second birthday. I had planned on doing this post on his birthday, but I don't want to wait. This e-mail is more for me than for anyone else, so I understand it might be boring to everyone but me.

I remember when Ethan was born, I loved the fact that I could pick him up and hold him whenever I wanted, and I didn't have to ask someone else for permission. I would even pick him up when he was napping just to hold him and look at him. At first, in the hospital, I remember being a little overwhelmed at the idea of being responsible for him, I didn't know what to do with him, I didn't know if I was supposed to change his diapers or when to feed him (it may sound silly, but I was seriously overwhelmed by it). And it was overwhelming when my mom had to leave, I cried off and on that whole day, and for a while afterwords. However things did get easier, and I don't regret any of it.

When Ethan wakes up in the morning and I see his smiling face it makes up for the fact that I wanted to stay in bed and keep sleeping. Sometimes, if he wakes up early enough I will pull him into bed with me and let him jump around and giggle. I will roll over with my back to him and he will start playing with my hair, or he will get under the covers and lay on Ryan's pillow and pretend to go to sleep.

Ethan doesn't talk yet, rarely he will say a word out of no where, but thats it- a one time thing. He has been doing really well on signing, and I find it so cute when he tries to sign, he will sometimes start making up stuff because he doesn't know how to say what he wants to say. So he'll pat his hands together and rub his arms, and maybe wave one in the air, all in his efforts to communicate. It's very cute. He can sign drink, banana, please, up, more, movie, book, ball, cat, dog, quack, and good bye. We are currently working on mama, dadda. grandpa, grandma, open, and thank you, as well as getting him to know what his eyes, nose, mouth and ears are. He is very cute when he signs cat, he will pull one hand across his cheek and get a big smile on his face. This morning he even came up to me, looked at the kitten (tonya and phils cat they recently dropped off) and signed cat. Normally I have to tell him to say cat, but this time he did it on his own.

Since he doesn't talk, it is hard to really understand how much he comprehends. So, I'm impressed by things others might find ordinary, such as he has figured out the right buttons to push on grandma and grandpa's radio/alarm clock to turn it off and on, he knows which button to push for his favorite song on the toy keyboard, he Has a favorite song on the keyboard, and also has a favorite song on his little whinnie the pooh ride toy thingy. He dances anytime fun music comes on, which consists of running in place or around the room, and lifting his knees really high. He will sit on the piano bench and turn the pages of whatever music book is on the piano and then play (even though Joan rarely sits at the piano, and it's even rarer when I do). He also, generally, plays nicely on the piano- without "plunking". So i'm impressed.

I love Ethan so much. The day he was born was the happiest day of my life. He's my little buddy, I spend 90% of my time with only him (I really don't get out much), and so I wouldn't want to live a day without him in my life. Thats not to say I wouldn't welcome a vacation some time in the near future (that comment is for Ryan :) ), however I would definately miss having his little smiling face to greet me. I recently learned of another little boy who drowned in a canal. He was only 16 or 17 months old, and it broke my heart. I can only imagine what the parents are going through, as I know that it would destroy me to lose my son. When I heard about this little boy, I wanted to go down stairs and wake Ethan from his nap and hold him forever and never let him go, because you never know what could happen. Thats why I decided to write this post, because I wanted to say out loud how I feel about my little boy, and how much he really means to me, his sweet little face, and pretty blue eyes. I love how happy he is to see me in the mornings, and how he will cuddle with me throughout the day. I love when he gives me kisses. I love being his mom.

Turmoil

I admit that I do not know much about politics, economics, business....really any of the current affaris. I enjoy learning all that I can, and I like to have an educated opinion on things. With all that is going on with politics lately and with the stock market, I have been trying to gather information on what exactly is going on, but generally it is hard to find a variety of opinions and information. I know some find it pointless to talk about it all, but i find it interesting. So I thought it might be fun to open this up for discussion.

If anyone has any opinions they would like to share on the current economic state of things http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/market-dispatches-092908.aspx?GT1=33002, why it's happening, and what should be done about it, I would love to hear your opinion. There are people who say that it's just another recession coming on, and they happen every 10 years or so, and things will be fine; and then there are those who are conjuring up images of the great depression, talk of the second coming, and the end of the world. :). I guess it would be a good time to check your food storage? :).

I also think it would be interesting to hear opinions on the presidential race, as to what you think of Obama, Biden, McCain, and Palin.

P.S. I found this article today (tuesday) and I liked it. I've read several articles by this author and find them really informative and easy to understand. (it's on the current economic turmoil) http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26948627/

Randomness

Today I am wanting my own home...not that I ever don't want my own home, cause a day doesn't go by that I don't think about it, but today I've been thinking a lot about how nice it would be (I think it is mostly because Ryan's sister Tonya, and her husband Phil came up today and were looking at things to remodel their bathroom- made me want my own bathroom to remodel...:) ). I'm hoping by next spring to early summer we will be able to get into a home. Ryan wants to build one, but I don't know if I'm willing to be homeless for that long (cause frankly who knows how long that could take). Building a home would be nice if you had the money and time to do it. I want to have a fenced in yard for Ethan to play in, and I want a place to plant my flowers- I'm afraid some of them are dying because they don't like living in pots. I also want to be able to paint the walls whatever color I want and decorate however I want. And I miss being able to come home and relax knowing I was in my own home. And I miss my knife set... Ryan and his Dad have almost completed the shed, so most of our stuff is now packed away in their new shed that is the size of a barn almost. :) .Tomorow I am teaching my nine year old class the story of Christ's birth and visit to the America's, and I have this cute activity I did with the children where they made stars out of pipe cleaners and I soaked them in a solution of borax detergent and hot water and they formed crystals- so they get to take home a homemade crystal star ornament to go along with the lesson. They are excited for their ornaments, although doing it as an adult they aren't as cool as I remembered them from when I was a kid- unfortunately as soon as they start to dry they slowly start to turn back to powder and lose their sparkle. I hope the kid's will still like them though. I really like this ward Ryan and I go to (for those reading who are not LDS, our church is divided up into "wards" depending on where you live- that determines when you go to church and to what building). I've begun to make friends finally, and I look forward to going each sunday. Since we no longer live in Twin Ryan wants to go to his parents ward but I've been holding out, and we keep going to the one in Twin, because I like my calling (the children are so fun) and I like having this one thing that is our own- if that makes sense. Ryan wants to switch to his parents, and we probably will in the very near future, but I'm dragging my feet on doing it. We will see how long I can hold out. I like their ward, but I also like where I'm at and the friends I'm making. I've moved enough (6 times in the 3 years we have been married) to know that even with the best intentions it's really hard to keep friends once you move.
Well this is my random post, I hope it wasn't too boring. :)

No motorcycle for you

So today was the last day Ryan worked at Cains. Unfortunately his boss Jeff had gotten in a motorcycle accident last week, and today had to go in for surgery on his crushed foot, so he wasn't available this last week as planned for Ryan to train him in how to do the books/accounting stuff. I'm sure it will all work out though, but poor Ryan is loosing fast on his side of the "lets buy a motorcycle" debate. Tomorrow he starts his new job with Gordon Paving, and I think he's excited to some degree, about starting a new experience.

Learning+ some cute video's of Ethan

Here are some cute video's of Ethan I thought I'd add.

Every friday Lisa, a speech therapist, comes to help Ethan with his communication. I really like her, and Ethan seems to really like her also. This last week Ethan has really had a jump in words he is able to sign and today when Lisa came he was so good, and I was so proud of him. He was even starting to put words together to form sentences! For example, Lisa had this cat toy that she brought for the first time, and she was able to get Ethan to sign "more cat" when he wanted to play with it. He even was willing to share it with her, so she would take it, say cat, and then he would sign "more cat" and we would cheer and hand it back to him. It's really cute when he signs cat, because he puts his hand up to his cheek and gets this really cute smile on his face. These are the words that Ethan can now sign on his own without much help: drink, please, more, dog, cat, up, banana, ball, babies, shoes, movie, book, and quack. It's a very nice feeling to see him communicating, and see that he is learning to differenciate between words. I'm very proud.

Ryan has a new job

Ryan accepted an accounting job with Gordon Paving, a company in Twin Falls, he starts next week. So we will be staying in the Twin Falls area, at least for a while.

He Spoke!!!!

The other night when I was reading Ethans book with him, I was teaching him signs for the different things in the book. I was working on cat with him, which he seemed to like when I helped him sign it. I pointed to the picture and said "say cat", wanting him to sign it. he fidgeted and then signed cup, and please, and then all of a sudden said "Dat". I was ecstatic, but not really sure that he had really meant cat. I took him upstairs to try to get him to do it again for Grandpa, and he did, and Grandma and Ryan both agreed that they heard it to. He hasn't said it again since then but I was still excited. Today when he was done with his lunch he came and got me because he wanted something more to eat. I asked him if he wanted a banana, and he signed banana for the first time on his own, and then when I put him in his seat and asked him again if he wanted a banana he said "na-nanna". I jumped up and down and was really excited. Now, several months ago he did learn to say Daddy, but then he stopped saying it in reference to Ryan, and now he never says it at all. I'm hoping that with more prodding and work he will retain these words.