Ethan 18 months!

18 months - Glasses

It’s hard to believe that Ethan is 1 1/2 today! Marking today was Ethan’s last day at daycare, it was really bittersweet. The ladies there are so sweet to him, and I know so special to him.

When I came to pick him up, he cried, didn’t want me to hold him and reached out to both of the ladies. He was really upset to leave. It was almost as if he realized that it was his last day. As hard as it was, I know that it’s the best thing for him. He’s going to learn so much at his new school and love it just as much.

In preparation for his new school I bought him a new backpack, lunch box and accessories. I got the cutest set from my favorite place, www.diapers.com. It’s by Crocodile Creek and it’s got a Stegosaurus on it.

It’s going to be new for me to pack him a lunch everyday. I went grocery shopping a couple of days ago for some lunch goodies. Here’s what I have in mind so far (obviously not all on the same day 🙂 ).

Sliced apples

Yogurt

Applesauce

String Cheese

Peas

Chicken Breast

Turkey Meatballs

Orange slices

Hummus and veggies to dip in it

Edamame beans

Green beans

Chicken spring rolls

Strawberries

Pita Shell, and put some meat cheese and tomato’s inside

Tomatos (he is obsessed with them right now)

New developments:

Ethan is an animal lover! Today’s new word was shark. He also imitates’s the alligator by chomping his arms together. We read one of his many animal books earlier, which is falling apart from him reading it so much. He had ripped off the last page of the book, and turned to that page and put his arms up in the air like “what happened?”.

As far as tricks go, his latest trick is messing with the buttons on the dishwasher. I did a load a couple days ago on “rinse only” because someone had turned the knob… I wasn’t too excited when I used the vegetable peeler and realized that it hadn’t been cleaned with soap and there was a plate that had raw chicken on it inside.

Just a few minutes ago, I realized the dishwasher was on, and I didn’t turn it on… I went in the kitchen and it was on “upper rack wash” only with no soap in the dishwasher. I’m going to have to watch the little bugger a little more closely.

Ethan 18 months in 2 days

Our family took a vacation to San Jose and Aptos (near Santa Cruz) this past weekend. It was a really fun trip! Ethan did great in the car. It was a 6 1/2 hr. drive, of which he only slept for about an hr. He was able to keep him self occupied, and really didn’t fuss at all. On the way down we stopped at In-N-Out and Ethan had a cheese burger. He loved it!

We stayed with family in San Jose on Friday night. They have a pool, so we took Ethan for a little swim. He was actually really hesitant about it. He clung to me the whole time and we were in the pool with him for about an hr.

On Saturday we went to Aptos for our annual trip with the family and stayed there until Tuesday morning. It was so fun for Ethan because he got to hang out with his cousins, ages 20 months, 26 months, 4 1/2 and 5 and a family friend that is 7. I can only imagine him next year at 2 1/2, I’m sure it will be even more fun for him. We spent 2 days on the beach, and they LOVED it! Dug in the sand, played in the waves, etc.

We spoiled Ethan (just a little) and bought him a pair of Ray Bans. They are so flippen cute! Surprisingly, he kept them on most of the time at the beach both days. We also got him a mini ice cream in Capitola. Needless to say, that was probably the highlight of his weekend. It was ALL over him!

Today (Wednesday) we are back in town. The ride home took us 7 1/2 hrs. We are very lucky that Ethan is a good traveller, pretty much no fuss on the way home until we were back in Long Beach he got a little antsy. I took the day off today and dropped Ethan off at daycare. It has been soooo nice so far, being able to run errands etc. without interruption. I’m sitting on the couch right now typing this watching the Kardashians 🙂

A couple of new Ethan developments; he says bu-bye, makes the elephant sound and waves his arm like the elephant trunk, says apple and tomato.

He starts at his new school on the first, in just a few days. I’ll post about that at the end of next week.

July 16th – Ethan 17 Months – Week 2

Ethan has done some cute things this past weekend that I thought I would share. He loves pasta and was eating spaghetti yesterday. I told him that he was eating spaghetti and he said “uh-oh sko”. I’ve used that phrase a few times with him (uh-oh spaghetti-o) but I thought it was really cute that he put it together.

He has said “golk gul” aka golf ball a few times in the past but this weekend he’s been all about it. He’s been saying the word, and carrying the balls and daddy’s golf clubs around the house all weekend. I think we may have a future golf pro over here 🙂 That would make for one happy daddy!

Ethan’s teething again and has a runny nose and has been a little cranky. I think the two molars that popped through a few weeks ago, may be making the rest of their appearance.

I took Ethan to the Dr. this week (finally!), he was in the 25th percentile for weight at 24 lbs. The Dr. said he hasn’t grown taller since his last visit which I find hard to believe because he seems taller. I thought that I got a print out of all his stats, (head, height etc.) but I just realized that they didn’t give me one and I can’t remember what they were. I guess that is the life of a busy working momma 🙂 I will have to get it the next time I’m there.

Ethan 17 months 1 week – Toddlers sure know how to test you

Man I hope 1 1/2’s are the next ‘terrible’ 2s. This new stage of Ethan’s can be really fun but man, can it also be a challenge! Ethan is not shy about throwing a tantrum. He will go from laughing to stomping his feet on a whim, and then throwing himself on the floor screaming at the top of his lungs.

It would be so easy put him in his crib on a time out (in fact, we got to that point with him today that we had to for a couple of minutes) but all the reading I’ve done, says that they really can’t understand them, and that you should only start putting them on a time out when they can understand sitting on a chair, rather than holding them hostage in their crib.

Everything I have read (positive discipline by Jane Nelson, and other articles online) says that you need to use distraction, and guiding methods. Rather than hit a cat for example, show them to pet the cat gently.  Their emotions are so immature, you have to teach them to control them. They don’t understand words the same way that we do, that ‘no’ means ‘no’ for example. They are not trying to ‘be bad’, they are just trying to figure everything out and express their emotions (anger, frustration, etc.).

I’ve been doing my best to use these positive methods and quite frankly, they don’t seem to be working. Every day without fail, he goes to grab the things he shouldn’t, or gets so mad if he can’t have something that he wants. I know I’m not perfect in my techniques (far from it) and maybe that’s the problem. It’s hard when you yourself are frustrated to keep your patience and be the bigger person. He’s a baby for goodness sakes, and sometimes I act like I’m the toddler.

I realize it’s our job to make an environment, where he can explore, that there aren’t things that he ‘can’t grab’ accessible to him, but let’s be honest. Is it really possible to make your house 100% baby-proofed?

Some days I feel mentally exhausted by the end of the day (today included). I had a really good day at work and have been on a roller coaster ride since I’ve been home. In a 5 minute period, I can have a baby guy blowing me kisses, making all the animal sounds that he knows, thinking to myself what a sweet baby he is (which he really is 🙂 to a baby that seems like he’s a terror…

I need to learn to be more patient and not let him frustrate me so much. I constantly have to remind myself that he really doesn’t know any better, and that all toddlers go through this….