Just one picture from our visit to the park yesterday

He was in too much of a hurry to use the rail and be safe going up the stairs, so he opted to climb/crawl them instead.

He doesn’t sit still long enough for me to take any pictures these days. He refuses to look at the camera. For a while he would cry when I pulled out the camera, but thankfully he isn’t doing that right now. I was shocked the other morning when I asked “Can mommy take your picture?” and he said “yessssss. Mommy. The E. Pic-sure” And then he proceeded to give me a goofy cheese face, but I’ll take any cooperation I can get.

Snuggling with “cat cat”

And yeah, here’s a decent example of what I usually get when he looks at the camera. He gives a sour face which is almost instantly transformed into screaming and tears. “no mommy da camera. noooooo pic-sure!” This look, however, quickly went away because he was having too much fun playing at the park.

I should really take some time to write about all the things he is doing now.

For a while he didn’t talk much at all, but all of a sudden, sometime between Thanksgiving and Christmas, he started talking up a storm. I have no idea how many words he knows now, but I would say he knows about 300 or so. Maybe more. I dunno. He learns new words every day and his language gets better every day. I can understand almost everything he says, but I don’t know how well others can interpret the Ethan speak. A good bit of what he says makes sense to other people, but I generally have to translate. We can actually hold small conversations and read books and sing songs together.

He seems to know everything, and you only have to tell him once for him to remember. Its a bit scary how much he remembers, even from months ago.

Ethan still loves to read books, and now he will actually look through them on his own and recite the words that he remembers. His favorite this afternoon was “The Very Hungry Caterpillar”. He kept telling me about the “fat catpiller” coming out of the “coo-coon”. And “da egg lay leaf!”

He asks all the time to “go mommy’s white car. the park!”

He knows all the basic colors (red green blue yellow orange purple pink white black brown) and he also knows a few random ones like tan and gray.

He knows how to count from one to ten and will recite them with me sometimes. Generally though, when I ask him to count, he just repeats 3, 4, 3, 4, 3, 4 but it sounds more like this “treee oh treee oh treeeeeeee ooooooooh” getting louder and more insistent with each repetition.

He runs all over the place and jumps on the bed and does kung fu. He says “he haaaaa” and chops his arms and spins around. He can identify right from left. He can stand on one foot and balance with his arms out. That is a pretty funny sight because he concentrates so hard on not falling over. He loves to jump on the bed or the couch and sing 5 Little Monkeys. “no mo monkeys, jump da bed. Fall! bump da head!!”

Tonight he even asked to brush his own teeth and actually did a good job. I told him to make sure he brushed his back teeth, and to my surprise he took the tooth brush out of his mouth and tried to brush his back. That was pretty hilarious. I had to let him know that he didn’t have any teeth on his back.

Despite all the things he is learning, he is still a shrimp. He is getting bigger, but he is still so little! That is OK though. If he was heavier, I would have a sore arm from toting him around. And I would be in trouble when he decides to “stomp da mom” which involves him pushing me to the ground and jumping on my belly. Seriously, jumping and stomping on me while I groan and act tortured. He finds it hilarious! I have developed abs of steel to protect myself from the stomp mom game.

That’s enough for now. Good night!

Friday, December 18:

Mom, Dad, Aaron, Ethan, and I packed up the car and drove overnight to catch our flight in Atlanta.

Saturday, December 19:

Breakfast in Atlanta, then on to the airport to wait for our flight.  The E was pretty tired and I was able to get him to nap in the airport terminal.

We flew out of Atlanta to San Juan, Puerto Rico. We picked up our rental car, met up with Aunt Carol and Uncle Jim, and headed to the resort (The Wyndham Rio Mar in Rio Grande, PR) to unpack. Dinner at Antojito’s just down the road from the resort.

Sunday, December 20:

Breakfast at Antojito’s. Puerto Rican coffee is awesome.

We spent a couple hours in the car driving through the central mountains on the way to Ponce.

We picked the wrong day to go to Ponce. Everything was closed on Sunday.

But the weather was beautiful, so we enjoyed a stroll around the town square.

Then we head over to see the Caribbean sea. We searched for an unlisted beach named Playa La Jungla, but we were unable to find it. We stopped at another beach and we were disappointed that it was mostly mangroves. Had we known how awesome the snorkeling was in those mangroves, we would have stayed. But instead, we just took a few pictures and went to find a beach better suited for swimming.

We drove to a beach with a crowded parking lot, expecting that it must be a pretty beach. While it was crowded and lots of people were in the water, it was pretty gross with lots of red seaweed washing ashore. The ocean bottom was slimy and gross and the water was very cloudy. After driving all that way we decided to swim a bit anyway.

After a long day of sightseeing and swimming in the Caribbean, we got back in the car and drove back towards the north side of the island. We observed a beautiful tropical sunset over the central mountains.

We stopped in Guavate to enjoy the Lechon Asado and watch the Puerto Ricans enjoy their Sunday evening.

Monday, December 21:

This was probably the best day of the vacation. We took the ferry to the island of Culebra to see Playa Flamenco. Ethan had so much fun in the “big pool”.

Just off the beach there were a couple of reefs perfect for snorkeling. We were able to see lots of fish and interesting coral.

After swimming and snorkeling at the beach in Culebra, we took the ferry back to Fajardo to kayak through a bioluminescent bay.

Tuesday, December 22:

We intended for this to be a day of recovery and relaxation on the beach after the first couple crazy days of vacation, but we ended up going to San Juan instead. Everything in San Juan would be closed later in the week, so we had to see it all today instead. Ethan slept in a bit before we got started. While Ethan slept, Aaron head over to an awesome little bakery and picked up a sample of local pastries such as quesitos, mallorca, and guava danish.

Once again we had beautiful weather.

We walked around Old San Juan and stopped in an old church that reminded me of the churches that I saw in England.

We also toured El Morro. The fort and the view were spectacular.

We ate dinner in Old San Juan, then we head back to the resort to rest for the next day of adventure.

Wednesday, December 23:

Another long day in the car! Our plan was to drive to the Arecibo area to see the Camuy Caverns and the Arecibo Observatory. Unfortunately, the caverns were packed and they don’t give you a good rundown on how the ticketing and tours work. We arrived at 12:30, waited around for an hour and a half, ate lunch, then learned that the tours had been stalled for another hour and a half so that all the staff could take their afternoon siesta. Aaron and I decided we didn’t want to wait any longer because we would miss seeing the observatory. We set out down some crazy, narrow mountain roads through the karst country to arrive at the Observatory. Only 10 kilometers from where we left Mom and Dad at the caverns – it was a 35 minute drive! We toured the Arecibo Observatory, which is the largest radio telescope in the world.

We then drove back to the caverns to pick up mom and dad. It only took me about 20 minutes to drive back because I felt a lot more comfortable with the crazy mountain roads. We then head to Lares to find the world famous Lares Heladaria (ice cream shoppe). This ice cream parlor claims to have over 1000 flavor recipes and at any time they have about 40 flavors to choose from. Flavors range from the normal vanilla and chocolate to local flavors such as sweet rice and guava to really odd things such as white beans, garlic, or chicken. We didn’t try anything too crazy, so everything we tasted was delicious. We then got back in the car for another LONG drive back across the island.

Thursday, December 24:

Christmas Eve, and finally a day of relaxation! We hung out at the resort all day playing in the ocean, swimming in the pool, and drinking delicious rum drinks.

Friday, December 25:

Merry Christmas! Aaron and I started the day with a trip to the bakery and then a morning hike in El Yunque National Forest. The view from the mountains was pretty awesome!

We hiked through the rain forest to see La Mina falls.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out at the resort body surfing in the ocean, swimming in the pool, and drinking more fabulous rum drinks from the Tiki bar at the resort.

Saturday, December 26:

Time to head home. We spent the morning packing up the car, then we had another breakfast/brunch at the bakery, and another drive through the rain forest. We dropped off the rental car, head over to the airport, and drank a few more rum drinks before we boarded the plan. Bye bye San Juan! We landed in Atlanta and then drove to Steak N Shake for some greasy American food!

I have plenty more pictures to share and I’m sure I’ll be adding more to this post as I have time.

In case you haven’t heard, we are headed to Puerto Rico! I’m currently on the plane, entertaining myself with free wifi while Ethan naps and Aaron checks out the scenery. Ethan has been a very good boy on his first flight. He’s a great little traveler. I just wanted to write a quick blog post before we fly over the Atlantic and lose the wifi. So hello!!! Maybe I will get a chance to post a few pictures in the next few days! Hope everyone has a nice Christmas

Here are a few quick shots from my blackberry.  First, Ethan’s nap at our gate in the airport.  Second, he was happy to get on the plane.  And last, his nap during our flight.

Ethan is sick yet again. Just a few photos of his sad little face.

See the flushed feverish cheeks? He is cute though.

Weird face

He’d rather be outside

Just sharing a few photos of Ethan being cute in the bathtub

Just a few pictures from Ethan’s birthday, his trip to the aquarium, and his trip to the corn maze.

Just a quick update. I’ll post a real post with all sorts of fun details later. Right now I’m trying to catch up on lots of work before the holiday weekend.

Ethan has his 2 year appointment. He is 33 inches tall and weighs 23 lbs. He is still below the 5rd percentile but he IS on the chart and he IS gaining. Yay! I think he actually would weigh more if he hadn’t been so sick lately. He threw up a lot with the flu and he didn’t want to eat much when he had strep throat. Anyway, there are no concerns with his growth as he really seems to be improving!

and no concerns with his development either, but that is no surprise.  We already know he’s smart   He doesn’t talk as much as some two year olds, but he comprehends EVERYTHING.  And he thinks about EVERYTHING.  It is kinda scary sometimes the things that he figures out.  But more on that when  I have time to post the big 2 year old post.

Tomorrow at 9:35 AM, Ethan will officially be 2 years old. Isn’t that crazy!?

We aren’t having a real birthday party, but tomorrow night we’ll eat dinner and birthday cake at Buffalo Wild Wings in Slidell. We’ll head over there after the gym, so probably around 7pm. If you can read this, you are welcome to join us! Wednesday is Kid’s Night at BWW – $1.99 kids meals. And a clown lady to make balloon animals and paint faces. Fun! We go to BWW every Wednesday, lol.

I created our beautiful new blog and have since neglected to post anything. What a loser! I have a decent excuse though.

As usual, I have been very busy at work. In addition (and it couldn’t have come at a more inopportune time) Ethan and I had the flu. The “dreaded s-flu” as it has been called, lol. On top of the flu, we also had strep throat. I think I started off with strep and Ethan started off with the flu, then we traded diseases. What fun! We’re finally mostly well. I still have a sore throat and some body aches/fatigue, but its pretty minor compared to last week.

The flu was not fun. H1N1, although much less dangerous and severe than the seasonal flu, was still not my idea of a good time. I work from home, but even so, I felt so bad I could not get out of bed to work. I played on facebook a bit on my phone, but I was so weak, it was hard to hold up my phone. I’m really a baby when it comes to the flu. Ethan didn’t really want to get out of bed either. We did a lot of whining and sleeping last week.

In other news, Ethan will be 2 years old in 2 days!!! Later this week I’ll do a big post with all the fun stuff he is doing these days.

Ethan has slept in his own room every night this week.  All night long.  In his own bed.  Without a fuss!  He really likes his room and his bed so its pretty easy to convince him to sleep in there.  I thought it would be very difficult to get him out of our bed, however, I have been totally surprised at how easy it has been!

We brush his teeth, change the diaper, and put on PJs.  He tells Daddy goodnight, then we grab Buddy and head to his bedroom.  Sometimes he wants a book and sometimes he doesn’t care.  I put him on the bed and he pouts a bit while I turn off the light.  I lay down next to him for about 30 seconds to a few minutes, then I roll off the side of the bed and just get up and walk out of the room.  He pouts and whines and cries a bit and calls for “Maaaaaaa????”, but he doesn’t get out of bed.  I don’t even think he sits up.  He quiets down within a minute or two and then he’s out for the night.  Unbelievable!

He did fall out of the bed one night which startled him a bit.  He didn’t want to go right back to bed, so I put him in bed with me because I was tired.  But that is the only instance this week that he has not slept the entire night in his own bed!  Let’s hope he continues to like his big boy bed in his big boy room!