Having fun at Indoor Park

I've been working on the Dallas Indoor Park blog for a few days and brought my camera to Park this morning to add some pictures. Pictures tell the story so much better then a written description! Of course I took some photos of Grace and Ethan playing while I was at it!

Grace loves to play with the dress up clothes at Indoor Park and tries on several pairs of dress up shoes before settling on being barefoot. Today she wore a hot pink dress up number and told me she was pink Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Grace has no problem telling me which particular Disney princess she is at any given moment and never lets the color of her dress determine which she is.

Grace did a pumpkin craft at Indoor Park today since there are crafts there all week. She picked out two pumpkins to decorate and did a nice job using the gluestick. She glued Halloween pictures all over one pumpkin and made a jack-o-lantern face on the other one. She was pretty proud of her work and wanted to take them home to show Daddy.

Ethan loves to play with the multitude of balls at Indoor Park and watches the older boys play basketball very carefully. Then he tries to join in the action by throwing balls around which seems to make him happy.

Ethan also likes to play with the play tools and workbench. Today he "fixed" quite a few things with the hammer. He also spent a good chunk of time playing with the play kitchen food. He loves to put it all in his mouth which is absolutely disgusting!

I'm so glad we're a part of Indoor Park. It's a great social outlet for all of us and the kids both enjoy playing with the toys there that we don't have at home. Grace is just starting to play with other kids instead of just next to them, and is learning to navigate social situations like what to do when somebody takes a toy she's playing with. Ethan watches the whirlwind of activity and does his best to catch up, and in the meantime he is happy to chew on a plastic piece of pizza.

Happy First Birthday Ethan!

My little guy turns one years old this morning at 10:00am and I can hardly believe it. I can hardly believe it was just one year ago that I spent a hard morning in labor with no drugs before finally giving birth and feeling the exhilierating joy of not being in labor any more and having my son in my arms and not stuck somewhere on his exit route. Anyone who's given birth vaginally will know exactly what I mean by that.

David and I couldn't agree on a name for our son before he was born and so we agreed to wait until after he was born and see what felt right. Thankfully he was only nameless for an hour before we settled on Ethan Samuel, a name we both loved but hadn't considered before. It wasn't until later that day when we realized his initials are ESP!

Ethan was not the prettiest baby when he first came out. In fact he looked a lot like a little squished gnome that had been on the losing end of a fist fight. It didn't matter how funny he looked I fell in love with him right away. I remember having a few reservations about how I'd be able to love another child as much as my first before he was born. It's only natural to wonder, but after holding Ethan the first time I understood what other mothers meant when they say that your capacity to love expands so that there is more then enough love for each child.

This past year has brought so many changes as Ethan has grown but I am most struck by his happy and engaging personality. He always has a smile for me and can be described as a very happy little boy. He's also very cuddly and loves to express affection by giving sloppy wet kisses.

Here's what Ethan is up to at One Years Old:

*He wears 12-18 month tops and 6-12 month bottoms/overalls because he has short legs and long arms like a monkey
*Wears size 3 shoes
*Wears size 3 diapers

* Has two bottom teeth but looks like a few top ones will be pushing through any day now
* Walks 100% of the time and has been doing so for awhile
* Absolutely loves balls!
* Says "dada" and "mama" but mostly speaks baby gibberish

* Has had 3 hair cuts and will be getting a 4th pretty soon
* Falls asleep easily without nursing at night but doesn't usually sleep through the night
* Still loves to nurse

* Drinks from a regular sippy cup like a pro
* Loves to eat solid food, hasn't met too many foods he doesn't like!
* Fascinated by toilets and loves to open/close the toilet lid and drop toys in the toilet water

* Really seems to enjoy making music
* Loves to put things inside of things and take them back out again
* Always rolls over to sleep on his tummy in his crib
* Plays Peek a Boo every night after his bath when he's getting dried off with his ducky towel

* Thinks blowing rasperries is a fine art
* Has recently started showing signs of separation anxiety and doesn't like it if he can't see me at all times
* Takes a morning and afternoon nap most days, though sometimes he takes one long one in the middle of the day instead

Happy First Birthday Ethan! We love you!

Ethan's First Birthday Party

Yesterday afternoon we celebrated Ethan's First Birthday with family and friends and had a lot of fun! The guest of honor took a later then normal nap and thus missed his Birthday Chicken Noodle Soup Lunch but did manage to wake up in time for the chocolate birthday cake.

He wasn't sure what to make of the cake with candles and gave us all a look that seemed to say "What on earth is that and why are you all staring at me?"

After a slow initial start he got the hang of it and fed himself small morsels of chocolate cake and frosting.

I'd say he liked it! We gave him a quick bath to scrub all the chocolate off and then let Grace "help" him open his presents. She was very happy to oblige.

Ethan got a lot of new balls which is his favorite toy so he was a very happy little boy!

He seems to like his new basketball hoop that David and I got for him and seems to understand that basketballs go in hoops. He certainly didn't inherit his love of balls from his mother, I confess to being less then enthused about most sports that involve a ball. But I do happen to like playing ball with Ethan and watching his delighted face as we "toss" the ball back and forth!

Happy Birthday Ethan!

More pictures to follow...

Who doesn't like avocados in their hair?

Ethan likes to eat.

He especially likes avocados and peaches.

And sometimes he likes them in his ears, nose, and hair.

If you're as cute as he is...why not?!?

Visitors!

Yesterday our family of four piled into our minivan and made the trek up to the Portland Airport to pick up my inlaws who flew in to visit for the weekend. I really enjoy my inlaws and I'm happy to have them here for Ethan's first birthday celebration on Saturday.
I can't believe Ethan turns one in less then a week, it just doesn't seem possible! We're having a small party for him since we're still pretty worn out from the big Pink Party shin dig we threw for Grace this summer. And I'm certainly not attempting to decorate a birthday cake anytime soon after the disasterous "mushroom" cake that was NOT used for Grace's party. No, this time I'll be buying a nice chocolate cake from Safeway and decorating it with a lovely "one" candle courtesy of the Dollar Store. If I get ambitious I may practice baking and decorating layer cakes so that next year I can make my children beautiful cakes. But don't hold your breath.

Lost

Children seem to create black holes where they magically lose all kinds of things. It's really rather amazing. Yesterday we had a minor catastrophe in our house when Grace lost one of her ballet shoes and we spent 30 minutes hunting the house for it before giving up and missing her ballet class. I have to admit that I got pretty frustrated and even after turning the house inside out am loathe to have to spend yet another $15 on a new pair of ballet shoes.

A short list of lost items past and present:

• One pink ballet shoe in size 7
• One blue alligator sock in size 6-12 months
  
• One very special green bunny that tragically went missing at Safeway
• The purple beanie baby cow (turned up under my pillow the day after Grace insisted she couldn't go to sleep without it)
• The toy monkey from the play mat
• Too many hair bows to count
• The yellow comb
• A toy cell phone was lost in Target
• Dora's yellow shoe
• My sanity