On Being a Mamma

This past month, Ethan has been nothing but a sweetheart.  We went through that phase of talking back, testing his boundaries and spanking, but I guess now he's over it.  So glad for that!  Instead he has been so loving, kind and thoughtful which makes it such a joy to be around him.  Not that joy should depend on the actions or circumstances, but it sure does makes it a lot easier.  I feel like we've finally crossed the threshold of daily frustrations & feeling overwhelmed to a consistent and even enjoyable time spent together.  We seemed to have more good days than bad and I still look forward to putting him to bed at the end of the day.   

Ethan updates & funny sayings:

• He now understands his responsibilities as a big brother which includes being quiet while Gavin is napping (instead of screaming and running through the house).  He even scolded Kaika for being too loud.
• It really stresses Ethan out when Gavin cries in the car so we've been teaching him how to calm Gavin down with "Shhh, shhh, shhh," and he takes his job VERY seriously.

         -One night when that worked and Gavin finally fell asleep, Ethan requested that we turned off the radio and proceeded to whisper the rest of the way home (in fear of waking Gavin up).
         -Knowing that when the car keeps moving, Gavin would go to sleep so Ethan's said in frustrations: "Oh Daddy, how come we keep getting the stop lights.  I want a GO light."

• He loves greeting Gavin every morning and after every nap and truly enjoys making him laugh.  So fun!
• He is able to play by himself more and for a longer period of time (with imaginary & pretend play) which is a huge blessing since Gavin is now in the "I don't want to sit still" stage.
• Lots of "please's, thank you's and your welcome's" and even hugs and kisses throughout the day.
• His sense of time is: "Tonight, tonight?" = something happening today/tonight, "In 2 days ago" = anything that happened in the past.
• He processed a lot of thoughts in the bathroom.  It's hilarious if you listen closely!
• In order to help clear his lil' head right before bed, we do a quick Q & A's session so we would go to sleep without calling for me after I just left his room.
• He is very much a rule follower (just like me) and would repeat them back to me verbatim.
• Every once in a while he would throw out big words like "otherwise", "passengers", "apartments" , "marvelous" and even can distinguished between English and Spanish (thanks to Dora the Explorer...haha). 
• He knows all his ABC's (cap and small), numbers up to 29, colors and mixing them too, and shapes including hexagon and octagon.
• He absolutely loves, loves, loves to color...with markers (because the precise tips) and is pretty stinking good at it.  Every Sunday, he would refused to color with crayons at church and instead would bring all his papers home to color here.
• If you teach him something, you better be sure it's right because he'll remember it forever and ever.  
• Super curious mind of how everything works.  I'm usually stumped so I sent him to Brian for answers.

Our lil' engineer - You make us smile!