My Engergizer Boy: Ethan

1. He LOVES to jump especially on my furniture. We have a mini trampoline for the house which he likes but jumping from our couch arm to the love seat is way better. I thought getting outside would help . . . I was wrong.

2. He is talking up a storm. He is very hard to understand especially without context but he says pretty much anything and everything including "really stuck", help (this is fabulous when we are in public and I'm trying to get him to do something or stop doing something), cracky (crackers), meat, watch, "shut up" and "num, num" (either something is really delicious or he also uses it for his car sounds). He also repeats the question "Do you . . . fill in the blank" "this is from the Dora and Diego series -- they are always asking questions on there and he's picked it up).

3. He is obsessed with dogs! Our backyard neighbors have a new one that is out in their yard most of the day and he can hardly stand to stay in the fence and just watch it. He wants to pet it and play with it so bad and he yells at it a lot. But once he gets close to her, he gets super nervous. He loves Aunt Keely's dog, Haley. Keely calls him the "dog boss" and it's so true. We will have to get one someday but not until he can be more responsible for the dog.

4. Just this week he started calling my "Mommy" before that I was "Omni".

5. He loves to pretend he is hitting and wrestling invisible things/people. He does this to get attention with sound effects and everything -- it's really funny to watch.

6. He's still in a crib with a crib tent on it. He will not stay in bed without it. We have left it unzipped to see what he will do. Answer: get out 1 million times.

7. We haven't even started potty training at all. I'm ready and I think he is a little. He will not leave his diaper on in bed. We have to tape it on with packing tape. He loves to take off his diaper and come tell me and say "oh no, yuck, diaper".

8. He is my best eater. He loves fruits and vegetables and will normally clean his plate and ask for seconds of them.

9. His favorites are Wiggles, SpongeBob, Chicken nuggets, cars, horses, apples, dogs, Papa, swinging, jumping, hot dogs, singing & dancing, wrestling his brother, tickling, kissing Reese, PB&J crackers, playing and sleeping with the play food, turning on/off light switches and TVs, and playing with stuffed toys.

10. He loves to go to Grammy and Papa's house and Papa will take him down the street to feed the horsey apples. He pretends he is doing it all the time at home.

11. He is quite the comical actor. He loves to overact everything. He had my cell phone the other day and would open it, dramatically dial the number, and then talk. "Halo, Papa? What are you doing? Okay, Bye" He did this about a million times . . . same dialing, same conversation every time.

12. He stands in the mirror and watches himself pretend cry and laugh and talk to himself. He has always done this. If he's wearing his glasses, he looks over them or lifts them up to see his eyes better.

13. He runs away from us all the time still but it is getting better. He watches to see if you are chasing him and goes faster. He loves to do this in stores and sometimes I can't catch him. For as fast as he is he can be just as slow if you are in a hurry and acts as if he's 90 and can barely walk.

14. He loves to dig in the dirt and pull up all the flowers that are randomly coming up in our backyard . . . oh well.

15. He stills sucks his thumb and twirls his hair when he's tired, sick, or upset. He will probably do it for a long time but it's his coping mechanism. It doesn't bother me at all.

16. He is one of the most determined children I have ever seen (and I've seen a lot). He can throw a fit about something for 45 minutes and there's no distracting him either, he just won't give up which is the whole reason he's still here . . . he's my miracle baby!