Decorating for Easter...

Here are a few recent pics of us decorating for Easter...

About a month ago, ET and Jay planted grass seed in an Easter basket. I thought it would be a fun father/son project and a short science lesson. :)

Jay just placed a couple old scraps of wood beneath the plastic tray to lift it a bit.

They planted the seeds...

watered them...

and then watched them grow!

Here are the boys decorating Easter eggs for the first time.

Jay was gone that evening (Thursday), but I still thought I could manage the task with the boys all on my own. Well turns out, it was a little more difficult than I had expected. Nate insisted on being right where the action was (if I put down on the floor he would just scream and throw a temper tantrum). He kept wanting to crawl up on the table and reach for things. For the most part, I had everything under control, but the moment I wanted to step back and take pictures he would crawl right back again. :)

I was so proud of ET! He was so careful with the eggs and did all of the work. He slowly placed each egg in the dye and scooped it out with the spoons. He never cracked a single egg.




Nate enjoyed himself, but I really couldn't let him get too involved. Having a one-year old play with cups of dye doesn't sound like a fun idea to me. :)


Beautiful colored eggs...SUCCESS! ET decorated them with stickers later on.




Have a Happy Easter everyone!

Copycat...

Sometimes when I scold ET, I feel like I am just sounding like a broken record. I am sure all parents out there can completely relate. Well apparently my words are not going unheard...

We were out running errands today, and ET got sleepy in the car. We stopped somewhere, and Jay started taking ET's seat belt off and decided to "mess" with him a bit (tickle him and make monster noises - typical father/son play). ET looked sternly at Jay and shouted, "You better stop that! Do you understand me? Where did you learn that from anyways!?!"

Jay and I couldn't stop ourselves from laughing. :)

ET can zip up his jacket!!!

Check out that serious face...

Concentrate...

Woo-hoo!

We are all so proud!

A few Nate updates...

Other than not sucking his thumbs anymore (woo-hoo), there are just a few small updates to report on.

Nate does great with a spoon and fork, and so we switched him to the table this week. He eats very well, and for the most part doesn't mess with his plate or bowl.

His favorite foods right now are: yogurt, cantaloupe, fresh pineapple, crackers, bread, and cookies.




Other updates:
Nate got two new molars last week!
Nate says all done, all clean, nigh-nigh, hi, Ma-Ma, and Da-Da regularly.
He follows most commands and seems to show a real understanding of what is being said.
He loves to play outside and will go down both big slides fearlessly on his own!
He loves to find "yuckies" on the floor and throw them away.
He LOVES to drink water from a big boy cup with no lid.
His favorite toys right now seem to be Legos, small cars & trucks (matchbox size), and books.
He also still loves coloring and dancing.

No more thumb sucking!

On March 8th, we started Nate with thumb covers to get him to stop sucking his thumbs. I was very nervous at first. My first thoughts were that I wasn't going to be able to console him and/or that he would just start sucking his fingers instead. The first two nights were rough, but not bad. He woke up a half a dozen times, let out a scream and then went back to sleep on his own. I thought that was great considering. Other than that though, he really never minded them. The thumb covers were super comfortable and never got in the way of his everyday tasks. They were a little annoying to have to put on and take off many times a day (eating, bathing, and coloring). However they were well worth it! I am just thrilled that he has beat the habit - I just pray that he doesn't rediscover it! He still wears them at night, and some naps. Jay and I are not sure when we will officially put them to rest. They cost a large sum of money (well worth it though), and so we are just trying to get our money's worth out of them.

To get him to sit still for pictures, I gave him a baby wipe...the crazy kid likes to "wash" things. :)

The company supplied us with two "hand-aids" (this is what they are called), so that we can switch them out and wash the one he was not wearing. Unluckily for us, Nate sucked both of his thumbs and never had a preference so we needed to buy two sets and he wore one on each thumb at the same time.

They wrapped around his wrist and we attached them with a nut and bolt that we needed to twist on and off. It is a great concept for older kids as well, because the child can't remove it on his/her own. The part where he would have sucked his thumb is actually a velcro material. The velcro is obviously very unappealing to want to suck on; however the velcro is like a magnet to all sorts of fuzzies (good and bad I guess). The rest of it is a soft almost suede type material.

Wash, wash, wash...

Anyone want to hire a housekeeper? :)

What an angel!

ET's Bedroom

Jay needed to do some painting in ET's bedroom this last weekend to fix the ceiling and the top border of paint around his room. I knew I was going to have to prepare ET that he would need to sleep in our bedroom for a couple nights over the weekend. He didn't put up a fight, but he was not at all excited about it. ET is the opposite of most kids...he wants NOTHING to do with mom and dad's bedroom or our bed. Ever since he was little, I would try to get him to snuggle with us a bit in our bed on a Saturday morning, just so we could get a couple more minutes of shut-eye. He just never wanted to do it. He would rather just go back and rest in his own bed. Only one time I can remember him falling asleep in our bed, and that was because he was very sick. We are definitely lucky ET is so independent in this regard. It wasn't until we told him we would move his entire mattress, all his pillows, blankies and animals into our bedroom with us, that he finally showed a little less apprehension about the whole idea. Here he is the first night...

He quickly learned how boring it is in mom and dad's room. Usually if he is not tired, he will get up and play with toys in his room for a bit. Jay and I don't mind because he always puts himself to bed when he is ready. He was pretty bored laying in our bedroom with no toys and not being able to fall asleep right away.
I asked him on Saturday morning how he liked sleeping in mom and dad's bedroom and I all I got was, "It was fine."
Before moving ET back to his bedroom on Sunday night, we rearranged things a bit and took the bed rail off his bed. I'm not sure at what age it is normal for kids to go without a bed rail, but until now I was comforted knowing he had one. We just tucked him in really well and he slept like a baby.


He was so happy to be back in his room!

Here is just another cute recent pic of ET in his jammies with all his favorite animals...

Cabin Fever....

So ET has been dressing himself lately. I have been very proud of him. It is so nice to be able to just say, "Go get dressed" in the morning. I'll admit, he doesn't do it every morning. Sometimes he is just tired or wants me with him, and so I am not too strict about it yet. On mornings when he does though, he is always so proud of himself.

Here is what he dressed himself in yesterday...



Somebody is excited for summer! He tried to justify it by saying that he chose a long sleeve shirt to go under his short sleeve shirt. Pretty clever. :)