Our little boy just gets cuter and cuter every day. We were in the living room this weekend and Ethan was being quiet by himself looking at a book.
All of the sudden he makes about three short quick breathes. Mia and I both look over, and he has his book open to a page that has 10 dogs on it (it's a counting book).

Well, in a different sign language for babies book, their is a page for dog, and the sign is making a panting sound. Mia and I both do this when we read to him, and it was so cute to see him doing it on his own.

When we went over to look at what he was doing, he did it again. I can't believe how fast he is growing up.

So, I didn't get to see much of Ethan walking yesterday. He took a step or two, but still knows it's faster to crawl around.

However, he very much enjoyed standing up. He got next to one of our couch pillows on the floor and kept pushing himself up on it. This is different from using something taller than him to pull himself up. So, it's quite a big step... well, not step exactly, but it's big.

We are trying to get some video of him walking, I think we are going to end up with alot of him standing around before we get anything :)

Well, today was a big day for Ethan. According to Mia he took about 4 steps today and didn't fall over.
He's napping right now, but I'm excited to see this for myself. I'll keep you posted on how he does.

Poor little Ethan has a cold. And a yeast infection. And his cheeks are chaffing.

Needless to say it's been a rough week for the little guy. We have been trying to do what we can to comfort him, but it isn't always easy. Especially since he can't really blow his nose, so it either runs down his face or down his throat. I think the down his throat option has been what wakes him up at 4:00AM.

But, it's been about 3 days and he is on the mend. I think he got my immune system. :)

In other news, he will let go of whatever he uses to stand up and just stand by himself for a few seconds (quite a while it seems like) before sitting back down so he can move. We've been trying to help him walk to things, but he knows that crawling is still faster.

So, now that Mia is back, I've stopped blogging as much. D'oh.

This has been a pretty exciting week. First, it's been great having Mia back, even though Ethan makes quite a fuss in the morning when I leave for work, or even go to the shower for that matter. I feel so bad when I head out the door because he starts crying.
If you know Ethan, he doesn't cry very often. Only when something has really upset him. I'm glad that he loves me, but it's sad that he doesn't understand that I'm going to come back for him. I don't want him to think that I'm leaving for good.

I also got some good news at work. After having my review with my manager, she's decided that with the job responsibilities I've been taking on, I haven't really been a Marketing Assistant. So instead of giving me a raise, I got a promotion and salary adjustment (read: better than raise).
She said that it was easy to sell our CEO on the idea because he's been very happy with the work, suggestions, and improvments I've been able to make. I'm glad to be with a company that I can contribute to in a meaningful way.

Today was another big day for me and the boy and I.

One little story, I was changing his diaper and he has been so fussy about that. He squirmed and rolled himself right off the changing table. Fortunately, I was holding one of this legs to try and keep him on his back, so caught him. There he was dangling with a poopy butt and me trying to figure out how to get him back onto the table without making a mess of both of us.
I worked it out quickly and didn't leave him upside down for too long.

We also went to a birthday party for two of the little boys in our ward that just turned one year old. It was right when Ethan normally takes a nap, but I've been pushing him back to adjust for daylight savings ending, so he wasn't too tired when we went.
But he was very clingy. He didn't want to play with the other kids, or even let me put him down. It was very odd, but I guess we have been spending so much time together this weekend. Eventually, he started getting better about being down, and finaly, when I thought we would need to leave, he started jabbering and playing and crawling around. Kids!
So we stayed an extra half hour and watched the eating of the cake :) That was fun.
I have some pictures of Ethan in a cute cow costume to post to the site now.

While we were at the party, it started to snow. Not just little snow, but big flakes that were heavy and wet. The news had predicted only flurries, and this was much more than that. It had covered my car by the time we were leaving. I had to brush it off, and keep the wipers on pretty fast to stay clear.
Of course, by tonight it had stopped and the snow is all melted. That's Boston for you.

I'm very excited to see Mia again tomorrow. This has been a fun weekend, a long weekend, but it's definately easier to parent when you have a partner to help. I'm glad Mia and I are doing this together.

Wow, what an exciting day we had.

Ethan woke up happy as usual, and after being super active, he took a two and a half hour nap. It was great, I showered, cleaned and even vacuumed. She slept right through it all. After feeling very productive, I took Ethan to the thrift store to drop some things off.

For the last few weeks Mia has been driving me to work while one of our cars was being fixed. So, Ethan has come to think that when he gets in the car with dad, it's because he is going to leave him. So I load Ethan in the car, and had to run back into the house for one more box. When I came back he was crying and looked so sad. Then, after I get into the car and calm him down, and realize that I forgot my glasses. It makes me sad when he cries.
Then when I was dropping stuff off at the thrift store, I could tell he wasn't going to handle it well and got one of the workers to unload. Then, we tried to drive home, but the roads were being worked on and I had to drive around to finally get back to the house.
Ethan was so happy to get back home and play with me. He gets over things very quickly, which I'm so glad for.

Then later he wanted to play one of his favorite games. He crawls into his room and shuts the door (with you on the outside) then, after you knock, he makes a noise and you open the door and say "There I am"
He promptly shuts the door again.
We have played this game for 10-15 minutes at a time. Usually he gets bored earlier and crawls into his room for you to chase after him. But he sure does love doors.

Finally, we went to the ward Halloween costume party. Ethan was dressed up as a cow, but the costume is much too large. We didn't stay long as it was past his bed time, but he liked looking around at the other kids. I think it will make a big difference when he can walk on his own, and when he's not so tired.

So, we had a big day. And tomorrow we are going to have a big day as well. I'm having fun, but I have to say, I can't wait to see my wife come home.

Well, we made it through our first day.

It was pretty uneventful. Ethan slept in later than expected, which was nice. And he had a great morning.

After his first nap, we went for a walk, paid off the deductible for our car (which came in way under what we thought it would be) and went to the park to play on the swings.
Now, we have done the swings before, a few months ago. And he kind of liked it, but we really had to hold him to keep him upright, even in the baby swings that have a gaurd all the way around them. This time however, he held onto the chain himself, and LOVED me pushing him back and forth. Not hard, but enough for him to feel the motion. We are definately doing the swings again tomorrow.

After his second nap, he was fussy for the rest of the afternoon. I think his second top tooth, which has started pushing through, has been bothering him still.

But, we made it through, and he went to sleep without too much fuss.

I'll see what tomorrow brings.

Tonight is my first night alone with Ethan. Mia and her mother have gone to a scrapbooking conference in CT and I'm taking care of the boy until Sunday.

ALL BY MYSELF! YIKES!

I'll be sure to keep this updated on how I am doing.

Today went pretty well (for me). He got dropped off at a friends house right around his nap time. Well, of course that made him scream and cry. He finally cried himself to sleep for an hour, then woke up and played with their little boy for a while. Then, after hearing the phone ring (I called to say I was on my way) he started crying again.

When he saw me through the window, he really lost it. I could see that he nearly jumped out of the arms of our friend who was holding him. It took a while for him to calm down, I just held him and let him know that I wasn't going to leave.

Once we got home, he was as happy as ever. Smiling and playing and trying to walk. What a cute little boy we have.

Not as much to say tonight, so I'll just mention that Mia is going to a scrapbooking conference next weekend with her mom. She is in a couple of different "tracks" and will be making a 1-year scrapbook for Ethan. It should be fun for her, and the book will be nice to have for Ethan.

He is as cute as ever. We keep a big down blanket in the living room, and he has this game he likes to play with it. He will crawl over, look at you, and then face plant into the blanket (bunched up by the couch).
After rubbing his face around for a bit, he rolls over onto this back and cranes his neck around to look at you again. Of course, while he's doing this, he has one arm sticking straight out and sometimes up.
Then he rolls around some more to try and get into a position to crawl or start over with the face plant. I love watching him do that and will go lie on the blanket with him.
We're going to try to get pictures of that soon.