Ethan's Birthday (FINALLY!)

Ethan turned 2! ....2 weeks ago. Yep, I'm right on it with blogging these days. The good news is that I am back here in front of the keyboard, so the blog hasn't been entirely forsaken. Here is what Ethan has been up to lately.

When Ethan was nearly 2 (22 months old) he showed readiness to potty train - it happened to be right before our big summer vacation, so that was terrible timing, but we postponed it a few weeks and started right when we got home. We do the naked method, our little tykes running around with no pants for as long as it takes them to get the idea that when they pee it will make a big mess (not go in a diaper) so they need to pee in the potty; once that's solid in their brains we start training them that they will get in trouble when they go anywhere BUT on the potty. Once they're 100% on naked method, we get them dressed again. With Patrick this took about 2 weeks; with Eli it took about 4 days; with Caroline I have no idea, it was a whirlwind of new house and new babies; but with ETHAN.... it was draaaaging. As I reported, he was still doing well with a few accident after 3 weeks, but slowly the accidents were INCREASING. The longer he was "training" the more relaxed I was about setting him down at regular intervals to go, and the frequency of puddles around my house was steadily rising! It got to where he was peeing on the floor more frequently than he was going on the potty. I finally (FINALLY!) figured out that the weak link in his potty training was ME. Once I started setting a 30-minute timer and taking him no matter what (playing, running errands, etc), his success rate went through the roof, so his confidence went through the roof, so his pants went back ON, I could turn the timer OFF, and he finally (FINALLY!) was potty trained. Now he rarely has accidents and he even goes #2 of his own accord. We still keep diapers in his room as he sleeps in them, but it is SO NICE to be out of the diapers phase of life.

He has finally (FINALLY!) adjusted to his toddler bed. For the first few days we would tuck him in so nicely, he'd lay still and say "nigh nigh" but as soon as we closed the door he was out, playing in his room, kicking the door, and we'd have to come in and do it all over again. This would happen 3 or 4 times a nap time/bedtime, always culminating in a spanking, and eventually he got the hint that his bed is where he stays if he wants his bum un-spanked. The nice side-effect of this is that he won't get out of his bed even AFTER his nap/bedtime, so we have to send in a sibling to "release" him. This works out much better for those siblings, who had to work very hard to drag him over the rails of his crib to release him, not so many months ago.

I thought he was doing well verbally, until we were in a waiting room with another toddler, 26 months, who was kingly asking his mom, "Can you read this book to me, please?" Ethan says, "Here go" and throws a book in my lap. Soooo... maybe not advanced, but he's understandable to us. For instance, today he was playing by himself and we distinctly heard him singing "Happy Birthday;" it went a little something like, "Hapi di-daw di meeee... " Obviously something about having a birthday stuck with him... We loved it! What a sweetie.

His birthday was great, we spent it with our family (it fell on a Monday so Joe had the day off thanks to his new schedule), Kari's family, and my mom, who was in town thanks to Kari (she drove her back here to Pueblo after visiting Grand Junction for a wedding). I made a car cake - the same cake pan which was used for Patrick's big brother party when Eli was born, and for Eli's 3rd birthday when he was obsessed with cars like Ethan now is. It's been a great cake!

He loved all his gifts and sibling and cousins alike were delighted that he was so bad at unwrapping - they happily helped out by doing it all themselves. Ahhh, kids :)