Doing Well

We had a conference today with Ethan's teacher, Miss Tiffany. She had nothing but praise for him. She showed us how he was writing his name in the beginning and it was pretty much nothing but scribbles and now only 2 months later he is writing his name with very little to no help at all. She said he has a tendency to make his T's gigantic or to add an extra line to his E's but overall he is doing very well with it. They are working on getting him to count to 20 and at this time he is able to count to 15 so he's almost there. She does an activity with him where she will have him pick 10 blocks from the bin. After he picks out 3 she will stop him and ask him how many does he have and he doesn't recount he tells her 3 and continues and then at 5 she will ask how many does he have now and he will instantly tell her 5 and give her a look like "Why are you stopping me?" The point of the game is so they don't just straight count it distracts them a bit and makes them think a little. He knows all his colors and shapes and does matching very well. His cutting is well he is capable of following the lines. When it comes to his letters he gets confused on the lower case letters and only seems to recognize 9 of the 26 lower case letters but he knows his upper case well. She said that over all he is excelling quickly, he is moving quicker than most of the kids. He should do very well in kindergarden as long as he has a teacher who will continue to push him. Socially he is doing well. He has his days where he is a little shy or stand offish but he warms up once they do news time where the kids get to share their news. It's his favorite part of the morning. So it was a good meeting. We will have another conference around April when the schools will be getting ready to do the kindergarden readiness test.

On Tues the 20th the school will be doing their Thanksgiving feast. They will be dressing as the Indians, the preschool class will be dressed as Turkey's, and their pen pals from Happiness Is (right here in the point) will continue the tradition of coming as the Pilgrims. The kids will be doing a little parade and they each will bring their favorite food to share with everyone. They are making their costumes during class time. It will be interesting to see if Ethan actually wears it. He's having fun making the costume but he wants to go as Captain America LOL. He isn't getting that this isn't the same thing as Halloween. They are learning all about the Pilgrims and how the Indians taught them how to live off the land. They even have a teepee in the classroom for the kids to play in.

Don't forget his fudge sale ends on the 26th. If you are interested in buying fudge from him refer to the post I made about it. I need to have the money in hand by the 25th for him to turn in on the 26th.

Fundraiser

Ethan's school is selling Toledo Zoo fudge for a fundraiser now through Nov 26. If you are interested in buying some fudge please let me know what you want and I will put you down for it. I must have money in hand to be turned in by Nov 25 so he can turn it in on the 26th.

Here is a list of what they are selling and a price list.

Chocolate
Chocolate Nut
Vanilla Nut
Peanut Butter
Snowman
Cashews
Saltwater Taffy


Prices are as follows
$7.50/8oz Fudge
$11.00/12 oz Fudge
$14.00/16 oz Fudge
$17.00/ 1 lb Gift Tin of Fudge
$7.50/8oz Snowman (Chocolate or Peanut Butter only)
$10.00/8 oz of Cashews
$18.00/16 oz Cashews
$21.00/1 lb tin of Cashews
$4.00/8 oz Salt Water Taffy
$7.00/1 lb Salt Water Taffy


Please make checks out to: Precious People Preschool

Again I must have the money in hand by the 25th so he can turn it in on the 26th. Orders will be delivered on Monday Dec 17. If you are interested please let Matt or I know.

Loving School

This is Ethan's 2nd full week of school and he is having a blast. Last week they were working on finger paintings and when he came out today he handed me his painting and told me that he had made it especially for me. I of course hung it on the fridge the moment we got home. His teacher, Miss Tiffany, told me when she brought him to the car today that they were doing a project on the light table that involved shaving cream. Ethan went hog wild. She had fun cleaning him up but she warned me that I might find shaving cream on him LOL. I told her if it involved being allowed to make a massive mess Ethan will be the first one in line. He definitely had fun and he smells like shaving cream LMAO.

Last week Ethan started feeling sick and he ended up not being able to go to school on Friday because he was running a fever. He was very upset that he couldn't go. He just loves his class so much that not being there made him sad. I am so glad that he is having fun.

PreK

It's official! Ethan is in PreK. His first day of school was yesterday. I walked him in and helped him find his cubby and empty his book bag then I let the teacher take over. It was a quick hug and kiss and I walked away (crying). Ethan on the other hand barely noticed that I walked away. There was so much going on he was too distracted. When I picked him up and his teacher brought him to the car she said he did fantastic that there were no problems at all. She mentioned that as they were packing up to leave he told her that he was starting to get bored and wanted to go home. She told him that was good because they were packing up to leave. He was just bored because the teachers had stood them in line under their name tags in the hall and made sure that the right book bag was going home with the right kid so they weren't doing anything. I guess he asked her one time where his mom was and she just told him that his mom would be there to pick him up soon and then directed him to an activity and that was that. He had no tears when he realized I was not there he just accepted it. I tried to get him to tell me what he did in school but he said he couldn't remember LOL. The only thing he told me was that he played on the swings and that a boy hit him and Miss Tiffany put that boy in time out. I have no idea what was going on when the other kid hit him and we aren't making a big deal out of it. I have already told Ethan that Friday when I take him to school I am just going to go through the drop off line that his first day was the only day I was going to walk him in. The school is in a church and the hallway to the preschool part is narrow so they don't want much foot traffic going through it for good reason. The way the drop off line works is the parent pulls right up to the doors and one of the 3 teachers will come out and safely take the child into the building. At the end of the day they look at the number that parents were given at the parent/teacher meeting a few weeks back and match that number to the number attached to the childs book bag and bring the child out by the hand and put the child in their seat. The only thing they ask of the parents is if the kid needs help getting buckled just pull the car down the driveway and off to the curb so they can keep the line moving. They don't want the line to get too long and possibly block up the church parking lot. It works out very well especially if you have another child with you. That way you don't have to get them out and then back in. I liked it yesterday because Finlay was sleeping so I didn't have to disturb his little nap. It's a pretty efficient way of keeping the kids safe. Ethan will only be going 3 days a week (MWF) and class is from 9-11:30. There are 2 classes one for the 3/4 year olds and the other is PreK for the ones who will be going to kindergarden next year. They fill that 2.5 hours with a lot of activity at 9 they go outside to play to help burn some energy then at 9:15 they do hand washing and snacks. The rest of the time is filled with story time, song time, news time (where kids can share any interesting things they want), they do an experiment, play with a purpose, and finally clean up and pack up. Each segment lasts about 15 minutes because at the age of 4 that's about the length of their attention span. It helps keep them from getting bored. Also twice a week each kid will get one on one time with the teacher where they will work on skills they need to have for kindergarden. At the end of the year the teacher will do a mock kindergarden readiness test and if there is anything they are struggling with then she will work on those skills and make sure they can do everything proficiently. He is going to have a fun year.

Ethan started the Fall session of gymnastics last week. They had a week off between the Summer and Fall sessions so he was excited to be back in the class. His Fall class is huge. We counted 11 kids. Because there are so many kids there are 2 instructors for the class. One instructor runs the warm ups on the mat and then they split up the kids into 2 even numbered groups. Fortunately Ethan ended up with Rob who was his coach over the summer. When I signed Ethan up for the Fall I was very specific in making sure that Ethan stayed in Rob's class. We like the way he runs the class and Ethan responds very well to him. I am thinking that the office worker made a note of that to Rob so that when the class got split he took Ethan into his instruction. Ethan likes Rob, if Rob has to yell at him to get him to do something right Ethan gets upset because he doesn't like it when his coach is upset (too bad he can't have that attitude at home). Between gymnastics and school Ethan is going to have a fun filled year.

Summer Living

Summer is definitely Ethan's season, you can tell by his tan! He has been spending a lot of time outside this summer playing and swimming in the pool. He's been in the pool so much I swear he is going to turn into a fish! He went over to Uncle Brian's a week ago and he was all about diving under the water and showing off his doggy paddling(which he taught himself). By the time he got out of the pool he was nothing more than a giant prune. I bought him a pair of swim goggles to use in our pool, as he likes to dive for his toys, and he will put them on his forehead and tell me that is how the swimmers wear theirs (he watched the Olympic Trials) and that he has to wear his the same way. 

Last week he finally got to start gymnastics. His first 2 classes were cancelled due to the extreme heat. He had been watching the gymnastics Olympic Trials and so he was super excited about starting gymnastics. We did try to tell him that he was just in a beginners class and that he was going to be learning tumbling. He did so-so at his first class last week. It's a 45 minute class for the 3-4 age group. They start the class with some simple stretches. Ethan had never done them before so he had no idea what to do he just kind of stood and watched. The instructor tried to help him but Ethan didn't totally trust him and he was all about wanting to go on the bars and the rings (all set for the small children). After the stretched the instructor took them to a low bar and had them work on hanging while lifting their feet off the ground. Ethan did not want to stay put and he was asking the instructor a lot of questions. Then it was on to doing some forward rolls, hanging on the uneven bars (just the lower one) and walking a balance beam. Ethan did not want to stay with the class and twice the instructor took him aside to remind him to do what the class was doing. Then it was off to the parallel bars, jumping from one colored square to another, a backwards roll and finally the trampoline. Ethan again was not listening and was reminded to stay with the class and the instructor pointed towards the door (we think he was saying either listen or leave). Finally it was a log roll to a balance mat to a backwards roll, to a head stand and then the rings. Ethan did the rings once while the others did them a few times. He was skipped because he wouldn't stay in line. Towards the end of the class we think it was more because he was just getting too hot. We noticed he was wiping at his forehead a lot and his cheeks were very red. He was slowing down too. After class ended the kids all get a stamp on their hands (just something fun for all their work) and were given a paper with some simple things they can do at home. We have been working with Ethan on his exercises every day so that when he goes to his next class he will know how to do them. He said he thought the instructor was mean but we could see the instructor and he never yelled nor showed impatience with Ethan, he just wasn't happy that he couldn't get his way. This is Ethan's first structured class and he was just overwhelmed with the things to do. While we watched the class we spoke with a mom whose daughter has been doing this for a few months and she was saying that her daughter was the same way her first few classes and by her working with her on the exercises at home and sticking to the classes she settled into the routine. We have been talking to Ethan about listening to the instructor and letting him teach him the proper ways of tumbling and how he needs to do what the rest of the class is doing. We are hoping that he will settle down more now that he knows how it all works and that he has an idea of what to do. I think he was also a little disappointed that he wasn't going to be flipping and tumbling on the bars and beam. He thought he was going to be like the Olympians he saw on t.v. We did try to prepare him that it wasn't like that but for a 4 yr old that's a hard thing to grasp. 

I have him super excited about the Olympics and how we are going to watch the gymnastics and cheer on the USA. I am looking forward to watching it with him this year. The last time the Olympics he had only been home from the NICU for a few days. This means a lot that I get to watch with him this time. I think he will enjoy some of the Olympics. 

Slap Happy

We took Ethan to see Cirque Du Soleil Quidam on Friday. He loved it! In fact I have never seen him so slap happy (literally). There was this one act where the guy is a mime and the first time he was on the stage he brought a red rose and gave it to a girl in the audience. The whole plot of this act was to woo her.   Ethan was laughing so hard at him that he was rocking back and forth slapping himself on the knees. I'm not sure which was more humerous the act or my son. In the second half of the show the mime was back and this time making a movie using audience members. Ethan about laughed himself off the chair. He was slapping the arms of the seat and himself. I have never seen him think anything was that funny but I found him so amusing (of course the act was hilarious too). It was so much fun taking him. We saw in an advertisement that Barnum & Bailey: Dragons is coming to the Huntington Center in Oct so we are planning on taking him to that too (hope there aren't any clowns they are creepy LOL).

Ethan had a ton of fun at his birthday party last week. I think the highlight of it for him was the turtle that my brother found in the road. He had a blast playing with the turtle and his cousins. He just loves the things that he got. We've been working with him on how to swing his baseball bat so he can hit the ball and Matt has been trying to get him to not swing his golf clubs like a bat LOL. He likes to follow Matt around the yard with his wheelbarrow and help weed the yard with his gardening set. It's really super cute when he does that. He just loves working with his daddy. We gave him his fire truck power wheels after we had dinner later that day. He loves it. Unfortunately we discovered that the siren doesn't work, the radio was broken, and the water pump doesn't work. I contacted the manufacturer and they are replacing all those parts. I have the siren and water pump already but the radio is on back order so as soon as it comes in they will ship it to me. That's what I get for having to buy a floor model. They are no longer making the fire truck so the stores only had the floor models left. I was desperate to get him that truck he's been wanting it for a while now. We've taken him for some walks around the area and to Fritzie Freeze in his truck to help him learn to get a handle on it. I have him practice in the driveway during Finlay's naps. This morning he was driving Finlay up and down the driveway (it was cute that he did that for his brother). I think he ended up have a great birthday this year.

It's still hard to believe that he is 4 already. In a few months he is going to be starting school. He is growing up so stinking fast.

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Dear Ethan,
     4 years ago today you made your way into this world. It was 5:30 in the morning when I was headed to the hospital with you in labor at only 30 weeks pregnant. At 10:02 at night you graced us with your presence weighing a whopping 3lbs 9oz and you were only 16.5 inches long. In the last 4 years you have become an amazing little boy. You have brought so many smiles to our lives and so much joy. I can't believe that you are now 4 years old it doesn't seem like that much time has gone by. I hope that you had a great birthday and that we made all your birthday wishes come true. Happy Birthday my Angel Pie we love you so very much.


Mommy & Daddy

For my Mom

Hey Mom!!

     For Mother's Day I decided that we were going to take you to "Pancake Warehouse." I worked hard on convincing daddy that that's where you wanted to go. I wanted to do something special with you. Thank you Mom for putting up with my orneriness and my temper tantrums. I love you so much mom you are the best!!

Love your favorite older son,
                 Ethan

Ethan is going be 4 in just a month! I don't know how that is possible! Wasn't he just a tiny little 3lb baby yesterday? Now he is almost 4, a big brother, and will be starting pre-school in the fall. He has grown up so fast, I'm not sure I am ready for it! I am going to be enrolling him in gymnastic classes this summer at Sunrise Gymnastics. He loves to run, jump, and climb so I think it will be perfect for him. Hopefully it will give him something that he can focus his excess energy on.

He has done so well with being a big brother. He likes to check on his little brother when he is napping, always wants to be there during diaper changes, and is so protective of him. He has adjusted to it very well. We've definitely gone through some jealous spots but not as bad as we originally anticipated. He is just an amazing big brother.

Ethan enjoyed Whitmer's musical last week. He kept looking for Macey but she wasn't in it this year (had to drop out) but she was ushering so he still got to see her. He probably would have loved it more if she had been up on the stage b/c he loves to see her performing (he loved her in the Fall play). Today I re-introduced him to The Phantom of the Opera. He didn't last long mostly b/c he just didn't understand what was going on. Someday he will and when he does I look forward to him being my very handsome date to see it live.

Ethan has been enjoying the nice weather, playing outside, riding his bike, and of course Fritzie Freeze. He's really going to be happy when we are able to get the pool set up. He loved it last year. I have a feeling it will come in handy this summer. He's probably going to be one very tan dude from playing outside this year LOL.

Hoppy Easter!!

Ethan is really looking forward to going on his Easter Egg hunt tomorrow morning. He told us today that he wanted to go see the Easter Bunny. Unfortunately he waited until dinner time to tell us. We just didn't make it out to see the Easter Bunny this year which is fine b/c I figured Ethan would not go up once we got there anyways, that's what he did with Santa. A few days ago he saw a bunny in the back yard and so we told him it was the Easter Bunny scoping out places to hide eggs. He went to bed fairly well tonight b/c he wants to make sure the bunny has time to hide his & Finlay's eggs.

I have Ethan pre-registered for school next year. He will be going 3 days a week 9-11:30 at Precious People Preschool. I took him for a tour a month or 2 ago and he had a great time. We sat in on the class and he was invited to join in on the activities. He sat back quietly and watched their little experiment but he was too shy to go to the front of the class and feel. He is going to have a great time next year. It's so hard to believe that he is going to be 4 let alone be in school. I am really going to miss him. He makes me want to pull my hair out all day but yet when he isn't here it's too quiet.

Ethan is just loving having a little brother. He is very protective of Fin and he doesn't like it when people get to close he will literally put his hands on Fin as a way of letting them know they are too close. Lately every time Fin smiles or laughs at him he has taken to going up to him and giving him a kiss and telling me "He is so cute!" I find it absolutely adorable. Yesterday Fin had a blowout in his diaper that required a spray off bath. Ethan came over to help and instead told me "YUCK! Finlay smells bad!" and walked away holding his nose. It was pretty nasty but I about fell over laughing. He is very helpful and likes to show Fin how things work. I wonder how he will feel when he toys are no longer protected from his brother LOL.

Today we went through all Ethan's clothes. I had put away most of his 2T clothes but somehow some of them magically found a way back into his closet. I wonder who could have done that? He does not want to give up his Toy Story pajamma's but they just no longer fit. The tops are now 1/4 sleeves and halters and the pants are knee highs LOL. We managed to talk him into finally letting us get them all put away. I guess I will have to buy him some new toy story jammies LOL. I will be taking him shopping soon to get some new clothes for the summer. He mostly needs pants as his closet is full of shirts and half of them he will probably never wear. He is picky on what he wears so it's easier to just take him and let him pick out his clothes. Besides it gives him a feeling of having some control.

He has discovered a "wonderful" new show on Netflix called The Wonder Pets. Let me put it this way, he thinks it's the best show ever, we on the other hand think completely opposite. He has become obsessed with it. He likes to pretend he is Ming Ming (when he doesn't think he's spiderman climbing the walls) and runs around falling and telling me "ouchie". He definately has some imagination. He just thinks he's sooooooo funny. Sometimes he is. It's a good thing he's cute.

Fun Filled Weekend

Ethan had a great weekend this week. Saturday we went to Costco where he (and his daddy) enjoyed snacking on all the free food. They would spend all day there snacking if I would let them. Then yesterday we met up with Killian and his parents and spent the day at Imagination Station. None of us has ever been there before but it was a good time. The boys had so much fun running around and playing with things. I think their favorite spot was over in the electricity station at a spinning table. They also had a blast with the crane. But the best spot was when they got to shoot tennis balls up to the ceiling. It was so hard to pry them away from that location to go have lunch and of course they both had meltdowns in the cafeteria b/c they didn't want to stop for food. I think just about every kid that came into the cafeteria had a meltdown. After that we headed over to this one area where it was all about psychedelic images. The boys had so much fun in the tilt house and thought it was hilarious watching their parents slam into the walls. When we left we all decided we will be investing in memberships there. It's a great place to go during the winter or on a rainy day. They both are already talking about going back together. I made sure to bring the camera so I would have pictures to post.

Ethan has been enjoying all the nice gifts that he got at Christmas. He's been watching his movies just about every day and he has been playing his Mobigo every day. The Mobigo has really helped him to learn. The other day he was playing the Elmo game I bought him and he was pointing out all the animals on the screen and telling me what they were before the game said the name. Then he was telling me all about fruits. He has started to recognize his letters much better and has been working on his numbers but I swear that child has an aversion to numbers. He would rather play his letters game than deal with numbers. I sure hope he doesn't take after me when it comes to numbers and math. I am horrible with them. He has been enjoying all his books and he likes to read them before going to bed. We read him a story but he likes to sit and look at the pictures on his own and fall asleep looking at a book. He even tries to read to Moose, Penguin, and Frog.

Ethan is growing up so fast! I can't believe that in Sept he will be in pre-school. The other day I was looking through my photo albums on my Facebook page and I came across pictures of him doing his silly face and when he was just learning to walk and I couldn't believe that he was once that small. Of course he has just gotten cuter over the years. Well that and smarter. He has figured out how to open baby gates and the baby locks don't stop him either. Some days I think he might just be too smart for his own good :)

I have already started putting together the team for the March For Babies. It will be April 15 at 5/3 Field. This is our 3rd year walking. The last 2 years it has been so much fun and this year I have 2 reasons to walk. Ethan and Finlay. I sent out e-mails to all last years walkers or contacted them through Facebook. This year we are also participating in the Kickoff. It's on Feb 13 at the Sylvania Playland. It's free you just have to rsvp by Feb 8 which I also sent out e-mails about with all the information and where you can rsvp. It should be a good time. The kids get to play and there are crafts for older kids, free food, and team leaders can collect all their information. We will also get to meet this years ambassador family. It should be a good time. I am looking forward to the walk this year and being able to do it with my 2 beautiful boys.