The Half

My baby boy Ethan turned 2 ½ last week.

He is taller at two and a half than his brother was at three, and he’s already in size 3T clothing—new territory for us since we’re used to having shrimps who remain well below the average size for their age. Taking bets now on when he passes his big brother in height! People regularly ask me if Ethan and Erik are twins when we're out, even though Erik is closer in age to Marie than he is to Ethan. Seeing Ethan grow big and strong is especially encouraging considering that he’s been on his no-dairy diet for a year now, and I was a little concerned about how it might affect him. Not at all, it appears!

He loves all things Thomas the Train and any type of vehicle that moves, whether it’s cars, buses, cement mixers, construction equipment, or planes.

Also animals.

Welcome to the jungle!

We’re having more moments like these:

But more often than not the day is filled with moments like this:

Pizza crust smile.

If this doesn't make your day...

I simply showed him how to do duck lips while looking at himself on my phone, and this was the was the hilarious result. [I may be biased, but this video totally rivals my favorite laughing baby video of all time...in which the little boy is also named Ethan!]

We took away our Ethan’s pacifiers (“ba-bas”) the day of his half birthday and had him put them in a plastic bag to “give” to his little cousin Scarlett. I had been talking it up since the beginning of the month, and making a big deal about how he would be a big boy on the 28th and get a cupcake (aka gluten/dairy-free chocolate muffin, but whatever!) and I kept saying big boys don’t need pacis anymore. The previous night he had woken up at 3am crying for his ba-ba, so I was definitely nervous that we might be sentencing ourselves to more misery--I like my sleep! But on the big day he happily put all the babas in the bag and has not asked for them since. He mentioned once or twice that his cousin had them now, but that was it.

One huge sacrifice, though, has been his afternoon naps. Despite my best efforts, he has only slept once during the entire week, and that was only after four consecutive no-nap days. The death of the nap has obviously contributed to a few more of those select moments pictured above, but it’s also given us the chance to go out and do some things in the afternoon that normally we wouldn’t. So we’ll see how it all pans out in the next few weeks. Hopefully we’ll be able to just get him to bed earlier at night and fall back into a good rhythm soon.

I’ve also debated sharing this for fear of jinxing it, but big boy has been tackling totally self-led potty training for a few weeks now. It’s kind of amazing, really. After my first two difficult potty trainers—one of whom seemed nearly hopeless at times—I really can’t believe my luck. I don’t pressure him. I don’t tell him to go. He just asks to go to the potty so he can get a jelly bean, and I say okay. After a week or two we bought him pullups, which he wears daily and often keeps dry. And he’s also started asking to go when we’re out and about. I’m still not holding my breath considering I was still potty training the other two in some facet when we were pushing age four…but I am one delighted mama considering the possibility that it could be infinitely easier (and earlier!) that it has ever been before. Fingers crossed!

He was so hapy he gave himself a medal.
I will give him a million if it means
no diapers!

His language continues to blow me away--ever since he started cooing his first words as a baby he has amazed us with his verbal prowess, and it just continues. Big brother and sister have obviously influenced his abilities in this sphere…but unlike them, he and his big gregarious personality are willing to talk to anyone and everyone who will listen, wherever we are. He keeps a running dialogue/monologue with a play-by-play description of exactly what he is doing or hearing at the moment:

“Look at da bunny outside! He’s eating his breakfast! I wanna eat my breakfast! I’m gonna eat Leapin’ Lemurs for my breakfast now. I’m getting my bowl and my spoon. I hear da airplane! I’m sitting down now so I can eat. Mommy please get my cup! Mmm, dis tastes good!”

And he’s not afraid to be a curious cat or total ham in public. He rambled up to a librarian stocking the shelves the other day to ask what she was doing, and asked a fellow preschool mom holding smoothie, “What are you drinkin?” In church he likes to entertain the fortunate souls who get to sit near us by loudly repeating whatever the priest says: “Mommy, he said Jesus!” “He said heaven!” “Mommy, he said lunch! Can we go eat now?!” And when we take Marie to school in the morning he will stop in his tracks until he gets to high-five Marie’s principle at the crosswalk and shout out the name of who he’s pretending to be at the moment. “I’m Thomas/Percy/Spiderman/Anna/Sid the Science Kid!”

A conversation about numbers.

Thankfully, despite his independence, my little Ethan man is still happy to snuggle with me while reading, or ask to sit in my lap on the rocking chair while I sing his bedtime song—he’s also asked for hugs and kisses a few times and even told me the other day “I want to give you a kiss on the nose!” So as much as I want him to stay my baby, we are so lucky to watch our adorable boy continue to grow and develop into his own little unique and super sweet big boy!