Hide and Seek

Ethan's favorite game right now is Hide and Seek. When it is his turn to seek he pretends like he can't find us in the most obvious places and walks around checking every other spot. However, when it is his turn to hide he thinks we really have a hard time finding him (even though he is in pretty much 1 of 3 spots everytime). It cracks us up. Here is a video of Ethan seeking for Clark.

Vibrato

A few weeks ago Ethan got a Primary Colors CD in the mail from Grandma Karen. They are an a cappella group that jazz up children's songs. He LOVES it! One of his favorites is the Itsy Bitsy Spider. In the middle of the song they sing, "eeeeeeeeensy, weeeeeeensy, spiiiiiiiiider," in a really dramatic operatic style. We noticed that this is now Ethan's favorite part of the song...and he can hold out those notes! I love how he looks like such a serious little choir boy singing in this video.

Right now if you ask Ethan his favorite song he will tell you Elton John's "Crocodile Rock." It came on the car radio one day and I was singing along and he thought the "waaaaaa, wa, wa, wa, wa, wa..." part in the middle of the song was so funny. So we downloaded the song on iTunes and now he requests it all the time for our daily dance party.

The other day it came on the radio while we were pulling into the parking lot at Trader Joe's, Ethan cried when I turned off the car before the song was over. We had to have a lot of crocodile rocking afterwards to make up for that one.

Sleeping Like a Toddler

Since Ethan no longer has the cage quality of a crib to contain him at night we have found him in some funny places fast asleep. Last night Clark was surprised at what he found at the top of the stairs.

And on another night with his head under a box that was under the bed. But no matter where he goes Brown Dog always follows.

Earning His Tools

I was looking at pictures that I have taken this past week and I noticed 2 similarities in most of my pictures (1) my living room is a mess, (2) Ethan rarely has pants on.

I have no excuse for number 1, but for number 2 there is a reason - we are finally having a little break through on the potty training. We had come to a complete stand still, Ethan was what my pediatrician described as the "resilient potty trainer."

After talking to her, she finally convinced me to break down and buy him his own little potty. I've been fighting this, anyone who knows me well knows I just have a strong gag reflex and the thought of having to clean out his little potty just seemed gross!

But the "green frog" that Ethan picked out, and the Lightning McQueen Pull-ups were just what we needed to get this potty train back on track and rolling again. Both of these give him a little advantage so he is the one in control of the situation.

He got to go to Toys R' Us and pick out a bucket of tools, he knows when he gets all the stickers on his chart that he gets his tools. As the chart is filling up I'm starting to get nervous that he's going to earn his tools and go right back to his "resilient" ways...but I can always hope!

On Friday Ethan proudly showed his "Tool Chart" to our friend Bryce. Bryce not knowing about the tools Ethan is trying to earn thought our use of the word "tool" was our euphemism for "stool."

I'm just as excited as Ethan for everyone of these stickers.

First Baby Steps

On Wednesday when Clark walked in the door after school Caden was so excited he stood up and ran his first little steps straight to Clark.

So I've been wondering why our little 10 month old is so eager to walk...and the answer came to me while watching these next 2 videos...he just wants to survive his big brother! He needs those walking skills to even up the playing field a little bit.

I love that when he walks he gets the biggest grin on his face, he truly is so proud of himself!

My second favorite part is comes in for a huge hug after his little steps. This next video was taken after I had gotten home from kick boxing last night and he was not going to let his momma out of his sight!

Lawn Mowing Service Available

If you need your lawn mowed give us a call, Caden is available most days. Video Disclaimer: No babies were harmed in the making of this video. I apologize ahead of time if you get motion sickness watching this little video clip.

When we went outside to play this afternoon Caden used the lawn mower to explore the yard. He had a huge grin on the whole time! It is like he's just been waiting for weeks to have the independence to run around outside, he loved it!

I love his concentrating look trying to get balanced.

Thinking about it a little more.

Gaining confidence and ready to go.

Stopping for a tasty grass treat.

I'm afraid it won't be long before he is on the run just like his brother. And just like his brother he will be on the run with a little red mohaw blowing in the wind.

Memoirs of an April Fool's Fool

This morning when I realized it was April 1st I tried hard to think of a good prank to play on Clark. I'm still needing to get back at him for the time he told me he was in a car accident on April Fool's Day (I was home with a brand new 6 day old Ethan at the time and quite hormonal)! I didn't come up with anything, I guess I'm just not much of a prankster. The only times I remember really being involved in an April Fool's joke left me looking like the fool.

When I was little, maybe 4 or 5, we lived in Duchesne, Utah right across the street from my grandparents. I remember playing over at my grandparent's house on an April Fool's Day. My aunt, who was in town visiting at the time, and my grandma decided to play an April Fool's joke on my mom. They prepped me well with what to say and then sent me home to tell my mom that my younger brother Weston had fallen off the roof (this was entirely possible since we used to jump from the roof onto the trampoline all the time). I remember going over and telling my mom that Weston had fallen off the roof, she saw right through me and asked if I was lying. I tried to put the blame back on the adults who made me do it, but still got a lecture about never lying about things like that. It obviously had an impact on me because I remember that lecture. I felt bad...and then my April Fool's Day got worse.

Later that day back at my grandma's house my Aunt Lucille made strawberry shortcake. I was just sitting up to the table to eat mine when my aunt started screaming thinking she had seen a mouse in the kitchen. Come to find out my uncle had a fake mouse he had hidden in the kitchen where she would find it. Well all of the screaming startled me so much I completely forgot my strawberry shortcake and jumped up on the table sitting right on top of my plate!

I didn't know what to do so I just sat there hoping no one would notice. Well they definitely did, and apparently seeing me in my little turquoise Fluppy Dog sweatsuit with the rear end covered in whipped cream and strawberries was a hilarious sight. For me though it was humiliating.

(A Fluppy Dog, Do you remember these guys?)

When I was about 11 or 12 I found myself in Duchesne again on April Fool's Day. A few of my cousins and I schemed all day and were so excited when we came up with the perfect joke to play on Grandma P. A new little pizza joint had just opened in town and we decided to take advantage of it. We walked downtown, found a pay phone, and in my best pizza worker voice I called Grandma and told her that in honor of the grand opening celebration she had won a free pizza that she could come pick up later that afternoon. I think we were then planning on going home and telling her, "April Fool's, no pizza, ha ha," but none of us were expecting Grandma's reaction. She was so excited about winning, she even said, "I've never won anything in my life this is great." After hanging up the phone we laughed for a few minutes, and then all of us felt terrible. We ended up pooling our money together to buy a pizza for Grandma.

I'm just not good at April Fool's Day.

But Caden is pretty good at it. In this little video he could convince anyone that his Fur Real Pet is a real puppy.

I hope you all had a good April 1st!