Ethan's latest

"Ethanisms" as promised. This post has been a work-in-progress for awhile now, so all the mentions of "today", "last night" and other such time-stamps are all irrelevant...replace with "recently"!

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Target trip a few Sundays ago...

"Is the wind blowing the hair off your head?" while driving home with the windows down.

Picking out shaving cream for Daddy and going down the aisle by the women's shaving cream..."What's that?"..."Shaving cream for ladies"..."Are you a lady?" in front of a woman and her daughter...the woman said, "Oh he's so cute...don't you love the questions at this age?"...oh, you mean all the obvious ones that he already knows the answers to?....yes, I love those....because I like to mess with him...

"Is that my brother, Owen?"..."No, that's Sam"...."Noooooo....that's Owen!!!!!"......"Is that my brother, Dylan?"...."No, that's Max"....."Noooooo...that's Dylan"....."Is that my kitty, Ellie?"...."No, that's your giraffe, George"...."Nooooo!!!!!"...

In the cookie aisle...."Ethie, tell Mommy to get out of this aisle"....at the top of his lungs, within earshot of at least 3 people...."Mommy, get out of the cookie aisle!!!!!!"....and we did not buy any cookies!!!

Picking out yogurt, we parked our cart and took our time trying to find exactly the right yogurt that Ethan likes which is strawberry with absolutely no texture (Yoplait)....a man came over by us, and Ethan whispered loudly, "Mommy, there's a man next to me!"...I assured him it was a nice man...said man did not seem to hear, or perhaps didn't find it funny like I did.

When we were leaving the red store, we had many bags packed into the Focus. I stopped at a stop sign and Ethan said, "Oh no, I don't want the food to fall on the ground. I will keep the bags from the floor"...and held onto the sides of the bags the whole way home.

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Notes from Liz and Gramma Leslie...

To Liz while on a bikeride..."You're doing a great job on that bike, Liz"...at least he appreciates the effort!

While attempting to go potty, "I love you Liz, you're my favorite"...Ethan, we've caught you...you're 5-timing, at least....Anne, Mommy, the Grammas and Teresa, etc have all heard you say this, you ladies' man, you.

"Grampa's coming to my house, I really love him"....need a tissue, Pete?

"That must be a really good feeling"...don't know the context, but it makes me smile.

Ethan took one look at a picture of our friends' new dog on the computer and announced, "That puppy wants to lick me!" I think he misses Maddie...though he sees her often since she just lives down the street! We'll revisit the dog topic in a few years.

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Ethan's latest game is "dark garage"...when Andy or I lay down and put our knees up so our legs make a "V" and then drape a blanket over them...creating the "dark garage"...and then he can drive his cars from one end of the sectional couch to the garage and park the cars in there. This is a great game...we get to lay, and Ethan is entertained.

Ethan is very much about sequences these days...this will happen, and then this will happen...so on and so on. For example, at dinner tonight, "I will stop eating my sandwich and then I will take a sip of my milk and then I will set my cup down and then I will eat my sandwich again"..."and then...and then...." One of my recent favorites was about our planned trip to Louisville over Labor Day...."Mommy and I will fly in the airplane. The airplane door will open and then we will walk through the door and then we will fly to Louisville and then the door to Louisville will open and then we will walk into Louisville and then we will close the door to Louisville and then we will see Gramma Nana and Grampa Dode" I try to listen seriously, but I can't help but laugh...he laughs too.

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Some days after work, when it's just me and the boys, Ethan says/asks the funniest things and I just wish there were someone else around to witness it...it's definitely not as funny written. It just can't be captured here....

I pretend to "eat" the babies sometimes....like on their tummy, or their arms or something with "yum yum yum" sounds...Ethan is used to this...I'm not the only one who does it...but one day, he was horrified and exclaimed, "Don't eat Owen!! He's my BROTHER!!!" Then he promptly told me, "He was already in your tummy"...and then the lightbulb went on and he asked the question, "How'd he get in your tummy?"...and I replied, "You can ask your Daddy that"...

Ethan is doing pretty well with the potty-training. Mostly for #2...is that the way it typically goes? I think he just gets lazy or forgets if he isn't reminded to try often. But when #2 comes around, he knows it..."There's something coming out of my butt"...and "I feel like I need to poop" are my favorite announcements. It makes me giggle...although, I try to be very conscious about making him feel comfortable...he knows we are very proud of him for telling us when he has to go. And if the words don't get the point across, Swedish Fish do. He likes to remind us about the potty too....recently he told me, "Tell me when you feel you have to pee and we can go to the potty together." Hey, at least he's listening...this might be verbatim what I say to him!