Merry Christmas 2011

Christmas has come and gone, and Ethan celebrated the Holidays for the second time in his life. Last year, he was so young, that he was completely unaware of what was going on, all he knew was that we kept putting him on the lap of a guy in a red suit. This year was pretty much the same, except for the fact  Ethan realized that if he cried hysterically, he would be immediatly taken off of Santa's lap. Ethan used this technique multiple times throughout the course of the holidays.

That being said, we really enjoyed spending time with Ethan this Christmas. We decided to remain home in Maryland this year for Christmas, so the weekend before, we made a trip to Jersey to see Daddy's family. We made the drive pretty easily, and we got there early enough to let Ethan run around for a little. In the past, we'd try to put him to sleep right away, and that plan would usually fail. This time we let Ethan run around and get used to his surroundings, and when we put him down to bed, it was pretty easy. We spent 3 days at Grammy's house, and we enjoyed hanging out with  Grammy, Poppy, Uncle Keith, Aunt Vicky, Krista, and Jenna. Ethan got to meet Santa, who made a special stop over Grammy's house for the Rechenberg family hootanany. Ethan really didn't enjoy sitting on Santas lap, he did however manage to sneak behind Santa, and steal a candy cane off of the Christmas tree.

Ethan loved hanging out at Grammy's house. He got an ATV for Christmas from Grammy and Poppy, and he quickly learned how to ride it. He drove all over the house, then he jumped on the vacuum and rode that all over the house as well. He is quite the daredevil. He also played with his new toolbench, and he learned how to use the saw and the hammer. He has since mastered the Wrench. His new favorite thing is to take you by the hand and walk you to get the things he wants. He particularly liked to wait until Poppy would sit down and get real comfy, and then Ethan would walk over, take Poppys hand and make Poppy get up and walk Ethan to where the cookies are.

While we were in Jersey, we had a chance to stop over Grandpa's house and see his side of the family. We all hung out in Grandpa's house, visited with all of Daddy's Aunts and Cousins, and played with Krista and Jenna,  It was really nice to have everyone go out of their way to visit with Ethan, and give him gifts. Ethan had fun with all of the new toys that he got, and he really enjoyed playing with Jenna's playdough. 

Christmas was spent back home in Maryland. Grammy Litsch and Uncle Joe took the train down on Christmas Eve morning, and they stayed with us until the 26th. On Christmas Eve, we all went out to eat with our neighbors, the Hesketts. We all had dinner, and then Ethan and Isabella ran around the restaurant smiling at all of the other patrons. It was so cute when Ethan even gave Isabella a spontaneous hug and kiss. Ethan even made friends with another 18 month old named Teagan. They sat in the chair and talked to each other for a few mintues, then Ethan gave her a hug and ran away. It's good to see that Ethan has good social skills, even though he doesn't go to a daycare, or interact with too many children his own age that often.

Christmas day, we all hung out in our pajamas, and relaxed. Ethan opened his popper toy at 630 am, and was totally entertained until we all woke up and open presents.  It was the first Christmas in a decade that Daddy and Mommy haven't driven to another state to visit relatives, and it was really nice to be able to stay home. Daddy decided to get a real tree, and even though Dinga drank all of the tree's water, it stayed really fresh for a few weeks. Suprisingly, Ethan didn't destroy the tree. We were concerned with him messing with ornaments and lights, but he was really good.

As if two Christmas's was enough, Grandpa came to visit the day after Christmas. He braved the traffic and spent 5 hours in the car to come see Ethan, and Ethan rewarded him by being as sweet as he's ever been. Grandpa gave Ethan some new books to read, and when we went to the store, Grandpa bought Ethan a giant bin full of his first legos! We all went out to eat at Bob Evans, and Ethan ate grapes and grilled cheese, then he ran around for 30 minutes while Mommy finished eating. We all love when Grandpa comes to visit. 

All in all it was a great Christmas, and we can't wait until next year. Maybe Ethan will like Santa next year when he realizes that Santa brings him presents!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone, next stop Christmas

       Ethan is now done with his second Halloween and Thanksgiving season, and although he is still too young to fully appreciate the actual holidays themselves, he appreciated the time spent as a family, and the fun activities that went along with these days. In the last few months, he has really turned into a full blown toddler. He loves to run outside and explore the neighborhood. He has been running flatfooted in the past few days (he is a toe-walker) and we realized that he has an even faster gear. He has quite the fascination for the cats, especially the fat and not-so-elusive Gypsy.
     Although he still isn't talking, his receptive language is developing very well. His vocalizations are more and more abundant, and he has dozens of words that he understands very well. Although we are getting some speech therapists to work with him, we are pretty sure that he will just start talking one of these days and never stop. This is common among boys, especially when they walk early. Apparently the brain concentrates more on the developments of his motor skills, which makes sense. He was saying some words, but as soon as he started walking, he stopped talking.  One of these days soon, he will stop mommy and daddy's worrying and start talking soon.

     Halloween is a great time of year, especially on the street that we live on. Not only do we have neighbors that fully embrace the spirit of Halloween, our neighborhood is teeming with kids, which makes for an exciting night of trick or treating. We all dressed up and joined in the fun. Mommy and Daddy were skeletons, and Ethan was....of course....Yoda. Although we thought that wearing the Yoda ears wouldn't fly with him, he did endure the costume for most of the night.

     We all spent Thanksgiving in Maryland this year. We've started the tradition of spending the major holidays at home now. We think it's important that Ethan spends Thanksgiving and Christmas in his home. The only bad part is that our whole extented family lives hours away, so we don't get to see anyone. However, our neighbors are really great, and invite us into thier homes, which makes these holidays very special. We have become the Thanksgiving nomads who wander from house to house, eating free turkey and pumpkin pie. Perhaps next year, Daddy will finally break down and cook a turkey.
     It's now approaching December, and Ethan is preparing to experience his second Christmas. He was still so young for the first Christmas, and we did so much traveling, that the whole thing was a blur for everyone. This year, Mommy and Daddy are gettin off the road and spending Christmas at home for the first time in 9 years. We have a perfect spot for he tree, and a trainset that Grampa Litsch got for Mommy when she was a baby.  Grammy and Uncle Joe are planning to come down, and hopefuly Grandpa will make the trip down as well. We are all going to Jersey the week before Christmas so we can spend some time with the Shannon clan, Grammy, Poppy, Uncle Keith, Vicki, Krista, Jenna and Ciara.

Approaching My Second Halloween!!

Summer is wrapping up, the nights are getting very chilly, the leaves have started changing color on the trees, and Ethan is getting ready to celebrate the fall season for the second time in his life. His wardrobe has started going from tank tops and shorts, to hoodies, blue jeans and sneakers. Now that it has cooled off a bit, and stopped raining every day, We've been able to play outside a lot more. It's tough lathering him up with sunblock and watching him sweat outside after only10 minutes in the middle of July. Now that it's mild out, Ethan like to take longer strolls around the neighborhood and play with the fallen leaves and whatever else he can pick up and throw.

Halloween should be really fun this year, considering Ethan has just about mastered walking and running. He'll love walking from house to house in the neighborhood (He already walks down to the Hesketts' house and knock on the door). We're trying to decide what he wants to wear for trick or treat this year. It can be tricky because he is not a huge fan of hats. He wasn't to fond of last years monkey costume, and he hated it when daddy tried the Yoda costume on him in Target. Perhaps we can bribe him somehow. I'm sure that he'll look adorable in anything we manage to get on him.

Today, we celebrated the season by taking a trip to Summerland Farms in Western Maryland. Grammy Litsch took a solo trip down to stay with us, and we met up with our neighbors and friends the Hesketts. We all had a blast petting the animals, such as the pygmy goats and the turkeys. We chased Ethan and Isabella as they ran through corn mazes, went down slides, bounced on the moon bounce, and  played in a ball pit filled with corn kernels. It was over 80 degrees during the day, which is unusual for this time of year, so we all drank lemonade and iced apple cider to cool off (I think Ethan drank most of it) and ate pumkin and apple pie. It was a really fun day for everyone.

Earthquakes and Hurricanes and Ethan oh my!

This past week has been a very interesting week when it comes to natural disasters. Earlier in the week, at about 2 in the afternoon, Daddy was sitting on the couch, and Ethan was playing with his ball when all of a sudden, the earth begins to shake. Daddy thought that it was another tractor trailer hitting a pothole on 95 (which is located 300 yards from out back fence), but he quickly realized that it was something else. It turned out to be a 5.8 magnitude earthquake! That's right, an earthquake on the East coast. Strange and surprising as it was, Ethan didn't even acknowledge it. He just kept on playing with his ball, and considering how many times he falls in one day, he didn't even fall during the rumbling.

If that wasn't enough science class for one week, the weekend hit and we were greeted with the even rarer occurance, an East coast hurricane. Hurricane Irene slammed into the East coast on Saturday night, and dumped over 10 inches of rain and 50mph winds over the whole region. As per expected, we lost power for the entire day afterwards. As inconvenient as no power can be, the weather was so beautiful that we spent most of the day outside. Mommy, Daddy and Ethan went out to breakfast, we went for walks around the neighborhood, and helped the neighbors with thier flooded basements. Ethan was collecting leaves in the backyard, and bringing them to Mommy to sweep off of the deck. Daddy and Ethan played kickball on the cleared-off deck in the backyard, and right when the lack of electricity started to becaome a nuisance,  it magically turned back on and saved our evening. Ethan was able to take a warm bath, and go to sleep to the hum of his air purifier, while Mommy and Daddy were able to relax and watch tv.

Next weekend, we are taking the dreaded trek up to New Jersey to celebrate labor day with Grammy. We plan to get out lasts licks of Grammy's pool (which was spared by the hurricane), we are goin to Uncle Keith's new house (also spared) for a BBQ, and we are going to spend some quality time with Grandpa.

Hangin with grandpa

Since our last post, two major things have happened. Ethan turned 1, and Grandpa turned 60!  Ethan turned 1 a few weeks ago, and it was celebrated with two great parties. The first was a monkey themed party at our home in Maryland. Grammy Litsch, Uncle Joe, and Grandpa made the trip down for this party, as well as all of our friends and neighbors. It was a great time. We had a monkey pinata, a monkey cake, and daddy even made monkey cupcakes. Ethan had a blast, and loved smashing his own cake and making a mess.

An equally sized mess was made at Ethan's Jersey birthday party at Grammy Rechenberg's house. We had a great birthday party in Jersey, and everyone who couldn't make the trip to Maryland was able to celebrate Ethans big day. Ethan had a great time swimming in Grammy's pool, watching fireworks, hanging out with his uncle and cousins,  playing the piano, and otherwise exploring Grammy's house. He also got to take his first boat ride, and he was so content. He just sat on Grammy's lap and watched the boats go by. He even got to see the 200mph jet boat that is often seen in the bay.

This past weekend, Grandpa turned 60, so he made a trip down to MD to visit us. Ethan was such a good boy, and was very excited to hang with Grandpa. Daddy, Ethan and Grandpa made a morning trip down to DC, and hung out around the White House and the Washington monument. We had a good time, but it got too hot outside, so the three pale Irishman had to get out of the sun, and we headed back home where everyone took a nap. After we woke up, mommy got home and Daddy picked up some Olive Garden and we munched on dinner, after which Daddy and Grandpa gave Ethan a bath, and put him to bed by 7.

Almost a number

In less than 1 week, our little monkey will be a number! We can't believe that a year has gone by already. It's very strange, because it feels like just yesterday he came into our lives, but at the same time it feels like he's been with us forever. Ethan has grown so much in the past year. At first, we waited forever for him to do something new, and now he does new things almost every day. He's either making new sounds, waving to people at the supermarket, pushing himself on his train, or just sitting down and enjoying a good book about shapes.
In the last post, we mentioned that he had begun walking, and since then, he has become quite the professional. He can walk all over the house, although he does look a bit drunk sometimes, and he walks everywhere on his tiptoes like some kind of adorable, chubby legged ballerino. Now that he doesn't fall on his head anymore, Mommy and Daddy were able to pick up the colored Pee Wee's playhouse like square padded letter blocks off of the floor. Now our livingroom (alcatraz) is looking more like a living room again.
This weekend is Ethan's monkey-themed birthday party. We are expecting a lot of people, and it will be a great time. Daddy finally got the backyard looking halfway descent, and we are going to have some great fun. Grammy Litsch, Uncle Joe, and Grandpa are coming into town for the festivities. Grammy Rechenberg, Poppy and Uncle Keith can't make it, so we are having a seperate party for Ethan in Jersey the following weekend.

We're walkin!

We'll it's finally happened. About 10 days ago, Ethan took his first few steps, and like with every other milestone, only Mommy was around to witness it. Ethan must have felt bad for Daddy, because  few days later, Daddy witnessed Ethan take 5 steps in a row, and even got it on tape (see above). We are so excited that Ethan hit all his milestones early, especially the ones involving his hips and legs. We have our follow up appointment to have his hips examined with Dr. Tis, but considering all his recent breakthroughs, we are very optimistic about the results.

We just got back from a trip to Grammy Litsch's. Besides Grammy and Uncle Joe, Ethan got to see his aunts and cousins from the Litsch side of the family. His favorite activity in Bethlehem is sitting on the porch with Grammy, and watching the cars go down Broad St. Ethan slept just fine at Grammys house this time. He is getting more and more used to sleeping elsewhere than his crib. We love watching Grammy spend time with little man. She is so loving towards him, and he makes her so happy.

We can't wait for the big parties in June for his 1st Birthday. Ethan is so special that he is going to have two parties, one at home in Maryland, and one at Grammy Rechenbergs house in Jersey. By then it should be warm enough to break out some of the super-cool bathing suits he has, and hit the beach for the 1st time!

Hipitus Hopitus

    

This past weekend was Easter, and the Shannon family made the trek up to "The Jerz" to see daddy's side of the family. We all had such a great time, and since we don't get to spend every holiday with our family, this Easter was very special. The night before Easter we all hung out at Grammy's house. We had a delicious Easter dinner with Grammy, Poppy, Uncle Keith, Krista and Jenna. Krista and Jenna just love their cousin, and they play so well with him. Krista even got to feed Ethan a bottle, and the girls picked out cute t-shirts for him. Between Grammy and Sandy, Ethan now has about 40 new summer outfits. We can't wait for summer to hit so we can put him in his cool new board shorts and get him in the pool.
      Easter day was great! The weather was absolutly beautiful, and although we didn't make the traditional walk on the boardwalk (occured during Ethans nap time), we did make it over Aunt Nancy and Uncle Bob's house for the post-walk Easter activities. We had the traditional Easter egg hunt in the front yard, and this year we added a twist. There was money in each egg, and whoever got the most money, got to pick first from the prizes on the couch. It was a very fun game, but the most fun was had watching Aunt Sue trying to get the egg out of the tree that daddy and Robert jr. hid 10 feet up.
We then made our trip over Grammy's house where Ethan played with the new toys that Uncle Keith and Grammy got him. We were all fully entertained at the fact that Ethan is hypnotized by the weather channel.    He will just stare at it for as long as it's on. We think that maybe Ethan will grow up to be a meteorologist. His name will be Ethan "Hurricane" Shannon.

Toothy McGee

So here we are. 9 months old. It seems like just yesterday that we brought Ethan home, and now he's getting closer and closer to the big ONE! He has grown and developed so much in these last few months, and is hitting more milestones every day. He now has 2 bottom teeth (hence the title of this post), and more are on their way. He has perfected the art of speed crawling, and can even walk the length of the couch with one hand holding on. At this rate, he'll be walking before he hits 10 months! He is using all of this mobility to explore the living room (aka Alcatraz) and manages to find every thing that he shouldn't play with. Ethan loves to wait till Daddy isn't looking and pull his drinks off of the coffee table (always a treat).

He is really adapted well to the routines that we've set up for him. He sleeps 10-11 hours a night, and takes his 2 naps a day. Mommy and Daddy's sleep training really paid off, we now can put him in his crib awake, and he soothes himself to sleep (eventually). His eating however, has taken a turn for the picky. He still loves his fruit and cereal in the morning, he tolerates his veggies at lunch, but he hasn't taken a liking to meats for some reason. Perhaps he will do better when he gets a few more teeth and can chew food.

We all can't wait for summer to come. we've been stuck in the house all winter, and we are ready to show Ethan the outdoors and let him explore the world. It was 80 degrees today, and Ethan took his first ride in the stoller like a big boy without the car seat. Ever since he was born, the outdoors really soothes him. This is going to be a fun summer!

Milestones

Well, Ethan is now 8 months old, and since the last post he has hit 3 major milestones. First of all, Ethan has officially become mobile by mastering the technique of crawling. His favorite use of his crawling skills includes chasing down the cats in hopes of getting a handful of fur. Luckily for Gypsy and Dinga, they can still outrun him (for now). He isn't getting any slower, and they aren't getting any thinner or younger. His second milestone is that he can pull himself up to a standing position. This is often followed by falling on his butt (and sometimes bonking his head). His third milestone is that he got his very first tooth this week. He did very well with it. Mr. tooth doesn't seem to be irritating him too much. There was a little fussiness, and a tad bit more drooling, but overall he has handled it well. 1 tooth down and 30 something to go. Let's all hope that he inherits mommy's teeth and not daddy's. Whomever he takes after, chances are that he'll need braces, so sorry in advance for the crappy genes buddy. At least you know that you'll probably never have a weight problem if that is any consolation.

Crawling (almost)

Sleep training has begun......
Ethan has been getting too used to falling asleep in our arms, with a bottle in his mouth, and that would be too easy. Mommy and Daddy are reading a book that says that this is a no no, so we've begun training little man to fall asleep in his crib on his own. It is a little stressful in the beginning, but we feel that it will pay off in the long run. We realize that he can't fall asleep with a bottle in his mouth when he is 2, so we are going to try and get him in a proper routine now. This is a little tough, considering he has been waking up at 5am the past few mornings, and sitting right up in his crib and smiling at us. We don't take him out of the crib until 6am, so some mornings are spent fighting the urge to remove him from his crib right away and giving him a bottle.  He is, however, taking longer naps during the day, which results in him being more well rested and an overall happier baby. Who knew that nap and bed time can be so scientific. Luckily, Ethan has been sleeping in his crib since week 2, so it is not as much of a transition as it could have been.
Ethan is sitting up on his own now, and he is mere days away from officially crawling. He can get up on all fours and navigate where he needs to go. We will be turning the living room into Alcatraz any day now.

Happy New Year

Well, 2010 has come and gone, and it is now 2011. This year is going to be such an exciting year in Ethan's life. Although he is already Babbling and standing on his own, by this time next year, he should be walking and talking. He is doing new things all the time now. Just today he rode in the cart at the store like a big boy. No more car seat in the store! He has fully mastered his bumper-jumper, and he is swinging all around and crashing into the coffee table. He sleeps a solid 12 hours a night (thank God) and has transitioned from 3 short naps to 2 long naps during the day. He loves to play peek-a-boo, and though he hasn't started imitating yet, he reacts to everything you say to him.