Look who's Talking Now

dada
wawa            
shoes
socks
teeth
kittycat
juice
apple
pepper
bath
truck
grape
cookie
cracker
choo choo
brush
et.al.


.........and to think that we were worried that he wasn't talking.

Ethan has a new skill now. Talking!  He has really caught the talking bug, and is saying almost a new word every day. Of course he is a little late in his language development (according to the average) and he has a way to go to catch up to his peers. We always figured that his motor skills were so advanced, that he spent the majority of his focus on that, and that he would start talking eventually. That didn't stop Mommy and Daddy from playing the role of overly-concerned first time parents, enrolling him is speech therapy, and getting him a hearing test. The latter of those two seemed to be the most beneficial, because it turned out that he had hearing impairment from chronic ear fluid. Once he got the tubes but in his ears, we really noticed a change in his responses to our speech and other sounds. The first month after the tubes, he still didn't talk much, but his receptive language was developing rapidly. He knew dozens of words and could point to things in books when asked. The next step for language development is the expressive language, which he is really starting to progress with now. It's both relieving and exciting for us now, because it seems like the last year has been spent waiting for him to talk, to no avail. It's so much easier to communicate with him now. Just the simple fact of him being able to say "no", and point and say what he wants, makes all of our lives much easier. We can't wait to see hear what words he may say today!

My Second Easter

Ethan now has two Easters under his belt, and this year was a lot of fun. The whole family made the trek up to New Jersey to spend the holiday with Daddy's family. Ethan got to experience the Shannon family tradition of walking the Point Pleasant boardwalk (a tradtion started over 20 years ago).  The whole extended family walks from end to end, stopping at the bench that has the family name engraved on it in honor of Ethan's great grandparents (Jim and Peg Shannon). Ethan had a good time, considering he loves the outside so much. Grandpa pushed him in his stroller while Daddy gave piggy back rides to cousins Krista and Jenna. Mommy and Daddy chose this family event to anounce that Ethan will be  big brother later this year, and everyone was surprised and excited for us.

After the boardwalk, we all wet back to Nancy's house, where the family had a series of egg hunts, organized by age group. Ethan spent most of the time trying to run into the road, but he found a few eggs, and had a good time. I'm sure next year, he will be more into the egg hunt part of Easter. After Nancy's house, we went over Uncle Keiths new house, where he planned a little egg hunt for Ethan, Krista and Jenna. Ethan loved tooling around uncle Keiths backyard, playing with the rocks and riding Jennas scooter until he wore a hole in his pants. We all watched as Jenna attempted to master the 2 wheeled bicycle. She'll have it down pretty soon!

After all of the outside activites, we went back to Grammy's house for Easter dinner, and Keith brought over the newest addition to the Shannon family, Ciara Rose Shannon. She arrived in a cute Easter dress with patent leather shoes and a cute flower hat. Ethan had to keep his distance, because he was just getting over a cold, but he'll be able to give Ciara hugs the next time he sees her. We can't wait to see everyone again.