...and how do you feel about that?

Ethan was sick for an entire week with a fever and could not go to school. The first two days he just laid on the couch nursing a homemade "soda", not caring about much but the TV. The following days he would wake up and eagerly ask, "Am I better yet, Mom??" After taking his temperature we would find that, alas, his fever had not broken.  TV had lost its allure and playing with the neighbor boy wasn't an option.

Cabin fever set in.

I tried to distract him with games, puzzles, and coloring.  We tried to bake together but he sneezed on the banana bread batter multiple times (I figured the germs would get baked out).  He was begging to go to kindergarten, whereas before, he didn't care much about going to school. Going to school was like... well... going to the grocery store.  Just something he had to do.

On Friday, he was finally well enough to go back to school. Hooray!  After he left that day I had a chance to straighten up and these are Ethan's coloring pages I found:

Think he was a little stir crazy??

The Jedis

Game #1: Ethan needed to be carried  coaxed out of the car. He was assigned a defender position on the field, but ran off crying when the start whistle blew. Ethan was subbed out the entire game.

Game #2: Ethan gets out of the car willingly, but requests to not play in the soccer game. In fact, he asks why I signed him up for soccer in the first place.

Game #3: The coach asks Ethan if he will try playing one quarter and "help out the team". Ethan agrees, and is posted as a midfielder. The coach shows Ethan where this general area is on the field and when the start whistle blows, he will not move from this area. He remains like a reed that won't break against the tide of boys that whoosh back and forth past him.

Game #4: Ethan decides that soccer isn't so bad after all, and asks to be in the game. As a midfielder, he actually runs around the entire field with the swell of kids. Ethan avoids touching the ball, and actually moves aside when it whizzes past him. I begin to ask myself why I signed him up for soccer in the first place.

Game #5: Position assigned. Attitude good. Whistle blows. Ethan runs! Ethan kicks the ball! Ethan is proud and looks at me, giving a thumbs up. Off he goes running again. * We are moving in the right direction with a little perseverance, and a very tolerant coach.

*I have since offered Ethan $1.00 for every goal he can score

Ethan's 5th Birthday

The Bday Crew: Audrey, Molly, Lily, Samuel, Ethan, Daniel, and Griffin

This year was a much more successful party for Ethan. For his 4th birthday he really wanted a party so I planned an extremely informal party gathering for 2 of his only closest friends. I had a few simple games ready, yet the kids basically sat around and ate from the large bowl of Goldfish crackers I had set out. Not one of them was interested in games. Gift-opening lasted all of 5 minutes since their was only two kids and Ethan shredded the wrapping and tossed them aside so quickly...maybe it was only 3 minutes?  I mentally cancelled his next year's party.
What a difference a year makes--both for Ethan and Mom. I said yes to a party, and was brave enough to call it a party.  Still keeping it low key, I set out squirt guns and had some backyard games planned. The pinata was to be the highlight of the whole thing, barring any injuries. (Isn't their always one kid who excitedly steps into the swinging area accidentally and gets clocked?)

 I had painted and hung up targets for the kids to squirt but they squirted almost everything BUT the targets!! Nothing was safe from their sprays!

We came, we saw, we squirted

 Red light, Green light was a great game even though everyone cheated 

and they would arbitrarily change the rules.

 Ok, everybody wins.

Claire and Timmy surveying the games and observing that the rules were not being followed. (They also supervised the snack area well, I see.)

Learning from my mistakes, I set the snacks out after the games were finished 

and before the pinata candy was snatched up.

Isn't it always funny when the child wildly swings in the wrong direction of the pinata? I laughed every time one of the kids swiped the empty air with gusto, thinking they were going to collapse the pinata from their crushing blow. 

The Drum Cake

Happy Birthday Ethan!!

Ethan outside the next morning
playing with his new shooter

Fishes in the Sea

 I came to terms with the fact that my two older kids were excellent and confident swimmers, while my younger two were squeamish and uncomfortable with swimming.  The former, born and raised for several years in warm climates, the latter, born and raised in Washington.  Ah, that explains it all.

After listening to some other mothers, I realized that I would have to work harder at this than I had before. We feel that knowing how to swim and riding a bicycle are Two Things Every Kid Should Know. So, that means signing up and driving to lessons at the heated pool. This wasn't going to come naturally since the climate wasn't agreeable to lots of outdoor recreational swimming.

This year Audrey took to the water like, well, a fish.  She put her face in the water while swimming, relaxed into the back float, and would bob ten times under the water. She would proudly come up over the side with her toothless, "Look at me, Ma!" grin.

Ethan, not so much. He obediently got into the water but clung to the side until the teacher peeled him off for his turn to swim.  He nervously laughed as she floated him farther away from the side and always made sure he kept sight of the wall he longed to be returned to. However, Ethan is an agreeable child and he always would do what was asked of him. This gave me hope that he would eventually relax and see that it wasn't so bad after all. He did, and actually got excited to go the lessons (by the last one).

Apparantly I didn't take any pictures of Ethan at his lessons (?!). Perhaps he didn't look so happy and I didn't document it? I know that I was always sitting nearby, smiling at him and telling him with my eyes that I loved him and he would be okay.

As promised...

As promised in an earlier post, here is Ethan's train picture!

Ethan said this was himself on the porch and the other people were Audrey's friends :o)

Audrey worked hard on this drawing. She really spent time trying to figure out how to draw the arms and legs of the animals.  I also love the windy day effect!!

Taking Form

Claire Bear with no hair up there

"A guy who is so mad his eyes turned all red"
(Even though it was drawn in all green marker...)

Ethan and friends on a sunny day

Add caption

Ethan's drawings have started taking shape. They have gone from swirls and scribbles, to actual people and places.  I think this is my favorite "season" of drawing the kids go through!  It is so fantastic to see his little wheels turning, chubby fingers clutching a marker while a thought develops on paper.  Not to mention the fact of graduating from crayons to markers.  

When I find the one of the bus driver in the bus with a rainbow overhead, I'll be sure to post it :o)

Fractured Elbow

Although most of our friends and family know, Ethan fractured his arm.  This post is just for posterity and to record the memory.
Ethan wasn't doing anything spectacular like bungee jumping off the dining room table or sock surfing on the hardwood.  He was simply kneeling on the couch talking "dog" to his other "dog friends".  One wrong move and he took a tumble off the couch.  I heard the cries, was brought over by another child, and inspected the injury.  My assessment was that he just landed on it wrong or popped it out of its socket and back again.  Those do hurt awfully bad but no sense in overreacting.  So out came the ice packs and I swaddled them around elbow area.

All afternoon long.

As the day wore on toward evening, my keen mother-sense told me that the ice wasn't helping. Perhaps it was the sharp cries when I went near his arm or the fact that he wouldn't move it in the slightest.  I came out of denial and took him to the doctor.  One look and yep, it was broken alright.  (oops)

Ethan had to wait a few days for the swelling to go down before he got his cast on.  He wore a little, tiny sling that was just so...tiny.... He was a good sport about the whole process right from the start. Extremely brave and adjusted well to using his left hand for things.  

The cast was put on (see above pictures) and he chose green.  When offered all the colors originally, he said in a rather sulky voice that he wanted a black cast.  I think he was having a bad day, I mean he did break his arm and everything.  

Four weeks later he was able to get the cast off and he was nervously excited about it.  He naturally asked how they would get this rock hard tube off and I was trying to NOT use the word "SAW" in my response. Can you imagine?? 

"Oh they are going to saw it off honey..." The terror! 

So I might have said something about little scissors or snippers that help loosen the cast. (I thought "snippers" sounded like a cute and friendly word and "loosen" was a safe term)  Who said we can never lie to our kids? What, you never did??

The SAW, which seems to be not that scary

 

 

 

 

Healed!

Ethan made his own "-ism"

Ethan was looking all over for something. Truly searching high and low.

Exasperated (which happens frequently), he finally asked Christopher and I, "WHERE IS THE BEE RACKET??"

WHAT??

We of course had no idea what he was talking about. He kept repeating "The bee racket, the bee racket!!"

Since we didn't even know where to start helping him look, he set upon the task himself. At last, he returned with ....

a fly swatter.

A Bathroom Story

While I was washing my face this morning, soap in my eyes, I heard Ethan's little voice saying, "Mommy can I have a cotton candy?"

"Um, hang on sweetie....what??" Quickly splashing off the suds. "...cotton candy?!"

"Yeah, one of 'doz wittle marshmallows?" I love his words so much.

After drying my face off I searched around trying to find what kind of food item he could want that we stored in the bathroom. Now, I've been known to stash away chocolate on occasion but most certainly not in the **ahem** restroom. And definitely not cotton candy or marshmallows (too messy to hide).

"DEES Mommy!" he emphatically pointed at my jar of cotton balls. Geez, the way he said it was like I was completely dense or something.

Ethan got a little trim the other day...just cleaned up the back and sides, really. But he requested that his hair be styled "just like Julian's...in a faux-hawk" before he exited the chair. When she spiked it that way I thought for sure he would freak out and press it down wildly with his hands, lip stuck out in a pout. (For those of you who know Ethan, you can picture him doing this.) Instead, he thought he looked SO COOL and proudly showed his 'do to Dad. He was also worried about going to sleep that night because it might mess up his hair!

All I can say is, I'm glad it wasn't cut in that style. The next day's bath brought our little boy back.

Ethan "Jake" Dayton

...after

Who is that??

This is the mural that is/was in Ethan's room when we moved back in. People and the kids' friends that have come over seem to always seem to say, "Who's that??" when they see the mural.

No, we aren't adopting.

No, it's not Ethan's middle name.

As I write the mural is being painted over to reflect the current resident's name. A gal from church is an artist and doing a great job of fixing it. The "after" picture will be posted later...

The funny thing is that Ethan is now saying he likes the name Jake better. When we showed him how the lady was fixing his wall with his own name on it with great excitement, he was less than thrilled. He keeps saying he wants the name Jake up there. It is so predictable how children this age do not like change, even with something like that.

Crimson

An older saleslady at the store noticed Julian waiting for me to finish my purchase and said to him, "Well it looks like you are the older brother! How old are you?"

Politely, Julian smiled and said, "13." (I marveled at how he is so good with strange grown-ups, always answering clearly and looking them in the eye. Very impressive.)

Saleslady then notices cute little Ethan bouncing around near Julian's legs. As she bent over with her hands on her knees, she says to Ethan, "...and YOU must be the little brother! How old are you little guy?"

Instead of hiding in my knees as he usually might do with strangers, he boldly spoke to her and exclaimed, "I go BIG poop logs in the toilet!!"

Oh my.

Julian's face turned crimson as he sloooooooowly turned away and tried to move away just in case Ethan decided to reveal anymore **ahem** personal facts.
It didn't happen because I swooped in and interrupted the conversation saying, "Oh he's three...heh...heh..and I guess that's the number one topic around the house for him these days....heh....heh...."

I trailed off, turning crimson myself. I didn't dare look around to see what other people might have heard the "P" word as we quickly exited the store.

What Happens When You Are Busy Vacuuming:

(Audrey gave Ethan a new haircut & comb-over)

Oh happy day!

Day 1: Ethan voluntarily threw his pacifier in the trash, after several days of "build-up" by the family about doing this. It took over 2 hours to get Ethan to fall asleep for nap. In fact, I think naptime turned into bedtime which solved that problem.



Day 2: My stomach was in knots from the moment I woke up, dreading this day's naptime ordeal. It only took him one hour, 3 meltdowns, and a toy towtruck placed bedside to get him to fall asleep. Things were really improving and I felt hopeful.



Day 3: Tow truck in hand, Ethan passively climbed into his bed. No crying or asking for his beloved pacifier.

We had a celebration for Ethan on his birthday with just the family. No one else. I think this was the first time, first child, to ever have a SIMPLE party. I have heard of friends who only had "family parties" for their children until they were 5 years old. The reasons for this are now obvious to me!! (I didn't have ears to hear their reasons before)

Ethan was as happy as could be. I had made this truck cake (a worthy attempt, but it looks like I need to take a Wilton Decorating Class) while he was napping and when he woke up he couldn't stop talking about it and visiting it in the dining room. He had a few gifts from his grandparents, and a couple from us. Simple. His eyes flew open wide over each gift, and his voice was thrilled to see even the clothing from grandma. I flashed back to the other kids' third birthdays' and remember piles of gifts from oversugared, overstimulated children. The noise level was like being at a Barney Live concert. This was SO much more pleasant.

I am actually looking forward to his fourth birthday....

Can you see that Ethan is not smiling?

All day Ethan had talked about going on a hroseback ride with Aunt Julie. But, as things go in the Dayton Ranking System, the Eldest Son got to go first. Then The Eldest Daughter. Then Cowgirl Audrey (since Ethan was napping). Each ride was lengthy so when Ethan woke up from his nap he was really ready to get on with it and ride.

He saw Julie and Audrey coming up the path from his vantage point on the porch and he went running down to the corral yelling "My turn!" I was thrilled that he had decided to join in the fun, since the first days when he wanted nothing to do with the horses. When he got to the corral, he saw the other bigger horse and wanted to ride only that one. As it turns out, it is more of a wild horse and Mike said no sir.

Well, Ethan had already set his mind on riding the bigger horse and started in on a good fuss about only riding that one. We kept trying to sway him and talk him out of it, but he wouldn't budge. He finally walked away yelling his classic "Stupid! Mean!" words to the air. A few yards up the path he turned around and added, "That horse is fat!!"

The picture shows Ethan, finally cooled down, on the calmer smaller horse with Julian. The saddle hardly got warm before he got a lift down....