Changes, Changes, Changes

I'm sorry it's taken so long for me to update the blog. I'll go ahead and make this one a good one!

Ethan has been going through lots of changes. Here is a brief summary:

First of all on the food front let me just update his list of things he eats. He loves his plain oatmeal in the morning and now he also enjoys prunes, yogurt and applesauce. For dinner he also eats carrots, butternut squash, and green beans (in addition to the food mentioned earlier). Peas and green beans are only enjoyed when mixed with rice. I tried making my own green beans, but they didn't turn out too well and since peas make me gag, I'm waiting to reintroduce these when he starts finger foods.

Speaking of finger foods I tried to get him to eat rice cakes but he absouletly HATED the texture. He made a face if it touched his mouth and when I broke off a bit for him to chew on he would cry. Oh, sensitive Snooks (more about that in a minute). Since then we've tried arrowroot cookies and biter biscuits. Mostly he just likes to hold the cookies. I really don't understand this, since he puts everything else in his mouth (like my driver's license when we went to vote). During this sitting he was just holding it like usual and then Philip took a bite of his cookie to show him what he was suppose to do. Within three minutes Ethan started putting the cookie in his mouth. He was doing well putting it in his mouth, getting it nice and soggy, but then a piece broke off! "What is this?" was the expression on his face. He has yet to put any cookie back in his mouth.

Also during dinner we have had the addition of the juice cup. Whenever he slows down his eating pace I'll give him a little sip of juice. He always seems surprised by the contents of the cup which I think is funny. Maybe he is surprised that it is cold...but it is cold every night so that is funny too.

On the crawling front Ethan likes getting up on his knees a lot more often now. Here is a good shot of him in the pre-crawling position. The really cool thing is that from this position he has learned to do this:
Yesterday he did it for the first time and I thought it was just a fluke. (Actually I made such a sound of surprise that I scared him and he started to cry!) But then at 4:00 this morning I found a sitting up crying baby. It was really surreal to walk in and see him sitting up like that. Finally, tonight while Philip was at bible study I put Ethan on his tummy on the floor and when I turned back around he was sitting up and laughing like he realized he did something!

As for the sensitivity of Ethan it is currently heightened while we are fighting "the crud" as I call it. "The crud" is a no fever, no cough, runny nose, keep you up at night, make it hard for you to eat/sleep, nose thing. His little nose doesn't really run during the day unless he's crying (which does happen a little more frequently during "the crud") but mainly he has a hard time falling asleep or getting back to sleep. This morning when I brought him to bed with me he couldn't suck on his binki because of "the crud" so instead, he stuck the corner of his softee in this mouth and sucked on it. It was so cute to see him be so resourceful.

So back to the issue of sensitivity...I don't know if this is an all baby thing or if it is unique to our little one, but he is extremely startled and scared by certain noises. Some I understand like the pulling back of the shower curtain (he can't see the curtain when the noise happens so I kind of understand that). Now for noises I don't understand: putting ice into a pitcher and feeding the dogs (pouring dry dog food into plastic containers). I see the similarities that all of these noises have some sort of repetitive noise, but he really loses it when he hears them. Not just a boudeé face, he full on cries and must be comforted back to normal.

Now one story about sign language. As mentioned earlier we have introduced three signs: milk, more and eat. I have been using "more" when I give Ethan raspberries on his tummy at night and he gets really excited when he sees the sign. He also reacts to milk and eat when he is hungry. He'll either stop crying (for a little bit) or get really excited and cry louder to make sure that you got the message. Well today at Preschool it really did look like Ethan was making the sign for milk. My friend Shawne said, "Oh look how cute, he is waving bye." I looked at him and said, "Actually, that is our sign for milk." Well, not thinking anything of it I made the sign back to him and proceeded to leave the church. When he realized that I was buckling him into his car seat without a bottle he lost it. As I got into the driver's seat I realized that he probably was really hungry. Well, he did not stop crying until I made the bottle and gave it to him. Was he really communicating with Shawne and I? Maybe! It just reassures me that I should keep making the signs even if he doesn't do them back to us yet. It was really neat the other day to see Allison's 1.5 year old son ask for "More, Please" using sign language. I'm sure more neat interactions are to come!

"Dadadadada" No, this is not only said in Philip's presence, but when he does say it he is emphatic that he is communicating with you. He also will utter small little syllables when a dog or cat enters the room, like "Ahh". It is really neat to see this interaction with the things around him.

I guess that's it for now. I'll leave you with one final picture. You can see more new pictures of course by clicking the link on the right.

Oh, one last thing! I am part time with Knox County now, so any stay at home mommies who would like to get together for a play date let me know!