Tribute to Ethan's 2nd Birthday

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October thirteenth marked yet another year of life with our son, Ethan. Duane and I often look at each other in amazement at his dare-devil approach to life and his ability to turn on the charm in a split second!

Just the other day, Melina had one of her girlfriends sleepover. She is tall, blond and beautiful... we laughed in amazement as Ethan found a little toy flower and gave it to Melina's friend with a little coy smile! This he did NOT get from Duane... hee hee hee!


He is slowly learning the art of self-control (something I am still trying to master when I know cookies are in the house). Anika and Ethan have been playing beautifully together but every now and again, what seems like a great time for them quickly turns into what looks like a cat fight between declawed cats! They begin yelling and wacking each other's heads and will sometime even take turns! Anika will smack him on the head while Ethan just stands there, then he'll reach out and smack her on the head while she just stands there, etc... I am doing my best not to start laughing at how ridiculous the whole thing looks! Eventually, I finally intervene and remind them that this is NOT how we treat each other.

"Ethan, say sorry to Anika for hurting her body."

"Sorry, Anika"

"Anika, you say 'okay, thanks Ethan'."

"Okay, thanks Ethan."

"Now Anika, you say sorry to Ethan for hurting his body."

"Sorry, Ethan, for hurting your body."

"Okay, Ethan... now you say 'thanks Anika'."

"Thanks Anika."

"Now remind each other that you LOVE one another."

"I wuv you, Ethan."

"I wuv you, Anika."

And the two give each other a great hug and sometimes even a kiss on the head where they smacked each other!

However, the other day, I could sense that the two were building themselves up for another cat fight and luckily I walked into the room to watch Ethan winding up for a big smack on Anika's head. He stopped in his tracks, looked at me and said,

"Mommy, can I smack Anika?"

"No, you may not smack Anika."

Slight pause for a moment... and then with his hand still wound up he said, "Mommy, can I smack YOU?"

"No, Ethan, you may not smack Mommy. How about you go smack that big soccer ball and see how far it can go?"

And thankfully, Anika was spared a whack on the head and I successfully held back my snickering. And I was impressed with my son for stopping himself in his tracks before initiating a fight... a self-control so few of us possess even in our "wise" age!

Another funny incident recently was that of Duane growing a beard for the month and a half he had off after Sivana was born... well, growing the beard wasn't the funny incident (completely). Ethan LOVED Duane's fuzzy beard and once again I was able to refer to the two of them as "itchy" and "scratchy" as I watched Ethan rub his head against Duane's fuzzy face like a cat against a scratching post!

The funny incident was when Duane shaved his beard after the kids went to bed and was the one to greet them first thing in the morning. I could hear over the baby monitor the whole interaction...

"Good morning Ethan and Anika!" said a chipper daddy.

Long pause and hesitation... and then Ethan's voice "Daddy, what's wrong with your face? You have a funny face!"

"Ah gee, thanks Ethan."

"Daddy, you have funny face!!"

"Yes, Ethan, you pointed that out already. Now come see daddy."

"No!"

And with that, Duane and Ethan required a little more re-acquainting before Ethan would go to his daddy, given his new funny face.

Lastly, (because I really could go on forever) is the fact that my dear sister Linda (who has been living a gluten-free and dairy-free lifestyle these last few months) found a cake recipe that was actually edible! Not only edible... it was DELICIOUS! And what we call, Ethan-kosher!

So with that, our son was able to enjoy his very first birthday cake, which he told EVERYONE and ANYONE about for the last month!

"I had BIRFDAY cake!!! I had CHOCWAT Birfday cake!!! I WUV it!"

And when we celebrated his birthday with Duane's family, he was gifted with the most perfect mini firefighter suit and some toy tractors! Our mini firefighter/farmer! He actually lay on the floor (wearing his costume) and just rolled those tractors back and forth quietly for nearly forty-five minutes! Quiet and still for forty-five minutes!! This is a miracle, folks!

On that note, I bid you adieu as I smile gratefully for the adventure in my life that I call "Ethan". And I reflect on how far he has come and how much he fills our family with shaking heads while laughing.

Much love to you all out there!!