How Many of These Things Are There?

Ethan is a curious little guy. He loves pulling the toilet paper off of it's roll and watching it spin. The other day he found a fabulous new thing to play with. He found a box of kleenex on our bedroom floor. Here are a few highlights of the entertainment...

 hmm how many of these things are left in this box.... they just keep coming...

Oh hi... I'm having fun with this!

Hey mom look what I did!

There were quite a few... but I wish there were more

11 months!

It's hard to believe that Ethan is almost a year old. He is growing so quickly and continually learning so much. He is become a little boy instead of my baby. He looks like a like such a little boy now and acts like one as well. This month he has mastered going up the stairs doesn't pause for breaks anymore and is very quick at it now. We are still working on going down safely. He is learning to stand on his own and doing well with it. The hard wood floors are a little scary seeing as they hurt quite a bit when he falls, but he is doing well with his standing, especially when he is distracted and not thinking about it. He has pretty good balance and kneels on his knees all the time now practicing his balance, this month he even started walking on his knees at times. Ethan had his first trip to a swimming pool a few weeks ago and loved it. He had a good time splashing around in the water 'swimming' around with mommy and daddy and getting to go down the little slide.

(that is his sock in his face that he pulled off in his sleep, he was a tired boy from a morning full of playing)

On the sleeping front we're hit and miss with naps. Ethan has never liked naps much and some things never change. When we do get a nap it is usually around 11:30 or so and will last around an hour and a half or two. Ethan has been sleeping through the night fairly well and can put himself back to sleep when he does wake up at night.

Some big news is Ethan's first tooth is coming in! Ethan's been teething and had some tough nights/days the last few weeks. Sunday he just wasn't himself, he seemed sick, by the evening we could feel the sharp tooth poking through. It must have been doing the 'cutting' on sunday. He's been such a sweet little guy through it all and is patient as we learn how to take care of a teething baby. You can see the little white tooth poking through just a tiny bit now and it's pretty sharp!

He is curious as always and loves discovering new things and exploring. I love that he is so sweet and easy going and loves to play. Ethan has started to play hide and seek/ where is Ethan. He'll hide behind a blanket or bed crawl behind the sheets hanging down on the side of our bed or the shower curtain when when I'm getting ready and start to laugh. After about a min of 'Ethan where are you, where'd you go where's Ethan?' he pops his head out from the curtain and laughs ridiculously hard. I love it! He also is enjoying playing with his tongue and blowing raspberries and letting a little spit fly. If you blow a raspberry at him he smiles real big and does it right back, this can go on for hours. His new favorite toy seems to be tubes of diaper rash cream. He even took an empty one to bed with him the other day, I tried to take it from him when I laid him down in his crib but he clutched it even tighter. I love Ethan and getting to be his momma; he's always full of surprises, makes me smile and laugh on a daily basis.

Ethan climbed in to find him self some breakfast before I could shut the door and was sure happy about it

 Loving momma's apple  he stole off the coffee table

French Toast and Banana's for breakfast- Yup he sure does love food!

'Mom should I read Brown Bear...  nah I think I'll read this one instead, I like the cow playing the fiddle'

Blowing a raspberry with that drooling tongue of his

Big Windows

This is a bit back but it was so fun to watch Ethan I had to post some pics. We were all sick over New Years with pretty nasty colds that wiped us all out so we stuck around the house for most of it resting trying to get over it. On New Years Eve though we had to get out for a bit so we went to the museum and spent most of the time hanging out in the atrium they have. There were some kids sledding in City Park and Ethan loved watching them out the wall of windows. Here are some pics.

He was a little unsure at first but once Daddy showed him it was alright and he wouldn't fall he was all about it

'hey mom do you see the big kids sledding, can I go please please please!!'

Other than our wee adventure out to the museum our New Years was pretty low key. One of my favorite moments though was one morning when Ethan was really not feeling well he was just hanging out quietly playing in his room while I was making breakfast. Andy and I peeked in to check on him and he was quietly sitting with a book slowly turning through the pages as if he thought 'I don't feel very good I think I'll just read a book'. It was so adorable, I hope he continues to love books. 

Andy Pultorak PE

There was some very very exciting news at our house a few weeks ago. Andy passed his PE exam (Professional Engineer)!! I am really proud of Andy for all of his hard work and dedication in preparing for the exam and passing it. It is a big accomplishment and I am so excited for him and proud of my extremely intelligent hubby!!

We got to go out for a delicious dinner to celebrate his accomplishment while Grandpa Geurts watched Ethan for us. We had a great evening out celebrating! Way to go babe babe we love you and appreciate how hard you work!

Andy Pultorak PE.  

Yup we like the way that looks!

Christmas

Ethan had a great first Christmas. We really enjoyed getting to go do some fun festive things as a family and celebrate Christmas with Ethan. We decorated the house, lights outside and decorations and a tree inside and added a new 'baby's first Christmas' ornament to the tree for Ethan.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were full of seeing lights to get into the holiday spirit. We went to Zoo Lights and also to the Trail of Lights at Chatfield, they were both a lot of fun although Chatfield was less crowded. Ethan really liked being carried to look at lights, he got to get snuggled to stay warm and get an up close look at the lights!

 

We spent Christmas Eve over at Andy's family's house and celebrated with them which was a lot of fun. There was a house full of family and it was great getting to hang out. We opened presents then had lunch and spent some time playing. Ethan got a Cozy Coupe from Grandma and Grandpa Pultorak which he was really excited about, he loved getting to ride around the house in it after dad put it together for him! I think he knew how cool he was in his new car, he rode around with one are out the window and the biggest grin on his face. He enjoyed helping to open other gifts and watch everyone. In the evening after dinner we all sat together and read out of Luke which was a very nice way to spend Christmas Eve evening with family.

Ethan though uncle Mike's new skateboarding game looked pretty awesome!

Ethan Loved his new wheels from Grandma and Grandpa Pultorak!

Christmas morning we got up and waited for Ethan to wake up (we were pretty excited for his first Christmas, I'm guessing in years to follow it will be Ethan waiting for us). It was actually really nice to get to sit and have tea together before Ethan got up. Once Ethan woke up we let him crawl out to find his presents and see what Santa brought, he was pretty excited, maybe not quite sure what it all was, but he definitely wanted to check it all out. We had a lot of fun opening gifts as a family and watching Ethan discover it all. We had a nice big breakfast and after Ethan's nap we headed over to my dad's house to celebrate with my side of the Family.

We opened more presents over there and Ethan loved all the cool toys, books, puzzles and stuffed animals he got. He also enjoyed all of the attention and getting lots of cuddles from uncle Brogan and Aunt Becca. We had a lot of fun watching some home movies of when I was about Ethan's age. eating loads of yummy food, and spending the evening together.

Ethan hanging out with aunt Becca... he was not so interested in wearing his Santa hat

 Just waiting to get to open more gifts!

 Getting some help from uncle Brogan and Dad with his gifts

Being the youngest means getting burred in the wrapping paper... 

Ethan thought it was pretty fun but had toshoot uncle Brogan a dirty look when he put paper on his head. 

Tormenting Storm

We had a really fun first Christmas with Ethan!!

10 Months

This is almost a month late  but here is Ethan's 10month update

Ethan is now 10 months and growing fast. He has put on a pound in the last month which I was really excited about and now weighs 15lbs 8oz.

He is learning how to climb everything even more efficiently. He pulls himself up to tables and can even do pull ups on them when he is really trying to get to something. He has climbed into the dishwasher and the big one is that he has learned to climb the stairs! He loves it and gets all excited about climbing them; he is starting to try to slide down them on his tummy but hasn't quite figured it out yet. He even climbs the big step into the kitchen.

Ethan is such a sweet little boy and he shows it so often these days. He gives the best kisses in the world. He will stop playing and just crawl over and climb up in my lap for a cuddle and give me a kiss. Or when I am holding him or carrying him he'll grab my face and pull in towards his for a big kiss and holds on until he is done. I love our little man!

Ethan loves pulling all of the books off of his bookcase or the dvd's off of the shelf. and he also really enjoys helping me un-fold laundry. After I've folded a pile of laundry he crawls over to the basket stands up and starts to pull each piece of clothing out and gives me a big smile while he's doing it.

Ethan is moving all over the place and is enjoying pushing things around the house to walk behind, kitchen chairs, his activity table, his push lion, my legs, whatever is around really. He has stood balanced on is own a few times, just for a few seconds but it's a start! He also has started to dance quite a bit these days. It's really more like a booty bounce/ shake, he stands holding onto something and bounces and shakes his booty when he gets excited about something. It is one of the greatest things.

We are always amazed at how quickly he is growing and what a sweet guy he is. He gets all excited when Andy or I come in the room and he is understanding a lot of what we say to him and remembers what to do. He helps us get him dressed by pushing arms into sleeves. He also will help us undress him for bath time, he is a pretty smart little guy and will do anything for bath time!

Ethan Talking & High Fives

Ethan's been loving saying dada lately. Over the weekend we were sitting at the table after lunch and Ethan was just talking away and even showing how well he gives high fives! We have been having so much fun talking with him and playing around!


Ethan Talking & High Fives with Dada from Jess Pultorak on Vimeo.