We traveled to Jackson yesterday evening to spend New Years with Grandma and Grandpa Head. There were lots of presents waiting for us when we arrived. I knew about Ethan’s gift from Uncle John and Aunt Beverly, and I was looking forward to Christmas from the time Beverly showed me the gift in August. I knew that the wild man would LOVE this toy – Bounce and Spin Zebra

I took a lot of pictures yesterday, but I’m just sharing two videos for now.

I usually don’t post much on Ethan’s blog related to my photography business. I am making an exception today because I need to attract more nominations for a photography giveaway I am offering on my photography blog. Please take a few minutes to read about my involvement with Giving Is Awesome. I’m certain that you know someone in our area who is deserving of this prize. And if you don’t know someone, most certainly your friends and family will. Please take a few minutes to read about the giveaway and pass this along to anyone you know in the Picayune area.

My blog entry on the contest: Giving is Awesome!!

As usual, my excuse for the dry spell of blogging is that we have been very busy. And sick. No more ear infections, but we passed around a mild stomach bug recently.

Christmas was a lot of fun. Ethan got lots of toys and clothes. We ate a lot of good food and spent quality time with lots of family. Ethan had a lot of fun showing off all of his new skills, including walking, drumming, stacking, buckling, and more.

In the week leading up to Christmas, Ethan became more and more brave in his attempts at walking. He made it very clear to us that he knew how to walk, but had little desire to show off his skills. I knew he was just waiting until he had an audience, until all the family arrived in town, just like he decided to be born when everyone was in town for the baby shower. I still wouldn’t consider him to be walking because he only does 5 or 6 steps at a time, but at least he is trying now. It will only be a matter of time before he figures out how cool it is to walk. He loves how everyone gets excited and claps for him. He claps and cheers for himself, lol.

Here are a few pictures of Ethan walking at Granny Carolyn’s house on Christmas Eve. (And yes, these pictures are AWFUL, but I just wanted to capture the moment) And some other random Christmas pictures thrown in here also.

Throwing the wrapping paper – He loves to throw things

Silly boy

Walking

so excited that he took a step!

and another step

And a picture of Ethan admiring Granny’s decorations in the yard

Christmas morning at Grandma Tina’s house. He had way too many presents. Just this small stack was almost as tall as he was.

Even Ethan thinks there are too many presents!!

Granny Rita helps Ethan try on Auntie Allie’s new boots

Hanging out with Auntie Vicky

A new family tradition??? Rock Band on the Wii.

Ethan loves to dance when we play Rock Band

Before long, he’ll be drumming along too

So tired after a long day of opening presents and playing with new toys

Excited and wide awake after his nap. He’s thrilled that we clap and cheer when he walks.

Enjoying a snack and the TV

LOSER, lol

Other news about Ethan:

* He says new words all the time. He asked for “cookies” on Christmas Day.

* His favorite activity is to buckle things. When we unbuckle him from the car seat, he has no desire to get out. Instead he tries to buckle himself back in.

* He is getting much better with petting the kitties. He has learned that kitties like to be petted and stroked, not beaten and yelled at. He still has a long way to go as he gets overly excited and rips out handfuls of fur and tries to pull them off the couch by their tails. Luckily, we have VERY tolerant pets.

* He is starting to enjoy helping us do chores. This evening, he insisted upon carrying the shopping bag at the mall. It was heavy and he could barely hang on, but you should have seen the wonderful, happy look of pride on his face. He also likes to put his legos back into the bucket.

* Speaking of Legos – Ethan loves them. He received Legos and Clipos for Christmas and he really enjoys snapping them together and pulling them apart. I knew he would love the Legos but I didn’t know if he would be able to put them together. It didn’t take him long to figure out how to do it.

* He tries to imitate everything we do. Tonight Aaron and I were using the paper towel cardboard roll like it was a megaphone. Ethan took it from us and yelled through it. Then he decided we should all take turns and he held it to our mouths so we could play too. Also to cheer him up this evening, I made the popping noise with my thumb and cheek. Ethan tried to do it too!

* He is such a sweet and lovable little boy. He loves to give everyone hugs and kisses. He had tons of slobbery kisses for Aunt Carol on Christmas. He loves to see other people hug and kiss too. He will push mine and Aaron’s heads together and make us kiss. It is so cute and sweet because he will smile and laugh when he does it.

* He now has 10 teeth with more on the way. His first molar has erupted! I discovered this evening that his first molar has popped through next to the canine that came through a couple months ago. I had no idea it was in because I was expecting more bottom teeth or his other upper canine to come in, so I didn’t even look at that side. It looks like it popped through a while ago, which means that any teething symptoms we saw were most certainly attributed to his constant ear infections.

OK this blog entry is getting really long and I doubt many people will actually make it this far. Time to quit while I am ahead. I have more to say, but I will save it for another day.

Ethan’s surgery went really well on Friday morning. We were in and out of the hospital in under 2 hours. The surgery only took a few minutes. When he came out of surgery, he was pretty upset and disoriented. We were discharged about 20 minutes after he came out, and after driving for about 20 minutes, he was asleep. We went through the Burger King drive thru for breakfast to avoid waking him up. He woke up anyway and ate a banana, and he was back to normal. We went to the mall in Hattiesburg for a few hours and Ethan had a really great time. Other than the bloody mess in his ears and the hospital band on his ankle, you never would have known he came straight from the surgical center.

Later that evening I was amazed at the difference in his disposition from previous evenings. I had to deliver a print order and take some pictures, and Aaron was planning to watch Ethan while I was out. Aaron had to work overtime, and I had no other option than to take Ethan with me. I didn’t expect things to go well with him in tow. I was overwhelmed with how well he behaved himself. Usually, night time is his clingy crabby whiney time, but not that night!! He was so well behaved and happy for the whole 3 hours we were away from the house. He played by himself without hanging on to my leg or whining. It was so amazing!!! Last night and tonight are no different. He is just so happy and content.

Yesterday we had a visit from Grandma and Grandpa Head. Ethan had a blast visiting with his grandparents. We watched movies, went out to eat seafood, and went shopping at the Gap. Ethan was a very good boy for nearly the entire day. When we came home that evening, he conked out on the recliner with grandma. I took a few pictures, but haven’t taken them off the camera yet. They are very cute

Today we have all been extraordinarily lazy. Ethan has spent most of the day eating and playing with his new lego set from his grandparents. The most productive thing I have done today is mix up some sugar cookie dough for his daycare party. And I started working through the pictures I took on Friday night. The weekend is ending too soon….

In just a few short hours, I will be waking up to take Ethan to Hattiesburg for his ear tube surgery. I’m up late catching up on work since I am taking the day off tomorrow. I figure that I might as well make a blog post to let the world know that poor little Ethan is having surgery tomorrow. I don’t really count it as surgery, but he does have to go under general anaesthesia, so maybe it does count.

Anyway, that is what we are doing tomorrow. I’m really looking forward to it because it should provide an end to his constant ear infections. He finished an antibiotic on Monday or Tuesday, and I swear, I think his ears are infected again already. Guess we’ll find out tomorrow! Bilateral tympanostomy, YAY!

And now, how about a picture of Metallica baby? Check out his awesome shirt!!!

Oh yeah, and I almost forgot the other big news!!! We *almost* have a walker!! In the last week, Ethan has decided to try walking more and more often. He even showed off at daycare. I think he’s saving his great performance for Christmas.

Or you could call this “Mr. Bright Eyes”

As you probably already know, it snowed here a few days ago. It was real, live snow… not the sleety, sloshy wet stuff that we get once every 7 years. This was the kind of snow we only get once every 15 years. Unfortunately, as hard as the snow came down, none of it stuck to the ground in Picayune.

Ethan was up for a few hours the night before with a painful ear infection, so he slept in very late that morning. He could care less about the snow.

After Ethan woke up, I bundled him up to go outside. He really enjoyed wearing the big jacket and mittens. I expected him to hate being bundled up, but he thought it was fun for some reason.

i know…. I am so behind on blog posts… Its just a busy time of year I guess.

I have some pictures to share, but they are pretty crappy snapshots. Oh well… That’s better than nothing, eh?

So, Ethan has a new favorite toy. Its a bit of an odd toy for a baby. He totally adores the KVM switch for the computer. When Aaron bought me the new awesome monitor, he detached the KVM. Ethan decided it was a great toy. I guess its a pretty good learning tool as he tries to match up the colors and connect the correct cable with the correct plug. The problem is that he also likes to wear it like a necklace and climb on his chair. I would rather he didn’t accidentally hang himself.

I like to joke around that Ethan is becoming a TV junkie. He loves his little rocking chair and will sit or stand in it to watch TV. usually he ignores the television, but occasionally, he becomes quite engrossed in watch we are watching.

Sometimes he can pull himself away if I bribe him with food.

He takes his veggie chip back to the chair to finish the movie…

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Ethan in his holiday outfit