Ethan went poopy in the potty! No, we’re not potty training yet. I put Ethan in the shower with me this morning. He was happily playing with his bath toys when I noticed some grunting. I jumped out of the shower covered in shampoo and sat him on the toilet just in time. He was pretty frightened of the toilet and wanted to get down, but he also really needed to poop, so he sat there like a good boy and finished the job. Hopefully that doesn’t traumatize him and ruin our future potty training efforts. I really didn’t want to clean poop out of the tub!

Ethan did not have a good day today. He had a low fever all day today and was miserably crabby. Tired, but refused to sleep. Hungry, but refused to eat. In order to take his mind off the teething madness, I took him down to the park for a few minutes.

He finally took a long nap this evening. I fell asleep also for a couple hours, and that is why I can’t sleep now. While Ethan was sleeping his fever crept up to 103. I think that is too high to be caused by the teething, but there doesn’t seem to be anything else going on with him. I hope everything is better by tomorrow.

Here are a few pictures from the park today. You can see the drool hanging from his chin in pretty much every picture.

Ethan seems to have the worst time with teething. It makes him miserable and ill. After tossing and turning ALL NIGHT LONG last night, I find that he has a 101 fever this morning. I know that seems a bit high for teething, but I am sure that is the cause of the fever. He is hysterical and in serious pain. His mouth is a leaky faucet full of drool. It wells out of his mouth and soaks his shirt. He keeps both hands in his mouth and screams out blood curdling madness. He rubs his cheeks and jaws and he slaps himself in the face. He doesn’t want to eat, he only wants to nurse. He has trouble sleeping which makes him (and me) very crabby.

I am so ready for his bottom two molars to pop through. I think one of them will be through today or tomorrow. It is disgustingly swollen and close to the surface. He is so miserable. I wonder if anyone else has this difficult a time with teething.

That is what Ethan yelled at me tonight. COOOOOOOOOOOKIEEEEEEEES!

He dug everything out of his daycare bag and found a pack of teething biscuits. He got so excited and yelled COOOOOKIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! He promptly walked over to me so I could open the cookies. Every time I handed him a piece of the biscuit, he would yell cookie! Then he’d walk over to Eris and feed it to her, yell Cookie!!!, then come back and ask for another piece. “COOOOKIIIEEEEEEEE PEASE!”

This one is also cross posted with the photo blog. Just a few pictures from Ethan’s fun time at the park. It was chilly and windy, thus he did not enjoy himself all that much.

did not enjoy the merry go round

partially enjoyed the see saw

not happy about the wind

HATED the slide

Ethan had a busy weekend. Uncle Andy came to visit for a few days, then Auntie Vicky and Auntie Allie came over too. Ethan and I practiced various lighting techniques throughout the weekend. Ethan cut another molar on Saturday. We went shopping on Sunday. We went to visit the horsies and to the big park on Monday. woo hooo!

Here are a few pictures from our visit to the horse stables.

His first up-close encounter with a horse.

He didn’t like it!

Going to look at the kitties instead

Looking from a distance is OK

Pretty horse

More pictures later…

I’ve been really busy with work lately so I haven’t had much time for anything else, including blogging. I’m waiting for my email to return to service, so I will write a quick blog post while I wait.

Ethan turned 15 months old last week. He had a checkup with the pediatrician on Friday where we learned that he is now 30 1/2 inches in length and 18 1/2 lbs. He still has not gained any weight. I think he must have lost some weight before he had the ear tube surgery and now he has gained it back. He pretty much quit eating before his surgery and has been eating much more since then. He is doing everything that a 15 month old should do, so there are no worries about his development despite his lack of weight gain.

When we saw the ENT a week prior for the post operative visit, he pointed out that Ethan’s right ear was pretty clogged with dried blood. He directed us to use the ear drops for another week to clear that up. The pedi discovered on Friday that his right ear is still clogged with blood, and I think he may have another ear infection due to that. I need to call the ENT today to get his opinion. It doesn’t seem as though the drops are helping to dissolved all the dried blood.

Ethan hasn’t been in the mood to eat very much since Friday, has been running a low fever since Saturday, and has been generally crabby since Sunday afternoon. Either he has an ear infection or he is bothered by his molars coming in. He is still asleep this morning (its 10 AM). He woke up briefly a few hours ago, downed a few ounces of water, then nursed back to sleep, and has been asleep since. I hope he is feeling ok.

Ethan is finally walking! He started taking steps a few days after his ear tube surgery and just last week he began walking across the room. Over the weekend, he has decided that walking is pretty cool and now he wants to walk all over the place.

Here are a few pictures from our visit to the Louisiana Children’s Museum today. He spent more time walking than crawling while we were there, which is a first for him. His daycare teachers will be amazed tomorrow!

We starting the 52 weeks project again, and hopefully we’ll do better this year!

When Ethan returns to daycare on Monday, I swear, they are not going to think its the same child. In the two weeks since he got his tubes, he has changed so much. Mostly for the better, and its all amazing. I knew that the ear tubes would be very good for him and lots of people told me to expect an amazing transformation, but I did not imagine that he would be so different so quickly!

He no longer refuses to eat, and instead, he eats like a little piggy. Today he ate a yo baby yogurt, two nuggets from chik-fil-a, small fry from chik-fil-a, one and a half pieces of pepperoni pizza (adult sized slices!), three oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, 8 ounces of juice (a treat for him b/c he never gets juice), plus an abundance of snacks. Two weeks ago, I was lucky if he ate half a yobaby, 5 french fries, and 3 crackers. Seriously, his appetite has changed that much. He has put on some weight! I can’t tell you how much weight he has gained, but he is actually chubby now. He is visibly chubbier in the face and his little thighs are pudgy. He *almost* fills out his clothes, lol.

He no longer refuses to attempt to walk. He is now well on his way to walking like a pro. He still prefers to crawl and he doesn’t go far when he walks, but at least he is trying. And succeeding! It won’t be long and he will be running circles around me.

He jabbers like crazy and his words are so much more clear now. He has always been a vocal baby, but now his vocabulary of sounds and words is much greater. He clearly says Thank You, No, I did it!, Kitty, Cookie, Mom, Dad, Doggy, and a few other things. “Dush Dat” and a wagging finger is his rebuttal when I tell him “Don’t Touch That”. He also holds a jabbering conversation of a wide variety of sounds that only he can understand. But those jabber conversations are so intense and serious, he must be saying something very important.

Ethan has always been a happy and lively little boy, but now his happiness and animation are so much greater than only two weeks ago. Every day I am amazed at the transformation he has made!!!

I also want to share one more picture from the test shots I took with my new lens on the way to the doc appointment. I posted it on the photo blog, but I need to share it here too because I like it that much.