Today is exactly one year after Ethan’s due date. That means that he is now one year adjusted age!

Exactly one year ago today, Ethan was in the hospital for RSV and I was exhausted. He weighed right about 7 lbs and he did little more than sleep, eat, and poop.

Now, Ethan weighs somewhere around 18 lbs and sleeping, eating, and pooping are some of the lowest things on his priority list. He is too busy doing fun one year old activities. He’s still really skinny for his age, still not gaining any weight, but it obviously hasn’t affected his development. He does everything he is supposed to do at this age, and some extra things too.

Ethan says a few different words now: mama, mommom (when he wants to nurse), dada or daddy, kitty, Eris, doggy, hey, bye. Those are the words that we are certain he says. There are others from time to time, but we aren’t quite convinced of his full vocabulary. Its so hard to tell sometimes because the words aren’t terribly clear, but these are the words that he has said frequently enough in the correct context for us to believe that he is truly saying them. He doesn’t say dada too much anymore. Now he says “Da-deeeeeeee”, LOL.

He isn’t walking yet, but he can stand steadily without holding on to anything. He can even dance around and drum on his new drumset while standing. He walks behind his walk behind toys and he pushes other items (such as the kitchen stool) around with no problem. He just hasn’t worked up the courage to take too many steps on his own. On occasion, he will take a step or two, but usually he just sits down and crawls or scoots wherever he wants to go.

Ethan has 9 teeth now. 4 on bottom and 5 on the top. I think number 9 came through while we all had the pukey virus.

Ethan loves to put his toys in containers and baskets. He will carefully place every toy in the basket, then take them out again one by one. This seems as though it would be a useful skill and that he might learn to put his toys away, however, he always wants to take the toys out of the basket when I place them in the basket. LOL.

Ethan loves to play with a ball. He loves to toss the ball around the room, then crawl after it laughing. He especially finds it funny when the cats join in on the fun and chase the ball after he throws it. If you tell him to throw you the ball, he will try to toss it in your direction.

He likes to give kisses and hugs. If you tell him “Give me a kiss”, he will plant a big juicy one right on your lips. If he’s not in the mood for kissing, he will at least give you a big hug instead. He is a very affectionate little guy. If his kitties sit still long enough for him to catch them, he will lay down on them and give them a big hug. He also crawls into Eris’ dog bed and gives her hugs and kisses her back (yuck!).

Ethan helps us put his shirts on and take them off. He will stick out his arms to go through the holes and he will pull the shirt over his head. Generally, he is quite helpful, but there are times when he would rather do the opposite of what we want. He will try to pull the shirt off his head while we put it on, etc. And sometimes he gets too excited about getting dressed and wants to stick his arms through the head hole. Then he gets really mad when you have to correct him. He still does not like to help us put on his pants or diaper. That is always a challenge.

He knows how to use a spoon to feed himself. He’s not very good at scooping food onto his spoon, but he does try. Once I put the food on the spoon, he is very good about getting it to his mouth and he makes sure that every drop is gone before you have to pry the spoon from his fingers.

Ethan likes to read his books. He has decided that books are good for more than just chewing. He will sit down with a book, flip through the pages, and point at the pictures. of course, he still thinks they are fun to chew from time to time, but at least he’s starting to get the right idea.

Ethan’s favorite things:
* mommy and daddy and his grandparents and his aunts and uncles
* music and singing and dancing
* his pets and other kitties (but not other dogs, he hates pretty much any dog other than Eris)
* climbing
* cookies and crackers (he would live off of cookies and crackers alone if we let him)
* pointing at his reflection