Our little boy is growing up!!

I can hardly believe we've had Ethan in our home for 16 whole months! He has brought us so much joy and laughter and we can't wait to add another little baby to our family! So here's a run down of fun new things that Ethan does.

1. He is starting to (try) and dress and undress himself. After a nap one morning, this is how I found him....


2. He likes to "read" anything he can get his hands on--even if it is the Albertson's ads

3. He LOVES to dip his food in ketchup AND mustard now! It used to be that he just liked ketchup, but now, I think he likes mustard more...he is his mama's son!

4. He can eat a popsicle all by himself now! By actually holding it from the stick.

5. He is starting to feed himself with a fork or spoon....



6. ....Well, sort of! He does well for the first couple of bites!


7. Ethan folds his arms and bows his head at prayer time--he will sometimes close his eyes, but doesn't understand that he is supposed to do that for the entire prayer. And when the prayer is over Ethan says, "Amen!" We didn't even have to teach him to fold his arms or anything...he really did learn from our example. That's pretty rewarding as a parent!
8. He has officially moved into a big boy bed! He sleeps in a very large (for his body) full size bed! We were somewhat forced into this--we probably wouldn't normally put a 16 month old in a big bed, but he left us no choice! I've said before that we had problems with him getting his Division 1 thighs stuck in the crib railings. About a month ago, we actually had to take apart the front of his crib to release his thigh--it's a good thing Skyler was home to do that otherwise I probably would have had to grease him out of that mess! We still didn't think he was ready for the big bed yet, so instead, we went and bought one of the child mesh rails to keep kids from falling out of bed and we just attached that to his crib. That worked well for about 3 weeks. Until he actually fell out of bed by falling OVER the crib rail. We didn't want that to happen again, so we moved the full size bed into his room. The first night, he thought he was pretty smart to get out of bed after Skyler and I had left the room. After about 7 or 8 times of us repeatedly putting him back in bed and telling him to stay in bed, he finally understood and stayed put. We wondered if in the morning he would just let himself out of his room, but to our surprise we actually had to go in and get him! And that was definitely short lived. I feel like I've been in a power struggle with my 16 month old for the last couple of days. And power struggle and 16 month old shouldn't even be in the same sentence!!! Nap times are especially hard because he either constantly lets himself out of the room or he helps himself to his books and toys and plays in his closet and pulls clothes out of his drawers....it's hard to be upset with him though when he is so dang smart! Today, I put him in bed and then shut the door. I've learned to just stay right outside the door for a few minutes and sure enough, not even 2 seconds after I shut the door, I see the door handle turn and there's Ethan! He will shriek if he sees me, slam the door in my face and run to get back in bed! Does that sound like a 16 month old to you???! And he's so smart because he'll open the door, and wait a minute (like he's expecting me to be there) and if I'm not, he'll make a mad dash into our bedroom. Ugh! I really miss his crib days! But, I guess he's got to learn sometime......Now, I get woken up by my adorable son trying to rummage through my night-stand every morning (yes, he lets himself out of bed).

I just ordered his adorable bedding set--so pictures to come as soon as his room is put together!

We certainly love Ethan to pieces!!!