ABCs of Ethan

A- Always wants to be held when he wakes up and wants to be carried down the stairs. Answers my cellphone, OFTEN, unbeknownst to me and talks with whomever is on the other line  sometimes several minutes. Sometimes he even answers when it's his teacher calling. Awesome. He has also been known to MAKE calls. He seems to enjoy talking to my friend Nicole most frequently.

B- Was Baby B the whole pregnancy, but managed to wait patiently on their birthday so that he could always be 'the Baby', the youngest...Thus, he's Baby C. , Born at 11:42 am on March 23. "Bear" is his nickname.... as in Ethan Bear.

C- Cuddle bug. Classic youngest child.

D- Does everything 'on his own time schedule.' He hit all his milestones as a baby when HE was ready, not when the books said he should be ready. At our first preschool parent conferences, Mrs. Moten showed me the kids drawings of a person (they'd been working on drawing circles.) Hunter's was quite detailed, Colton's was not too shabby either, Ethan's was blank.  :) "He didn't feel like drawing that day." Story of my life, I told her.

E- Eyelashes to die for. Energy of a puppy.

F- Fruit Hater. Seriously. I can get him to eat Apples, Bananas and Grapes. THAT'S IT. No strawberries, no peaches, no mandarin oranges, no raspberries, no blackberries, no watermelon, etc.

G- Gets frustrated with our dog, Piper, (Or Paper, as he still calls her) most easily of the three. 95% of the time he's great with her, but there's that little 5% leftover in which I find him antagonizing her...pulling her tail, poking her on the back or butt, etc.....one of these days he's gonna learn what that low growl means....So far, he's been lucky. Piper is THE most tolerant dog you can imagine.

H- Has a teeny, tiny lisp that I find so cute. "Dat tho cool?" he'll ask. (That's so cool?) One of my favorite Ethanisms is his identification of Silly Buses. (City Buses). He passed that one on to Colton. Hates having his photo taken. Moreso he hates having group photos taken. See Kansas City, MO for the beginnings of this aversion. His stubbornness literally shines on these occasions. Dare I say he's getting 'better', but is faaaaaaaaar from great. :) Right Meridy?

I- "I sit wis you?", "I sowwy.", "I hold you?" (which means, will you hold me?)

J- Just wants you to do things for him. Even though he can do them himself. (True baby, isn't he?) Like put on his own underwear, put him into the bathtub, carry him down the stairs, or to the car, etc. As soon as I get frustrated I fast forward my life 10 years and remember that soon enough he won't WANT me to do any of those things for him. And so, I oblige.  :) Happily.

K- Knew all his letters and letter sounds first. Not even ashamed to admit that he learned them from the Meet the Letters and Leap Frog Videos. He's the first to call out, "Mommy, what you spy?" when we go shopping at Target. (My newest strategy to keep kids from fighting is to play 'I spy.' As in "I spy a number 13. Or I spy a letter that says /m/. " He LOVES to play this. He also likes to be the Spy-er.

L- Love. He is a constant professor of it. For people, for TV shows, for places. "I love my mommy" he says as he wraps his little arms around me in the morning. Also the LEAST crafty of the three. He will do crafts, but doesn't typically CHOOSE crafts.  Left...he sleeps on the left side of the room because his little crib was on the left side in  the NICU.

M- Mama's Boy. There's no other way around it. It's the baby in him that just wants his mommy . Manners. He's got great manners when he's not ready to put daggers in someone's eyes. 'Thank you', 'No thank you', 'Pwease', 'I sowwy.' VERY common phrases for this little one. I especially love it when I ask him to put his dirty clothes in the laundry basket. "Um, no thank you," he says. Well at least he's polite.  :)

N- Night Owl. Dude can stay awake in his bed for hours after his brother and sister have fallen asleep. Sometimes he's disruptive and makes a ton of noise and other times, he just lay there watching the ceiling or playing quietly with a toy.

O- Outside. He LOVE, LOVE, LOVES to play outside. Loves tricycles, trampolines, sandboxes, etc.

P- Pillow. I often find him curled up like a little roly poly bug on his pillow. So stinking cute.

Q- Quiet only when he's asleep.  :) Or on the computer.

R- Recently started to be afraid of things. He was terrified of the front window the entire month of October because of the spider webs I had hanging in it. He would cry out to me in a total panic if I left the room and went upstairs and he was downstairs alone. He often asks me if it's scary in his room. (Obviously, I tell him it's not.)  :)

S- Stubborn. Man. This kid wants what he wants, when he wants it. If there's a tantrum to be had, it's usually this one. He plays incredibly well when there are two kids involved. The minute there are three of them, the fights begin. (As you might imagine, this is no bueno considering he's a TRIPLET!)

T- Techno Toddler. This kid knows technology better than most adults I know. iPhones, iPads, kindles, computers. He is seriously amazing. He can remember and or figure out how to play just about any game he can find.

U-Usually fights with Hunter. The theory 'Opposites attract' explains why he and Colton get along much better than he and Hunter. Those two (E and H) are like two feisty peas in a firecracker pod. They can brawl like nobody's business!!

 Case in point. 

V- Voice...Ethan (when he's not screaming) has the sweetest, softest, raspiest little voice ever.

W- Watches for airplanes, jets and helicopters with true vigilance. He gets SO excited when he sees or even hears planes overhead. Again, thank God we live in an air force flight path! He also watches for the moon constantly! I see a flight career in his future.

X- Has become eXtremely territorial lately. He tries to lay claim to most anything. Dats MY mommy. My grammy. My Kitchen. Dats MINE! Ay-yi-yi....Nor does he seem interested when I explain that I'm Hunter's mommy too, and Colton's mommy too.. Somedays I'm pretty sure he thinks I'm just teasing him. Oh contrare my little one.

Y- Younger than Colton by 2 minutes and younger than Hunter by 1 minute. Born at 11:40 (C), 11:41(H), and 11:42(E).   Says "Yep" in his sweet little voice quite often. I might ask, do you want to go outside? "Yep. Yep I do, mommy."

Z- Still loves BuZZ and Woody, AND Mater, and McQueen AND McMissile....