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....

ABCs of Hunter

A- Adventurous eater. She's the only one of the three who will try new foods willingly. She has the most diverse taste buds too, and seems to like many foods that the boys do not. Rice, Guacamole, Sour Cream, Steak, etc.

B- Baby, Woobie and Jessie. It's her perfect trifecta of comforts. She doesn't go to sleep without 'em. (It's been baby and Woobie (her little mini blanket) for 2 years now, but recently, my good friend Jen Lofgren donated a TON of Toy Story toys to the kids and since that day, Jessie has been a full fledged member of the Hunter Olivia Bedtime Crew.

C- Calendar. I hung a princess calendar in her room for her because she was always asking me when things were going to happen. She is obsessed with it. She loves going through it from start to finish so she can tell me everything that's going to happen. We recently started finding pictures of everyone she knows and gluing them to their birthday on her calendar.

D- Daddy's little girl. This is no exaggeration-whatEVER he does, she wants to do with him. Mow the lawn, wash the cars, build a tent, weld a trailer, tinker in the garage. She's everything the boys are not.  :) She LOVES her daddy.

E- Exactly like her mother. She looks like me, she's spunky, she's feisty, she's sassy, she's BRILLIANT, (hee hee). And she just might have an itty bitty temper....like her mommy.  :)

F- Fear. It's something that's only started to rear its ugly head recently. Movies are scarier, being in a dark room is scarier, strange noises are suddenly scarier. I wish they never had to be afraid of anything.

G- Girly Girl. She wears princess dresses, high heels and jewelry. She loves to have her hair done and she loves to do other people's hair. Is totally into picking out her own outfits and choosing her hairdo for the day!

Hunter on the left, and two of my very best friends from High School's daughters, Taylor
(Heather Hunziker's daughter) and Abby (Leigh Martin's daughter). Crazy. Hunter and Taylor
 are now in Preschool together. And it totally warms my heart when Hunter tells me that
Taylor is her "Best" friend. (Where she even learned that term, is beyond me). 

H- Habit. She's a creature of it. She's very systematic about how we do certain things.

I-Independent. Wants to do everything all by herself. (And she CAN do most things without help.) She wakes up, takes off her jammies, puts on clean underwear, picks out her clothes and puts them on, and even puts on her shoes.

J-Jobs. She's a very big helper around the house. She often goes into the laundry room and notices when the dog and cat food bowls are empty and she removes the lids from both tin canisters and fills all the animals' bowls for them. She also puts toys back where they belong, she deposits her dirty laundry in the hamper, etc.

K- Kitchen. If there is food to be made, she's in it. And she's helping. She's cracking eggs, stirring, mixing, pouring, etc. She loves to be a little cook.

 L- Little mother It's evident in her actions, her language and her desire to 'care for' and 'take care of' everyone. She's often her brothers' keeper, but is also eager to 'mother' her little cousin, Brinley.

M- Moves all OVER her bed while she sleeps. I typically find her sideways, upside down, head in her footboard, and even practically standing with her feet on the floor but her tummy and head on the bed. Poor, restless little sleeper. (The best part is that she thinks it's so funny.) She can't wait till morning when I tell her how I found her.) She modeled some of the positions for you. (see below)

Feet on the floor...

Upside down...

Body on her bed...feet on Colton's...

N-Needs a 'piggytail' and a bobby pin for all meals. Hates having her hair fall in her face while she's eating. (Can't say that I blame her, really.)

O- (I have two letter O's cuz I couldn't pick just one.) "Oll right." (Say that with a long O sound.) It's her "phrase" right now. Hunter: "Mommy, what're you doing?" Me: "Feeding the cat."  Hunter: "Oll right."  OR Me: Five more minutes until bed! Hunter:  Oll right!" It's so simplistic it's funny.  AND

O Out-Inside. It's how she describes things that are "Inside Out."  hee hee

P- Pepperina Pizza. It's her new thing.  :)

Q- Questions everything. Nuff said.

R- Remembers everything-short term and long term. It's pretty scary how good her recall is. She knows my phone number. She knows what their birthdate is, who was born first, second, third. She knows what time each of the trips was born. Not to mention letters, sounds, sight words, etc.  She just amazes me...

S- Sings. A LOT. She sings real songs, she sings songs she makes up. She just sings. In the dressing room at Target she sings, "Tryin' on a sweater, tryin on a sweater.."And Smart as a whip. I know I'm her mom, but she really is smart.

T- Terrified of the Shower coming on while she's in the bathtub. If she sees one of her brothers' hands go near the little knob that starts the shower, you best cover your ears. She's gonna scream.

V- Very crafty. Loves to paint, use chalk, draw, build, create. You name it. Preschool has been a heaven for her! She comes home almost every day with a new creation (or 3).

She was just 'arranging' rocks....

And was thrilled that it looked like a fish when she was done!

Her chalk person

Drawing chalk bodies

W- Won't eat potatoes. In just about any form. (French fries are okay occasionally.) Otherwise, forget it. She won't touch 'em. (This is about the only trait of hers that makes me question our genetic relation to one another.)  :)

X- eXtremely prone to bloody noses. I have no idea why. But she gets them a lot. (Which takes me back to letter I for independent. She will even go into the bathroom and tear off toilet paper and twist it like daddy does and put a little plug in her nose all by herself, and then proceed to wipe up any blood. Seriously? She's 3.

Y- Yearns to make friends with our cats. Oh, she tries so hard to get them to come to her. She's even learned how to walk slower, talk softer and make 'clicky' sounds that are enticing to the kitties. She sooo wants them to love her. She even turns on the bathroom faucet in hopes that Gracie will come out from her hiding spots to drink the water.

Z- She's a 'zesty' little thing. (Yes, I had to google adjectives that begin with 'z' for this one). She really does have a zest for most things she does. She especially loves her brothers (her boys, as she calls them) and she loves her family to pieces. She's spicy and funny and a true cracker jack. As we've said many, many times....THANK GOD BABY C WAS A GIRL!