Christmas Re-cap

Now that the craziness of Christmas has subsided, I took down the Christmas tree and all the decorations, actually cleaned the house and put ALL of Ethan's new toys away and I feel somewhat organized again. Our apartment has been an absolute wreck. We had 4 separate celebrations and each time we got home I would chuck the gifts on the floor and you literally couldn't walk from one end of the apartment to the other without fear of stepping on a toy and breaking your ankle. Tonight I was in cleaning mode and didn't stop until I felt like everything was somewhat in its right place. The next big project to be completed in the next few days is to transition Ethan's room to a big boy room. We were blessed by some friends of ours with a twin bed and box springs so we are going to attempt to put Ethan in the big boy bed. Which means I need to completely make sure E's room is clean and toddler proofed. Because Lord knows he will be out of that bed and messing with things and right now that would not be good. It makes me excited to see him in this new stage. He seems to be growing so fast. He is now saying small sentences on a daily basis. Like when we say, "Ethan are you my cute boy?!" He replies, "No, I not." Which is his reply for a lot of questions like that. He has also perfected the reply, "No, I don't want it" which usually comes after the question, "Ethan would you like some more vegetables?" He has an excellent memory and can recall people's names and certain events. He is increasing his vocabulary daily. Tonight I was telling him how his Grammy wasn't feeling good and I said her tummy hurt and he repeated everything I said and looked like he genuinely understood. His new thing that I ADORE is him trying to sing 'Jesus loves me' as well as his 'ABC'S'. SOOOO cute. Melts my heart. He is Obsessed with playing basketball. EVERYTHING is basketball right now. Sometimes I want to take the ball and throw it out the window because that is all I hear about. This morning he was shooting baskets with his "b-ball" and he yelled "TOUCHDOWN"! It was so cute! Although of course we had to tell him the proper sport terminology. There is no way that Matt's son won't be properly educated when it comes to sports. He really is a hoot to be around. Now that Christmas craziness has settled down his tantrums have subsided and he is getting back into a routine. Matt and I discovered some pretty important stuff about our son through the holidays that will affect our parenting. We realized that Ethan really doesn't do well with being reprimanded in front of other people. He really gets embarrassed and the situation escalates when we do so. So we will try our best to reprimand him in private. Of course there is a time and a place for discipline, but we want to try to meet him halfway and if we can do so by not making a public spectacle out of him then I feel that will be valuable in the long run. I am glad we noticed this because we truly felt it had an impact on him during all our Christmas gatherings. We knew he didn't like being in trouble, but this tender hearted side of him really opened our eyes. We also realized how shy he really is at first. It takes him a while to warm up to someone but then once he does he is full throttle and the life of the party.
So anyhow, there is a re-cap. I hope to post some pictures soon, I got some cute ones. Next thing i'm looking forward to is New Years Eve with some great friends and GREAT fun!