Friends and Funny Toddler Talk

Ethan's "babies" consist of steamrollers, diggers, and dump trucks- by the way, this is his face when he says, "cheese" these days!

Ethan and Sam open their birthday presents

The boys on the search for pumpkins in the patch

Tractor ride- apparently very serious stuff!

For some reason, Ethan loves bales of hay- he was super excited to see one up close

He claimed it for his own!

Lately, Ethan has been setting up his stuffed animals on the couch under the blanket with him.  He discusses the current episode of "Thomas the Train" that they are watching- maybe he'll be happy to have a brother or sister to chat with!

We had a great weekend with our Boston friends, Andrea, Joel, Sam, and Otis (the dog).  We did tons of playing, and visited a local farm to ride a tractor and pick out pumpkins.  The boys had lots of fun, and little by little, they are playing together, rather than just next to each other.  So much fun to watch them grow and develop together!

Ethan continues to be a little character.  This week, he has begun to correct us if we read something in a book that he considers to be wrong.  For example, when we read his truck book, and I point out an excavator, he'll reply, "No Mama, that's NOT an excavator, that's a digger!"  He is very clear that he knows what he is talking about, and that I clearly don't!

I've also realized this week, that he takes our directions to heart.  He has a crane toy that goes with his Thomas set.  When he first got it, he would carry it around by the string, and we would tell him to hold it differently so that it wouldn't break.  The other day, I was holding the crane, apparently the wrong way.  Ethan looked at me and said, "Mama, please hold Cranky by the neck, not the string!"  I guess I can't fault him for correcting me!  He's too funny!

Ethan's sleep habits (unfortunately) are just like mine.  The minute he wakes up he is wide awake.  This morning at 4:30 am he sat up in our bed and said, "Mama, I need my nuk please"  As I fumbled around in the dark, feeling for his pacifier, he said, "It's probably in the nuk bowl" (our nuk bowl is where the nuks are stored when it's not bedtime)  Hearing him use words like "probably" and "maybe" sound so adult to me and it's amusing to hear Ethan use these words appropriately and with such ease!  If his vocabulary sounds like this at two, I can't even fathom what he'll be saying at three- I may have to carry a dictionary around to keep up with him!

Finally, I love observing the way that Ethan's two-year-old mind works.  Once he was awake this morning (at 4:30) it took him a looooong time to fall back to sleep. I kept telling him it was still dark and time to sleep.  After chatting away about his cousins, his aunt, swimming, and various toys, he finally drifted back off to sleep.  When he woke up this morning, he looked at the ceiling and said, "The house is big, it's not dark anymore"  I'm guessing that in his mind, when it's dark things are small, but once it's light out, everything feels big again.  These little toddlers are amazing!!