Big Box Fun

Last night Nathan brought home a huge box from work and turned it into a cool little house for Ethan. Here are some pics from last night and this morning.



Is that a wheat kernal in there?

One on One with Candy

Today I went to the YMCA to do some weights and try a core power class that uses those great big balls you sit on. I'm pretty sure there's a good chance of losing/and or falling off the ball, so my game plan is to stay in the back, out of sight and as far away from the instructor as possible. I'm sure Candy is a nice person, but I've done a few of her classes before and I think there's a slightly sadistic tendency beneath the blond, bubbly, bouncy persona. Being in one of those classes is the closest I've ever come to boot camp. Candy would have made an excellent drill sergeant. Did I mention she's eight months pregnant with her 4th child?

So I head up the steps to the gym, where I am greeted by Candy who directs me to get a ball and a mat. And there is NO... ONE... ELSE. Me. Candy. The Ball. GULP. I persist though, and as we warm up Candy confesses she has had people leave when they are the only ones in the class. So we are chatting and I'm thinking this won't be so bad-then we begin...that was only the warm-up. Picture standing with your back holding the ball to the wall, doing squats up and down, then holding the down position keeping your arms out and your feet out so when you squat down its like sitting in a chair only there's no chair. That was just one of many things we did, others were push-ups and plank positions using the ball. Thankfully it was just a 30 minute class, her others are an hour. As I headed out the door I was thankful I would walk comfortably. Then I proceeded down the stairs where my legs started shaking, my quads started quivering, I dissolved into pile of glutenous jello.

Hey-what's that noise?

Tonight as I'm making dinner I can hear Ethan playing cars in the living room. Then I hear a strange noise...like a maracca being shaken. I'm not alarmed since I know Ethan has maracas-not the same ones that sent him to the emergency room last year-but that is a different story. Then I hear an excited "Yay! Did it!!!" and I drop what I'm doing and run to the living room.

Somehow my child had retrieved a ziploc bag full of hard red wheat from the pantry, which I must not have locked after I grabbed what I needed from dinner. That maraca-like sound had been him shaking the bag enthusiasticly around the living room. Then he opened it and the real fun began. I have wheat kernals everywhere. Ethan is gleefully running his fingers through the stuff and then scooping it up and letting it fall, further aiding in the dispersal process. I am sure he is getting a great tactile sensory learning experience but I cut it short and retrieve the vacuum. Even with the Kirby, it took 45 minutes to get all those kernals. I have a feeling though, that they are like fallen pine needles from the Christmas tree and will be turning up in all sorts of places for the next few months.


Ethan helps clean up.

Hurray for Target!!!!

Nathan and Ethan had a busy day today. While I was at the Boston Temple with the youth from our ward, they went to Target and had some fun. I have a bookcase now!!!! I am so excited about that. Best of all is the storage system Nate got for Ethan's toys-it looks good and so far he is doing well with the concept of taking 1 bin down to play, then putting it away before he takes the next one down.

Christmas Day

Grandma Terry came over to our home for Christmas morning. I tried to get a picture of Ethan with the tree but the boy is a study in perpetual motion. Notice the sparseness of the decorations on that tree. Not many of my ornaments are Ethan proof, so they didn't come out! Nathan brought home a box of shatter proof red balls, and most of them survived the season. Ethan took the top part of at least one off, leaving no way to hook it onto the tree.

Ethan had a blast playing with everything. He loved the construction trucks from Grandma Terry and Great Grandma Bowden. He also had a super fun time playing with all the hot wheels cars and the road rug that Grandpa and Grandma Fullerton got him. Vroom vroom vroom noises all day long coming from the living room where Ethan was busy driving the cars all over that rug. He is a very good driver too, stopping at stop signs and using his turn signals(clucking tongue noise).

Christmas Eve

We enjoyed Christmas Eve with Grandpa George and Nanu. Ethan really liked the big bulldozer and the dinosuars.


Ethan eats Dinosaurs!!! ROAR!!!!

Ethan cuddles with his new Curious George doll

Go Go Gadget Arms!

While making dinner tonight I thought Ethan was busy watching Curious George. In reality he was busy-and quietly-moving a large tripod table toy from behind the TV where it lives to the front of the fireplace, then climbing up on it and stretching those long arms of his up to reach BOTH of Daddy's remote controls. It was a little too quiet so I peeked in on him and thats how I found him-sitting sprawled out in the red chair with a remote control in each hand. You know at the end of each Curious George episode you hear a little child say "George is a monkey and can do things we can't do." I KNOW that my child doesn't hear or understand that part.