Cousin Fun

We had the chance to spend some time with AJ's sister and her family this week. We had a blast - every time they are in, it makes us wish they lived closer! It is great to see the kids play together - Ethan just adores his cousins! He has been talking about them all week. His oldest cousin is the little Mommy of the group. She helped entertain Ethan at dinner while the rest of us ate, and she watched over her brother and sister in the pool. Such a little grown up!

His other girl cousin is the clown of the group - how Ethan has loved following her around! Those two are trouble :-) She also gave him some advice - she told him he needs to sit on the potty and not be a baby anymore. Amen, girl!

And, his natural ally and only boy cousin is the sweetest of the crew. Calm. Obedient. Great eater. Ethan needs to spend more time with him! Though, Ethan did come away with a new fascination after playing with him - Batman!

We went to Cranberry's pool on Thursday & Saturday - this has got to be the best pool ever for families. The kids had the best time. Ethan didn't even nap those days, with the exception of catnaps in the car. We had to drag him (and his oldest cousin) from the water!

In non-cousin news, Ethan made the big move to his toddler bed this week. He did GREAT! We were a little worried he would just run around all night, but so far, so good. The first night, he did lay in there and sing/yell the theme song from The Wonder Pets ('the phone. the phone is ringing...') for about 20 minutes, but he has always talked and sang before bed in the crib.

He had opened three drawers by the morning, but only took out two things: his nail clippers and his comb. Not bad! He did throw his blankets and pillows everywhere, but I'm sure it could have been much worse.

The Damage...

This morning, he got up pretty early and sang again. This time, we heard a really loud, repeated noise. We figured out he was in his closet, dragging a hanger across his toy shelf. That was great at 6:15. As I type, AJ is on his way to buy a lock/contraption to keep E's closet doors closed!

We've also been working on getting Ethan to eat more diverse things. He is in a rut - all he wants are hot dogs, chicken nuggets, or Gerber Graduate meals. He used to do so great. Now, he is very opinionated and prone to tantrums when something new comes toward his mouth. We've started giving him whatever we are eating first and basically forcing him to try it.

We're making some progress. We got him to try a meat ball, pasta, pizza, turkey meatloaf, and chicken with biscuits. He hasn't loved anything, but at least we're getting somewhere.

Notice - polishing off two types of ice cream is no problem...