Just So Festival In Stafforshire (Aug 21st)

Hangin Out with his mates and photos at home. (Aug)

Ethan at Kendal's Maize Maze (Early Aug)

Here is Ethan having fun.

4 Month of update! Yeeks!

Right. April 6th as the last post is really a bit out of hand isn't it. Oh dear. I'd like to blame the pregnancy and feeling quite nautious the first few months but the fact that it's now September forces me to face facts that i've been quite lax about Ethan's blog. So sorry! Ethan's baby brother is now 24 weeks old. Yes he knows it's a boy and he is going to be a big brother but lets get to Ethan. (Scan pics will posted soon) So here are the highlights!: May: He has had a fabulous birthday May 1st which was Sportacus Lazytown themed with a pretty great cake. Ethan helped me to make his Lazytown pinata. There were lunch boxes with the England flag and everyone had a fabulous time. We had all his friends over at Mama and Papazee's garden and there were a few patches of rain but nothing we couldn't manage. Ethan was only upset when his cake came out and he had to blow the candles out in the rain but eating the cake afterwards made up for it! June We moved house June 18th and Ethan has taken to his new room with flying colors. The house had a sleeper bed which is raised up with storage underneath it and he loved climbing onto his chair to get in and out of his bed. He has a fabulous garden in our backyard to play with and we have a paddling pool, and football net set up. Various ball, bats, raquets litter the yard and he is extremely sporty. This is also due to quite alot of practice with the Wii console system. One the TV is turned on, he can turn on the Wii Console by himself, put in the game he wishes (Sport's Resort) and set up the games himself. He is very proficient at baseball, bowling, swordfighting, tennis, ping pong. Outdoors he like baseball, badminton, tennis, and bowling. He has a cricket set as well. He has been thriving at school and has really bonded with one of his teachers named Laura. She is also a very close family friend so Ethan get to see alot of her which is great. His school took us all Strawberry picking and we ended finding some ginormous strawberries 1/3 of which we ate along the way. HAHA We also went to Greenlands farm to visit the guinea pigs and rabbits, horses , pigs and sheep which was quite fun and the best part of course is the huge indoor playground. July: Erin's birthday (Ethan's girlfriend0 was the highlight. Very pink and wonderful. There was amazing food, great games and a bouncy castle. What more could a 3 year old ask for! We decided to introduce Ethan to a new preschool in kirkby Lonsdale for September called St Mary's Church of England Primary school but he will be in the nursery (preschool) and Adam and I visited the school to get him registered. The setting and teachers are absolutely lovely there. We were quite lucky as we live out of the cachement area but since enrollement was low, Ethan managed to secure a place. He will still be going to Burton Preschool two days a week as he loves being with Laura and is familiar in this setting but we feel that he would get even more out of being at St, Mary's. Ethan was on holidays from 26th of July so we focused a bit on gardening. He helped me water all our plants: Sunflowers, Strawberries, Pak Choi, Tomatoes, Carrots, Lettuce , broccoli and Courgettes (Zuchini). We have had amazing successes with all but the carrots and the broccoli which got devoured by caterpillars. He is extremely helpful around the house. Folding laundy- well wrapping clothes into balls and throwing them in the laundry hamper. He loves cooking and we bake regularl. He does absolutely everything from adding all ingred including cracking eggs and using the electric mixer with my help to filling cupcake cups. He doesn't much like putting the sticky cookie batter on the sheet but thats ok. August Ethan has managed to learn to undress and dress himself! His speech has become less clear as he focuses on more physical activities and has a hard time enunciating "L"s and "R"s which come out as more of a Wuh sound. so the word name "Riley" sounds like Why lee. But his speech just throws us for a loop. If I wear a dress, I know the first thing he will say to me is "Mom, you look pretty/beautiful." He knows he'll always get a hug when he comes up to me, tilts his head and says "Mom, I love you. There are other times he has said things like "Mom, if you go to work, I'll miss the baby BUT I might miss you too. He has learnt the meaning of Anyways and that doesn't matter along with some other not so good phrases like : "Driving me nuts mom!" and "Oh for goodness sake! Which he got from me...woops. "You're cheeky!" "Argh!' I must admit thought he is very polite and most times says his pleases, thank yous and excuse me's. He also remind us to say please as well. We are teaching him also to say excuse me when Adam and I are talking to other parents, relatives or friends but this ends up as him saying it 20 times over and over again until we acknowledge him- a work in progress. LOL. I love his northern accent. He says a very definate Cah'nt (Can't) and Wot (What) tomatohs. There are so many and I just smile when I hear his accent. He has also started to give us directions or tell us what to do which is a bit bossy so we have been working on that.. "You do this first mom, then do that and then you do this ...etc.." August: Ethan is becoming really affectionate and will just stop us in our tracks and tell us that he wants to give us a hug or a kiss. Ethan and his friends and us moms go to Happy Mount Park in Morecambe and have an incredible time only spending 2 pounds! They have a free splash park, a lovely natural playground and train and trampolines. It was 100% the best time ever. I even ran through all the waterworks at the splash park with him. We have a mini holiday weekend in Leek near Staffordshire Aug 2oth- 21st and attend the Just So Festival for kids. It was amazing. He got to see the a production called Honey with Dad, listen to cool music, eat some fantastic food, meet the Gruffalo, play in the playground, and he loved the sand - despite it raining - while I indulged in some face painting, meeting the fairy queen and I got my garland and wings. Hee. We also met up with a good friend, Hattie and her daughter Clem and it was fantastic The next day we went to Trentham Estates where they have a Monkey Forest, Garden centre, shopping area, and huge estate gardens with a ginormous play area with Sand pit but our high light was going through the barefoot path. Which consisted of a block of different textures that you trod over ranging from pebbles, stones, wooden slates, wood chips water and a knee high mud pit. Ethan didn't so much like the mud and it went up Adam's jeans, shirt, face and hat when he started kicking in the mud. hilarious. The we went to eat at Frankie and Bennies- like TGIFridays and Ethan proceeded to eat 3/4 of a 9 inch tomato and cheese pizza. Adam and I were shocked and thought he's going to be sick.. but not only did he keep it down but polished off fudge and icecream for dessert and his apple juice! Goodness gracious that was one hungry boy. Sept. Today (Sept 4th) we were making pretend cake in the bathtub with empty bottles filled with water as different ingredients and he attached quantities to his ingredients which is new. Like we need 3 drops (Squirt) of vanilla, 5 drops of flour etc etc. How great is that! right.. more to come as I think of it but that is the update for now! Pics and vids to come too! Thanks for being patient!

Bedtime update

Ethan is now going to sleep by himself at night after two stories. We turn off the light and say we are in the hallway and he goes to sleep. We stay in the hallway for a 15 minute and then go downstairs. He usually wakes at midnite or so and the last couple of days he's been waking quite frequently in the night but mostly because of his cold. Since going to be by himself, he has started waking at 7:30am which would have been 6:30am if the clocks hadn't moved forward. This has cause Adam and I to be quite tired as we miss him sleeping in till 8:30-9:00am. He usually gets out of his bed and comes barreling into our room, climbs into our bed and lies with us until he decides he is hungry, needs a wee or we all must get up and go downstairs! So definately earlier bedtimes are in order for Adam and I.

Easter Holidays

We had a fabulous time at Mama and Papa Zees. Lots of good food, easter egg hunt and egg rolling down the corridor. I made some rabbit cupcakes and easter cookies with a basket for them to go in. Yummy! Or as Ethan says... "Yummy Scrummy Good for my Tummy!!!" Pics to come. He absolutely loved it and Adam and I enjoyed it so much we forgot to capture it on film. I think the camera is angry at me as it's not getting used as much in the past...LOL. He also got on fabulously well with his cousin Jimi George who is just 6 weeks. Robin and Anna are happy to have the new edition in their lives if not a wee bit tired but that is to be expected. Jimi is very cute and was very well behaved. Eating, sleeping and being adorable. He's been a bit coughy this week and and icky snotty nose but otherwise happy as usual.

Ethan displaying my crafty toys for him

Ethan has really been liking the story the Gruffalo so I made him this crown... ..the mouse from the story on it. These are Ethan's needle felted owls to help his with number recognition. He can count objects but doesn't recognize the number symbols. He now can proudly recognize number 1 and 2. Below he is being cheeky... This is his mushroom house that he doesn't really play with.. LOL. Unfortunately, I have deleted by mistake all the photos and vids that I took of him feb- march- Boo hoo so will have to make up for it in the upcoming months.

Another month has flown by..

Feb 8th was daddy's birthday and Ethan helped mommy make daddy's birthday cake and draw on a card. We went to Mama and Papa Zee's to celebrate. Yum! Feb 14th, we all went to Manchester for Chinese New Year and saw dancing dragons, dancing lions, lanterns and had a fabulous lunch. February also included a trip to the Lakeland Wildlife Oasis and Sizergh Barn. The first place, was amazing. Full of bugs, lizards, snakes, turtles, meerkats, birds of all sort and the highlight were ginormous fruit bats. Wow! The Second place, we stopped at for a lovely lunch and watched the cows being milk by machines. What can I say that was quite an amazing February. Then before we could blink and eye, it was March. Ethan is now around 95 cm and has suddenly increased in weight. I think his bones have become more dense as I can no longer just grab him and pick him up and after less than 5 minutes my arms are about to give out. He doesn't look any fatter so i'm blaming the bones. LOL. Daddy has just weighed him on the Wii Fit and it says he is 2 stone 2 lbs which is 13.6 kgs. That doesn't seem heavy.. I think he was 12 kg before. We are still using the wrap now and again but the biggest achievement this month has been POTTY TRAINING!!! It took only a week or so and "Kazaam!" He only wears night time nappies although has been waking dry in the mornings. He poops using his trainer seat on the toilet and will wee in his potty downstairs or stands on his step and we help him aim for the toilet. Obviously Daddy does this better as I do not have many experiences in aiming wee...LOL. He has walked 2.5 miles to see lambs, explored underground tunnels, and has developed his upper body strength climbing on playground equipment at school. On Mother's day- March 14th Ethan made me a lovely card from preschool and him and daddy got me a grow house which is like a greenhouse but not with glass. It has a clear vinyl covering. Ethan is helping me to grow carrots, cherry tomay-toes, sweet pea flowers, spring onion and pak choi. We also be growing zucchini/courgette french beans and other vegetables once the BBC send em to us! At home, we have been working on number recognition as he can count objects but doesn't yet know the symbols. He now knows the number 1 and we are working up to number 5. As I got a Wii for daddy's birthday in Feb, Ethan has just started to develop his skills in swordfighting, bowling and kayaking. Vey impressive. His favorite DVD's are still Backyardigans and Lazytown. He also quite likes puzzles and does them alot at school so we got a Gruffalo one to do together at home. Ama has sent over bats of every kind. Ping Pong paddles, mini badminton raquets, water raquets and a baseball bat. Needless to say, Ethan has show quick skill in this area and we are constantly on guard for flying balls. He can drop and back hand the racquet while actually hitting the ball. He can travel with a football/soccer ball too, kick it and roll it around in one place with his foot. Mamazee has bought a duplo pirate ship which he loves and Ethan continues to adore his train set over at their place. However, now that the weather is getting slightly warmer, these are being left behind for the sand table. He has finally start to realize that 'messy hands' can be quite fun and enjoys painting, squishing play doh, and sand..lots of sand... Bath time has become quite exciting too as he likes bubble bath now where before the bubbles kind of scared him. He gets some in his hands and claps and they splatter EVERYWHERE! Three nights ago, we also took away the single mattress that was in his room. We would lay on it to tell him bedtime stories and then wait till he fell asleep. Well, this would often result in me spending the night in his bedroom and not sleeping well so we put it away. Daddy had great success the first night and Ethan went straight to bed. He must have been very tired as the last two nights haven't been that peaceful. The next night, I tried to follow daddy's example and had to put a screaming, horribly upset, crying Ethan back into his bed 4 times and him getting out and between cries of " Mommy i miss you, I love you mommy, don't go, stay with me!!!" So no more Super Nanny Tactics- WAYY too traumatic..for the both of us. We have decided to use Uncle Jeff''s method and sit in a chair with Ethan after the lights are out. Then we are gradually inching the chair closer to the door every 15-30 minutes. Last night, I got halfway to the door and it seems to be working and it isn't traumatic for me nor him...so this is good. The aim is to get the chair to the door and then to get it in the doorway and then outside the door and finally not in the hall and he will be able to go to bed himself. Keep your fingers crossed for us! Will post more vids and pics soon. We plan to see the Gruffalo show at Kendal Leisure centre in April. For those of you wondering what the heck a Gruffalo is click here

Our little Smiley monster!

Ethan now talks in full sentences and sometimes add the word "Now!" onto the end of his sentences as in: " Can you get me that. Please can you. (Pause) Now!" He has started to enjoy having his picture taken again but for some reason squints his eyes up when he is smiling and saying cheese. Hee hee!

He is getting better on his balancing bike and loves balancing one foot on his police motorbike rocker. He also loves talking on the phone.

He has taken to gymnastics on the couch and often climbs to the top of it and walks across announcing that it is a tightrope.

He loves doing jumping jacks and riding his bike and one of the latest discoveries is home made playdoh and the fun of making worm pies.

Another game he likes to play is to be the grocery store cashier and pull the grocery through his till which it beeps and then makes Adam give him money to pay for it. Very cute. His favorite shows are mostly on DVD at the moment. They include Lazytown Sportacus on the Move and Snow Monster and other Stories Backyardigans Mission to Mars He also love Alphablocks on Cbeebies which promotes phonics and putting words together. He has a fierce love for baking and we have been baking alot. He does everything from cracking the eggs (no shells in the bowl either), adding all the ingredients and even helping me to use the electric mixer. He also drops the dough onto the cookie sheet or spoons the cake mixture in paper muffin cases. Just this past week we made 24 strawberry flavored muffins and 56 coconut, oatmeal raisin cookies. Hey the recipe said it yields 20 cookies so it wasn't our fault. Now a week and half later we still are eating cookies. HAHAHA! January also has been the month where Ethan has decided that he is ready for potty training. He now goes to preschool with only underpants and boxers under his trousers. There have been a few misses and one poop that his teacher Laura had to clean up. There will definately be a bottle of wine for her at the end of the school year as a thank you gift. He's getting better and does extremely well at home. Both Adam and I intitially let him either have his underpants on or nothing at all and just trousers so it was no wonder when it was time to go to school he wanted to go "commando" under his trousers. Now we just put the underpants in his pants and pull them up as one. LOL. Yup, it has been a steep learning curve for both Ethan and us! HAHAHA! He only wears nappies during naptime and evenings. Today he has tried standing up to pee in his potty... he got distracted watching TV and his aim was off and he proceeded to wee in an arc onto the floor. Not good! LOL!

As you can tell , he's pretty cheeky!

December-

Goodness. So much has happened and once again I have fallen behind on Ethan's site. So sorry. We had Christmas photos done, Ethan starred in his preschool Nativity Play starring as a king. We also celebrate Christmas early and forgot to take any photos or vids and then had a fabulous Christmas holiday in Switzerland. Here is a video of Ethan's nativity play. I could just take pictures of everything that Ethan recieved for Christmas but that would be boasting. LOL. Let's just say, his presents included a toy garage from Ama and Gong Gong, A cash register with grocery basket and food, a wooden pirate ship and pirates from Uncle Joe and Aunty Megan, 3 different train sets with track ( one is duplo, one is wooden brio both from Mama and Papa Zee, and the other is ELC happyland train from us.) Uncle Jeff and Aunty Kels got him a balance bike which is very cool. His Uncle Dan gave him a Lazytown Sportacus DVD, Uncle Josh and Tara gave him a super cool toy T- Rex that you can draw on him. Uncle Robin and Aunty Anna gave him Wooden Musical Instruments and his teacher Laura gave him 2 Barney Christmas DVD's. As well as Two Backyardigans DVD's. We drove to Switzerland and Ethan was the best toddler ever. Mama and Papa zee timed regular breaks at the service areas (Rest Stops) and in between, Ethan would nap or we'd put on the DVD player and he would contentedly watch DVD's for a couple hrs at a time. We got to the Eurotunnel just in time to make our train and once we'd driven into it, we were in France in less that 35min. We soon arrived at Tinqueux. Reims at the hotel Formula One where we stayed overnight. Then we were off again early the next morning arriving in Flims, Switzerland around 5pm. Our hotel, The Cresta, was stunning. Absolutely the best hotel i've stayed at with a wellness centre and fitness room. Our room was gorgous with golden beams slanting down and picturesque views and the food!!! The food was unbelievable with breakfast and a 4 course dinner every day! We filled our days, looking at the mountain views, eating, sleigh ride on Christmas day. The rest of our holiday was filled with skiing and then having a relaxing swim in the outdoor swimming pool. Ethan was fabulous on the way back and the portable DVD player kept him amused for hours. Enjoy the slide show as there was no possible way I could post 80 photos!

Ethan running about

Our Halloween pumpkins!

Greenlands Farm

It has been quite cold and rainy of late but we wanted to do something over the weekend and decided to go to Greenlands farm. They had an indoor playground area which Ethan really enjoyed and got all sweaty. Then after an hr and half, the sun came out so we went to see the animals.

Baking oatmeal raisin cookies

Step 1: Crack egg and put it in with butter. He cracked it in all by himself and no eggshells!

2. Stir and add cookie mix. Stir.

3. Showing you his mixture.

4. More mixing.

5. All well mixed.

6. Putting spoonfuls on cookie sheet

7. Job well done!

8 ."Here you go mom!"

9. Putting the trays in the oven.

10. Cookies all done!

11. "Mom, I have one?? " "Yes Ethan, you can have one." "Thank you mom." "You're welcome"