Snowy Days

What a crazy week this week with all the not fun stuff like work, meetings, minor car accidents where crazy women demand cash and threaten to sue but don't want to file a police report all over a 3/4 in scuff mark on a mirror, having the first draft of this entire post become a lost document after an hour of work,etc.! But what a great family week!

On Wednesday we had our big snow storm keeping both Mom and Dad home from work. Mom was completely off but Dad had to work from home (train service was threatened, possibly sleep in office or work from home...not a very difficult decision). Ethan was super excited to get outside the second he saw the snow. The minute after Alex was asleep for his morning nap we were laying on the hats, snow pants, socks and boots. Round one of snow play involved shoveling the white stuff for Mom and building a little snowman for Ethan. Ethan also loved making snow angels, throwing snow and eating eat. Perhaps his favorite games though were throwing the carrots we had brought out for the snowman into the snow to "hide" them and kicking down the snow banks I had just shoveled. Not funny.


Snowman #1

When Alex went down for his afternoon nap we were out for round two. More shoveling for Momma and a bigger and better snowman for Ethan. We then moved on to making a mountain for Ethan to jump off of into the snow, to building an igloo, to turning the mountain into a tunnel. Ethan LOVED the igloo. He kept calling it his new home telling me that his old home (our house) was broken so his new home was more cozy. It was so cozy he even took a "nap" in it. We had a blast!


Snowman #2


My little snow man.


Ethan's new "home"

The depressing part of that evening came at bedtime. Depressing to me that is. As I was tucking Ethan in to bed and leaning down to give him a bedtime kiss, he says, "Momma, I really don't need kisses sometimes." WHAT! I thought this kind of thing happens when little boys are 10, not 2! Momma needs kisses! He did say though, "But I do love you Momma, and here, you can have a hug." Great. Thank you. In the days since he will not let Patrick kiss him either. Occasionally I can sneak in a quick kiss but he quickly remembers his protest and either pretends to wipe it off or pretend to take it off and throw the kiss away. Apparently on his terms we can kiss his cheek. This does not make me very happy but I refuse to make a big deal about it. This is only another test. We are getting used to it.

Another test, battle I should say, that we are winning is the re-potty training battle. Everyone knows of Ethan's past calculated decision on why he did not want to be potty trained and in fact his reasoning for having pull-ups especially for school. I say again I am winning. We started a new charting and ticket system. He gets one ticket for #1 and two tickets for #2. When he gets twenty tickets he chooses a very special activity for us to do. The catch is that for every accident he has, he has to give back the allocated number of tickets. So, he can choose to quit but then he loses everything he earned. Actions have consequences people. Call it real life, call it cruel, it's working. The first two days were a test but in the last five days we have only had two accidents and today he chose to wear big boy pants and gave up the pull-ups. I'm not claiming victory yet but we are definitely winning. So far he has earned a train ride to Daddy's office and a trip ice-skating. He is working on indoor mini-golf. Hey, it's better and cheaper than buying diapers.

Alex just amazes us even more everyday at this age. He got another tooth yesterday, February 12, which brings the count to two. Two adorable bottom teeth. He also started standing unassisted. He is getting very brave with his standing and cruising. Trying to maneuver with only one hand while cruising and of course letting go entirely to stand for several seconds before reaching for assistance has been the big accomplishments for the week. Unfortunately he has now discovered how he can get into things and likes to pull everything out or cupboards and the bookcases. Watch out! Oh the joys of baby-proofing. Living in lock down, gotta love it.


Move along people, there is nothing to see here...

Otherwise, we are happy, almost completely healthy (a few sniffles and coughs), and ready for the long weekend.