KING OF THE CROUP

Ethan came down with croup this week. Apparently, some kid was sharing a whole lot more than toys in the nursery (a few of my friend's kids came down with croup as well). After he had trouble breathing during the night, we made a quick trip to visit his Dr. the next morning. The prognosis was good - he'll survive. ( : They gave us a couple doses of a low dose steroid to minimize the swelling in his throat (or something) & sent us on our way. Ethan's seal cough is going away, so we can all be thankful about that.

It's been a while (if I've ever even done it before...) since I've recorded recent Ethan-isms, so I thought I better get them down before I forget:

- Ethan is good at using his Please, Thank you & Welcome. Lately, he'll say "Thank You, Welcome" with a slight pause in between. I wonder if he offered the thanks one time and didn't hear the "Welcome" and decided he'd just start taking care of both...it could've happened. Secretly, I love when he does this - it makes me smile every time.

- When he's ready for me to carry him around, or if he's gotten hurt or something he'll say "Hold you Mommy"

- He frequently says "No Way" instead of offering a simple No. This happened for the first time months ago when I was trying to convince him to eat more yougart - he held out both hands in front of him and said "NO WAY!". I'm not sure where he picked that up, but he certainly uses it a lot these days - and I often have to hold in the laughter.

- "Jesus, Beam" is one of his favorite songs as of late. (He loves Jesus, which is great. He requests that I sing "Jesus wants me for a Sunbeam" repeatedly as I rock him or prep him for bed/naps. He sings all the Beam sections, along with the word school & play). When I think he's asleep, I'll often stop singing & then, with eyes closed - he gets out the word "BEAM". ( :

- Since he was a little boy, I've said "Who does mommy (or daddy) love" and he says "me, me, me". It's one of our VERY favorite things.

- He loves the cartoon Wonder Pets (which he simply refers to as "the pets"). One day I got a portion of a song that the pets sing stuck in my head and I sang "What's going to work" and Ethan sang "TEAM WORK". (if you've ever seen this show, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about).

- If I happen to sit down in a spot that Ethan has reserved for himself (or one of his animals), he'll put his hand on my side and say "Move please"...and sometimes just "MOVE."

- When there is any indication that ice cream is available, he'll frantically make the sign for ice cream (which looks like he's licking a cone). This kid doesn't miss a thing.

- He's obsessed with drawing these days. He can color for hours & usually wants others to join in the fun. He'll carry colored pencils in his hand saying "Daddy, draw" or "Mommy, color - paper". He's very focused & acts like he's really drawing things. ( :

- He recognized photos of his cousin Rachel & sometimes says her name almost constantly. I really need to call her and let her hear it for herself..."Rachel - cousin". He can also say all his other cousin's names, some of which are very hard.

- He adores Scot's cousin, JD. He just moved back to CO from Manhattan & lives close by. Everytime he comes over, Ethan runs for him calling "JD" and immediately requests that they "play". It's sweet, and JD is so good with him.

I think that ought to cover it for today. I could go on and on, but there's no need. I'm sure I'll catch some of the other stuff down the road.