Dear Etrain,
As I alluded to last month, this month started fun, but still pretty rough. You had your annual doctor's appointment and it was prefect since you were still getting over that flu. The doctor said everything was great (31 lbs. and 38.5 in. tall) except you had a minor ear infection and needed antibiotics. I wasn't very excited to give you antibiotics, but I also know you don't want to mess with ear infections...so we did it. Let's just say it was the longest 10 days of my life. You had already been cranky for the past two weeks, but I'm positive that this medication took you to a whole new level.
Ethan, I was honestly scared. Or worried. Or stressed. Or all of the above. You were a different kid. You've been favoring your dad recently, but now you almost wanted nothing to do with me. And when you did it was brief. You fought back on everything. Like everything. Any little question or instruction was a battle. You screamed, kicked, and had the most ridiculous tantrums. Nothing seemed to make you happy. They say you either get terrible twos or terrible threes. You were great for two, so I was gearing myself up for a really long year of terrible threes.
Grammy flew into town the same day as your doctors appointment. She wanted to be here for your birthday party and Christmas. As I mentioned in another post, your had a good time at your party, but you were definitely off your game. Christmas was also a little rough. We had lots of fun times, but you were also quite cranky too. Usually you love driving around and looking at Christmas lights, but each time we tried you complained. Christmas day you were a gem...most of the day. Probably because you had a bunch of awesome toys to play with.
We were a little off with giving you your medicine twice a day at the right times (whoops), so it actually drug out longer than 10 days, but I swear the day after your last dose of antibiotics, my sweet baby boy was back. I may have even cried from relief. It never even occurred to me that it would be the medicine because you seemed otherwise healthy...at least toward the end. Anyway, I'm glad it's over and we're all feeling better...and that terrible threes aren't really a thing...yet (hopefully not). I've also learned my lesson on antibiotics.
Well, now I've made it sound like Grammy's whole trip here was terrible...and that's not true. You were on that medication the whole time, and you were...whatever you were, but we had plenty of fun too. You had plenty of silly bonding time with Grammy in addition to your birthday and Christmas festivities. We took her to My Gym one day. She took us out to dinner one night. We ran plenty of errands, had tons of meals, and of course you two had your usual photo shoot. You were somewhat cooperative. Historically you aren't as you can see here, here, and here.
See, you were fun and silly sometimes too.
After Christmas we had some down time because you were out of school, so we went to the park a few times.
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| So happy to take photos with mom. |
This was how we celebrated on New Year's Eve. You went to bed at your usual time. Dada and I rented a movie and Dada fell asleep about 20 minutes before midnight. So I of course had to post a photo of him sleeping before the countdown to the new year. As you can see I woke him up...maybe 10 seconds before the stroke of midnight. Then we took some silly photos and went to bed. Yes, your parents are weird, but we're also pretty fun.
Not sure what was happening here except usual dinner time silliness.
This play bus was set up in the grocery store one day and you insisted on showing it to me...then playing in it. Cute boy.
You still love your buddy, Carson. We met him at a new park with a pirate ship jungle gym. I'm pretty sure Carson is pointing to the treasure you two were looking for.
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| Two peas in a pod. Ha. |
Dada took the next set of photos. One morning you helped him take down the Christmas decorations we had up outside. You must have also had a bath at some point and Dada gave you a slick hairstyle.
It's been cold so Dada and I have been wearing beanies to keep warm. You've enjoyed putting them on as well.
After all the parties and holidays...and sicknesses, we wanted to get away for a little bit, so we packed up for Las Gaviotas. This was your 5th time there. You can get links to other past trips to Las Gaviotas here. We booked it last minute so we stayed in a different house and were only there for one full day, but it was still great to get away and do something fun. Dada's friend Danny came with a buddy and we had a mellow time hanging with them.
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| This was when dad took my phone because he said he wanted to take some photos of you and I together. |
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| Morning juice. I hope you know what a lucky little boy you are, son. |
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| Gorgeous sunset the second night. |
This photo shoot was a pleasant surprise. You WANTED to take photos and sat there smiling like a little dream boat.
No matter what, I love you always, son. Even if you're a little turd. You were quite the turd at the beginning of the month. I really hated battling with you, but mostly I didn't like when you told me you didn't love me and you didn't want to hug me. Oh man that was hard. You are (usually) the sweetest, most affectionate, little boy and I've always loved that about you. Please keep it up. Mama needs a hug.
Looking forward to more fun my little monkey.
Love,
Mama
P.S. You and I occasionally play on social media. Instagram has some funny things you can do to the video. In this case it zooms in and adds dramatic music. You didn't quite seem sure about it at first, but, well, you'll see...
P.P.S I sort of grazed over your annual checkup. As I mentioned all was good. They always give us a handout listing where you should be and what to look forward to in the next year. According to this handout, you're a rock star. Of the 23 things you should know some of (all are not expected), you only struggle with 4:
- brushing teeth with help (you need a lot of help)
- pedaling bike or tricycle (not interested every time we try)
- copies a circle with a pencil (this one is questionable, you'd probably be decent)
- dresses self without help (you still need a little help, but you're close)
Otherwise you can: feed yourself with a spoon and fork, parent understands your speech 75% of the time (I understand you 95%), copy a line, pull shirt over head by himself (sometimes you get stuck, but who cares), ascends stairs without assistance (although you like to be carried sometimes), use sentences of 3 or more words, catches a large ball, names friends, toilet trained daytime, builds towers with 8 or more blocks (more like 20+), kicks a ball (all over the place), strangers can understand speech well (many people comment how well spoken you are), plays make believe (usually with cars, but you give them personalities and jobs to do), sorts objects by shape and color (could probably do that over a year ago), knows name, age, and gender (and address), can identify 3 colors correctly (you can for sure do the rainbow and more), will take turns or "beginning to share" (ha, you've been doing that forever too), and knows ABCs or other rhymes (you were pointing out letters when we lived in the apartment...so I think you weren't even 2 yet).
As a side note...we actually sing the ABC song every day and night before nap and bed. Once you started understanding words, I had to change the song I was singing (Bohemian Rhapsody), and since I don't know many songs I just did the ABC song because it was easy. For a while we added in Wheels on the Bus, and Twinkle Twinkle little star, but you liked ABC the best. Been singing it for as long as I can remember now. It's just part of the bedtime routine.
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