Learning to be Independent

Ethan did very well at Sunday School this last Sunday. He was again able to go to his class without Mommy or Papi by his side. Last Sunday was the 3rd week in a row that Ethan became independent in his Sunday School class. We are very proud of him. We tried 2 times before we didn’t have to accompany Ethan in his Sunday School class We hope that he stays that way. Thank you to Ethan’s teachers and helpers who also helped a lot and for caring for Ethan. May God bless your ministry.

Cool Cuts for Kids

Ethan got his first hair cut at a salon this last Saturday (09/26/09). I usually cut his hair from birth until last August (the last time i cut his hair). Since my mom and mother in law ask me to have a different hair style for Ethan, I'd figure to take him to a salon. I booked Ethan at 10:00AM. We had to make an appointment, or otherwise, the waiting would be quite long. Ethan's name was called up. We sat him on this car chair with TV on in front of him. The hair stylist came and forced to buckle the seat belt, Ethan started crying and struggled. Then the hair stylist forced to button the cloth cover and Ethan struggled and cried even more. We didn't force him any further. We let Ethan go and I tried to calm him down. Cool Cuts is specially designed for kids. The salon is designed with car and train chairs for the kids to sit on while they have their hair cut. They have TV in front of the each chair. They also have TV/game sets and Thomas The Train table set on the waiting area.

Anyway, then another hair stylist came and approached me, she’s much nicer than the 1st one. I told her that Ethan needed to see someone else got his or her hair cut 1st since this was Ethan’s 1st hair cut at the salon. She agreed to let Ethan watch other kids got their hair cut. After a while, I decided to try Ethan again and called the nicer hair stylist. I told her that I think Ethan would be more comfortable to sit on my lap rather than having a hard of time trying to sit Ethan down and buckle him. Ethan does not like to be forced and buckled up. So i sat on the chair and had Ethan on my lap and it worked! It took probably about 10 minutes to cut his hair and we did it. I was so very happy and delighted with the result. Ethan also understands that he got a new hair cut and he looks handsome.

Very good job Ethan. Way to go!

Give Thanks

We give thanks to the Lord for He is good and faithful. We thank Him everday for all of his blessings and protections in our life. We thank God everynight for blessing us with a wonderful son. We ask for God's wisdom in teaching and taking care of Ethan so he will someday be a man of God who loves and obeys Him. We pray that God will prepare Ethan to go to preschool next year, to be independent, to have good friends and teachers that will love him, to cheer Ethan up when he misses us at school, to listen to his teacher and to love going to school from day 1 until he finishes his education in the future. We pray also that God will help us in teaching Ethan to be independent by going to school and have a piece of mind when he's at school.

God is IMMANUEL.

2 years and almost 4 months old (1 week short)

Ethan has been into counting these last couple of weeks. Mommy would ask him how many butterflies, elephants, ants, turtles, etc in his reading books, and he would count them one by one correctly, up to 5. If the page has more than 5 pieces of elephants for example, he would then count them: one, two, one, two..one, two...he gets impatient if there's too many of them in 1 page. Ethan upgrades his puzzle skill to 12 puzzles. I used to wonder when Ethan could settle down to do 1 activity that requires focus and patient, since he's a very active boy. However, as he grows older, he's more focused and have more patient in doing 1 activity. He can concentrate more. He also loves us reading stories before going to bed. Believe or not, he loves mommy to read "Monsters Inc" before going to bed everynight. He remembers Monsters Inc character's name, Sully, Mike, Boo and Randall. He can help mommy tell the stories. Mommy usualy read the stories and stop so that Ethan can fill in the blank.

Example:
Mommy: "Mike is having a dinner with his girlfriend named..."
Ethan: "Celia".
Mommy: "It was her..."
Ethan: "birthday party"
Mommy: "And Mike wanted to make it..."
Ethan: "special"
Mommy: "but Mike had a tons of reports to hand in to....."
Ethan: "Roz"
Mommy: "to lady collector of..."
Ethan: "paperwork"

Ethan still loves ball. He's getting better with playing basketball. Oftenly, he would shoot the ball and score. He also can differentiate slow and fast movement. Singing fast and slow, walking fast and slow.

Ethan enjoys music very much. He would sing better with music on (papi playing the piano), meaning that he would sing his ABC's from start to finish with piano on.

2 years, 3 1/2 months old

Mommy is super happy. Since last weekend, Ethan was able to sleep thru the night without asking for his milk. Yeaaahhhh! We substituted milk with water and Ethan is okay with it. We've been trying to let go of his milk during night time since he was 1 1/2 years but no success until last week. I guess as Ethan grows older, his own body realizes that he can tolerate no more milk during night time. Way to go, Ethan.

As far as potty training, it's still in the work. Now, Mommy tried potty train Ethan during night time, it did work 1 night, but Mommy was not able to get good sleep since she was so nervous that Ethan would have accident. Mommy woke Ethan up twice that night to go pee and he peed on his potty with his eyes closed. Anyway, Mommy decided to train Ethan during weekend nights only since Mommy's afraid not getting enough sleep at nightime and would feel sleepy at the office. Mommy would also like to try potty train when we go out as well this weekend. Potty train has been fun, challenging and also tiring. We just have to be constant at it.