Between a week of self-imposed exile due to (feeling like I
was) dying from the flu and a week of traveling over Christmas week, it's easy
to feel like there's several important events that need to be written about.
Chief among them feels like it should be Ethan's continued development.
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| CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT, not 'Arrested Development'! |
What exactly does "Ethan's continued development"
mean? Well, simply put it can mean a lot of different things. First and
foremost though, it means that we officially have a walker.
Since really stringing together his first steps back on the
11th, Ethan has grown more and more confident in his walking. In fact, it's not
uncommon for him to take off trotting across the room in search of a certain
toy or perhaps whoever his favorite person is at that moment. The thing that's
really exciting watching Ethan walk is that he doesn't give up when he falls.
After all, it would be super easy for him to just decide to crawl to his
destination when he falls flat on his face. Instead, he always pulls himself
back up and sets off on his mission again. There's probably a good message
there about never giving up and always achieving one's dreams that I should
remember to bust out when the kids get older. I'll make a note.
Walking isn't the only thing new to Ethan though as we
officially have a stair master. For the record, I am not talking about the American
company specializing in the design and production of fitness equipment for
commercial, light commercial, and home use. And yes, I did steal that
description directly from Wikipedia.
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| Stair Master, not Stair car. |
While Ethan has had the ability to climb up stairs for a
while, his ability to climb down was virtually non-existent. If Bethany or I
would help him make the initial transition from flat ground to the top step, he
could slide down with no problems. However, if left to do that step himself, he could not make it
happen. All he could do is sit on the top step, crawling back and forth from
one side of the step to the other, and whine until someone came to get him.
All of that is now a thing of the past. Now, whenever Ethan
is hit by the desire to go downstairs, he'll turn himself around backwards,
carefully dropping one leg over the ledge. Then, he'll slowly slide the other
leg off the ledge until both are on the step below him. Then, all he has to do
is slide down the stairs on his belly at his leisure. It really is quite the
process to sit and watch and I can't get enough of doing so.
To continue along the theme, there's one more thing that
Ethan has become adept at: playtime. The kid absolutely loves to play. His favorite
by far is to be chased. As soon as a person starts following Ethan down a
hallway, he will start giggling relentlessly as he sneaks sideways glances back
to ensure his pursuer is still following. The best part though is when the
pursuer either ducks into an open room or hides on the stairs. Ethan will then
turn around and cautiously creep back to where he last saw his playmate. As
soon as he lays eyes on that person though, he's off again, laughing maniacally all the
way.
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| Now, that's just alarming. |
Even if I haven't documented the day-to-day minutia of
Ethan's life to the extent with which I did Ellie's, don't think for a second
that I'm not enjoying him. I love the relationship I'm developing with my
little guy. From all of the snuggles that he seemingly wants from me and me
alone to the tickle-filled playtimes, I love it all.
Well, maybe not those instances when he gets super tired and
wants to scream relentlessly. That's not super fun but it's also not super
common either. Maybe I should call it a wash? #DaddyWrite
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