Plums and Thinking Chairs

Having always been a kid who loves fruit, Ethan has recently decided that he really likes plums, and he likes them best if you let them eat them whole, like a big boy. He really delights in this, so we took a few pictures. He now thinks all round fruit (that isn't an apple) is a plum. He almost took a big bite out of a tomato that was on the counter one day. He might have liked that in another circumstance, but not if he was expecting a plum!








Ethan loves watching the Blue's Clues videos, and they've become even more of a favorite lately. Previously, he would take "letters" and act out the part of the show where they get the mail. Usually, when they open a letter the children in the video say "HI JOE!" So, that's what Ethan says when he opens a letter too.

Now, he has his own "Handy Dandy Notebook." It is a spiral notebook where he can slide a crayon into the spiral, just like on the show. He carries it all over the house, stopping occasionally to draw "clues," which are usually circles. He has also turned a small chair that we have into his "Thinking Chair," which is where Joe goes to figure out Blue's Clues. He gets that notebook and sets off running, saying "Thinking Chair" the whole way.




He has been sick again this week with the Croup and an ear infection, but he seems to be perking up and spent much of this evening with his notebook and Thinking Chair.

TCU@Texas

So, September is finally here and with it, FOOTBALL! The Frogs won their first game by shutting out Baylor 27-0. So, we headed on down to Austin the weekend of Sept. 8th to see the Frogs take on the Texas Longhorns. This was a big game for us, against a perennial powerhouse and a team we used to play more regularly, but haven't since the breakup of the Southwest Conference.

We arrived Friday night, and saw some other Frog-faithful at our hotel. Saturday morning we went for breakfast at IHOP, where we found that the entire staff was decked out in Longhorn orange--we stuck out a little in our TCU purple, but we didn't mind. We had a fun morning just hanging out and playing at the pool at the hotel.

MeMe and Pop and Uncle Brad and Aunt Nicole and Cousin Avery arrived Saturday afternoon. Avery had a surprise for us--she is going to be a big sister! We are so happy for Brad and Nicole (and grateful that Nicole is feeling better than she did early on, and could make the trip). Nicole's parents also made the trip, so we set the little ones up with the grandparents, and the big kids headed off for the game.

Parking was a little crazy, as expected, but we found our garage and all was well. There were a lot of people (orange and purple) filling every available inch of space with tailgate parties. We attended one with Brad and Nicole where there was a Horned Frog pinata that all the kids were taking a swing at (they were disappointed when it cracked open and only had a few tootsie rolls inside, along with a lot of miniature liquor bottles)! We also saw a plane flying overhead with a Pro-TCU banner (see the pictures, the word that gets cut off is "cartel").

The game atmosphere was really exciting and the Frogs were doing us proud for the first half, and a little more. Unfortunately, our defense tired of being on the field, and after being up 0-10 at the half and tied 10-10 going into the 4th quarter, Texas proved more powerful and beat us 34-13. We were sad by the loss, but we all had a really great time. We headed to PF Chang's for some food and adult beverages to help us cope.

We finished off the weekend with breakfast tacos at Rudy's with some of the Huckabay cousins, and it was great to see everyone.

More Birthday Photos

Here are just a few more birthday photos, including one of SuperFrog!

Football Practice

With The Frogs' season fast approaching, we are all gearing up for football. Last week the team had two-a-day practices, so Rick took Ethan to watch a couple of mornings before work and daycare. Clearly, Ethan is now a real fan.

On Saturday morning all he could say was "Football Practice?" and look around at everyone like, "hey, we should go!" So, Rick took him again to watch the scrimmage and they had a really good time.

Now, everytime Rick is taking Ethan somewhere he thinks they are going to practice. He reportedly said "Football practice" about 50 times on the way to daycare on Monday morning.

Practices are closed to the public now, so he'll just have to wait two more weeks (11 Days!) like the rest of us to see a real game.

I'm 2!

This weekend we celebrated Ethan's 2nd birthday. We had a party on Saturday for a lot of friends and family. MeMe and Pop were here from Houston and Grammie and Sir made a surprise visit from Colorado to be there for the festivities.

The party was a "Crayon" theme, since Ethan is so fond of coloring. We had a crayon cake and candles, and I covered all the tables with butcher paper, and we put out crayons so the kids could all color.

Everyone had a great time and the kids all played outside even though the temperature was 100+, they didn't care at all. SuperFrog made an appearance again this year (I don't have a picture of him on my camera, so someone else needs to send me one), and was a lot of fun, even though most of the kids were afraid of him. Ethan thought it was okay until he got too close and then he just kept saying, "bye Frog, bye Frog" until he went away.

SuperFrog brought Ethan his first bike, which he didn't want to try until the mascot was gone. But once on it he had a really good time. It is still a little big, but with a little practice he'll be zooming around in no time.

The little man is still tuckered out from all the festivities (including visiting with the grandparents and swimming on Sunday), so we know he had a really good time. Here are some pictures of all the hoopla.

Our Little Tape Recorder

Ethan is like having a tape recorder constantly on, replaying your every word. From Joe saying "Ah Ha!" on Blues Clues, to our saying "Hey Babe" to one another--he picks up everything. Some he incorporates into his vocabulary to be used more regularly. Like the "hey babe" and now "how 'bout," which he says when trying to choose a video to watch or a toy.

He obviously learns a lot by all this repeating. It's how he learned his shapes, numbers, and now he's working on colors. He also learned animal names by repeating them back to the Baby Einstein videos. The only downfall there is that now he thinks any animal with antlers is a Caribou (which sounds like "Tare Boo" when Ethan says it).

Words aren't the only thing he repeats, he also loves to watch the videos with sign language in them and eagerly replays the movements as best he can. His version of the sign for "salon" is a riot that can not be expressed in words--you'll just have to see it for yourself sometime.

As for us, we definitely have the "kid filter" on all our language and discussions now, since there's no telling what he'll repeat to the receptionist at daycare the next morning. :-)

July Photos

I'm trying to find the best way to post some pictures in this blog. Here are some from July.