Like Father, Like Son

For the last few TCU football games, Rick has taken Ethan up to the press box to watch the game from there. Ethan is not as adversely affected (i.e., screaming and crying) from the noise up there. He's been really good and knows that he has to "be quiet up there." So, Rick and Ethan have been enjoying the games from a new vantage point. Mommy sits in the regular seats because she wouldn't be as good as Ethan about being quiet when she wanted to cheer for her team!

Expressing His Emotions

Lately I've been hearing Ethan say, "You blocked it!" quite a lot. I'm not completely sure where it came from, but now I know why he's saying it.

Today, at church, during a screaming fit because he wanted Mommy to change him but wanted to do it in the Men's Room. I would neither a) go get Daddy in the middle of the sermon after Ethan had already pitched a fit about wanting Mommy and not Daddy, nor b) take him in the Men's Room:

E: "I want to go in there! Not this one! Not this one!"
M: (Picking E up and taking him to the Ladies Room) "I'm sorry, but Mommy can't go in there."
E: "You blocked it!"
M: "Is that what you say when you're mad at me?"
E: "Yes. It. Is."

Mystery solved.

Update: Could it be that he got this from Charlie Brown and what he is really repeating is "You Blockhead!"? Probably. Guess we should put an end to that one.

Spineless?

While watching a PBSKids segment about animals during Curious George:

E: "Backbones."
D: "Yes, vertebrae. Ethan, do you have a backbone?"
E: "No. I have a face."
M: (snickering) "I'm pretty sure you can have both."

Hat Day

This week, something really appalling happened at work.

An employee in my deptartment who has ovarian cancer and has been going through chemo went to Human Resources to ask for a handicap parking sticker because she's pretty weak and having a hard time getting around. While she was there the HR representative told her she was in violation of the dress code because she was wearing a cap. The employee told her she has cancer and has no hair. HR Lady said it didn't matter, that there was no provision for cancer in the policy and that she would give her one week to get a wig. The employee said the only wig she had was her daughter's and it was in Nevada. HR Lady said she would give her a Fed Ex box.

The employee (very hurt and upset) reported the incident to her manager and she to the Director of our department. HR Lady originally denied the incident, saying that the employee must have misunderstood, and even after being confronted by several managers, never really admitted to any wrong doing (at least to anyone I've talked to). However, HR Lady's boss clearly knew it was inappropriate, because she called the employee and apologized, telling her that she should wear whatever makes her comfortable.

Everyone who hears this story can hardly believe it, and most people here really wanted to do something for the employee. Our facilities manager, who recently lost his wife to the same cancer, brough scarves and a couple of wigs for her. And the rest of us? We declared it hat day! Because certainly, with all that she has been going throuhg, she doesn't need to feel belittled or lonely. The whole department donned their most stylish/funny/ridiculous headwear for the day, and as other departments found out, some were able to run home or borrow hats to join in as well. We took a group picture that is below, and the employee felt nothing but love and support and she got a copy of the picture in a frame with a mat we all signed.

Stripes

Ethan has noticed that I have lines on my forehead and that they get more pronounced in certain situations or with certain emotions. Since he's so in tune to people's emotional states lately, he is also paying a lot of attention to what he calls my "stripes."

E: "Are you mad Mommy?"
M: "No, Ethan, I'm not mad."
E: "But you have stripes."
M: "Yes, but I have stripes all the time--when I'm happy (big smile), when I'm thinking hard (furrowed brow). Not just when I'm angry."
E: (smoothing his forehead) "I have stripes too!"

The Negotiator

Ethan has started trying to talk his way out of things, eating his dinner, naps, the usual. He has apparently picked up some of my habits of speech because when he's really trying to talk you into something it goes like this:

M: "No, Ethan, it is nap time. You need to go to sleep."
E: "Here's the thing Mommy. . . ."

He almost never actually tells you what the thing is though, he just stutters around repeating, "Here's the thing."

Last weekend I told him I didn't care what the thing was, he needed to take a nap. To which he retorted: "I LISTENED TO YOUR THING!"

Halloween

Well, Ethan was recovering from a cold and Mommy and Daddy were just starting to feel the germs, but we managed to head out for some trick-or-treating in our neighborhood. Ethan wore his red dragon costume, and I'm still dressed in my costume from work. We had a board game theme this year and my team chose Trivial Pursuit. I was representing the Arts and Literature category, so I'm dressed as Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Rick is dressed as Coach Gary Patterson, untied shoelaces and all.

Halloween Preparation

As if we weren't busy enough the weekend of Oct. 24th, we had all our Halloween preparations to do too. So, we baked and decorated cookies (Ethan had seen some pictures lately of our Valentine ones and was wanting to do it again), and carved the pumpkins. It was a lot of fun.

Cookies



Pumpkins

Kids' Place Carnival

For the 2nd year in a row, we enjoyed a Fall Carnival at Kids Place with Ethan.

TCU Homecoming

The weekend of Oct. 24th was a busy one. We started it on Friday with Ethan's day care carnival, TCU Homecoming parade and Frog Fest, and on Saturday we celebrated Cris's birthday and the Homecoming Football game.

Parade


Frog Fest



Game

Weekend in Houston

We traveled down to Houston to celebrate Avery's 3rd birthday a week early. We got to see MeMe and Pop as well, and had fun with cousins Avery and Madi at the Children's Museum and their church's Fall Carnival. Ethan thought everything was cool if he could do it with Uncle Brad.



Museum




Carnival