MOM'S DAY

Mike surprised me and took us all to "Whatta Dish" - a pottery painting shop in Valley Junction in Des Moines - for Mother's Day. We had lots of items to choose from - but Ethan and I decided to each paint a small plate. Then we painted a cupcake plate together to keep up the entertainment. Ethan did an awesome job and painted a great plate for me to hang up in the kitchen. So, once we were done painting, the shop glazes the dishes and fires them in the kiln. A week later we picked them up and they totally cool! The nice thing too is that they are dishwasher safe, so we can actually use them! Unique artwork from your child is the absolute best mother's day gift EVER! And, now I am addicted to the pottery painting place - next time, date night at Whatta Dish.

Before...

Finished product! I actually like Ethan's a lot better than my own (in case you didn't figure it out, mine is the flower one!). His coloring, which is layer upon layer of paint all mixed together, matches the kitchen way better than my dish! Then the cupcake looks really good too for having Ethan's help with it! It's sort of girly, but I don't care!

TULIP TIME

We headed to Pella with our friends, Brock and Tonia, for the Pella Tulip Time! The flowers were beautiful, the town was beautiful, and the food was GOOD! The only thing to compare it to is Veishea at ISU - roads closed off, cheap food vendors everywhere, little shows and attractions all around. We hit up the food vendors - awesome chinese, chocolate covered strawberries, ribeye sandwich, and of course, Ethan had his hot dog and popcorn! THEN, we found heaven - Stroopwafels. Go find a dutch bakery right away - they are delish. It's a flat little sandwich made of a soft waffle cone type taste and warm caramel. YUM!!! Can't wait for next time!

To end the night, we found a spot by the ice cream shop to watch the nighttime parade. All the floats were lit up - including Thomas the Train and a super fun ice cream truck (Pella Windows' float - our friend Brock assisted in the creation of this float!).

BEING GOOFY

Every once and awhile we will head out to West DSM to the furniture mega store just to look around. Plus, they serve free cookies and lemonade! Ethan is a smart little guy - aren't you supposed to dunk your cookies? This is Ethan dunking his chocolate chip cookie in his ice water - and he did this to finish off the whole thing!

Apparently Ethan and Daddy didn't have anything to do....So, they got out the wrapping paper and tape. Ethan loved it! Daddy helped him up and he grabbed the empty paper roll and paraded through the house. They always say that you are the best toy your child will ever have - I'm just a little worried that Daddy may teach Ethan to think too much.....

FOR THE RECORD...

For the record...those chairs that Ethan uses to develop his 'creativity' have officially been chucked into the basement. I told him he wasn't mature enough to use them properly, so we will bring them back next year. Yes, I used the word 'mature' with my 2 year old. Oh boy.....

HAPPY EASTER

The Easter Bunny visited Grandma and Grandpa's house in Spencer! He left Ethan some golf clubs and a hippo pillow pet. Not to mention plenty of eggs to hunt for! Let's just say he was more content hitting the eggs with the golf clubs! Maybe we will think egg hunting is fun next year...

Easter egg hunt at Great Aunt Carolyn and Great Uncle Doug's house. It was such a nice day to be outside and enjoy the backyard! We had to coax Ethan along - he got distracted with a stick....in which he would hit eggs with!

OH! There's candy in here???

Ethan and Grandma Nancy

BUBBLES! He tries so hard to blow bubbles but he ends up blowing air up into his face (like he is getting hair out of his eyes!). Then little Aliviah (purple stripes, red hair) - she would try to blow bubbles by sticking the whole wand in her mouth - she had bubbles all over her face! AH, gucky!

OH, JUST A REGULAR DAY

One of many pouting moments....

We went to a birthday party today - Ethan managed to sneak over and get a total of 3 cupcakes (he probably only ate a total of 2). He got really mad when he went over for a 4th time and it was time to go home. He screamed for cupcakes all the way home. We put him down for a nap - he slept for about 3 hours! He woke up fussing and asking for cupcakes. Ugh - I can't win for nothing! Well, we don't have cupcakes, so he just had to be mad. Then he started asking to go to Kim's house (daycare). Ugh - I really can't win! So, Daddy jumped in and chased him with a piece of string cheese - to the point where Ethan was yelling "mine cheese!" Ah, situation averted! Are you exhausted??? I sure am!

Daddy and Ethan decided to put together 2 model cars today. Ethan really likes to "crash" things - oops! Maybe not age appropriate! Ethan is playing nicely (for now) with his jeep they put together - a chip clip is sitting in the drivers seat. I'm not entirely sure what his obsession is with chip clips these days!

Something was funny - but caught this rare smiley moment of father and son!

Random funny moment - Ethan is quite animated (not sure where he gets that from!), Ethan will pretend sneeze (just yell A-CHOO), and a very sweet "a-me" (excuse me) afterwards. But, when he actually sneezes, he doesn't understand saying "a-me".

Did you know chairs are not for sitting? They are to assist you in climbing onto the counter to get the candy that is sitting on top of the microwave. I'll have to post a pic of the top of our fridge soon - it's packed! We are in real trouble when he gets taller and uses a dining room table chair to reach up there!

Ok, mommy must be nuts. Chairs ARE for sitting. Would anyone like to venture a guess as to what happened next? Yep, he jumped from this position onto the ottoman. I told daycare, if I get a phone call that he has broken his arm, will NOT be surprised. Cross your fingers that we hopefully can dodge that sort of injury!

Oh, Ethan. Age 2, my favorite.

EASTER EGG COLORING

We had to miss out on VEISHEA activities in Ames this year due to windy weather....so we improvised and found a different fun activity.....

Daddy bought a 'spin art' Easter egg coloring kit - so we figured this would be the cleanest way to dye eggs with a 2 year old! Especially since he wanted to do it himself!

We had a plastic bunny bag that you were supposed to use to take the egg out of the machine. Mommy started off doing this, until Ethan decided to take charge!

He was really good about getting it out and putting the eggs back in the carton!

Happy Easter from the Dean's! :)

HIATUS COMPLETE

I'm back! After a month hiatus, I have returned to the blog. I have found my new energy - Spring is here! We have been juggling our schedules and trying to stay a step ahead of our 2 year old. Unfortunately, our life just isn't that exciting any more (not that it really was before) - but the pictures seemed to be the same ol', same ol'. Plus, I would forget where I put the camera.

So, my hope is to be back weekly or every other week now that we have a variety of things to do with nice weather.

Next weekend is VEISHEA at ISU - parade, yummy food, and the Spring Cyclone football game. Then Easter....then Jessi's graduation....then the DSM Farmers Market opens back up....then Mother's day (Mike, this is a hint to start your creative thinking)....then Daddy's birthday....then our long Memorial Day weekend. LOTS going on here in the next few months!

Now....if I could only find those little cleaning fairies to do some Spring cleaning! Enjoy the new pictures and posts!

OUTSIDE!

Being a 2 year old, Ethan is really good at throwing a tantrum! Any time he is outside and has to go inside - whoa, watch out! So, before we went out today, we had a little chat... Ethan, listen to mom for a minute (as I have done the little 'mom clap' of my hands to make my subtle point), we will go out and play, but when it's time to come inside, you just need to come inside - don't get mad, ok? Ethan (copying my body language - the little clap of my hands and sarcastic head nodding-with a smirk) - o-tay mom, GO! And he runs to the door with his arms flailing in the air. So, what happened when we came inside??? I'll let you use your best guess.....

SLIDE!!!

The slide is his favorite - even at water parks!

Up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down, up and down.......

2 years old

THE DOG...

Is Maggie a Friend or Foe?

Is ETHAN a friend or Foe???

(Ethan is trying to use a chip clip to clip Maggie's ears up)

Always eating....sometimes!

Mmmm, yogurt. One of Ethan's favorites - until he discovered ice cream.

Eeewww. Gucky. We have heard this a lot lately! Sorry to the spaghetti fans, but he has moved on from that (at least the last time we served it) - he didn't touch it - it was 'gucky.' New favorites - chocolate milk (even if it's 90% white milk, with a chocolate milk topper, he is totally content), hot dogs, french fries, chips and carrots (with a bit of dip), and mandarin oranges. Forget macaroni and cheese or eggs (at least at home - he eats everything under the sun at daycare!).

Oh yes, and did I mention that he loves popcorn! I brought home the 'leftovers' from the movie theatre and he was all over it! I have to make popcorn after he goes to bed if I want a chance at having at least a bite! He is not his mother's child at all! ;)

Age 2 :)

BRIBES AND MORE

Victory! Ethan sits on potty chair for first time...

After an abundance of tears and fears, we were finally able to bribe Ethan to sit on the potty chair! YAY! What did it take? Girl scout cookies... sigh. Once on the potty, we gave continuous cookies and juice, and ran the sink water. But, nevertheless, no potty for the potty chair. Oh well, we still look at this as a big stepping stone. Our baby is a big boy now!!!

2 years - 2 months

Silly Ethan - we played a 'game' this morning. Climb up the back of the couch using his little table/chairs...

Roll onto the top of the couch and giggle, giggle, giggle as mommy is saying 'I'm gonna get you!'

Roll onto Mommy and 'kickle, kickle' (Ethan's way of saying tickle!).

Another fun Ethan moment this weekend - he will finally refer to himself as 'neeh-nan' (Ethan) rather than 'bee-bee' (baby). Although, he still reminds us he is the baby :)

NEW STUFF

Ethan's Big Boy Bed. Daddy's cute circle project for the "nursery" is officially now a steering wheel wall! Those will probably have to come down sometime this year. And yes, he has tried to climb them, but it's relatively difficult, so he has not pursued it further.

Mommy's little jewelry model! Ethan has always played with the jewelry that I am wearing, so we got the bin out and I let him decide how he wanted to wear it!

Where is all the jewelry from? This past month I signed up to become an independent advisor for lia sophia jewelry! I was looking for a hobby that wouldn't cost me money, so I found one that makes a little money!

Here is the boy's take on trying on jewelry....find the golf ball and lint roller. He was hitting the golf ball around with the lint roller, then he was trying to balance the ball on top of the lint roller. Then he found out that he could stick his toe in there. Then as I was trying to take pictures, he would point the lint roller really close to the camera. See, how quickly his creative mind moves!

THE LATEST...

Latest updates with the Dean family!

Ethan sure keeps us busy, busy, busy! But, we sure are having fun along the way! He is talking more and more, and learning everyday. Here's a few recent stories...

We read the Dr. Seuss ABC book almost every night, Ethan reads all the letters and we are working on remembering what starts with what letter. So, when we get to M - what else starts with M? Mommy! But when we get to G, and I say, Grandma and Grandpa, he scrunches his eyebrows and tells me no. I suppose because he thinks it's' A-ma and Papa' - that doesn't start with G, crazy mommy!

With the mention of bedtime, Ethan also has a new 'must-have' at bed time. The dog. We also read the "Going to Bed Book" and when we get to the 2nd to last page, he starts yelling "Ge-Ge, GE-GE" (translated - Maggie, MAGGIE!). The unfortunate part, the dog does NOT want to be in his room! So, sometimes the dog sneaks out with me (we make sure the room light and the hall light are off, so we can trick Ethan), or I just explain to Ethan, that Maggie wants to sleep in her own bed. Or, there are times that the dog just needs to live with it until Ethan falls asleep! Who knows what will be next!

Potty training is, well, not happening. I have been trying to encourage him to tell me when he needs to potty, or when I change his diaper we talk about how its yucky to potty in your pants, and so forth. Just lots of talking to hopefully catch his interest. Well, the other day, it was clear that he was working on #2 - here's how this conversation went...

Mommy: Do you need to go sit on the potty?

Ethan: No.

(I asked him a couple more times in different ways, still no.So, I wait until he is done.)

Mommy: Did you go poop? Do we need to change your diaper?

Ethan: No.

Mommy: You didn't poop? Are you lying?

Ethan: (pause, then small sigh), yeaaaaaa, I lying.

Yep, I sure thought that was a stinky little lie! We'll get there...

He is still a food lover - well, junk food with the occasional banana. He sees a McDonalds 2 blocks away and he is yelling (Fies, FIES!) We don't even eat it that often! And, randomly he will ask for Hi-Keam (Ice Cream). It used to be 'I key cone' but switched to "Hi-Keam." We headed to Spencer last weekend, and we went to my parents house. The minute we walked in he asked for "cheese." Cheese? What? My mom always seems to have string cheese, and that's what he remembers about her house! And last, but not least, he has a crazy 2 year old way of saying 'chocolate milk" - I cannot even repeat it or put it into words, but anytime he says it, I know exactly what he means. I guess its one of those special mommy/son communication systems! :)

There's a few laughs for you! I will post some pics above!

PLAY TIME

Concentrating very hard with his workbench project...

Oh wait, nevermind! We are so over this....onto playing with cars.

He gets his tub of cars out very carefully...

Oh wait, did I say carefully? Big crash! Cars everywhere!

Cars? Who's playing with cars? The tub is more fun!

2 years old