He knows how to Eat

I've mentioned this in a previous post about the big jumps in reasoning Ethan has made but I am still not used to how smart he is so I'm going keep talking about it.  This little man is getting smart!

Ethan is really understanding language now so I realized we could start teaching him a few words in sign language.  I started a few days ago using the 'eat' motion whenever we were walking to the kitchen to eat.  After just a few days Ethan started to make the motion on my mouth whenever I said 'eat'.  He understands what the motion means!  He doesn't make it on his own mouth yet and he doesn't do it until I say the word, but he is beginning to understand.  

The really cool part is that he now makes that motion on my mouth whenever I say the words hungry, bottle, eat or food.  So he's not just doing the motion because he knows the sound of the word, but he really does understand what these words mean and they are all related.  I picked the easiest word to starts with (since eating is one of his favorite things to do!) and I'm excited that he picked up on it so quickly because the next words are going to be a bit harder to teach - more, please, thank you.  These are a bit tougher concepts than eating...

Another fun part of the stage Ethan is in is that he is much more affectionate then before.  Until now he hasn't been a very cuddly baby - he is much more interested in looking around and moving than laying his head on my chest and cuddling, even when he was sleepy.  But now, when he gets tired he puts his head down and snuggles for a bit.  I have been waiting for this stage!  He also gives us lots of hugs and kisses now.  

We have a lot of pictures of Ethan on the couch lately because it is his new favorite place to play.  He loves to crawl back and forth, dive into the soft blanket, climb up onto and then fall back off of the armrest.  We've spent a lot of hours lately laughing on the couch.   

Aaron came home last weekend with a new toy for us to play with - a sled!  Aaron and I had a blast sliding down the hills, Malley loved chasing us and Ethan was pretty indifferent about it.  E laughs and smiles when we throw him through the air, so I really thought he'd love sledding down the hill.  I guess that guy has gotten used to his plush ride in the chariott behind us skiing...

Malley on the other hand LOVED it.  She chased after us on the way down and raced us back up.  She still runs with that cute little puppy run so it was adorable to watch her try and keep up with us. 

We also took a short trip up to Hatchers Pass to ski around the old Independence gold mine.  It is a beautiful place with fantastic views across the mountains.  You can see the mine on the right of this picture between the buildings.

We usually ski through trees or along the coast, so it was neat being all by ourselves up above the tree line with untouched snow all around us. 

Clouds rolled in down in the valley behind us, so looking back was nothing but white fluffy clouds and snow.  Very pretty.

It was and hour and half drive out to the pass and luckily Ethan had a new musical book from GG to entertain him most of the way.  We are so lucky to have such a laid back little trooper that we can still take fun weekend trips with him.

Another fun event this week - our wedding gift from my Aunt Becky and Uncle Bob came.  My aunt made this awesome quilt hanging for us.  She MADE this.  We are in complete amazement at how perfect it looks and at all of the time it took to make all the details so perfectly.  It looks gorgeous hanging on our wall.