15 Months

I know parents say this about every age of their children, but Ethan is at such a fun age!  Ethan is 15 months this week and is a happy, funny, rambunctious little man.  He makes his dad and I laugh so much and our favorites times are when we're all together playing, running and laughing around the house.

Ethan watches us so intently lately at everything we do - cooking, dressing, shaving, playing, even sitting in chairs - and imitates.  He mimics EVERYTHING we do!  His favorite is to get pots out of the cabinet, put them on the stove (with help), put food in them and use a spoon to stir it around (he even tries to turn the stove on...).  He pretends to hammer 'nails' into boards and fish with sticks.  He shaves like Daddy, puts on lotion like Mommy, makes facial expressions like Daddy and sound effects like Mommy.  He even crawls and carries things in his mouth like Malley.

His coordination has matured so much in the last few months!  He eats with a fork very well and in the last few weeks has found success with a spoon - he stopped doing a funky little turn of his wrist at the end so even liquids make it to his mouth.  :)  His favorite is using a fork, even with a PBJ sandwich...  He doesn't need sippy cups anymore because he has figured out that you shouldn't tip the cup until it reaches your lips.

He makes a funny little face and an 'eeckgh' sound when he spills something, gets his hands dirty, or sees something messy.  He does not like to be dirty, which is funny because he loves to play in the dirt!

He plays hard and is still a fantastic sleeper and eater to keep up his energy.  He loves to be chased around the house and yard.  His absolute favorite thing to do is throw rocks, and his arm is actually getting pretty good!  He gets very serious when he finds a new toy as he checks it out and figures out how it works.  As part of his mimicing stage, he gives a toy to me, sees how I play with it, takes it back and does the same.  We spend a lot of time lately putting different shapes in holes that match them.  He is at the beginning of figuring out how things match up.  It is truly amazing to watch their brains learn!

Ethan has entered the stage where he loves looking and playing with animals.  He gets excited when he sees any dog, loves going to the zoo and is completely amazed by the chickens in one of our friends yard.

Ethan isn't saying many words yet and went through a funny little phase where he stopped babbling syllables and only grunted or said 'eh eh eh' to communicate what he wanted.  He has gotten amazing well at communicating without being able to speak words (he signs a few words, which helps!).  He points, grunts, pulls our finger and mimics whatever he is trying to say to us or get us to do.  In the last week or two he has started babbling syllables again, which sound like actual words but we have no idea what they mean!

E and Daddy playing in a park after work:

E playing the yard on a sunny day:

Malley, warming on the rocks...like a lizard.  :)