Ethan is 2-years-and-8-months-old now! The biggest development this month is that he is now Pull-up free at night. I decided that I wanted to try nighttime training him before we set up the bunk beds, since those embedded twin mattresses will not be as easy as a crib sheet to change. For the first week that we abandoned the Pull-ups, he wet the bed every night. Marcus was Super Dad and got up with him and changed the bedding every night. After the first week, things drastically improved and he went to wetting the bed every few days. It's been about six weeks since we started nighttime training and he is almost always dry now.
Ethan has also entered a bit of a rebellious stage this past week or so. We never went through much of the Terrible Two's with Caleb (it was the Terrible Three's with him), but I think Ethan is trying to give us our first taste of that infamous stage right now. Since toddler-hood, Ethan has been mostly eager-to-please and quick to repent of any wrong-doing, but the last week or so he has seemed to delight in disobeying. He is trying my patience and Caleb's patience with his constant mischief, and he is spending way more time than ever before sitting in time-out and alone in his room. He is actually kind of reminding me of a rebellious teenager in that he sometimes gets in this mode where he willfully adds one wrong on top of another, regardless of what consequences I dole out. Hopefully this rebellious streak will fade as quickly as it appeared, but, in case it doesn't, at least I'll be able to remember when it started :)
Lately, Ethan has really enjoyed playing Memory Match with Caleb and me. He has a very good memory and has no problem keeping up. One time he actually beat both of us! (Caleb is used to winning and he was NOT happy about that.) Ethan also likes playing Candy Land, but he doesn't have the attention span to sit through the whole game, so he usually has a puzzle or a book to entertain him on the side while we all play. He's an excellent little multi-tasker. He loves doing jigsaw puzzles now, but most of the ones we have are too complicated for him, so we do them together.
Ethan doesn't eat nearly as much as he used to. (Caleb actually regularly out-eats him now.) He has not become a picky eater, but he just isn't as hungry as he used to be. He has not, however, lost his insatiable curiosity and desire to be a part of everything, so he still begs for any food off anyone else's plate. If someone is eating, he will worm his way onto his or her lap, smile sweetly, and say, "Can we share this together, please?" ("Share together" means one bite for Ethan, one bite for me, one bite for Ethan, etc.) But for all his mooching, he is definitely the first to share anything he has. It is actually kind of hard to get him to eat alone because he wants everyone around him to have some of whatever he has.
Apart from the recent behavioral challenges, he is still such a cheerful, people-oriented little guy. He does not like to be alone at all (being confined to his room is a worse punishment than a spanking for him). He loves it when the whole family is together, and he so much wants everyone to be happy. He frequently goes around asking each person in the family (or the room), "Are you having a good day?" If someone says "no" (trust ornery Caleb for that), Ethan looks chagrined and immediately tries to find out why and then fix the situation. He is the first to notice when someone looks sad or angry. He is our joyful little encourager and connector and we love him so very much!
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