Elmo White Eyes

Ethan is slowly starting to put together three word sentences. This morning, he pointed to his plush Elmo's (nearly the same size as he is) eyes and said, "Elmo, white, eyes".

My little Noomsie is growing up. He still blabbers his own speach most of the time that no one understands. But every now and then, you get the feeling he is answering you with real words.

Ethan is getting better at counting from one to ten. He still hesitates to say "seven" and skips to eight, but I think more to tease me than anything. Right, Ethan? "seh-VEEN"

My little angel Noomsie.

Ethan Is 22 Months

Ethan turned 22 months this past week, and his mama turns 30 years on Friday. [sorry no pic as apparently I have reached my allowable limit for loading photos on this blog ... time to start another one?]

Ethan's speech is developing more and more each day, although for the most part we still cannot understand what he is saying. He can now put two words together with his more favorite sayings being "all gone" and "my car". His most favorite thing in the world right now? Cars. Every waking moment is "kah", "kah" - like a British person not pronouncing the letter "r".

He runs faster, and is starting to test his jumping abilities.

He can identify certain letters of the alphabet like "O" and "U" and "Q", among others. He can also count to ten. Well, sort of. He "skips" four and quickly says "five", does the same with seven for eight, but otherwise says the other eight numbers.

He weighs 24 pounds and his eating habits are still hit or miss. Oh well. What can you do?

2,044!!!

I just posted a short video of my garden on YouTube and couldn't help but go back to my older video uploads of Ethan. One video, titled "Allah'u'Abha" has received 2,044 views! Hahaha .. I seldom check up on my videos to see if people are viewing them, since I only really post them on YouTube to then get the HTML code to embed the video on this blog. 2,044!!! In case we all forgot what this video looked like, I post it again here :-P

Mwah! (kiss) My noomsie.

Kiddie Pool

The past few days have been really hot. So hot, in fact, and yielding much to my going crazy, it was better (if not safer) staying indoors.

But who wants to be cooped up at home on a weekend when there are places to go, things to be doing? By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, and realizing that in a short, few hours we'd be back at work, we braved the 95F degree heat and headed for the swimming pool.

About 5 minutes from our home is a local park that has a pool - a large one, and a small one for kids. A small admission fee later (kids under 3 go in for free) and we were soaking in the warm water, baking under the summer sun. Sorry, no pictures.

After getting Ethan all lotioned up with sunscreen, we were well on our way to splashing around in the water and having some fun. At least given what Ethan normally does during bath time I expected this from him. But, no. Instead, Ethan was content just wading in the pool, very apprehensive about moving even a step or two away from me (or Kelly).

It wasn't long when someone recognized us. A coworker noticed Kelly and immediately joined us at the kiddie pool, and other kids followed. This only made Ethan more clingy, intently staring down anyone who dared come close to him. When a couple children left the small pool for the bigger one, the renewed or vacated space was destined for exploration.

With trepidation at first, Ethan took his first step in the water (as if learning to walk for the first time all over again). I have to say, even now, walking and running, Ethan doesn't have the greatest of balance. He's a wobbly kid, always prone to tripping over (himself). A few minutes later, Ethan was splashing! Ethan was laughing. Ethan even tried to "dunk" his head under water. Actually, it started first when Ethan tripped and his face went under water. Not really "knowing" what to do, I took my hand to his head and just pushed his face back above (water) surface. Gasp. Sputter. Whine. And a couple more of these incidents, then Ethan started getting the hang of having water up his nose and in his eyes and ears. Not until all this did he start trying to get his face under water intentionally, which later on reduced to kissing the water surface, to stopping 2 inches from the water altogether.

An hour was all we could manage, and probably for the better. Still wet with my shorts, and wrapped in a towel, we got back in to our car and drove home.

Pictures: Ethan's World (And Friends)

The Thrills Of Toddlerhood

Ethan turned 20 months old on May 21st. He still has only just 8 teeth with no obvious signs his molars are coming. As a result he eats very slowly and methodically and "chews" his food with great care and attention.

Everything revolves around Ethan these days. With mom with us the past couple of weeks, I have been fetching Ethan from preschool after lunch to bring him home to be with grandma some afternoons. Grandma has enjoyed having Ethan around, and has done very well introducing him to new foods - like eggplant! (khoresh-e-bademjoon... yum!)

It hasn't been easy, however, the past week or so. Ever since I left for my conference in DC/Virginia, Kelly tells me Ethan has been very cranky and whiny. Ethan rarely eats unless held (unless seriously distracted with other things). When thirsty, he calls/cries/whines/points for his straw cup, gets a hold of it, and passes it off to Kelly for her to hold the cup to Ethan's mouth for him to sip. Talk about picky. Only a mom-held-beverage will do!

Sleep time is a whole other adventure. Ethan's been through sleep-training so many times now, and he is back to the beginning it seems. We have our night-time routine that consists of a bath, some playing, milk, reading books, reading prayers, brushing of teeth, and then goodnight kisses and off to bed. But lately, even as early (in the bedtime routine) as drinking his milk, or being offered his milk, Ethan now realizes he is soon reaching his "curfew" and anticipating the final few steps in his routine, he resists and cries and gets all upset.

Kelly has had to put him in his crib while staying in his room, and often falling asleep in Ethan's room (we have a futon mattress on the floor next to his crib). Usually it is Kelly who sleep trains Ethan (since I cannot stand to hear him cry) but we will wait until after mom's visit to re-sleep train, Ethan.

Just now the crying has started, as Kelly calls Noomsie for his "nay" (milk).

New Video: Ethan Reading

Here's a video mom took of Ethan (20 months) "reading" a brochure/manual. This is just 30 seconds long. Not sure if I can post the 3 minute version. In that longer version, Ethan stops to "catch his breath" and then continues to read "wawawawawa" ..

Chunky Monkey

Ahh .. looking back at old videos of Ethan, it is surprising to see him so rolly-polly actually. What a wonderful stroll through memory lane. You can check all my videos on YouTube. Just search for maxwelleblaghie (I think). Or watch the video (blog entry below) and at the end of the video, you will find small thumbs to other videos (links). Not all are mine, or of Ethan. Just FYI. A full head of hair and just roundness all 'round. Noomsie. Wish we took a more consitent effort to video his progress though. With our family having gone through a lot of life changes in recent past, we missed out on videotaping Ethan from roughly 10MO until the video I just posted with E at 19MO. Will try to do more. Unless I have the video at home but have not posted them? Hmm .. I'll check!

Ethan 19-M.O. Video

Finally, it took sooo long to upload this video but here it is. Ethan at 19 months old. In this video I ask Ethan what various animals say (animal sounds) and Kelly quizes him on his body parts (in chinese). For translation purposes, Kelly asks the following body parts in this order: nose, mouth, teeth, eyes, ears, hair, hand, tummy and foot. Kelly then asks "where are daddy's socks?" to which Ethan replies (in english) "socks" (but you'll have to turn up the volume to hear it). And last, Kelly instructs me to get a box, since Ethan can say "ba-ksss (box)" - again have to put up the volume for that one.

I am not sure how to get the HTML to embed that is specific to my video of Ethan; you will notice also other "Ethan" videos that others have posted (along with older videos I have posted) .... better than nothing :-D

Growing Up

Our Ethan is growing up. He turns 19 months today, and is now in full-time preschool. Today was day one back from "spring break" and Ethan and all his preschoolmates were excited to be back in school. Linda has done a fantastic job the past 7 months or so caring for Ethan. Transitioning to The Learning Depot, we had Ethan with Linda twice weekly (Mondays and Fridays), and now he will be at TLD 5 days a week.

Ethan's favorite or commonly used words are (Ethan's pronounciation in brackets): hi, hello (owww), bye (bah-yee), box, dots, baby (day-dee), mama, papa, ball (bow), deng (din; chinese for 'light'), socks, nay (chinese for 'milk'), si-sieh (chinese for "thank you") ... and of course his favorite word of all, NO!!

Animal sounds: mooo, meow (maow), baaa (ba-ha), woof (woah-woah)...

He understands the following body parts in chinese: hand (sho), foot (tsiao), belly (du-tze), hair (tow-fah), mouth (tsway-pah), teeth (yah-chuh), nose (bee-tze), ears (err-duah), eyes (yen-tsing) and not a body part but related ... socks (wah-tze) ... he doesn't say any of these words (yet) but points to these ..

We have a video but are finding it difficult to post currently...

Moon Sand

This past weekend our family stayed in Atlanta. Kelly attended a cardiology CME on Saturday from 7am-2pm, and thereafter we spent time doing shopping and activities for Ethan.

While Kelly was at the CME course, Ethan and I went back to our hotel which was next door to a Waffle House. Naturally we ate breakfast at the Waffle. It was my first experience having breakfast at one, and I have to say their waffles are pretty good (then again I was totally hungry).

Not knowing that I would smell like I had been sitting in a Waffle House for breakfast for nearly an hour, Ethan and I decided to go to the GA aquarium (the world's largest - I always have to say that it seems) where we have a family pass for one year. The time we bought these passes and took to seeing the aquarium for the first time Ethan was out asleep, only to awake in our final minutes there. This time, he was fully engaged and active, running around, curious, pointing at things, walking up to strangers and nearly begging for what they may be eating, the usual toddler mentality (that everything is entitled to them :-D).

Actually, Ethan was more interested in people than fishes. And afterwards, we walked around Centennial Olympic Park (adjacent to the aquarium, created in 1996 for the Atlanta Olympic games). Simple park, had some play area for children, but we were out so early and it was ever so slightly drizzling that the playground was all misty and wet.

So we went back to our hotel room. Ate lunch. Napped a bit. At 2:30pm we picked up mama and did the same things over again - aquarium and olympic park. We went to Babies R Us for some much needed shopping of 18 month old onesies. Some essentials you just can't have enough of, or, which is likely more accurate, he is going through a lot more clothes as a toddler in preschool when his clothes otherwise gets wet or dirty or both during water play, painting, clay or play doh work or outdoor play. Then for dinner we went to Persepolis (Persian Cuisine) and took our food to go since by that time it was past Noomsie's bedtime. Dinner was Joojeh Kabob (cornish hens) and kashk-e-bademjoon with bread. Yum! No seriously. Yum-Yum!!!

On Sunday we went to the Children's Museum and bought a family pass for one year there too. Inside are all these cool activities for children (infants to toddlers to older kids) - many of which Ethan does at his preschool. These include the usual painting station, blocks, shapes, a water play area, and more. The one station that I found really neat, was a "sand box" place filled with this stuff called "Moon Sand" (hence the title of this entry). This stuff is sort of like sand, but more moldable like play-doh. I only wish I took some home, since you could buy it on your way out in buckets of 5 or 10lbs. Perhaps I'll investigate online and buy it that way. Ethan just loved squishing the material with his hands, or with one of the many instruments to shape, scoop, or dump the material :-P It was interesting too, that Kelly was the only woman at this station. It was mainly the dads and their sons :-D Way cool. I think the dads were getting into it more than their kids.

Then we did a bit more shopping. I bought a Calvin Klein suit, and Kelly bought some clothes. Oh yea, and Kelly's boots were totally falling apart so we had to buy a new pair of shoes for her before we went anywhere.

TONS of pictures to come soon. And it seems the blogging may just be a once weekly thing from now on. Not enough time in the day/week.

Preschool A Success!

Ethan LOVES The Learning Depot. He completed his first week of preschool this week. He goes three times a week (T, W, Th) for now. Linda still looks after him Ms and Fs... but eventually we will transition him to full-time at TLD. In his first week, Ethan has played indoors and out with children slightly older than he is, experienced playing with Play-Doh, does gross motor play in a "jump room" where everything is "bouncy" and child safe, dabbles with art (he even brought home a piece of art work that he had scribbled!) and more ...

What impresses me is how detail-oriented TLD is in completing these "report cards" that are sent home with every child, EVERY DAY :-D They include things like what Ethan ate, in what quantity, when he slept, for how long, diaper changes, supplies needed, potty training, and such. There is this one part that reads, "Today I was:" and then an area to fill out. Ethan's "teacher" (for lack of a better term that escapes me just now) writes for Ethan such adjectives as "wonderful!" and "great!". So cute. (you know, it reads as if in Ethan's voice saying "Today I was wonderful" - ahh you get what I mean) ..

And the other children are so happy with Ethan - as if Ethan is a new class pet (everyone wants to touch and "pet" him) - partly because he is just so darn cute in his toddler outfits. The parents of Ethan's classmates sure have voiced their admiration for our little Noomsie and his dashing good looks.

Tomorrow will be back with Linda. It will be interesting to see how he does after three days (kinda like a long weekend anyways) away from her care. But we suspect no difference in his behavior or attachment to us or Linda, since he is quite used to her now and loves very much being in her care and with Lukie and Lilly to play with.

Next week, I think, Ethan's class at TLD gets a local clay artist come and visit and teach them some pottery. We'd better slip in a note to E's teacher to pay special attention so that noomz doesn't eat any of the clay. :-p

Sweet 16 (Months)

Ethan's 16 months has passed with little notice. It has been such a busy time for our family lately, I honestly don't know where all the time has gone. This is probably the longest I have gone without writing a blog entry. Sorry!

Ethan is doing well. Kelly and I should really be taking more videos of him, since he is just developing and changing daily now it seems. Speech is still (always) lagging. This can be frustrating for both parents and Ethan. His wheezing is now a regular occurrence and it is just a matter of time before he is "officially" diagnosed with asthma.

If not for Kelly, who I defer most/all of Ethan's health concerns to, I would not be able to stop worrying. I mean, breathing, so essential, the most essential of functions, to keep an active life - the very definition of this stage of toddlerhood that Ethan is in. But otherwise little slows Ethan. He is experimenting daily with things he gets away with which he should not. For example, climbing on to the dining chairs, and then on to the dining table. Pushing his toddler chair up to the kitchen counter to help him reach objects we purposely store in high places like the kitchen counter. Sticking his hand in the toilet bowl (he has sort of lost interest in flushing the toilet several times at least). And on and on...

Work is picking up for me, and Kelly and I have a bunch of meetings lined up that will just contribute to that added level of complexity that comes with having to coordinate everything which leaving home with a toddler demands. But time just zips by when we are stretched thin like this.

Ethan starts preschool next week. I start a full week schedule (instead of half days on Wednesdays).

Kelly is looking in to a CME course in June in Vancouver. Maybe we can coordinate our trip to BC then and make for a short vacation to catch up with friends. Long overdue!

The Learning Depot

This past week has been filled with many new and exciting things.

One thing that has transpired over the past few days that both Kelly and I feel very excited about, is the discovery of this place in Blue Ridge called The Learning Depot.

Both Kelly and I are working parents, and like many, we too experience the rollercoaster of emotions that come with parenthood. This ride or journey takes us through guilty valleys, and deserving peaks, and loop-to-loops of toddlerhood. In particular, when the topic of Ethan's care and early education comes about, this dynamic coaster is in full gear.

With much investigation and heartache, we were pleased to find a nice home and very loving caregivers for Ethan. Linda and Jimmie Gray, better known as mi-maw (grandma) and pa-paw (grandad) have taken very good care of Ethan the past couple of months, and Noomsie really enjoys Lukie and the other infants currently also cared for by the Grays.

But with toddlerhood comes new challenges, and finding a solution for Ethan that would keep up with his increasingly curious mind and mobility was a very real issue Kelly and I now had to face. As wonderful as Linda has been in providing the best "care" for Ethan, what is needed now is someone who can provide more hands-on activities, and the exploration of many new learning opportunities.

Enter, The Learning Depot.

Back when we were looking for childcare for Ethan, we visited one particular center (name not mentioned) and en-route, drove by The Learning Depot. At the time of course, we were merely intersted in getting to this foreign address and just last week, Kelly thought to contact TLD and see what they have to offer.

By the act of God, TLD was exactly what we have always been looking for, and that we thought would not be available here in Blue Ridge. TLD is a learning center, a preschool based on the philosophy or approach of Reggio Emilia - Italian early childhood educator. (similar to Montessori)

The Reggio Emilia approach to education is committed to the creation of a learning environment that will enhance and facilitate children's construction of his or her own powers of thinking through the combination of all the expressive, communicative and cognitive languages.

As God would have it, TLD accepts children no younger than 16 months (preferably 18 months old). Ethan is 15 1/2 months old. And a 2 1/2 year old boy is leaving town by the month's end, making available one spot in February (when Ethan just turns 16 months old). Class sizes are small (5 children per age grouping per one instructor). Ethan's class will have 5 children, but 2 are part-time/morning, leaving only 3 children to one instructor in the afternoon.



The children do "social play", music activities, hands-on art activities in an art studio that includes pottery instructed by a local clay artist (!!), outside play, gross motor play (bouncy room), "science", and many others. The children have nap times and also snack times, and with each and everything they do, the children are involved: set up cots to sleep in, put away, wash hands and set up table setting to eat, clean up, and so with each learning responsibility and a sense of self, others and sharing.

This Wednesday, I will go with Ethan for his "first day" but only to see how a day's activity is carried out, and the afternoon, Kelly will go back with Ethan. Once we get a sense of TLD in action, we will make our official registration.

www.learningdepotpreschool.com

Hallowe'en 2007

This year, Ethan dressed up as a giraffe, thanks to Auntie Shar who provided the costume. Noomz looked so cute.

Here in Blue Ridge, the two main streets of "downtown" are closed to create a "safe zone" for kids and adults to trick-or-treat and to enjoy the festivities of Hallowe'en. It kinda makes sense, with most homes so far from each other and in the mountains and trees (would be hard to go "door-to-door").

And so as a family, we headed down to Main Street. The crowds were already there in the hundreds, forming lines along both sides of the road, collecting candies from the various shop owners who closed their stores early for this yearly event. Other booths were also set up around the downtown strip, advertising their organization, or simply supporting this community event. Our clinic, Riverstone MD, PC was present and doing their part.

There were costume competitions going on while we were walking the street, for categories: (1) child, (2) adult, (3) pet, (4) family, etc.. And some folks went down right all out on their looks. My favourites being the Shrek Family and also the family of vampires. I wish we got there earlier to enroll Ethan in the child competition. He surely would have won with his charming good looks alone (ahem, proud papa what can I say?).

And so I post some pictures - finally! - and also include more in My Picasa album (see right panel).

Toddlerhood

Life has been so hectic and irregular recently that I totally forgot to blog about Ethan entering into toddlerhood!

That's right. Ethan is officially walking or toddling around the house :-D It has been about two weeks now since he took his first steps. Quite honestly, one of the proudest moments of being a parent. It is just such an accomplishment, walking, that one forgets ('since everyone eventually learns to walk') how much goes on to learning to first walk.

We have managed to capture on video some of Ethan's early steps, though the videos are a bit dark, and I don't know when I will have time to post them on my blog. (YouTube has just been very unreliable lately for me). We also have so many pictures --- AHHHHHHHHHHHHH -- that I wish to post, but sadly, our camera has now reached the end of its life, and so I will have to wait, patiently, until mom and sis send us a CD of all the pictures we took over the past 6 weeks.

Besides watching with so much pride as a father, my son walking about everywhere he wishes, Ethan has developed other skills equally satisfying (if not more so than walking) to any parent. He can hold his own sippie cup/bottle and even feed himself a Cheerio every now and again. There is something so satisfying beholding my son as he drinks water, for example, with such delight and intensity, and pauses when he wants, and continues when he wants.

Ethan is also teething more. He now has 6 teeth - 3 up, 3 down - with a seventh and perhaps eighth whitie poking through his gums.

Kelly is letting him go up the stairs now, supervised of course. With each step nearly half his height, it is cute watching this determined little man tackle each, and with a great big smile on his face.

Some things to come which, as parents, we don't necessarily wish our child develop too soon are the abilities to run, and climb furniture (or other high places). But those are next! :-D

1-Year Doctor's Visit

Ethan's birthday now a week or so old, he has his 12-month well-child doctor's visit tomorrow at 10:30am. I will be taking the morning off to bring Ethan to the clinic for his appointment. He will get his official weight and height then, as well as many (4 or 5?) immunizations then too. Poor, Noomz. He *knows* when he is about to get an injection too. It may be the cool alcohol swab on his thighs, or even before, when his pants and/or onesie come off. He knows. And boy does he let you know. Humongous droplets of tears, and the most sad cry. I'll be sure to give him extra support and hugs and kisses to get through them all.

Ethan has been enjoying having his gran around. With Kelly and I both at work today for the first time, gran had Ethan all to herself and I bet they had a lot of fun. Noomz is actually changing a lot, and developing so quickly, you can hardly point them all out and say, "Hey, did he just do/say that? Yay!"

He still does not trust his balance well enough to walk, though he is racing through the furniture -- I mean holding on just barely with one hand while cruising very quickly and pushing all the furniture that he can move. He even tests his balance, or forgets he is doing so, one way or the other, and actually stands alone or takes a step or two now.

Speech-wise, well, he seems to be learning more chinese than english. He says "pa-pa", "ma-ma", "deng" (points to the light), and gran claims he's said "toes" and "hello" also. I had noomsie videotaped saying "Allah'u'Abha" when he was only 3-months old though this has yet to be fully repeated :-D

He's been eating well, and then not that well, but on the whole pretty good. He is starting to eat foods we eat (i.e. not just ones specially prepared for him but thicker, chunkier foods seasoned to our/adult liking). And he seems to really like the experience of all the new flavours.

Another tooth or two are poking through his gums, bringing his total "nubbin" count to around 6 (maybe 5 and one not quite poked through yet).

Oh geez, I am a working dad now. I can't be blogging on and on. Must sleep.

What A Year!

It has certainly been a whirlwind last few months, and a fantastic year in all.

Looking back when Ethan was born, at Duke hospital that early morning (2am) on September 21st, 2006, that joyous moment is as clear to me still now, yet a full year has now elapsed. This year has brought so many moments of joy, trepidation, anxiety, uncertainty, trust in God, wonderment, and absolutely everything else in between.

With Ethan's birthday party now come and gone, and a dinner celebration a Longhorns for dad and my birthday also past, things have returned to the more peaceful surroundings of mountain living.

Mom is still with us for a few more weeks which is nice. We've been playing Scrabble almost nightly, with a collective score of 782 set a few days ago with Kelly, mom, dad and me. We're still trying to reach that 800 point plateau (The 800 Club), but it's just fun trying :-D Just last night, I placed the word "service" on a triple word score, and with 50 bonus points for a 7-letter word, it totalled 94 points!

But I digress, and what I really wanted to share with this entry is my gratitude and love for everyone who has helped us along the way. How small Ethan was! It still does not cease to amaze me just how tiny of a human being he was, and how much care and nurturing was needed for him to put on those crucial pounds.

On his birthday, Friday September 21st, 2007, we took Ethan in to Kelly's practice to get weighed. His official 1-year well-child visit is not for another week or so, and so we decided to just weigh him ourselves on an accurate scale (not our home scale). Ethan weighed in at 19 lbs and 6oz, placing him roughly on the 10th percentile for boy for weight in the U.S. He had previously been consistently around the 5th percentile for weight, and his renewed interest in eating the past few weeks (he's been eating a ton!) has really packed things in and it shows on the growth chart. Indeed, still "small", but considering he was as low as 4 lbs 9 oz a few days after birth, quadrupling his birth weight is not exactly shabby to say the least. Congrats, Noomz!

And so we had a ton of friends, family, neighbors around, and we even have a family pet - Sparky the black cat. I have uploaded several pictures of the last month or so, including pictures of our time at Tennessee Baha'i School, Ethan's birthday, Sparky, etc... So many photos were taken with my mom's camera that I still need to download, and these include more pictures with family, boating on the lake (Blue Ridge), canoeing with Vipul and Jessica, dinner at Longhorns, and that's all I can remember for now.

You can follow this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/maxwell.eblaghie/EthanS1stBirthdayPartyTBSMore. Or, click on the side panel under "My Picasa" for photos.

So from our family -- Ethan, Kelly and I -- we say THANK YOU to everyone for making this past year so incredably memorable.

Things we look forward to in the coming year:

Ethan chewing more solid foods, walking, talking; Max going back to work; Kelly establishing her practice; And somehow managing to do it all well enough to have time to visit family and friends.

Love to everyone!

Ferber, Plants, Cold Temperatures... And Sparky

A mish-mash entry.

We've started to sleep train Ethan again. Going back to the Ferber method. And it is working nicely, at least for his night time/bed time routine. Ethan had lost most (if not all) of his sleeping routine since we had been co-sleeping with him ever since we were getting ready to sell our house and even before. Only the parents fault to blame, though we did have a lot on our plate and maintaining a good pattern for Ethan was tough so we all just cozied up in bed for his sleep time.

Now he is doing quite well and hopefully is day naps will fall into a routine also.

Plants. Most of my patio plants had to be brought in tonight! It was getting so cold (below 50F) that I did not want to take any chances with them and have them die on me. Not that they would actually, but just to be safe. There are so many of them. And so my fig tree is now inside the house too and I may just as well keep them all in now, though we are expected to have warmer temperatures again before fall weather really sets in.

And so comes the last interesting part of this blog entry.. A stray cat has called our deck its home. I call him Sparky. It is a very scraggly-looking, malnourished, boney, black cat with white-ish paws. It is quite cute, and scary at the same time. He is not scared of anyone and is quite aggressive about winning your companionship! Poor kitty. Kelly won't let us adopt him into the house, and it is going to be so cold outside tonight!

Oh, Sparky.

Forming Friendships

We had the Teskes (Sevda, Michael and their two children 'Bella and Adib) over to our place for dinner the other night and boy did the kids go nuts. They were having loads of fun, and for once, every single piece of toy that Ethan owns was used. It was with a great sense of joy that I sat and watched the three interact and play and chase each other (of course Ethan crawling as quickly as possible to keep up with his more mobile pals).

I have posted some pictures of our playdate.

I have also been trying to upload some of the more recent videos we've taken of Ethan, although I am having some trouble with YouTube and uploads are not working well (even though my laptop shows full signal strength for the wireless internet). So, Ade, a few more days still for the Noomie vids, ok?

And I am so excited for Ethan's first birthday party on Saturday, September 22nd. I have sent out an e-vite notice to some friends who I thought may be able to make it. If you did not receive this email, I apologize, but most of you live so far it was not necessary to send an invitation (though you are all more than welcome if you can swing it and come on by!).

The "theme" of the party will be a sort of grassroots, picnic/BBQ, equipped with red and white checkered table coverings/cloths, party hats, and bails of hay (joking on this last one). :-D

OK, enjoy the pics of 'Bella, Adib and Ethan, and be sure to check out videos soon.