Appba

So, he used to say something like banana, and something like bread, but finally I think we can say for sure that he can say a word. As you can see, he only speaks when he feels like it.

Seattle

After Leavenworth, we drove over to Seattle. Ethan does not do very well on long car rides. I packed toys, books, and all his favorite food. Nothing was able to make him happy. Luckily Eric had the foresight to make a cd of his favorite music. No, not cute children's songs. Ethan isn't impressed with them. He likes Salsa music. We had to listen to hour after hour of his favorite song... Donde Estas Yolanda.

He loves to dance.

Seattle was fun. Ethan was great at letting us push him around in his stroller. We went to the usual tourist places. Pikes Place fish market, where we bought way too much seafood for two people to eat, the aquarium, and a fantastic children's museum. This place was the ultimate Ethan place. There was a huge area where he could run around for hours without getting into trouble. I didn't have to say no to him once! Eric and I just sat and watched him entertain himself for a while, then we took him to the art center and let him paint a picture.

Ethan touching a Starfish:

Playing with tentacles:
Baby Salmon How do I measure up?
Jelly Ethan: Jolly Ethan:

Space Needle: Little Picasso- I love this little apron.

Leavenworth

Eric had three days off in a row this week, so we planned an impromptu trip to Leavenworth and Seattle. Leavenworth is a small Bavarian town in the middle of Washington. All the buildings are painted and designed to look like their from a small German town. It was really cute. We had a great time window shopping and sampling cheese and gelato and fudge. They also had a great Christmas shop where I almost applied for a job. It looked like so much fun.

Ethan was so good. He let us push him around all day in the stroller. I think he liked all the flowers.


This was a huge suit of armor across the street from our hotel.

Is He Teething??

Is he teething?? This has been the question of the year. The only explanation that we can come up with for... lets say... unexplained behavior. Like, screaming for hours at a time in the middle of the night, or needing to be held 24/7 by mommy, or gnawing on everything in sight.

The past few days have been like this, but I can't see any teeth coming in. Two or three times a day I pin him down and pry his mouth open to see if there is a bump where a tooth is about to pop. That is my light at the end of the tunnel of fussiness. Last time I just pushed firmly on the bump and popped the tooth through for him. But, this time... no bumps.

So I was beginning to doubt that teething is his problem right now. Until this morning, when I had to go looking for him through the house. If he is quiet for too long, I know he's getting into something. I found him in his room. He had a disgusted look on his face and was spitting something out of his mouth. It was a piece of his favorite foam football. Minus a lot of foam. This football is pretty hard, I don't know how he got these chunks out of it with only 6 teeth. I swear he's a little puppy dog inside a baby's body. And YES I think he's definitely teething. Because if he's not, then the only other explanation is that he's losing his mind.

Sweet Potater Pie

Eric's been jonsing for some sweet potato pie. (Not that either of us have ever had it before). it just sounded good. I usually only make pies on Thanksgiving because somehow that has become my job at the Ursic house every year. Pies have always been a challenge, so I thought I'd take it on. I found a crazy pie crust recipe that is quite complicated but it turned out pretty good. The sweet potato part turned out just okay though. We're not sure how it is supposed to taste, but it was a little blah. We decided that pumpkin is better. We will probably throw the rest away. The baking was the fun part. Plus I'm making a birthday cake for Eric today. And that's just too much junk for 2 people... well, 2 1/2 people. (The dollop of whipped cream is because someone already took a fork full out of the middle. I'm not sure who it was, but Eric thinks it must have been Ethan.)