Thunder, Feelings, Humor

Oh, how fun it is to hear Ethan learning so many new words. He often talks in sentences now, and his words are becoming much more clear.

I've been trying to teach Ethan how to express his feeling. There are times when he gets frustrated (I can say this has been going on for years now), and of course he'll whine or whimper like most kids. He's getting better now and most often asks for help. Woo-hoo. This is a nice place to be.

Sometimes Ethan gets mad and throws stuff (including his fists). Instead of getting mad at him for that, I've been trying to tell him that he should say that he's mad or frustrated or whatever. This can be hard for parents, too, I have to say, and there have been times when I have had to apologize to Ethan for not saying things in a nice voice or for getting angry with him for how he's acting.

Anyway, one day I was playing with Ethan on the floor while Tim and I talked about something, and I said to Tim, "Man, that must be frustrating. . . ." Ethan must have thought I was talking to him because he said, "Yes, mama. Frustrated" (in his own, Ethan-level of enunciation) and then proceeded to tell me what was frustrating him.

Yesterday when I came home from work, Ethan cried and pushed me out the door. This is what happens when he's having too much fun with the babysitter. He sat on Barb's lap crying (wailing?) for a few minutes and I sat down across the room and tried to distract him by asking about his day and talking about the fun we would now that I'm home. Barb told me how Kate had to go down for her nap already because she was tired and I asked Ethan if Kate had been grouchy. Between cries he told us, "I'm grouchy too!" Yes, he was.

Here is Ethan enjoying the sunshine Monday afternoon. Thank you, God, for some sunshine!

Last week during the 12-straight days of rain and snow, we had a rare thunderstorm. As I was putting Ethan to bed, he noticed the lightning in the sky and we heard some distant rumbles of thunder. We talked about what this new thing was, and he kept saying "Light! Sky! Boom!" and hitting himself on the head. We told him that God had made the thunder and lightning, and how exciting it is that we got to see it in the sky because it is so special. We really don't get thunderstorms here too often.

The storm passed and Ethan went to bed while Tim and I enjoyed American Idol. I love the kids, but I love the time after 8 o'clock, too.

Soon there was another, larger, louder, brighter, closer lightning and thunder storm that hit, and poor Ethan was freaked out. We brought him down to the living room and watched and listened while he shook in his little pajamas and we held him and tried to help him feel excited that we got to see such an event. We talked more about how we are safe because we are in our house and God is taking care of us. Again, the storm passed and all was good. I think Tim's favorite part of the experience was looking out our back door, only to see all our neighbors also looking out their back doors in their pajamas.

Now Ethan talks about the thunderstorm every night before he goes to bed and every time we talk about God. It definitely made an impact. Whether that's good, I don't know.

One morning I was in the nursery during the Sunday School hour and there ended up being five kids in there all at once. Normally there are just 2 or 3 at that particular time of the morning. Well, of course I was a little scared about how to handle so many all at once. Ha. So I plopped them down at the table and gave them gold fish. Then I tried to teach them songs like "Zaccheas" and "Jesus Loves Me" and "In the beginning" and "The Wise Man." All five kids just sat and stared at me the whole time, but when I asked them if they knew all the things that God had made, Ethan lit up and pointed to himself and said "E-E!" That made me happy. This was before the thunderstorm. Now if I asked that same question his eyes would get big and he'd hit himself in the head and say, "Boom!"

And finally, a few thoughts about a kid's sense of humor. Do you think humor is innate or taught? Ethan's sense of humor is developing. He and I have this joke that we do every night after I tuck him in that involves "forgetting" to turn out the light, and then he has to remind me to turn it out after I close the door. It makes him laugh, and he often has funny come-backs when I ask him who forgot to turn out the lights. He'll say things like, "Daddy" or "Grandpa" or "Grandma Choo-choo". It's just so funny that a kid would think up things like that. I think a lot of it comes from his grandparents and daddy joking around with him. It will be fun to see how this develops in Ethan, and whether the same will be true for our other kids.

Yesterday Ethan and Kate got a package from Grandma Choo-choo. Here is the excited Ethan opening up his Easter basket.

Ethan is a funny, caring, smart, cool kid that brightens our home!