October Fun

October has been more busy and active since Ethan started walking. Ethan walks pretty much everywhere he goes now, but he is still pretty slow and careful about his walking. Ethan loves to try to carry things around with him from room to room and gets pretty frustrated when he can't hold all 5-6 things in his hands that he wants to take with him. Sometimes I'm amazed at how much I do see him carrying around! This week he's been carrying kitchen utensils, boxes, lotion bottles, and pumpkins. It seems like he's starting to learn certain things more quickly now. For example, he learned to click pens on and then draw all over the couch cover, and he learned to unscrew the hand sanitizer bottle and dump it all over the carpet before Jason could catch him.

Ethan is starting to learn more sign language as well. He knows 'milk', 'food/eat', 'please', 'toothbrush', 'up', 'more', and 'all done.' And whatever he doesn't know in sign language, he is pretty adept at communicating in finger pointing. He is also starting to recognize and point out a few body parts like ears, nose, mouth, and tummy. He can say 'mama' and 'dada,' but he doesn't really use them.

There are a few things about October that I just love, and General Conference is one of them. We enjoyed hanging out all weekend the first weekend in October eating cinnamon rolls and other good food and watching the Conference sessions online. We are really grateful to the Hymas family for doing some toy swapping with us so that Ethan could have some 'new' toys to explore and play with over Conference weekend...especially since it was cold and rainy for two weeks in a row afterwards.

Watching Conference with Dad

Listening to the Prophet

Great kitchen toy with a few utensils

After it quit raining, we were able to get out to the park again and do a few other fun things.

Testing out the new car seat

Walking around the playground at the park

Visiting the play area at the mall on a cold, rainy day

The Sister Missionaries dropped something by for us on Sunday, just as the apple crisp was coming out of the oven. Perfect timing! :) We enjoyed the apple crisp and ice cream, and then took a few pictures. We've had Sister Widdison working in our area for 9 months now and she's going home next week. She's seen Ethan grow from a baby to a toddler. Sister Corbridge has been here 6 months and I've enjoyed having them both over for dinner several times, helping them out with some of their appointments, and playing the piano for some of the baptisms.

Last night I went with our church youth group to see the new movie, "Meet the Mormons" in Milford, Ohio. It was a little bit of a drive, but totally worth it. I really enjoyed watching it! It was very uplifting and inspiring and made me feel so grateful to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

Today Ethan and I went with Katie and Kerrigan to the Kinman Farms. It was a fun little farm and we enjoyed the tractor ride, the pumpkin patch, and the petting zoo. It was only in the low 50's so I was ready to warm up at home again once it over. :) Ethan loved all the little pumpkins in the patch and kept wanting to pick them up. Of course they were way too heavy for him and he kept falling over. :) He was also very interested in picking up the leaves.

Kerrigan and Ethan

Katie, Kerrigan, Julie, and Ethan on the tractor ride

Thanks to Katie for this cute picture!

It's too bad I couldn't get a smile out of him. But at least he finally looked at me. :)

Ethan's favorite part of our visit was just walking around in the big tent afterwards. :)

Up next ...... Halloween........

Ethan can walk!

Walking across the room with his hands above his head

It's true. Ethan took a few steps a week ago yesterday and he has been getting better ever since. I didn't expect him to walk the first time I tried, but it just sort of happened. I stood him on his feet and scooted myself just out of reach and beaconed for him to come. He took a tentative step or two and then fell into my arms. Ethan just laughed and thought it was a game. Then he wanted to keep doing it over and over until eventually he got better and could walk further. I love to see him walk with his hands above his head for balance. :) At this point he still feels safer pushing around kitchen chairs or the garbage can.

I love how he pushes everything around our apartment, from books to toys to sunscreen bottles

 The weather here lately has been so great and we've gone on many walks at the park in the last few weeks. A week ago Sunday our ward was invited to the Union Presbyterian Brush Arbor service outside. Our family attended the nice service outside the building under a big shady tree. It was interesting to see how other churches worship. It was nice, but I felt it lacked the power and spirit that I feel in our Latter-day Saint meetings. We also ate lunch afterwards with their members and it was nice to get to know some of them a little better.

Brush Arbor Service

Brush Arbor Service

Ethan gazing out the window at the Union Presbyterian building where we temporarily meet

Ethan - showing some early signs of an aptitude for surfing

Florence Arboretum Park

We've been working on some signs with Ethan since communication is becoming more of an issue. He can sign "milk" and "more" but he is still confused at the exact definitions and basically uses them to tell us that he wants something...if only we could figure out what that something is. :) He also recently went from two naps a day down to one. That is kind of sad for me since I looked forward to getting things done while he was asleep, but he still sleeps well at night and that is definitely a blessing.

Eating his food like a champ! He actually feeds himself half of the time now.

Signing his version of "more"

For our YW activity tonight we talked about Elder Bednar's challenge to flood the earth with uplifting messages through social media. We took a few pictures of our own and posted them after the activity.

NKY Young Womens

NKY Young Women's Presidency

Free Friday at the Museums

We want to Free Friday at the Cincinnati Museums this week. I picked Jason up from work and we headed over to check them out. They have a Museum of Natural History, Museum of Cincinnati History, and a Children's Museum. I'm sure you can guess Ethan's favorite. :) All three museums were built in the old Union Train Terminal. They had to be pretty creative with their space, but I was impressed with how much they fit in there. The lighting was pretty old and dark in most places so unfortunately it was hard to get many good pictures, but here are a few.

Ethan liked playing on the train tables that they had set up in several places throughout the museums.

The view of Cincinnati from Union Terminal

Here a few pictures of other things we've been up to recently.

We shopped for a new bed over Labor Day since my back has been hurting for a while.

After much deliberation, we decided to try an all-foam mattress. It has been a bit of an adjustment, but we like it.

Going on a walk after a rain storm

Playing legos after story time at the library with Kerrigan

Ethan - 13 months

I feel like Ethan has grown so much in the last month. He seems so much more grown up in some ways. He just had his 1-year check up recently, so here's the update:

Weight     23.9 lbs        61%tile
Height     30.25 in        58%tile
Head       18.7 in          77%tile

Ethan is very healthy and I didn't really have any concerns for the pediatrician now that he has learned to crawl and cruise along furniture. He has basically caught up in his gross motor skills. Because he was so late in learning how to get from his tummy to sitting and learning to crawl we decided to have him evaluated by a physical therapist just to be safe. Fortunately, from the time I made the call to the time he was evaluated he had made tremendous progress. The therapist did report that he has mild low muscle tone which is probably what caused the delay, but I'm not concerned anymore. Ethan has no problems getting around our condo, and he can even stand on his own for about 10 seconds if he's distracted and doesn't remember that he's not holding on to anything.

Waving to me with his sippy cup

After our doctor's appointment I started giving Ethan some of the foods I had been holding off on. One of those foods was peanut butter. I only gave it to him twice and he broke out with red blotches around his mouth both times. Unfortunately, it looks like we'll have to hold off on the nuts for the near future.


His new skills include waving to people and actually connecting it to the meaning. It's fun to have him wave to us and wait for us to wave back. If we say "High Five" instead of "Hi" then he raises his hand and holds it still so we can slap it with our hand. He loves it!

Ethan also likes to stand and push kitchen chairs or the garbage can around the living room but gets frustrated when it gets stuck and he can't push it anymore. Similarly he likes to keep an object under his hand and push it around on the floor while he crawls. He slides things like books, flip flops, lotion bottles, or cars all around the condo, usually to wherever I am. :)

Ethan verbalizes a decent amount, but it's hard to pick out anything that really has a meaning. I think he says mama sometimes when he's crawling around looking for me, but it's hard to tell still. I keep trying to help him work on forming words. He does seem to be picking up more receptive language like "Come here" or "Go get." He's also pointing to a lot of things and waits for us to tell him what it is.

Pushing kitchen chairs around the floor

He has also recently recognized the iPad for the cool device that it is. I bought an app called "Peekaboo Barn" that he really likes. He basically just touches the screen to open and close the barn door to reveal a new animal that makes a noise. It's amazing how quickly he caught on to the idea of touching the screen to make something happen.

Another major change is that I finished weaning him completely and he now gets all of his milk from a sippy cup. The transition went pretty smoothly but there were times we were both pretty sad about it. In some ways it is kind of sad to recognize that he's growing up and that this phase of his life is over. I'm glad that breastfeeding him was such a positive experience for both of us and hope that I will be able to do it again in the future.

Playing Peekaboo Barn

Walking around the park

Getting into trouble :)

Swinging at the park

People in Utah

Jason could only stay one week in Utah, but fortunately Ethan and I got to stay two weeks. Outside of family reunion time we were able to visit more family and friends. We would have loved to have seen more people, but we just ran out of time. I forgot to get pictures of everyone we visited, but here are at least some of the great people we got to see.

Great Grandpa and Grandma Richards

It didn't take Claire long before she took over the job of walking around with Ethan. :)

James, Claire, and Ethan

The Nields

The Olsens

Melody, Charlotte, and Kate

Katrina and Anna

Ethan with his party hat on

Lillian and Amelia at their 3rd birthday party

Grandma and Grandpa Burningham came and joined us for church our second week there

Ethan and I with Sara

Cruize and Erica

My parents, sisters, and our children at the Ogden Temple Open House

Ogden Temple (It's hard to believe I got this great pic on my phone!)

This is Sister Curtis. She served here in Northern Kentucky and she flew home on the same flight as us so we got to meet her parents. :)

Chelsey came over to visit and see Ethan.

Fun picture of Ethan's first experience with bubbles

 Aunt Edie and Aunt Karen came over for a few minutes to see us and meet the new babies.

Fun time with the sisters!