So our youngest little man is one of a kind.  Like many stories I have heard in the past, he is completely different from my first.  He's a talker, loves to tease people by pretending to give kisses before pulling away, and into EVERYTHING.  I mean everything.  All of my hair ties are used on our cabinet doors to keep Ethan out, because nothing else will.  Even still, he figured out he can wiggle his fingers into the slightly open cabinet door and then work his arm in to get what he wants.  He also figured out how to move furniture so that he can get up on the table, our beds to jump on, and can load and unload the washing machine.  He also knows the steps on how to turn the washer on to do a load.  If you don't want him to learn something (like how to take something apart), then make sure he can't see you.  He is a quiet child, stares at strangers and watches new surroundings before deciding to dive on in.  Most people who do not know him think he's always frowning, but if you look closely, you can see the wheels turning in his head.

One of the biggest things that gets everyone is his look he gives.  The little smirk and ornery look in his eyes he gives before he goes off on an adventure.  Even people who don't know Ethan very well say, "He looked at you and you could see the mischief in his eyes before he ran off to do something you don't approve of."  This is Ethan to a 'T.'  He will give me the "look" and you can see trouble in eyes, and then he runs off to do something.  When I successfully give him my stern face, telling him "no," he gets the biggest, brightest smile on his face that normally every mother would love to see.  Every time I see that look it makes me melt inside, though I never let him see that.  It is then that the realization hits that Dave and I are going to be in for a long ride trying to keep some reigns on Ethan, and just keeping up with him in general.  I asked Dave if he has noticed this look and he has verified that I am not imagining it.  He has also verified that David never had that look in his eyes.  I always wonder what Ethan will be like as a teenager and what he's going to be when he grows up.  I keep going back and forth on whether he'll run to exciting places at the first chance of freedom or if his closeness to mom and dad that he has shown from the start will keep him close to home.  With David, it's always been easy to know where his future will take him...Ethan is just an enigma. 

Ethan has a new funny quirk.  He loves buckets/baskets and carries them around EVERYWHERE.  It's getting difficult putting him in the carseat and buckling him in with 6 buckets he refuses to let go.  These buckets sometimes stay empty, or sometimes are full of just random items.  While getting ready for work one morning, it is in one of those buckets that I finally found my deodorant, another held one of David's shoes, and another held a bunch of matchbox cars. If we are coming over your house and you have a collection of baskets, I ask that you hide them, as I can't guarantee he won't try to sneak one out of the house when we leave.   

Both of my boys have beautiful brown eyes.  David's are a little lighter and Ethan's are considerably darker, almost black.  As you can see in the picture below, those big, dark brown eyes with incredibly long eyelashes can easily persuade you to do whatever he wants...if you're not careful! 

Disclosure:  Do not read this if you are eating a meal and have a queasy stomach.

With two young kids, taking a longer drive usually means a lot of preparation and for us, impeccable timing.  Our oldest at about 1 1/2 years old started getting carsick.  Like most parents of a child that can't yet communicate (David didn't talk until 2 1/2), we found this out the hard way.  At first maybe we thought he didn't like the dinner as it was usually after visiting a friend's house for dinner or going out to a restaurant.  Then after the second incident it occurred to me...I gave my oldest yet another one of my wonderful attributes.  Like his mother, my poor son gets carsick.  I have to drive or if I am a passenger, I need to be in the front and have eaten rather recently.  My oldest on the other hand gets carsick only after he has eaten.  Through some trial and yes, additional error, we learned that we couldn't let David eat within two hours of a trip in the car if the ride was more than fifteen minutes.  I thought we were over this as he had gotten much better and nervously we started experimenting with eating and running errands within the two-hour limit we always planned for. 

Even on our longer trips (6 hours +) he was able to watch his portable DVD player.  Something I have never been able to do.  So when we went to drop off our meat at the butcher and David asked to take his iPad on the trip, and since it was 45 minutes one way, I told him yes because I thought it would be similar to watching his DVDs.  Not quite so.  Halfway into the trip, thankfully the roads were empty and there were plenty of places to pull into, he tells me he's going to "throw up."  Mommy-mode kicks into overdrive and as I'm pulling into a parking lot right off of the main road, I am already planning how to handle this.  I hurry around the vehicle and in record time, unhook David and lift all 45 pounds of him quickly out of the vehicle.  We talk about just breathing slowly and deeply and keeping calm.  He's doing a great job and stays next to the car, facing away from the car of course.  I begin looking in all of the places where I keep our plastic bags just for this reason to realize that they ARE ALL GONE!  How could that be, I am always a prepared mom, especially when it comes to a carsick kid.  I am panicking now because I realize I have nothing in case he gets sick while we continue our drive, and seeing that as soon as the car stops, child #2's eyes pop open immediately from a deep sleep, and he's not a happy child when it comes to being strapped down in a vehicle unless he's sleeping.  

Just then, something bright blue catches my attention in the trunk of our SUV.  It's my insulated tote bag for when I'm running errands and need to keep cold items cold in the car.  HOW PERFECT!  It is thick, there's a very small chance of holes in it for liquids (for lack of a better word) to leak out, and it can just be closed shut, not stinking up the car, and then thrown away.  A little expensive for a bag to get sick in, but well worth not having the hassle of plastic bags.  So, even mom continues to learn and find new ways to make life easier.