hey momma

Ethan: Hey momma, guess what I am.

Mom: Super man?

Ethan: Nope.

Mom: Spider man, a ninja, a warrior, a super hero....?

Ethan: Nope.

Mom: Well, what are you.

Ethan: (in his "duh" voice) I'm Ethan. With a mask on.

he's never even seen jack bauer!

As I was watching Ethan play the other morning, I was amazed at the likeness to the hero of 24.



I mean, you've either got it or you don't. And E-bo... he's got it.

our most quotable

Ethan lives life at 1.3 times normal speed. This is just a little bit faster than the rest of us in the real world. When you live in a different world than everyone else, it helps to define the rules in this world.

Recently we had to remind Ethan to wash his hands after using the bathroom. After going back and obeying he returned and offered an explanation for his negligence. Quite often when Ebo opens his mouth we say to ourselves that we should be writing this stuff down.

This time we actually did.

When you say this in your head, you need to use an Ebo voice and say it much faster than necessary.

"There is a fire-fighter go pee: you don't wash your hands or flush because you got to get to the fire."

"There is the rescue go pee: Do flush the toilet but don't wash your hands 'cause you have to rescue someone out of the sea or somthin'."

"And the just play go pee: you do flush and wash hands and turn the light off and put the towel back and then go play."

mischief

Today as we were scrolling through old pictures in search of something new to hang on our wall, we came across this:

We all shared a good laugh.

how to put away a sharp knife

... according to Ebo.

a fount of wisdom

Sometimes I wonder how other families get along without their own Ebo.

If a good tree bears good fruit, there must be a forest of full of "huh?" trees inside our Ebo. In order to remember this, we wrote down three things that he said. Keep in mind that these three things were said within a span of about 30 minutes. And it's not as if Ethan turned off the wisdom spigot at that point. It flows daily at our house.

[Ethan had worn his mother's shoes out into the family room because when his sister Ava does it, it's funny/cute. It's more funny/weird when he does it, but that's not the point of the story. I walk by and notice the spectacle out of the corner of my eye on my way into the kitchen. Also, keep in mind that all the boys are very much into Star Wars right now.]

Ebo, yelling into the kitchen: Daddy, I'm wearing momma's shoes!

Me: Yes, I know, I saw that.

Ebo, running into the kitchen: Daddy, how did you know? Did you use the force to see me?

[Sitting at the dinner table, we have a nice discussion about how Luke actually got to see the baby (inside momma's tummy) kick this afternoon and how special that is.]

The rooster crows.

Ebo: Momma, I just heard the baby kick.

And he's completely serious.

[About 10 mintues after that we're having a discussion about how momma get's scared sometimes with scary books or movies with real bad guys in them.]

Ethan offers: Momma, you don't have to be scared--the only real bad guys are giants [pause for effect] and monsters.

Again, he's not trying to be funny.

You don't have to ask Ethan to pose for these pictures. This is just what he does naturally.

ethan's birthday

December 13th is Ethan’s birthday. This year he turned four. I can’t believe I can no longer use “he’s just a three year old” as an excuse for his crazy behavior! But that is the case.

In a lot of ways it makes sense that he is now four. Four years old has always been one of my most favorite ages and Ethan is a ton of fun! He is smart, funny, energetic, full of ideas and imagination, a very likable guy.

Ethan has a zest for life that is contagious. He likes almost everything. This is one of the things that makes buying presents for him very difficult. He likes everything. And because of that it is hard to narrow down what might be a good gift. This year when asked what he wanted for his birthday he would always say, “a sword and a sheath just like Luke’s.” So he wanted Luke’s same present. We decided to just go with it.


We also picked up this soft elephant (Ethan is very into the textures of things) for him which he loves.



The day of his birthday, Ethan helped his daddy make his birthday cake. This year it was a gingerbread with molasses whipped cream cake which they all loved. He was very proud that he cracked his first egg by himself.



On his birthday we had a nice visit from some favorite buddies who brought him a gift. It was so cute: as soon as our friends arrived with gift in hand, all the kids ran off to play leaving us adults with the gift. Ethan was just way more interested in visitors than a present! But that's okay. Someone else was happy to play with his elephant.



That night Aunt Helen joined us for cake after which we all enjoyed watching the beginning of the The Return of the Jedi (Star Wars is a current favorite around here). After that, someone was a little reluctant to return Ebo's elephant to him.



It was a very nice day enjoyed by all. Our sweet Ethan is fun to celebrate because it is always a party to be around him (unless we are asking him to eat taco soup). We are so thankful for our buddy Ethan and pray that he continues to grow in the knowledge and love of the Lord.

a few of Ethan's favorite things (part two)

More Ethan favs include:

6. eating eggs (he eats the most of all of us). I found him this morning scraping the pan for the last bits of fried egg. It takes a lot of protein to be that strong!

7. his horsie and all things horse.
8. swimming. Seriously, you should see this guy. We went swimming last night and I think he spent more time fully underwater than above!

9. the Vermeers (a favorite church family).

10. tactile sensations

11. his good friends: Isaias, his family
and Steele and his family.

The last of this random list of Ethan's current favorite things have to include: 12. making tents 13. wrestling 14. telling fantastic stores ad-lib and singing crazy songs ad-lib 15. The Magic School Bus books and 16. his puppy.

Ethan's puppy is a huge Clifford stuffed animal that my grandma bought for Aidan when he was a toddler. It was loved by Aidan, loved by Luke and now Ethan loves it. However, lately Ethan seems to believe his puppy to be a sort of "bad guy." For instance, when he gets up from his nap every day Ethan tells me something regarding the naughty things his puppy did during nap time and the obedient things his horsie did. He is 100% consistent in this, his puppy is disobedient and his horsie (or sometimes it is his baby) is obedient. It is always interesting around Ethan!

a few of Ethan's favorite things (part one)

Ethan has many things that he loves right now. Here are a few current favorites of his.

1. his baby; future daddies need practice too! This baby is named E.R.

2. gymnastics; here he is getting his first taste as baby. Now Ethan goes to gymnastics one day a week, but he often tells me he wishes he could go every day. Not only does he love it, but his muscular frame is well suited for it too!


3. motorcycles; each time we pass a motorcyclist on the road, Ethan and his brothers inform Mike and I about how safe (or not) that "guy" is.

4. making crazy faces; seriously, Ethan always has some sort of crazy look on his face. He is so expressive.

5. wearing shorts; and short sleeves for that matter. He would NEVER choose of his own volition to wear long pants. If it's snowing outside he'll put on a coat, but he'll roll up the sleeves--yes, the sleeves of his COAT.