what a sweet boy

these few days, i'm beginning to see more n more of ethan's personality, and i must say he really is the sweetest little boy. very caring n considerate.

when he is eating biscuits, he'll always take a bite and then offer it to us next. if he's having grapes, he'll pop one into his mouth, then pick up another one and offer it to us! we didnt even teach or tell him to do so - he just naturally did it.

and this morning, i was even more amazed at what he did. he wanted me to carry him so he could peer into his little sister's moses basket as she was crying. when he was in my arms and saw her crying, he actually took out the pacifier which he was sucking on and offered it to her! i swear this really melted my heart cos it just showed me that he is able to love n care for his little sister even at such a young age

i can tell he's gonna be a big hit with everyone ;)

fly fly away

we spent some time at a park in lygon st yesterday evening as we were a tad too early for dinner. ethan went ballistic trying to chase the birds in sight! he was so tired out at the end of the day that he actually slept thro all of last nite till 8am this morning. i think we've found the solution to him sleeping thro the nite ;) gotta start my hunt for playgroups!

'graduated'

ethan has finally joined us at the dining table for meals. yes, he has graduated to true-blue 100% salt-laden adult food!

why did we make the decision? well he wasnt interested in his porridge the last few wks. we had such difficulty trying to make him eat it so we figured why go thro the headache? besides, he was always wanting to eat what we ate and kept coming to the dining table whenever we were having meals. so it was obvious what the next step was...

so today at lunch time, he sat down at the table with us (in his high chair of course) and had what we had. rice, vege and some fish. he gobbled it all down without uttering a single word of complaint ;)

mango pudding

what do you do with so many mangoes? make mango dishes, naturally!

i decided to make mango pudding - i checked the recipe and it seemed simple enough :)

Ingredients
2 tbsp unflavoured gelatin
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup (250ml) hot water
750ml pureed fresh mango
1 cup (250ml) thick cream or evaporated milk
8 ice cubes

Method
Add the gelatin and sugar to hot water and stir till it dissolves.
Mix the mango puree, cream/milk and ice cubes together.
Pour the gelatin mixture into the mango mixture and stir till the ice dissolves.
Set for 3 hrs in the fridge.

And that's it! Really easy :D I didnt take any photos of the end product cos the presentation isnt nice at all (i poured them into plastic containers as we dont have any nice jelly moulds lying around in our kitchen).

But trust me, it tastes great.... :P~~~~

not one off, i hope...

ethan did the most amazing thing last nite. he actually slept from 9pm all the way till 9am this morning! :-O (am i gonna win the powerball this week??)

what if this isnt a fluke? does it mean our little toddler has finally learned to sleep thro the nite?!? if it happens 3 nites in a row, i'd be convinced he really has learned. let's see what happens tonite n tomorrow ;)

he seems to have lost weight, hasnt he? well like i said b4, his weight is still stagnant at about 10kg, but i guess he's just grown taller so looks slimmer :P

anyway we went diaper shopping today. huggies isnt on sale anymore so we've decided to get Babylove for him instead. its currently on offer and well, altho not as comfy as huggies, it still holds whatever its supposed to hold ....

mango tango!

can u believe this box of mangoes costs only $10?!? i love this season :D ethan does too - he cant get enough of the sweet fruit!

tall or short?

we measured ethan today with one of those height charts that you stick on the wall*. he came up to 74cm. is that tall or short? we have no idea! his weight is still hovering around the 10kg mark. it seems to take forever for him to put on another kilo! i remember the days when they would just 'explode' so quickly ie those baby days. but once he hit 1 yr of age, it just sloooooooows down so much.

* as you'd probably have guessed, the life expectancy of this wall chart was less than 5 min as ethan ripped it down right after we took his height

THE FIRE DOG 2006

"Fire Dogs are natural leaders. Fire Dogs are popular, charismatic people, always surrounded by a group of admirers. Not only admired for their vibrant personalities, these Dogs also possess a sexual attractiveness that makes them irresistible. These people are adventurous and vivacious, yet, honest and openhearted. However, because they are so active, they are generally not the settle down type."

sounds pretty good to me! ;D

munchies

here's ethan feasting on "keropok". try taking it away from him! we didnt dare ;)

water baby

the weather today turned out to be great for ethan's first swim! well it wasnt exactly a swim tho, more like a wade :P anyway he had fun all the same, splashing all that water around. it was fun watching him.. and i cant wait for emma to be able to join him in the 'pool' next yr (we'll need to 'upgrade' tho cos i dont think there's enuf room for 2!

42 degrees

it's a scorching, sweltering 42 degree day in melbourne today! we'd all have been driven mad if not for our 'investment' in an airconditioner at home *phew!*

we'd originally wanted to let ethan go swimming in his new inflatable pool (it was an xmas pressie from his 3rd uncle) today, but it's waaaaay too hot! guess we'll just hv to wait and see how the weather turns out tomorrow. cross your fingers, ethan!

ps: i cant wait to take pics of ethan in his spanking new bathing suit ;)

not interested

this is ethan at lunch time today. totally uninterested in his porridge. i wonder why... could it be the biscuits and other snacks that he had in the morning all the way till lunch time? gee... u think!?

anyway i realised the only way to get him to finish all his lunch/dinner is to plonk him in his high chair and put on the baby einstein DVD. he gets so engrossed in them that he just opens his mouth by motion and i just shove the food in, he chews, and the cycle repeats :) easy!

ethan the builder

these days, ethan can actually play on his own for a while (used to be that we had to sit next to him while he plays). this is gd.. cos it means we get some 'time out' to do other stuff!

failed...

ok.. ethan has flunked sleep school. he's now back with a vengeance actually. instead of just waking once a nite, he now wakes up about 3-4 times! he's not much different from his newborn sister emma. cos when i wake up to feed emma every 3 hrs, i can hear ethan crying and awake too :P

i guess we just have to wait for him to outgrow this all by himself. cant will him to do anything - he's a really strong character.

by the way, little sister emma's blog is ready:
chroniclesofemma.blogspot.com

feel free to browse!

to tide u over

for those suffering from withdrawal symptoms, here are some of ethan's latest shots :)