Ethan - Our Soon-to-be 3rd Grader

It's so amazing how fast time goes by. It seems like it was just yesterday that Ethan was born. He is growing up to be such a loving and smart boy. He's very shy and doesn't like to have his picture taken (always covering his face), so I don't have any good ones of him to upload.

This year has been a little tough on him. We moved to a new school district and switched churches so that he could be more involved in the children's ministry and meet new friends. Then, my mom passed away. He has felt very insecure this year, but has still managed to make straight A's, except for 2 B's in 2 different six weeks. He has a hard time paying attention because his mind is always wandering to some new "creature" he's making up in his mind or some new invention he wants to make. We do not want to squelch his creativity, but he's gotten into trouble several times because of it. So, if anyone has any suggestions on how to keep him focused on the task at hand, I'm open to hearing them.

He and Jeremiah have become much more interactive with each other as of late. By this I mean that they are constantly getting into little skirmishes. You would think I would be used to it with 4 brothers of my own, but they are SO LOUD!!! I guess it doesn't help that we live in a small apartment and sound carries. You know that I wouldn't change it though. All this "fighting" now will only help to secure a strong bond as they grow up. Brotherly bonds are VERY strong and not easily broken.

I was always following my brothers around when I was little and we are all very close. I call them all "Bubba" so when we're all together, they all turn. It's so funny! It's amazing how memories come up at the oddest of times. We're all in our 40's and 30's, but we still act like little children when we get together. I wouldn't change it for anything because we love each other so much and I know they've "got my back" if ever I needed it.

Anyway, back to Ethan. He has met a sweet little friend, Connor. They are very close and do all kinds of stuff together. We have started a babysitting group with his parents and we trade off for date nights. What a blessing they are to our family. We all go to church together, so that makes it even sweeter. Jeremiah thinks Connor is his friend too and it's hard for him to understand that he and Bubba will each have different friends. Connor is sweet and tries not to get frustrated with him...he's an only child and not used to having a little one tag behind him. They are all so cute together.

He went to the dentist last month and only had one tiny cavity. It's on one of his baby teeth...that's loose and about to fall out. He will thank me as he gets older for making him brush his teeth so much. He did pretty good during the cleaning. We tried to get Jeremiah to sit in the chair, but he wasn't having any part of it.

Here's Ethan's class picture.

Front Row, lst on left

I'll try to remember to do this more often.