Now that Austin is old enough not to try and leap from a moving wagon, we were able to head to the garden center and load up with everything we need for the Halloween festivities. In the wagon; one proud tiger, two pumpkins, and one little kid who refused to wear a costume. You figure out which is which…
Ethan had some visitors a little while back, and we ended up with this fairly hilarious picture of him, Ella and Wils…their expressions are pretty priceless (don’t you wonder what Wils is looking at?)
What the picture raises for me, however, is just how tough it is to get a picture of Ethan these days. It used to be that as soon as he saw the camera, he would put on his best smile and freeze. Now, well, it’s a little different. Take, as an illustration, the series that the above photo was a part of…
Yeah, well, that pretty much says it all. It is made no less challenging by the fact that he wants to see the result after every shot. I guess we all have our own aesthetic sense…
We got a not-so-little wagon for the kids; kind of an urban, father-powered SUV. With spring springing, it suddenly seems like the perfect way to get around.
Austin’s actually grown up enough to hold his own with Ethan in the wagon, though the two of them seem to like it best when Ethan’s pulling and Austin’s holding on like he’s riding a chariot.
When not wagoning, Austin can otherwise be found eating, which has become a constant state for him.
Little Mr. Austin
By which I mean to say, don’t expect to see a photo of him without food all over his face. It won’t happen. Ever.
This is the oh-so-gentle way that Ethan likes to play with his dear brother…with a little sprinkling of commentary on his favourite drink, and some coaching on how I should use the camera…
Some might suggest that – given my extended silence – something ominous has taken place, and that our little American son was “disappeared”. Others might claim that Austin’s birth was an elaborate hoax, and that there is, in fact, no second child to show for that whole faked “pregnancy” that Laura put on.
My goal here is to dispel such wild, unfounded rumors. See exhibit ‘A’, the very real, very post-natal Austin:
And as for this Ethan character? Despite his rabid support for Barack Obama – who he believes should be his next President – none have managed to silence him.
Indeed, despite the turmoil these days, Ethan has managed to keep a rather sunny disposition, convinced as he is that brighter days lie ahead.
What a wise young man.
We got the chance to head out on the lake today in Chris’s family boat…funny, I almost forgot Toronto was on the lake! Good times were had by all, though some were a little more enthusiastic than others…
It was – to say the least – a tad windy while we were in Florida. Ethan, sheltered city boy that he is, didn’t quite know what to make of this…
It must be tough reaching the greatest peak of satisfaction in life before you even reach the age of two, but Ethan did just that on our vacation; reaching out and touching pure bliss itself as he rode around on a PowerWheels Jeep. It took a moment for him to catch the whole cause/effect relationship between the pedal and the machine jolting to life, not to mention the fact that his feet didn’t quite reach…but when the realization washed over him that not only did this thing have wheels, but that he could make them go…well, that was it. He drove that baby till he was exhausted, and it wasn’t until he nearly flipped the thing, tossing his cousin to the side and overturning some beach chairs that I wrested him free – kicking and screaming. “Jeep! Jeeeeeeeeeeep!” he wailed.
It was one of those time when you ask yourself if it was worth letting him get behind the wheel…but then, ’tis better to have loved and lost, than to have never loved at all…
I finally had my moment of truth on Friday night. I had taken Ethan down to put him to bed, and had just finished changing his diaper and putting on his pajama pants when he leaped up and ran into the corner. When I looked up, I had a vision. There he was, standing in the corner, shirtless, his belly sticking out over his skin-tight pajama pants, grinning a mischievous grin from under his enormous mane of blonde hair. My god, I thought, my son looks like Robert Plant.
That was it. My last bit of resistance to cutting Ethan’s hair was gone.
And so here it is, Ethan’s transformation from a hard-living rock star to a clean cut young American.
And then, the procedure…
And at last, the result…
Yup. I would vote for that guy.
Ethan’s psyched. We’ve got our first Christmas tree…and he actually likes wearing this hat.
There’s no other word for it: Ethan’s hair is awesome. It seems like just yesterday the boy was born with a Tin-Tin tuft on his head, which grew into a mohawk, which has, in turn, given way to…a mullet.
I say mullet, of course, with the utmost fondness. Though Laura has been advocating a drastic hair reduction regimen for the child, I somehow can’t quite let go. This picture represents Ethan’s answer to “What should we do with your hair?” What do we get? A big, expressive shrug of the shoulders, as if, equipped with his mullet, the lad has not a care in the world.
You know, there’s hard work and then there’s hardly workin’, and lately I’ve been thinking that a certain little someone hasn’t been pulling his weight around here. So when the big snow hit last weekend, I figured it was high time little Ethan started earning his keep…
One of these pumpkins doesn’t go with the others…can you spot which one?
If you guessed the second one from the left…you’re right!
Ethan didn’t fully get the concept of Trick or Treating, but he did latch on to the fact that it was far better than bed time. Now that’s one happy pumpkin.
It is very amusing to see what emerges as the animating passions of a little person as they grow up. The things that have Ethan the most excited these days are bananas (based on number of requests) and birds (based on number of references).
Though he doesn’t talk much about them, he’s a big fan of cars, too.
