Ethan is 5!

I can't believe it was 5 years Michael had walked me already the hospital to ensure we would get to see our boy that day. What happens in 5 years is amazing. I brought home an eight pound eight ounce chunky monkey on May 24 2004. I now have a
3 1/2 foot, 43 pound, walking, talking little boy. He amazes me with something new every day. He has already had a couple of birthday parties. We went back to Edwardsville to celebrate with family and friends back there. We thought it was going to rain but it held off. The kids got to play in the backyard on the water slide. We also set up our basement with a race track, a band complete with kids bop video and the smart cycle. It was fun catching up with everyone. Even Meme was able to make it up for a little while. Ethan chose a Superman theme. We could not keep him out of his presents. I was saying good-bye to Meme and Aunt Mar and when I came back in Marmi was trying to hold him back like a wild animal. His favorite part of the day was the pinata. He loves watching all the candy fall out.

His second party was in Omaha at Pump It Up. It is a new bouncy house here in town. He chose Batman theme for this party. His new friends from school came along with Roman and Andres. They got to bounce on some extremely large bounce toys for about 1 1/2 hours then have pizza and cake. It was fun getting to know the kids he goes to school with everyday. They all seemed to enjoy each other. Ethan had a blast sitting on the giant blow-up chair. He would let other people sit with him but wouldn't get out for anything. The only snag was the lack of a pinata.

Ethan can do so many neat things now I don't even know where to begin. He loves to draw. He draws a pretty good Sonic the Hedgehog. He is amazing at playing video games. His memory is still unbelievable. He can play a game once with Michael and remember everything about how to play including secret passages and which buttons to push. His favorite game right now is Lego Batman. Him and his Dad have been known to spend a rainy Sunday playing Wii all day. His imagination is wonderful. Once he has played Wii we have to go outside a reconstruct the game. We use chalk to draw different things on the driveway. We then go through the movements and he tells us who has won. My favorite thing that has happened in the past year is the love he has for Baby Avery. Every morning once he has had his 30 minutes to wake up he gets down on the floor and has her chase him. They giggle and laugh and crawl around our tiny living room. Today we were at the mall. Avery had missed her nap and was a little cranky about being in the stroller. Ethan got his water bottle and gave her a drink and then had me give her a bite of his pretzel. She was still a little feisty so he took her for a spin, literally. She enjoyed it but I thought it was a little to much for her. Then he got down in front of her and put his forehead to hers then shook his head, this is one of her favorite things to do. Because of him I was able to finish ringing out and start heading to the car without to much out of Avery. I love to see his love for her.