Monday Ewan woke up from his morning nap with a fever of 103.5 degrees.  The poor guy just wanted to cuddle me nonstop.  I love his cuddles, but even one who didn’t couldn’t say no to this little guy:

Especially since he kept saying “Ow, Ow, Owwww” while giving me puppy dog eyes and signing please.  As if a sick toddler doesn’t make you sad enough!

He woke up after a brief afternoon nap sounding very upset.  I got him immediately and he was still burning up (even though I’d given him tylenol over an hour before).  I went into get his cup and he started shaking violently, but he had no goosebumps (like he does when he gets the chills).  His little eyes looked terrified and adrenaline rushed throughout my body.  After just a few seconds of his body convulsing and my mind racing, he threw up all over both of us.  Repeatedly.  Then rubbed his head in the mess trying to cling tighter to me.  I was actually relieved – he just was afraid because he wasn’t familiar with the horrible about-to-puke feelings.

After an emergency shower and bath for us both, he stayed firmly in clingy mode.  Once Daddy got home his spirits lifted some and we talked him into eating a decent amount of food.

Monday night was bad, with him more often awake than not after 3am.  The next day Ewan’s fever was gone, but he refused to nap and was in the sourest of moods.  Today I noticed another tooth come in, which couldn’t have helped.

We had a crazy hail storm that woke him up after he had finally been quiet in bed about 10 minutes.  This is after much of it had melted in the rain:

He enjoyed lying on the couch back and watching the rain and cars.

Don’t let that cute face fool you.  He threw fit after fit all day.  This picture is after one fit where he sobbed because I would only let him have one cookie (he is holding the torturous lone cookie).

Today Ewan seemed much happier and like his usual self.  An example:

Ewan wonders into his room and I hear, “No-no… no-no… no-no…”  so I say “Ewan, what are you doing? …Ewan?” We meet in the hallway and he hands me his wipes container with a couple half-pulled out (and semi-stuffed back in).  He had just got into serious trouble over the weekend for pulling all the wipes out of a new container.  I took the wipes and told him he was right, he can’t play with those.  Woo hoo – he’s obeying and even giving a verbal warning to himself when he’s doing something he shouldn’t!  He wandered back into his room.  A couple of minutes later he walks out like this:

That would be diaper cream all over his clothes, arms, face, and hair.  As you can see, he realized how bad of an idea this was.  Emergency bath #2 within three days.  You can’t tell, but he also clearly thought his chest needed a generous amount of cream.  None of the normal soaps / shampoos would work to get it off him so it ended up being dish soap to the rescue.  After a thorough rinsing and lots of lotion, we went grocery shopping and finished up a normal Ewan-adventure-filled day.

I’m pretty sure tomorrow is Saturday, right?  Or at least Friday?  Yes, we’ll say it’s Friday.

cute talker.

This kid is talking up a storm.  Sometimes he even uses real words.  He has started using phrases more.  Here are some we hear daily… the first two come as no surprise, given his preoccupation with making sure any available lights, fans, and music players are on.

“Is it on?”
“Turn on.”
“Hi, Dada, Hi Mama.”

He also finally called another kid by her name!  Well, almost her name.  He calls Tilly, “Teat.”  Yeah, we’re working on fixing that.

I mentioned it before, but he also says some great words like “happy!”  The other night he ran up to where I was sitting and planted a huge slobbery kiss right on my cheek then declared to everyone, “HAPPY!!!”  What more could you ask for?

He asked nicely to be picked up (meaning said “Up?” and signed please without whining) while I was washing dishes yesterday.  I told him that was the right way to ask, but he’d have to wait a minute because I was almost done.  He stood there for several seconds then asked “Is it done?”

curls.

He’s got some serious curls in the back!  I know I’ll have to give him a haircut one day, but we’re still putting it off.  Even though he’s got a few ringlets and sometimes  looks like a hobbit.  Permed mullets are sure to be back in style soon, right?

play clothes.

Ewan has taken to playing dress up.  He loves to wear things he knows are not his clothes – necklaces, hats, men’s shirts… it’s all fun to him!

music.

Grandma Kay gave Ewan a mp3 player for kids – it looks like a plastic toy, but has big buttons for the controls and you can put your own music on it (instead of the annoying songs most kid toys play).  Ewan listens to it all the time!  All. The. Time.

Grandma Glo, Grandpa Tom and Auntie Em all gave him percussion-type instruments for Christmas and he’s been enjoying those, too!

He’s done this for months, but I’m not sure I have it recorded.  Whenever the music pauses a few seconds between songs, Ewan says “on” until it starts or we say, “It’s about to come back on, just be patient.”  Lately he’s taken to saying “ah-ah-ah-ah-on!” like he’s saying on many times really fast.

The volunteers in the church nursery (changes every week) have even taken notice.  Two weeks in a row I had to go back because our usually perfectly happy son was crying about something.  Both times I came back only to realize that the music had stopped and no one would turn it back on even though he kept asking (they didn’t understand him).  One week they told us that Ewan had definitely been saying on between every song on the CD and they were all cracking up over it, especially the time he had been going down a slide when the music stopped.  He grabbed the sides to stop himself halfway down, said “ON-NIH!” and waited until the next song started until he would slide the rest of the way down.

Ewan is already a pretty awesome beatboxer.  He often beatboxes quietly to himself while playing with toys.  (This video is not a great example – he seems to stop anytime I get out the camera!)

Since Joe and I love music, we’re thrilled to share this with him and are excited to see how music grows with him.

silly smiles.

He now has what we call a silly smile.  Ewan presses his lips tight together and smiles.  He knows he’s being funny when he does it, and often can’t hold it long because he cracks up.

builder.

Recently Ewan has taken to building things with foam blocks.  He also enjoys Lego’s at his friend Tilly’s house or the library.  Sometimes he wants to build himself, but if he is having trouble for a long time he asks for “hop” (help) before he gets angry.  He also enjoys watching us build things and then knocking them over. :)

Exploring.

Ewan still manages to get himself into unlikely places just about every other day.  It looks like this characteristic is here to stay.  Unless it’s dangerous I let him squeeze and crawl as much as he wants.

Pup.

Ewan had never been “attached” to any toy until recently.  He started to like to cuddle stuffed animals, then suddenly preferred a blue and white spotted dog over all the rest.  Ewan still refuses to call dogs “dog,” instead referring to them as “cow, woof woof.”  As in a cow that goes woof woof.  Joe and I always correct him, but he acts like he’s correcting us each time in return.  In mid-December I called a dog “pup” in front of Ewan, and he happily repeated it!  So now he sometimes calls small dogs “pup.”  He definitely calls his favorite blue dog “pup” and asks for him.  He has never asked for him for comfort (like, when he’s hurt), but sometimes will cuddle him for naps or bedtime.  Of course Pup is the least-cute stuffed animal he owns.

Self-Portraits.

Ewan manages to find the camera and sneak a shot or two more often now.  At least he is gentle with it and does not touch the lens.  His shots are usually much more interesting and artistic-looking than mine!

garden greens.

Ewan still likes to eat straight out of the garden,  only now we only have spinach and bitter lettuce (and herbs).  He runs by and grabs a piece to munch while he plays.  I love that he’s growing up with that being normal!

There’s so much more to share about our wonderful little guy, but this will have to be all for now!

At one point Ewan runs away from the playground into a grassy part of the park.

Now, Ewan does not run to get somewhere faster (unless we’re in a store and there are plenty of judgmental people watching us).  Ewan runs because he loves to run.  It’s a whole body affair, with both arms waving all around.  Very cute.

So Ewan runs off in a safe area, and I walk behind him.

He stops, turns, and smiles at me.  He lets me catch up.

He sticks his little hand up and grabs my hand.

He starts running again, this time with me running alongside him.

He shouts, “Happy!  Happy!  Happy!”

Little one, you give a lot of trouble and you give even more love.

(Yes, that’s him in the laundry hamper.)

If you didn’t get a copy of our Christmas card (like above) and want one, let me know your address and I’ll send one your way!  We didn’t have everyone’s addresses, but have extras to share.  Here are some outtakes from our Christmas card photo shoot. (Special thanks to Chris and Allie for taking the pictures, Astrid for several of the props, and Terri for props and letting us use her awesome camera!)

How many hipster items can you spot?  Not all are visible in every shot.

When we looked back through the pictures, Joe asked if that was extensions or my real hair.  Really?  I haven’t had a hair cut in over two years (I know, it’s bad) but you thought I got extensions without you knowing?  For the record, it’s real hair, except for the orange feathers I tied in (which are hardly visible in these shots).

Ewan kept wiping off his washable marker ‘stache.

Also, our small group at church did a short video about peace for Advent.  Here is Ewan’s blessing of peace that we had at the end.

Merry Christmas and peace to you all!

Right after that he reached out and clicked this picture of himself:

I was so impressed – he very deliberately pressed the right button to take a picture like a pro!

Ewan likes to hang out behind a desk in our living room and watch the CD player, saying “on-NIH!” (on) every minute or less.

Last night I uploaded pictures only to find a little surprise. Apparently I left the camera on the desk yesterday and Ewan had a little photo shoot of his own.

Here is a great video of the two cousins dancing.

Ewan shared some secrets.

Lucas shared some toys.

They both shared an interest in mobility carts.

Grandma was a popular person.

Ewan showed Lucas how to wrestle with Grandma Kay…

Focus on weaker spots, like the face…

This is the best way to pull her shirt over her head…

Before finishing her off!

Yes, this is how Ewan prefers to play at home with me. :)

For those of you non-runners like me, half marathons are planned events, not when someone starts a marathon and gives up around halfway.  Joe ran all 13.1 miles in 2 hours, 4 minutes and 14 seconds!  That’s about 10 minutes faster than his fastest 12 mile run!!!  Several people who know about running congratulated Joe on such a good time – that time means he averaged faster than a 9.5 minute mile.  Another tidbit for those of us who try to save running for a potential zombie attack: when training for your first marathon or half marathon it is common for the race day to be the first time you ever ran that far.

The race went through our neighborhood so Ewan and I cheered Joe on there and then met him at the finish line.  It was also great fun to see so many other friends who were running the race!

Thanks to several friends who snapped pictures of Joe along the way!  What a great surprise!

a mile or so into the race

high fives from a friend’s kid

running on campus at Texas A&M

getting close to the end

crossing the finish line

I did not get the camera turned on in time – here’s a video of Joe a split second after he crossed the finish line.

Ewan greatly admires the medal Daddy earned.

After all Daddy’s hard work, Ewan was ready for a nap.

We were all very proud of him!  Joe trained for several months and finished with a great time with no injuries.  Go Daddy!

But first, we watched seals and sea lions – including one giant one:

We took refuge in a shark cage:

Ewan, Tilly and Joe enjoyed the best sort of picture window:

Finally came the penguins.  Ewan was so excited!

He liked penguins from above the water.

He liked penguins below the water.

He liked the huge penguins.

He liked the fast penguins.

He (and Tilly) liked the friendly penguins.

He stood on his toes and waved his arms, he liked the penguins so much.

The only sad part was when he found out he couldn’t climb in with the penguins.  But he still tried.

So the penguins were by far the highlight of the Aquarium Pyramid for Ewan.  Forget about the sharks and the sea horses – penguins rule his world.