Ethan and Artimus

They are behaving more like siblings. Ethan always wake up looking for me and Artimus to kiss. After being kissed by mommy, he would gently hug and put his cheeks to Artimus' lips, then laugh and does it many times until I have enough of making sure he doesn't crush her. Artimus now recognizes Ethan and would tolerate the "kisses" until Ethan gets overly excited. Aside from the kisses, Ethan always tries to be helpful. He brings me Artimus' blanket whenever he sees that it's not on Artimus. He brings me her diaper whenever I am getting ready to change her diaper. Just today, I see that he was trying to sing to her when she was crying. He could also be telling her in a very singing voice to stop crying. I can't quite tell which.

I also had the opportunity to see Ethan play in the park. His favorite is Seward Park. He goes twice day, morning and late afternoon. The playground is his world. He is so happy there that it's hard to deny him playground even when he acts up. His grandma, my MIL, tells me that he refuses to leave every time. I got the chance to see what that meant - he runs away whenever those words hit his ears - "it's time to leave" or "lets go home." Then I see my MIL running after him trying to talk him into leaving. After being captured, he would struggle his way to freedom and my MIL would be running after him again. This seems to be the ritual for at least five times. Ethan loves the slide the most. He also loves to look for friends and "talk" to them.

Artimus tracks me with her eyes anywhere I go in the apartment so long as I am within view. She also smiles and laughs. Best of all, she sleeps through the night, for five hours at a stretch starting at 8:00 p.m. every night. What else can I wish for? All in all, they are growing beautifully.

The bad news is that Ethan may have another ear infection. His temperature for the past two afternoons has been 99 or 100 degrees. He is otherwise normal as usual - actively playing and quite cheerful. I know that's not fever but we want to nip it at the bud before he gets really cranky and passes on his illness to anyone else in the family. Can't tolerate another episode of cold. Just when I forget about how it is dealing with a sick kid, Ethan gets sick again.

JW