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This school year has been a little rough for Ethan. He’s a brilliant kid, don’t get me wrong, but he’s also very “hands-on” with his fellow students, to put it nicely. We’ve been doing a little better, what with a massive amount of taking away his games and grounding him to his room. So I was hoping we’d get the holidays over and done with, then he’d shape up and we’d be golden for the rest of the year.

Wishful thinking, Mom.

We are at day 2 into 2010, and Ethan is already grounded for a week. Which is impressive, since I grounded him and he’s not even here!

While Ethan’s visiting his dad over Christmas vacation, I took the opportunity to clean his room and get things a little more organized. All was well until I moved his bed so I could clean underneath it and make the bed. And, lo and behold, I find six notes from his teacher that he brought home and hid there.

*facepalm*

Oh child. I love you very much, but you had better shape up sooner rather than later. And you owe me an easy teenager!

When Ethan was a preemie in the NICU, all the babies were given a Beanie Baby to cuddle in the isolette, incubator, crib, whatever. When he was about 2 weeks old, I came in to find this picture in Polaroid form taped to his incubator one morning. (Yes, I had to recreate the pose…)

2003

This started a great tradition, and with the exception of one year, I’ve done a picture with Ethan and Lucky bear every year roughly around his birthday. This past weekend, we finally went and got a haircut (since I apparently gave him a mullet), and took a walk to the park by the house. My favorite one is pure Ethan attitude:

2009

But for those of you who like a more traditional pose:

2009

You can click to see the bigger versions…or just join me in saying, “OMG! How did he get so big?!”

Dear Ethan,

Happy Birthday! As of 12:15 this morning, you turned six years old. While you are one of the most amazing and wonderful people I know, your arrival into this world was certainly unexpected. Well…it was, but really, you were supposed to arrive in January. But I won’t hold that against you…much. (By now, hopefully you’ve realized I’m joking when I say that.)

I went looking for a picture from your actual birthday, and I couldn’t find one from that day I could stand to put up. As I said, you arrived two months premature. You hadn’t finished growing in so many ways, and I was only able to get one of my two steroid shots before the doctor woke me up at 11 pm to tell me that your heart rate was dropping and you were coming out now. I was kind of in shock, so it didn’t quite sink in until I saw you the next day, IV in your arm and hooked up to a ventilator that I realized what a close call it was. The ventilator didn’t last too long, but then it was the CPAP, and that cursed feeding tube you had for over a month. Oh, how many times did you pull that thing out…

So this picture is from November 7th, 2003: your second day of life. This was the first time I got to hold you, though it wasn’t nearly long enough for me. You can only see your feeding tube in this shot, though there is the hint of the IV setup on your hand. Within a couple of days, you’d be sporting some snazzy shades and under the bili lights, warding off jaundice. You’ll also be hooked up to some kind of breathing monitor until a month after you came home, in January. But for this moment, you were my perfect little baby.

Looking through the pictures from your first days, I find it amazing how much I had forgotten. How excited I was to dress you for the first time. How amazing it was to show up at the NICU and find you in an open crib. How utterly delightful it was to have you scream through your first bath, then fall asleep right after you got over the indignation of it (and had a snack). And, most importantly, the overwhelming joy when I finally got to take you home on Day 60.

Part of me feels bad for forgetting all these things, though by remembering them, I’ve become more intent on celebrating all your firsts to come. Just this year was your first day of kindergarten, your first bus ride, and finally buttoning your first shirt. (How you can beat all those levels in Mario Galaxy and not tie your shoes, I don’t understand…) Coming up next week is your first birthday party with your friends, not just your family. Soon enough you’ll be walking to the bus stop by yourself, going out with your friends, and driving. *shudder*

Time flies, young man. Let’s both remember that, and treasure all that happens in the next year. I love you, Monkey.

<3, Mama

November is Prematurity Awareness Month. Visit the March of Dimes to make a donation on Ethan’s behalf so we can help avoid more premature births!

So there’s been a new development with Ethan, that is both thrilling and terrifying for me.

The child is learning to read.

Even worse than that, the child wants to read.

Yes, I realize this is not the worst problem that I could have with him right now. At least, it’s not the worst one I could point out. But, I’ve gone for nearly 6 years feeling secure in the knowledge that if I wrote something down, he wouldn’t be able to know what it said. You have no idea how wonderful that is until someone looks over your shoulder and asks why you’re writing something.

The other day, his school sent home a special offer for a free child’s hockey ticket on Veteran’s Day. I asked Ethan if he wanted to go see hockey, and he asked to see the paper. He read it over, and became not as thrilled about the hockey as he was about the Looney Toons being there as well. What if I wanted to hide that fact from him?! Curse you, educational system, for doing your job!!

At least I have a year or so until he learns to spell. Then it’s all down hill…

Happy birthday Dad!

At the Futures at Fenway game. Boston MA

Fenway Park, Boston MA

When we went out to the Futures at Fenway, there were five adults to keep track of Ethan. The next day, we had four adults to keep track of Ethan as we went hiking to Purgatory Chasm. Those ratios seem just about right for a five-year-old.

From left to right: John, David, and Slippy. Ethan in the front, oblivious for the moment that I’m taking his picture. Purgatory Chasm, Sutton MA.

Yesterday, we went to Fenway Park to see the Portland Sea Dogs and Pawtucket Red Sox play in the Futures at Fenway game. They didn’t play each other…who would you root for?…but this marked the first time I’d been inside Fenway. We left before the second game finished, but it was a fantastic day out!

Boston MA

Friday at Ethan’s school was Crazy Hair Day. Being a girl, I don’t know quite what to do with a boy’s hair that’s “crazy,” so a purple mohawk was the best I could think of. Ethan was quite taken with it, so when we went into Boston this weekend, Ethan got it refreshed. And I finally took a picture.

Of course, for a 5-year-old, the ride from Riverside to Government Center takes forever…

I don’t usually do LOLcats, but sometimes, they just scream out to you…