An Eliana first: She took her brother’s bunny.

Eliana has a big blankly bun just like Ethan’s, except that hers is pink. For now, it spends all its time in the crib. That didn’t matter at story time, when she and Ethan were sharing Mommy’s lap. Ethan had his bunny, and as Eliana took hold of it and pulled it toward her, they were soon sharing that, too.

Respecting machinery

Thursday night, Ethan and I watched Farmer Jim harvest soybeans. We stood next to the combine as it was unloading into the wagons. The wheels on the tractor pulling the wagons were as as tall as me, and combine was even larger. The size had quite an impression on Ethan: he didn’t want to leave my arms.

For another sort of adventure, this morning Ethan listened to Ranger Bill for the first time. I gave him some background on what Ranger Bill does. My description apparently reminded him of Hans Christian Anderson’s St. George. This was Ethan’s opinion of Ranger Bill: “He's very brave. He's not afraid of dragons or combines or tractors.”

Another Ethan first: He wished he had given thanks.

My dad and I were putting up shelving in the garage as Ethan played outside on a beautiful, but blustery day. Ethan played in the driveway chasing the blowing leaves. A piece of paper from the shelving package got caught up in the wind and blew into the street. As Ethan chased after it, Grandpa yelled at him to not go onto the road.

The forcefulness of his voice shook Ethan. I went over to him and told him why grandpa had to yell like that. I suggested he thank Grandpa for helping him stay safe. Ethan declined at the time, but you never know what is working in the conscious of a child. A half hour after Grandpa and Grandma left, Ethan came up to me and shared this regret: “I didn’t say ‘thank you’ to Grandpa—because I was shy.”

An Eliana first: She rolled over.

Eliana will enjoy this freedom, since she seems to like being on her back where she can look around more than tummy time anyway.

The ramifications of wobbly

I reminded Ethan that if he wants to wake up in time for us to play together before I leave for work the next morning, he needs to be still in bed so that he can fall asleep. Or as he puts it, “When I be wobbly, then I don’t wake up, and you go to work, and then I be sad.”