chronicles of ethan

i've been busy spending quite some time with Ethan regarding his character development - and let me tell you, it ain't easy.

one time he crumbled crackers on the table and then spread it all over the floor. as i was cleaning, he could tell my temperature rising. he says "sowwy mommy" - i ask "why are you sorry?" he then answers "i don't know, i don't want mommy angwy." i then spent the next ten minutes about how it's selfish of him to make a mess and expect others to clean, blah, blah, blah. do you think any of them reigstered to my 2 year old - i think not.

i'm beginning to see that he places high value on "intent". he feels that if he didn't intend to break something, he shouldn't be punished for it - though i told him million times that he should not swing the swiffer. his favorite saying right now is "IT'S NOT TWUE!" one time, he ran to the TV and pushed it real hard with his hands. the TV shook and it almost toppled over. in shock, i screamed "Ethan!!! You almost broke the TV!" to which he replied with a serious frown and attitude "NO!!!!!!! IT'S NOT TWUE!!!!!" I guess in his world it wasn't true, since that was NOT his intention. the funniest thing was that Makayla then walked over to me and whispered in my ear "it's true, mommy."

in our household, the only time you don't share your food is when you are sick. one time i overheard....
mak: "ethan, can i have one strawberry?"
ethan: hiding the bowl... "i'm sick!!!" (he was completely healthy.... and he knew it.)

one sunday, he refused to change. when joe tried to force him to change, he screamed bloody murder - "i don't like you - go away!!!" usually, if we simply walk away, he concedes and runs after saying "sowwy, don't go away." but every so often, he doesn't budge. since makayla and i happen to be in the room as well, we all try to counsel him to put on his clothes - to no avail. he then continued to say, "i don't like mommy and daddy. go away." so we told him that it's our house that he should go away and kicked him out of the room. he then says "i like makayla, come on, kayla." makayla then clings to me and says "i want to stay with mommy and daddy." we think at this point, he'll just give in, but NO. he says "okeee." and walks out. we then hear the pitter patter of his feet for the next 10 minutes going up and down the stairs freely, without a care in the world. we were now stuck in our room waiting for Ethan to come back and change..... after some time, makayla goes "can i go get ethan now?" we say "ooooo-kay" makayla then yells "ethan!!!!" ethan runs back to the room and joe sheepishly asks "are you ready to change now?" ethan answers "yesh." now tell me, who's the boss of this house?

one morning, joe make kielbasa to take to work for lunch. he put it in the tupperware with cucumber. he then went upstairs to shower and left ethan downstairs - when he came back, he found this - some INSIDE the rice cooker, INSIDE the coffee pot and on the pan. obviously he got in big trouble - but it was hard to keep a straight face. and ofcouse we took some pictures ;)


another thing with ethan is that he hates kissing. this morning, he wanted a banana so i asked for a kiss - he goes "how about a hug?" when he really wants something, he reluctantly obliges and immediately wipes his mouth and says "dishgushting." nice.

these character issues combined with his charm and killer smile has to be a deadly combination of trouble. any wisdom, counsel or advise is welcome.