Learning Names for Animals and Body Parts

First a quick update to my previous blog about Ethan's cold. I ended up taking him to the pediatrician on Wed (after being up most of the previous night with him as he hacked away with his cough and could only sleep upright with me in the glider). Sure enough he has an ear infection in the left ear and the other ear is inflamed. We started him on amoxicillin Wed. night and have seen some improvement with the ear pain, but the congestion is hanging in there. Thank you all for your suggestions on how to make him more comfortable! Since this is the first time that Ethan has had amoxicillin, I thought that I wasn't familiar with it. When I opened the prescription to give him his first dose and caught a whiff of the bubblegum odor, all these memories from childhood flooded back! Funny that a scent is tied to memories- I do remember taking this stuff as a kid after all!

Ethan has absolutely loved playing with the new toys that he received for his birthday. He especially likes to carry around (and sometimes chew on) the animals that came with his Noah's Ark and his shape-sorting barn. We have been working on teaching him the names of these animals, and it is so much fun to ask him to bring the zebra to Mommy and watch him toddle off to the toy room and bring the zebra back! So far he is pretty consistent with the pig, cow, and zebra (although sometimes we still get a chicken instead). We are also working on naming body parts. He loves it when you ask him where his toes are. He knows toes, feet, and knee, and we're working on belly and nose. Nose is a bit problematic though with its similarity to "toes" ;)

He is also enjoying saying "hi", especially to Waggles. Sometimes, if he's in the mood, he'll say "hi" on the cell phone to family or friends. It's really neat to listen to his babbles as he's figuring out this whole "word thing".