Howdy all! Boy, it sure is getting beautiful here! One of my very favorite parts of having a keen observer like Ethan around is that I'm a lot more in tune with how the world looks and smells and sounds. I've actually stopped and smelled the roses! I noticed when the bushes by our house started to bloom. I hear birds go by overhead and watch them eat out at the feeder. Plus it's been really rainy here so everything is green and lush. It's wonderful to be outside!

My good friend Jeri Stein came for a visit early in the month despite her early pregnancy nausea. That's right! The Stein's are having a biscuit of their own. Jeri cracked me up with her warning for the visit - that she is emotional and needs to be feed at frequent intervals. It seems that she and Ethan are on the exact same schedule. I was honored to take Jeri to register for all the baby stuff she's going to need and was pleased that I actually learned something from my own experience that was valuable for someone else! I also pulled out all my maternity and baby clothes and we totally stuffed up the extra suitcase I told her to bring! I think Jeri got "it" on a whole new level by the time the visit was over. There is REALLY a baby coming. It was neat to get to share the beginnings of that realization with her and to let her know what a fabulous mom I know she'll be!

Other than the visit, April was a pretty tame month by my standards. I didn't go on any world tours or anything! I attended woodshop class where I am building a chessboard. It's coming along very nicely. I plan to make all the pieces too when I get around to it. I went to lunch with friends, played Starcraft on the computer with Karen (the perfect past time for two single mothers!), had some dental work (ow!) and took a last minute trip to Detroit (see bottom section). I'm feeling better than last month and want to thank you all for the support I got. I know that it will take a while to deal with all the emotions I had to put away until a "better" time came along. But it sure helps to know that there are people out there who have been through the same thing and have made it to the other side. Thanks!!

Sixteen months is an amazing age and I love Ethan SO much and he is doing SO many cool things and I SO want to give him back to his real parents some of the time. :) Okay, not really. But if they came by to pick him up, I would have to think it over before I said no. He goes from zero to tantrum in less than three seconds and over the smallest things! Sometimes I don't even know what it's about. I just look down and Ethan has thrown himself backwards and is crying or screaming or trying to hit me or bite me. I didn't used to believe in demon possession, but I'm starting to consider it as a possible explanation for what has happened to my darling easy-going boy. Add on top the three teeth he had come in this month (for a grand total of seven) and that should speak volumes about what kind of time we're having here at Casa de F. Needless to say, I've had more than the occasional day when the bedtime countdown starts well before dinner. Like 1:30. Calgon take me away!

On the VERY cool side, Ethan had his first haircut this month so he's officially a big boy! I think he's adorable, but that isn't new. :) He also said his first (and only) sentence. He said "more pizza" although it came out a lot closer to "mo titi". But it was totally understandable to everyone present so I'm counting it. He's getting more verbal all the time and I'm encouraging him to use words to get what he wants (read: food) instead of the caveman like grunting and pointing that has brought him this far. He's got about 40 things he can communicate and I'm sure he's got 40 others that I just haven't gotten yet. It cracks me up to listen to him through the baby monitor, just chatting up a storm to his toys. It would be a total trip to spend an hour in his head to see what he thinks of the world.

In keeping with the Glore tradition, Ethan went on his very first Easter egg hunt this year! He did a great job of tracking them all down with only the tiniest amount of coaching. Turns out he's a big fan of jelly beans! Go figure - a kid who likes candy. For weeks after Easter we'd finish a meal and he would signal wildly in the direction of the candy. I thought the poor boy was going put a permanent crick in his neck turning around to see if I was REALLY going to get him some jelly beans or not. Luckily, the candy is all finally gone and so, it seems, is his memory of it.

I'm very sad to say that my Granddad Glore died two weeks ago today. He fell in front of his house and was admitted to the hospital to be checked. While I don't believe that the fall itself killed him, it allowed his body to fall prey to a series of conditions that it could not keep fighting over a period of time. He was mostly unconscious for the majority of his stay in the hospital and I am comforted that he did not suffer at the end. People have asked me if we were close and I have to say that the honest answer is "no". We talked on the phone every once in a while. We didn't spend a lot of time just the two of us and I can count the number of one-on-one conversations we had about real stuff on one hand. But Granddad has been an integral part of my whole life and losing someone like that changes everything. We visited with my dad's family every three day weekend I can ever remember and I have such sadness knowing that Granddad will no longer be a part of those visits. He was a kind and generous man. He would sneak up behind me and surprise me with a shoulder rub when I was playing cards. He delighted in buying toys for the family at Christmas and we would often simultaneously open his latest find - chirping birdies on a swing, seventies fiber optic lamps, you know the kind of thing. He amazed me with his willingness try new things and I often found myself bragging about having an online grandparent. I miss him very much.

I think that the hardest part of saying goodbye to Granddad has been saying my final goodbyes to all my grandparents. Granddad was the last to go and that has brought back all of their deaths for me. It has been a really hard five years, seeing them all go one after another. In some ways it has felt like I've been holding my breath - never knowing when someone else was going to die. After Granddad did, I was finally able to exhale. It has started the process for me of letting go of their lives and cherishing what they left behind. I have great memories of times spent celebrating and laughing and playing and loving and of being loved. My grandparents left a wonderful legacy and I am so blessed to have known them all.