Holy cow! August and September were just jam packed with trips and events. I'm sure I can't do them all justice so I'll just mention the highlights. I spent a fun-filled and relaxing weekend with my family at Lake Thunderbird. The weather was just perfect for the trip and I'm amazed by how far Ethan has come. The hour and a half car ride out to the lake was a total snap! My family also had our yearly pilgrimage to Ravinia to celebrate Sheila's birthday. It was a great night filled with wonderful music and lots of giggling. I spent Labor Day weekend at the Southwest Games Conference and had a blast! It did me a lot of good to camp in the great outdoors and play games, games, games non-stop for three straight days. Soon after, I flew down to Florida to move David to Chicago. That's right... we're neighbors now! We've been talking about it for quite a while and decided that if we were going to have a real chance to get to know each other that nightly phone conversations and monthly visits were just not going to cut it. So I flew down and David, the cat, the dog and I hopped into the truck and headed north. Just in time to miss hurricane number four I might add. Not a bad time to be getting out of Florida. Things have been going really well and I'm enjoying getting to see him almost whenever I want! The next weekend Jeri Stein and her almost one year old daughter Sierra came out for an extended weekend. It's easy to forget how little Ethan used to be and I really enjoyed playing some of the games with Sierra that Ethan no longer enjoys. It was great to see Jeri again and get to spend a little time getting to know her pride and joy. Plus throw in a couple of birthday parties and just normal life and we've had one heck of a busy couple of months!!

My mother, who has been watching Ethan since he was just twelve weeks old, declared back in July that she was going to "retire" from babysitting come September first. That gave me lots of time to look around for another situation so I could still work my 30 hours and spend as much time with Ethan as possible. I can't tell you how grateful I am to my mom for taking a couple years out of her life to take what started out as a horrific situation for me (6 weeks pregnant and divorcing) and turn it into the opportunity to have Ethan on hand to breastfeed and love and snuggle as long as I did. It was such a relief to go back to work with him being so young and to know that all I had to do was wander downstairs to get an Ethan fix. And it has been really wonderful to see what a cool relationship they are developing. More times than not I'd catch them playing campout in the living room under a card table or reading books all snuggled on the couch or having some other cool adventure. I know that it has enriched Ethan's life to be so bonded to his Grandma and it has made such a huge difference for me. Thanks Mom! I love you with all my heart and can't ever thank you enough.

And if all that wasn't enough, some other really big things have changed. Shortly before my last update, Ethan's dad called to announce that he was moving out of state. This came as a fairly big shock since he had been living in Illinois since Ethan was born. And because there hadn't been any mention of it earlier and because it was to happen within mere weeks. We needed to straighten out all kinds of things before the actual moving day and most of it was pretty stressful stuff. Not too long after that my car died. It stopped shifting correctly and after a diagnosis of a "complete transmission rebuild" on top of an already existing problem in the exhaust system, it was a death sentence for "Yoda". I was surprised how choked up I was driving to CarMax to sell it. That car has been around for a long time - it's see a good chunk of my life and I have lots of memories stored up in it. And while I sure won't miss the HUGE RUSTING GASH in the front passenger side panel, it was the last link to an era gone by and I took just a little time to say goodbye and reflect. I'm currently cruising around in a new-to-me Honda Accord and, since I plan to have it for quite some time, will be installing a new stereo and keyless entry system with the help of the ever-so-handy David Jordan.

The last thing and by far the most serious was an announcement some weeks ago that my dad has cancer. He has been getting tests for months to explain a growing number of symptoms but the tests came back inconclusive for quite some time. After waiting forever we found out and he started investigating treatment options. He started chemotherapy almost three weeks ago and it's been pretty rough. Someone recently asked me how I am doing with the whole thing. The answer is really that I've been okay with it. And the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I'm okay because I haven't allowed myself to think of anything other than full recovery. It just seems unthinkable for anything else to happen that I don't seem to have room for it in my head. And as dad says, you won't catch him worrying because it's just a waste of time. I realize my denial isn't exactly coping, but I don't have a lot of other information to go on (crystal ball is in the shop) and it seems to be getting me by for now. My request is that whatever you believe and what ever you do about your beliefs you keep my dad and family in mind. We have a long road ahead and we can use all the support we can get.

Ethan continues to be my greatest joy in life. He has really trained me in being fun and in coming up with new and creative ways to do everything. It's a great skill to know I have! When Ethan started to refuse hair washing, I came up with Oobie and Woobie. They have loud and squeaky voices and are in constant competition to see who washes Ethan better. And the crazy thing is that it TOTALLY WORKS! He will let Oobie and Woobie do anything they want to him in the bathtub. I actually look forward to bath time instead of dreading it like I had been. And the list goes on. I am way more fun than I used to be - more laid back, more free with laughter and smiles. Grocery shopping is fun and I'm never more than five seconds away from making up a new game if need be. It's great to have some skill in handling him, especially at an age like this.

Of course, with all my weekends away and with a total schedule upheaval - not seeing one Grandma except for family gatherings, Daddy leaving town, and a whole new school schedule Ethan just wigged out. Totally lost it. Became unmanageable. It was really bad for weeks. He pushed and pushed and had tantrums and didn't sleep and stopped toilet training and just about drove me over the edge. There was more than one day I was done by 10:00 am. I think if I had to boil it down, it would be the continual pushing of boundaries that got me the most. He just wouldn't let up and running so hard I wasn't getting any time to rest and recoup. I am grateful to say that after a couple of normal weeks we are finally coming out of it. I've also been back to the library because the discipline I was using for a 2 1/2 year old is just not cutting it on a boy who is almost three. I've read some things that have been recommended to me and have hopes that I will find something that works for us sooner vs. later.

A couple quick things that I have to include or will slip from my mind forever. One is that, somewhere along the road, Ethan picked up a strange little phrase. I ask him to do something and his response currently is "I can't - I old and sick". HA! The boy has more energy than any three people I know! He's also replaced his request for "two minute" most of the time with a request for "just a little bit". I'm guessing that he made the switch because two minutes only applies to time where you can ask for just a little bit of anything. "I eat you candy just a little bit"? "I have next story just a little bit"? With the sweetest little expression on his face. How can a mother say no? :)

We have our ups and downs, but mostly I couldn't be prouder of watching my boy growing up (41 inches already!). It gives me the biggest kick when he says "Sanks!" (thanks) with no reminder for something I brought over to him. Or watching him play with a friend and not having to pull them off each other every five minutes. A friend once told me that everything is a phase. And while I certainly have not enjoyed all of it, I wouldn't trade a minute of "almost three".