I tried to get this update out at my normal time (at the end of February) but my site’s host switched servers and didn’t get me the new passwords until just recently. A lot has happened between December 1 and now and I’ve decided it’s just too much to cover. So I’m going to mention the highlights and you’re going to have to call me if you want the rest!

Ethan turned three on December 19th. Friends and family all gathered at Chuck E Cheese and we had a great time! The end of the year is a totally crazy time for us. Aunt Alli, Mom, and Joan Zucker all have their birthdays in December. Plus, with Christmas parties, birthday parties, gingerbread houses, tree decorating and Christmas, the whole month just seems like a whirlwind. I got DavidJordan tickets to Spamalot for Christmas and it was a hilarious show! I have to admit being a little star struck seeing Hank Azaria, David Hyde Pierce and Tim Curry all on the stage at the same time. January was pretty tame. I started a new Landmark seminar, had visits from out-of-town relatives and attended a wedding with my friend, Steve Kulm. In February, I went to Portland sans Ethan for a four day vacation. I visited Jeri, Jason and Sierra Stein and had such a wonderful trip. It was great to get reconnected to my good friends and so much fun to see Sierra having grown so much!

My big news of late is that I’ve taken a temporary assignment to work full-time. My boss called to tell me that he was using all kinds of measures to get our project done on time and that getting me up to 40 hours a week would be a big help. I thought about it for a long time and decided that I could take it on for three months. I only had to make minimal changes to child care (that was a key factor) but holy cow it seems like all I do is work now! I’m not sure how I ever did this before. But then again, I didn’t have offspring to tend to. The job assignment ends in June and I think I’ll be very glad to get back to my regular 30 hours.

My big boy is three! How crazy is that?! He’s so fun and I am totally enjoying him – we’re in a really nice phase and I always love and savor that. And, in a surprise truce, Leia (our cat) and Ethan have finally become buddies! He called me in the middle of the night not too long ago and I stumbled into his room to see what was wrong. There was Leia on Ethan’s bed. “Weia sweeping on my wegs!” Ethan whispered – completely unable to contain his joy. “She purring! That mean she wike it!” It’s been a long struggle for both of them and I’m glad they’ve finally (mostly - see face of cat in picture) worked things out.

Ethan had a wonderful Christmas surrounded by loved ones and presents presents presents! I had a great time shopping for him and so much fun opening with him. In November, I asked Ethan what he wanted Santa to bring him. He said a dinosaur. When I asked for him to tell me more, he said he wanted a REAL dinosaur. Huh. A real dinosaur. I asked where we would keep him and Ethan told me in his room. When I asked what we would feed him, Ethan rolled his eyes and said “dinosaur sood!” He even mentioned that this dinosaur would greet us when we came home – always a plus in a dinosaur! So, having worked out all the details, we headed to the mall to make our request of Santa. Ethan was very excited waiting to see Santa until we got to the front of the line. And then, like a deer in the headlights, he froze. He got to just out of arms reach of Santa and would not move another step. I relayed Ethan’s request to Santa who replied that REAL dinosaurs are kind of hard to find. Ethan then told Santa that he would also like a Mr. Potato Head game and Santa said that sounded like a lot of fun. We left without incident and it took Ethan just a short period of time to overcome his Santa trauma. Christmas finally came and Santa only brought one of the two requested items. I’ll let you guess which ;)

I’m afraid I’ve turned Ethan into a little valley girl. I’ll hear him say things like “this be totally cool!” or “Bummer”. I just roll my eyes and once again see that language is learned at home. He also says things like “It’s kinda weird” or “it’s kinda odd”. I wondered where he picked up that particular phrase until I started hearing it come out of MY mouth all the time! Who knew! It’s much easier to see myself when I have a little mirror following me around all the time. One thing that cracks me up is Ethan’s propensity to describe a situation or his general heath as “not so very good”. How are you Ethan? No so berry good. He also tells me fairly often that “I change my mind”. My favorite incident was when he came into my bedroom first thing in the morning and told me that he had changed his mind. “About what?” , I asked. “I the boss now” he retorted. It’s a good thing he set me straight!! My favorite new phrase is “Mommy, you a nice, pretty girl”. It doesn’t seem to coincide with specific happenings. It just randomly pops out and warms my heart. What a little sweetie. Much better than the phrase of a couple of months ago: Shut up. I started putting Ethan in time out for saying shut up to me. And then he got creative. He started saying things like “my foot say shut up to you” or “Buzz Lightyear NOT say shut up”. I have finally banned the words altogether. If the words shut and up come out of Ethan’s mouth in any order or in any context, he gets a time out. Glad to have that out of our everyday lives!

The last couple of months have been a rollercoaster of changes for us. After a couple of incidents, I decided to take Ethan off sugar. Completely. And while I am also eating mostly sugar free, I have the occasional chocolate binge. Purely for sanity reasons mind you!! You would not BELIEVE the stuff that has sugar in it. Mayonnaise! Crackers!! And while no sugar is actually added to raisins, the body interprets their intake as straight sugar. I went through my cabinets and took out everything we couldn’t eat anymore and was amazed at just the couple things that were left. More like astounded. It has forced me to truly manage our eating – something I’ve resisted the whole time I’ve lived on my own. The program has been a huge success with Ethan. I actually wasn’t sure how it was going until I picked him up one day after a friend gave him huge sippy cups full of juice, some peanut butter crackers and some raisins. HOLY COW! It was like he was on speed and I could not calm him down or control him. He threw himself on the floor and was a total wreck until after nap. I find him much easier to manage these days – much more cooperative and more willing and able to listen. Ethan hits me only on the very rare occasion now and he always catches himself right after and apologizes. It’s like he’s been given an extra 5 seconds between having an impulse and actually carrying it out.

The other news is that DavidJordan and I have made a pretty dramatic shift in our relationship. We had been talking about marriage – if that was something we both wanted, what that would look like, etc. I finally came to the conclusion that marriage was not where I was headed in our relationship. We broke up for a while and I got some really good time to think about things. And what I realized was that even though marriage was not on the menu anymore, I still really like David and want to spend time with him. After a couple of conversations about what we both want, we decided to give “just dating” a try. It has taken a bunch of the pressure off of both of us and I find myself much more laid back about things that used to bother me. I don’t know how long this phase of our relationship will last. All kinds of things could happen that would change how things look between us. But it seems to be working for now and, after getting over the disappointment that things were not going to turn out like I’d hoped, I’m very happy to still have such a wonderful, sweet and funny man as my special companion.