Pancakes anyone...

Here is Ethan making pancakes for dinner! I asked him how many did you make and he said "six". I then asked him how many did you eat...he replied "five". So I said what happened to the sixth one. He said "daddy messed it up and I couldn't eat it". I'm just surprised he can eat 5 pancakes. Did I mention he loves pancakes.

National Pancake Day

Ethan has been talking about National Pancake Day for about a month now. Ethan loves pancakes! I've taken him to IHOP before school to eat pancakes. When you ask him what do you want for dinner he replies "IHOP or pancakes". So I asked him how does he know about National Pancake Day?. He replied Highlights.

Ethan's Great Aunt Dawn bought him a subscription to Highlights magazine for Christmas. So every night daddy and Ethan read a portion of it before bed. We received the February highlight in mid January. Since National Pancake Day is February 24 it had a story in the February highlight. This is how and why he has been talking about this day for about a month.

Since he goes to school he has to write down the date every day. This teaches him how to spell each month as well as learn the actual date. I can pretty much ask him any day what date it is and he will know it. Highlights calls it National Pancake Week and Day. Ethan told me on Sunday "National Pancake Week starts today".

Can anyone guess what we will be having for dinner tonight?

Recycling

Over the years Russell and I have been recycling. We first started with aluminum cans and have now moved to pretty much everything that is recyclable. Our goal is to have only 1 trash bag a week. We are lucky enough to have recycling pick-up at our house, which picks up most of the stuff.

So this brings me to a cute story about Ethan. Remember he has grown up with recycling his whole life. Last week he came home from school, he was taking his folder out of his backpack he said "I forgot the bottle at school". I asked what bottle and he replied "a plastic bottle to recycle". I smiled and said he could bring it home the next day. So he did.

Well today he came home and said "I have some plastic bags that we can reuse". Not thinking about it I said what do you mean plastic bags let me see. He pulled out two plastic bags (one target and one local grocery store). He said I could reuse them around the house. I looked at him and said thank you so much for bringing those bags home I will reuse them and gave him a hug and kiss.

This really touched me. I know we recycle at home but for him to think about it at school and save it to bring home is amazing to me. Every little thing counts.

FYI - By recycling 1 aluminum can you will save enough energy to watch TV for 3 hours.

Saturday we all went to Grandpa's house to paint the outside of his house that was damaged during hurricane Ike. Everything is pretty much back to normal except the paint. We all put on painting clothes and headed to grandpas. While Russell and I were getting everything prepared for painting Ethan noticed a dandilion in the front yard. He ran over to it, picked it and said "I haven't seen one of these since spring". I quickly ran to my camera and caught him blowing it. It is amazing how he talks like an adult. Here are a few pictures.

Booster seat

Many of you know Ethan is now 6 years old, weighs about 52 lbs, and is 4 ft tall. He has been sitting in a booster seat for some time. (The kind that is the full back and bottom with a five point harness. You can also use a seat belt with them.) This past weekend we were going to a friends house to watch the super bowl. A friend of mine and her baby were going to ride with us. My car is not that large so I thought Ethan can use the regular seat and we can put the baby car seat in the middle and my friend can still fit in the back seat. Ethan was so excited about riding in the car with no booster seat. He has never really complained about sitting in his booster seat. He has always known that when he reaches 80 lbs he can sit in the normal seat. He tells me all the time he only has 28 more pounds until he gets to sit in the normal seat.

A friend of ours invited us over for dinner. I thought to myself that I need to put his booster seat back in the car, but then changed my mind to see if Ethan would ask me to put it back in the car. Of course he didn't mention it at all. I look in the mirror and he is sitting straight up with his seat belt buckled and his feet are resting on the center console. Wow he is growing up so quickly!

I know you are reading this thinking what in the world is he still sitting in a booster seat. Well safety first! Since there is a booster seat available we should use it. With the seat he can see out the window, the seat belt fits him properly and he is safe.

The value of a quarter...

Every day I pick Ethan up from daycare his backpack is unzipped and his shoes are untied. Last Friday when I picked him up I told him, every time I pick him up and his shoes are tied I will give him a quarter. He thought for a second and said how about two quarters since there are two shoes. I said no one quarter for both. Of course I'm thinking $2.50 is a lot of money in a week, but I don't mind $1.25.

So this brings me to Monday afternoon when I picked up Ethan from daycare. Normally I would notice if his shoes are untied but I really did not notice if they were or not. So we get in the car and he buckles up. As we are turning to head home he says "both my shoes are tied today". I had to laugh to myself and then reached into my change holder and grabbed a quarter and handed it to him. He said "thank you, thank you". It just amazes me that he remembered over the weekend so that he could get a quarter. I can't wait to see if he remembers this afternoon.