Out of the mouths of babes...and Ethan!

Ethan continues to entertain us with his perspective on life. A week ago, the neighborhood elementary school that he will attend in a couple of years had its year end carnival which we've taken him to since he was a baby. This year as in the past couple of years, we went with our 5 year old neighbor Elizabeth who is Ethan's closest friend though they can fight like a brother and sister. They had their faces painted, did a cake walk (Elizabeth won), played on the jumpies, and ended up on the standby monkey bars. Elizabeth fell off, and, over a week later, she is seeing an orthopedic surgeon to determine if the severe break she suffered in the fall will necessitate surgery. At the time, Ethan showed little sympathy and seemed exasperated that her fall might interrupt the carnival. He took my face in his little hands, looked me earnestly in the eyes, and said, "Daddy. Maybe they should just cut off her arm."

Over the course of the past few weeks, we had some close out of town friends visit. Ethan seemed somewhat cool toward the woman of the couple, and when I asked him why after they departed, he replied, "Because she kept calling me 'cute.' I am NOT cute!" When pressed about how he would describe himself that would make him happy, he said, "Well, I am just disgusting."

Today at his gymnastics class at The Little Gym, Ethan informed his mother that Caroli

ne is his first girlfriend. He said she keeps trying to kiss him, and he stressed "on the mouth." He is certain he is going to marry Emily from school but is quite content to have Caroline as "my girlfriend." In his strained whisper he gets when he wants to be confidential, he hissed to his mother that "You need to go her phone number now Mommy."

I'm hopeful that these three examples of Ethan's prowess with girls will not be indicative of his future approach and success in the dating world.

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