whenever i put ethan to bed, he always asks me to sleep with him for just 5 minutes. i usually tell ethan that he's a big boy and needs to fall asleep on his own. inevitably, ethan will get up at around 11 p.m. to try and sleep in mommy and daddy's room. lately, eric or i end up sleeping with ethan in his bed so that ethan doesn't wake up owen or xavier. the other night, eric and i were still awake when ethan made his nightly commute to our bedroom. eric and i both went up this time to put him back in bed.

[sidenote: ethan has been getting his butt kicked lately. from owen constantly hitting him out of frustration of not getting his way to isaiah pushing him around, he has to take a lot.]

anyway, eric and i put ethan back to bed and lay down on either side of him. you've never seen ethan grin so big in your life. when i told him that both daddy and i would sleep next to him that night, you couldn't wipe that grin off his face. he must have really needed that extra love and attention because i cannot convey the happiness that *i* felt that he felt that night. such a small thing to make my son happy.

***

whenever we ask ethan about school, he doesn't offer much. when we ask him who he played with that day he says, "my brain can't remember." when we ask him who his friends are he says, "nobody." when eric and i ask his teachers, they always tell us that ethan is doing fine and that he is a very good listener. (he also happens to be the only boy that doesn't hit.) he is shy, but that doesn't seem to be a big concern for his teachers. it's a big concern for me and eric given ethan's responses. why doesn't he play with other kids? why doesn't he bother to learn anyone's name? is he really that antisocial? much of these fears were quelled when the class book came home.

miss gore had each student fill out an "all about me" page, including a photo. then she put all the pages together as a book and is passing it around to each of the students for the week. genius! ethan LOVED looking at it. i took the opportunity to work with ethan to help him learn the names of his friends at school. but when we opened the book, ethan enthusiastically pointed at each student saying, "hey that's grace! and that's carson! that's alex and that's liam!" can you say relief?? he knows everyone in his class. he even managed a couple of stories about a couple of the kids. his brain *can* remember...he just doesn't want to recount it because (i think) he just really loves being at home with his family.

ethan and i were drawing on the driveway one day over the summer and he made me draw our family - ethan, isaiah, owen, xavier, daddy, mommy. then he made me draw nani and lola lily and ninong ryan. then he put his finger to his mouth and said, "hmmm...who else belongs to us?" my heart melted. i love that he knows that we all belong to each other. we didn't go inside until we drew everyone that "belonged" to us.