Ethan has become fascinated by people's names.  He wants to know everything about names, people's titles, people's relationships, and as he puts it "what you actual name?"  Mommy and Daddy aren't sufficient anymore.

And to go along with this insatiable thirst for "actual names" Ethan has become much more forward about his own name.  When asked in public, he no longer is bashful or gives just his first name.  We get the full, first, middle, and last name now.  The only problem is they are bit...um...garbled, yeah garbled.

You see, when asked Ethan insists that his middle name is "Go Fish."  Which is pretty close to "Joseph," if you think about it.  It started as a serious attempt to say his middle name, but after he saw it get a rise out of his Nanna, all we get now is Ethan Go Fish.  It has become such a good joke that even Isaac gets in on the action.  Here is a little conversation about this very topic with Isaac, Ethan and I after a delicious outdoor dinner:

When Isaac and Ethan take a bath there is always a lot of activity.  Splashing, fighting over toys, wrestling.  Washing is the easiest and shortest part of the bath.  And in this hubbub, there are rituals.  Isaac smacks the drain cover on the wall at the end of the bath and Ethan's "job" is to put the drain plug back in.  We also have a bit of a ritual for washing hair.  I use a large Lego cup to drop water on their hair to rinse out the soap.  After this is my favorite little moment in every bath.

Isaac's hair is, as you know, virtually waterproof.  It takes five or six cups of water to rinse out the soap.  Ethan's angel hair, on the other hand, is so easy to rinse that even one cup is too much.  Invariably he gets water in his eyes and he doesn't want to open them.  So then he turns to his guard dog of a big brother and says: "Isaac can you help me?"

When he does this Isaac knows exactly what to do.  When Isaac was little and got something in his eyes, Bianca would have him close his eyes, gently place her fingers on his eyelids, and have him roll his eyes around, pushing the debris to the edge of the eye where tears and more easily discharge it.

And though there is nothing but water in Beeth's eyes, Isaac does this to his little brother.  In a fifteen or twenty minute splashing wrestling match, this moment of gentle care is incredibly tender.  It makes Isaac feel good because he is taking care of his brother and it makes Ethan feel good because his brother is taking care of him.  And, as a Dad, this caring makes me feel so good knowing, despite warring with each other all of the time, at the heart of their relationship is a brotherly bond like no other.

Bianca picked up Ethan at Goddard recently and witnessed a bit of world class chivalry. As she made her way through the school and out into the playground she noticed Ethan in the corner of the playground with a little girl. He was standing between her and something else, something not visible. 

As Bianca got closer she heard Ethan tell the little girl: "Stay back Josie." Then Ethan, filled with all the courage his little two year old body could contain, turned to the invisible something and said: "We no like that." As Bianca edged closer she saw that Ethan was directing his invictive at a spider. Ethan, still standing his ground, then spat defiance at the spider and his menancing (or not) appearance: "You come closer and I punch you in the weenie."

 That was it, that was the ultimate threat from two year old Beethan.  He wasn't having any of it and though he is roughly 1000 times the size of the spider, as was Josie, he had to do his duty and protect her.  And what could be more protective than a 28 inch tall two year threatening to punch you in the weenie?  And that doesn't even account for the fact that I don't think spiders have weenies.