Step Right Up

I have to hurry up to get a post in during the first year so here goes Dad's first post. Today we went to Wesley Shoes to get Ethan some shoes he could really travel in. The teachers at daycare always marvel over the different shoes Ethan has so they will be surprised again. This time Ethan got the full shoe store experience, he got to wait for a sales person while pulling different shoes off the wall, then he got his feet measured. He is a size 4 and a half so we went and picked some shoes in that size as not all the shoes come that small. We think we picked a good pair and he seems to like them see what you think.
To those who thought they would have the opportunity to teach him how to untie them I am sorry to tell you he had them untied before we got home.

Ethan's First Birthday Present

Last night Ethan got to see his Auntie Mandy and Uncle Jeff. He was born on their anniversary, so they will be going away to celebrate and will miss his birthday party. He enjoyed opening his presents very much. He especially liked the paper, and of course the box. He got two cute little outfits and a little people farm. He likes the barn doors because they moo and oink when opened.

The Toy that Keeps on Giving

Ethan is really to big to hang out in his command center anymore. Usually he just holds on to the outside of it and walks around it. There is a bed next to it (on the side where I sat to take this picture). Ethan and I had been sitting on the bed, and he started crawling towards it. I just grabbed his middle and held on to see what he would do. He crawled across the orange part to about where that blue mirror is, turned himself around so that he was sitting on the edge with his feet dangling into the seat part, and then managed to drop himself into the seat with his legs crossed. He then figured out that he could get his legs through the hole.

Both of them through one of the holes to be more specific. You can see his hand in there too, I think he was trying to figure out why it was so snug. He was having a grand old time, but of course I stayed right there because I figured if he can crawl into it, he can probably figure out how to crawl out of it now. Fortunately I had the camera right there because I had downloaded pictures earlier so you get to witness his antics.

Fun on the Green

Ethan and I had big plans. We were going to go to the library for a while, then have a picnic in the park with the playground. But as soon as we stepped outside we knew it was way too humid and warm to be out for long. So we went to the library and played in their children's room. There is a whole section full of fun toys that Ethan just loved. Now I know what kind of toys he needs. Of course half of them required batteries, and the batteries were dead so maybe we need to donate batteries to the library. He enjoyed that for a while until a little girl started playing with legos and I wouldn't let him join in. I didn't want him to choke on one of them, as he would certainly have put it in his mouth. That caused a little temper tantrum so we left.




Instead of the park, we decided we would sit in the starbucks and have our lunch and then go play for just a few minutes on the Southbury green. And guess what Ethan had for lunch- a sunflower seed butter and blueberry fruit spread sandwich. Yum!! He liked it a lot but I only gave him a little to see if he had any reaction to it. He didn't.

Ethan enjoyed watching passing people, dogs, and cars on the green. He was less interested in his ball, though he did play with it for a minute.

Day at the Park

On Saturday we went to the park. We started out at a school playground and discovered there weren't any play things for little guys. Ethan went on the swing with his Daddy anyway.
Then we went down the road to another park. Ethan got to try swinging all on his own. He did ok with it for a few minutes, then he had enough.
We bounced on the little horse for a while. The seat was REALLY hot or else we would have let Ethan sit on it himself.
Weeeeee!!!! Ethan took his first trip down the slide with his Daddy.

"Ice Cream"

Well, we have a new trick. Ethan isn't thrilled w/ purees or baby food anymore, but he doesn't eat enough of things he can feed himself. So, since he really likes ice cream I decided to try my luck w/ pureeing frozen fruit. He seems to love it. I use a frozen banana to give it smooth texture. Today it was mango banana. Yesterday he had some berry banana. Mmmmmm.... It's just sorbet really. Soon he'll get to try peanut butter banana!

Movie

Ethan watched his first DVD today. We got it out of the library. Baby Einstein's Baby MacDonald A Day on the Farm. It was thrilling. He liked the music but wasn't really that engaged by it. I guess that's not a bad thing. I was hoping for a way to grab his attention that would work when it's time to make dinner.

Top and Bottom

Ethan and I were playing his favorite game last night. We call it "upside-down baby." He likes it a log, and it's about the only way you get to see those choppers on the top. There are two so far.
And here you can see the two on the bottom. He is chewing away on everything so we're sure there will be more soon, but it's been a while since the last pair popped through. They seem to come in twos.

Beet Neck

Ok that's bad but I couldn't resist. Ethan had beets last night. We grilled them, they were really good and he liked them. That's more than we can say for most vegetables.

Disclaimer- my husband pointed out my mistaken use of beats for beets. I apologize for not being on the top of my game that early in the morning. He could have fixed it, but the man who can't use a comma would prefer to ridicule my efforts to keep our families informed- as if HE has ever posted anything. Hmpf.

Tissues!

I bet you can guess what Ethan got ahold of. He had a lot of fun with the box of tissues, but discovered they didn't taste so good. Once he put them in his mouth and they got soggy, he promptly spit them out. Clean up was fun.

Does Anybody See the Pants??

Ethan was happily playing in the kitchen while I worked on his birthday party invites. I heard something thud over the side, and it didn't sound like a toy- when I looked, I saw that Ethan's pants went overboard. He must have gotten tired of wearing them. As you can see, he's also a fan of being barefoot.

First Shiner

Sunday night when Ethan was playing in his room before bed, he whacked his head on his nightstand. Not once, but twice. After the first time, he fell down and then when he tried sitting up hit his head on the shelf. Anyway you can see he got a bump on his eye. It definitely hurt because he screamed but once he saw his boo boo bunny he was fine. Of course he would not let us hold it on his bump, he wanted to eat the bunny.

Reunion

Ethan went to his first Simon reunion on Saturday. He had a good time, though he was a little cranky in the afternoon. Here he is with Uncle Tom and cousin Amber.
Cousin Jonathan spent some time teaching him how to play ball, and play with rocks, and eat grass.
Here's one more w/ the cousins and Uncle Tom.

Silly me, I grabbed Granny's camera and took a bunch of shots w/ it but I wasn't smart enough to download them for her. I also wasn't smart enough to move on to taking more with my camera. Anyway for people who want to see them I'll put what I have in a Picasa Web Album.

Spaghetti!

Here's Ethan enjoying his dinner. This is the first time I got him to actually eat any meat. Turkey meatballs. I even got some grated carrot in there.

And, of course, then we had to do some clean up. If you're wondering about that big scratch on his cheek, well he got in a brawl with his friend. You should see his friend. Not really. I was tickling him and he moved his head and I got him with my thumbnail. So now my nails are shorter. We hadn't had an incident like that before so I didn't really think about it and guess just kept them like I always did. But it's healing, and he's been told it makes him look tough :)

Ethan & James

Ethan enjoys hanging out w/ his Daddy. These were taken the same day as the chocolate pudding, I just didn't get them posted.

Mama's Boy

Ethan may look like his father, but he has my eating habits. That is to say, he dislikes vegetables and meat and loves cheese and carbs. We've also recently discovered that he likes chocolate!! What a smart child. I was eating my pudding snack and he HAD to have some. So you can see he really enjoyed it, and even wanted to lick the spoon when we were done.

Bath

Ethan enjoys bath time very much. When we came home from the arts festival he really needed one. This is him waiting for the water to run, he was just a little excited.

Arts Festival

Sunday Crazy Uncle Derek invited us to come to South Norwalk and check out the arts festival. Ethan enjoyed the puppet parade though he was a little too little to participate. Maybe some other year. We walked around a lot, ate some kettle corn, and then came home.

Fun Activity

This is usually the first thing Ethan does when he gets in his room.

Glowie

Ethan has started to get what he wants himself. You can see him pulling himself up on the table to get his glowie nightlight that he got from Jeannie, Kurt, and Elise. Then you can see all the ways he enjoys it. He also likes watching it as he falls asleep. He hasn't quite figured out how to turn it on, but he knows that it's on the bottom. I've seen him turning it over and trying to figure it out, but I didn't manage to catch that on camera.

Budding Artist?

When I went to get a shot of Ethan, he snapped one instead. What do you think? Can I sell it as baby art and fund his college education?