The Phillie Fanatic

Ethan's first swim


Ethan's a "Phillie Fantatic" at his first baseball game


Roshan, Ethan, and Christopher


Ethan and Matthew


We have been having a nice summer so far and had a great July 4th holiday! Today we went to a Phillies game- Ethan was all decked out in a miniature Phillies uniform for his first ever baseball game. He had fun clapping and shouting right along with the rest of the fans. At one point, there was a horrible thunderstorm that passed through dumping buckets of rain on the stadium accompanied by thunder and lightning. During that storm, the big television was playing a Mets game, and at one point the guy standing next to us went nuts cheering after a good Mets play. This really disturbed Ethan though and he burst into tears!

Last night we took Ethan to a Salsa festival and also to a Philly Pops concert in front of Independence Hall. He really loves music. Any time he hears upbeat music he bops up and down to the beat. Is this normal? It seems that he has an unusually good sense of rhythem for a baby. Perhaps I am biased (and sorry for so much bragging).

Also this weekend we met up with some friends (and Ethan's friends Christopher and Roshan) for a trip to the zoo. The boys had a great time looking at the animals and staring at each other, though they didn't interact too much. The Hippos were a big hit with Ethan.

Yesterday, I took Ethan to the new Wegmans. They had a cart there with a big car on the front that could seat two kids. I strapped Ethan in and cumbersomely navigated my way through the store. Ethan was sitting between the two steering wheels (steering both at once) and honking both horns and shouting. Needless to say, we attracted a lot of attentino and we got a lot of funny looks. He escaped the seatbelt three times before I gave up and let him crawl all around in the car. When I was checking out, I put him in the cart and he stood on top of the watermelon. Such a handful!

Last weekend we met some friends (including Ethan's friend, Matthew) at a park in New Brunswick, NJ. We had a really nice picnic and a nice time catching up- even if it was a bit rainy. Ethan was delighted to get pulled in his Radio Flyer wagon by Matthew! He also was incredibly eager to join in (shouting etc) when Matthew and his dad kicked the soccer ball around.

Other excitement included Ethan's first trip to the kiddie pool. Wearing his cute little bathing suit, at first he wasn't too happy with being dipped in the water, but after a few minutes he was having a blast and didn't want to get out. The pool is about 2 feet deep and Ethan get's very slippery when wet, so we had to hold on tight! He even kicked his feet like he knew how to swim already. We need to get him into some swim lessons soon!

Ethan's favorite toy these days seems to be the wooden spoon- he carries it with him everywhere!

The most exciting developement has been that Ethan is starting to walk. His first few steps happened on June 23, with Steve and me cheering him on. Now, sometimes he can take 10 steps or more at a time. It is amazing to see how quickly he is learning to master walking!