Obstacle Course

Most days during Ethan's morning nap Momma designates the time as "Caleb time" and she will play whatever Caleb wants to play for the hour/hour and a half.  One morning a couple weeks ago Momma thought she'd be a little creative and made Caleb an obstacle course instead of the normal "play pirates" that we seem to do all the time (for some reason, being a girl maybe?, playing dollhouse would just come so much more naturally than pirates!).

 

In order to get pictures of Caleb doing the different parts of the course Momma had to try and run ahead of him, turn around, and take a picture.  I think it only took us six times to get a picture in most of the spots!

 

The course began with a tunnel crawl behind the couch.

 Here's Caleb stopping for a picture.

 

 

 And through the tunnels!

...through the tent...

...hop over the penguin pillow (not pictured) and climb on the couch cushion and throw pillow mountain, slide down the other side...

 

...run back and forth through the kitchen chairs path...

 

...around the island in the kitchen (not pictured), through the sheet curtain (see the background of this picture), jump on the laundry clothes hill...

 

 

...spin four times (since Caleb's four years old) and slide under the tension rod in the doorway, and he's done!

 

 

This was such a big hit that Caleb wanted to do it over and over again.  He even talked Momma into doing it once (though she didn't fit in many of the crawling spaces and had to spin thirty-two times!).  Then he kept it up to show Grandma Jan on the webcam (Momma had to stay one step ahead of him and hold the laptop backwards so Grandma Jan could see Caleb do the course).  Even Daddy got to try it and the two of them had several races through the course.  Caleb has been asking every day since when we're going to make another one!  It was so much fun.

Cute Kids

These pictures and videos don't really "go" with anything, they're just fun and I couldn't resist putting them up for you to see.  Sometimes my kids can be just so cute!

 

Here's a video of Ethan laughing at Caleb "fake" laughing.  It's the tail end of lots of laughing, but by the time Momma ran to get the camera they were almost all worn out.  I just LOVE baby laughs, though, so I thought I'd share.

Ethan still adores his big brother so much!  And Caleb adores Ethan, so it is definitely a match made in heaven!  (Thanks God!!)  Here the boys are both "sleeping" on Caleb's pillow in his big bed before rest time one day.  Just so sweet!

 

When it is close to naptime/bedtime but not too close Ethan gets very "slap-happy" and will laugh at the silliest things.  One day he was laughing at everything, so Caleb and I thought we'd test him and said, "The sky is blue."  Which at the time was the funniest thing in the whole world.  Ethan's a lot of fun when he gets silly like this.

 

 

 Some parents are really good about putting cute bibs on their babies so that the constant drool doesn't soak through their clothes and to their skin.  I am not one of those parents!  I never think to put a bib on my child.  So all of those adorable bibs that people give us just sit in the drawer.  To be sure Ethan at least gets his picture taken with a couple of these sweet gifts, we started putting a bib on him when he "drinks" his water.  This one was from Grandpa Brandon for Caleb, though Caleb didn't wear it much either.  It's Grandpa's favorite driver.  (He's trying to boost Jeff Gordon's fan base at an early age!)  Look at that adorable face!

Aunt Aurea sent this one.  It has some adorable turtles on it, but the face in this picture was just too cute to pass up!  And yes, Ethan does love his aunt!!



Not to be left out, Uncle Rob also sent a cute bib for Ethan.  He gave us lots of funny expressions while we tried to get a photo, and then found the tags on the side and started pulling them.  Maybe it was his way of saying that he loves his uncle too!

In Sunday School Caleb made an Ark of the Covenant complete with angel stickers on top!  He and Daddy re-enacted the Israelites march through the wilderness.  Caleb made a point of telling Daddy that he couldn't touch the box, ONLY the stick handles, as they marched around.

 

For those of you who don't know, Mike is a HUGE Rugby fan.  He loves to watch and play the game!  Caleb is not such a fan (he just likes commercials) but he does enjoy watching the New Zealand All Blacks "Haka".  A war cry/chant that stems from the old tribal preparation for battle to put fear into the opponent before attacking.  They do this at the beginning of every game and it is quite impressive.  Mike had the Haka as his ring tone for a long time and Caleb would call him from Momma's phone just to hear it!  This is a little video of Caleb's rendition.  (Neither accurate OR scary!)  If you're interested in what it should really be, email Mike.  I'm sure he can direct you to a video clip of it!

 

 

Firsts

This post is titled "Firsts" and though this would be accurate several weeks ago, many of these things are "old hat" now for Ethan!  That's what happens when Momma is too busy to juggle everyone and everything at once!  (Especially on very little sleep!!)  Ah well, the pictures and videos are still great.

 

Ethan is now learning to get himself around a little.  One day (now several weeks ago) he was placed on the blanket next to the couch and ended up under his swing.  Being curious he had to grab everything he could see and wahla he could grab the back of the strap and get it to his mouth.  He was very proud of himself.

Ethan has also learned to roll.  He only rolls one way, but will roll himself right onto the game that Caleb and Momma are playing.  Caleb thinks it's pretty funny when Ethan lands on the board and everyone's pieces go flying!  Then we rush around getting all of the dangerous pieces out of his reach and Ethan safely back to the other side of the room.  That is until he rolls again!

 

 

This (rather long) video really epitomizes Ethan's style of rolling.  "Roll to tummy, complain that I'm on my tummy.  Roll to my back, want to get farther.  Roll to tummy, and repeat!"

 

 

 

Ethan is a HUGE fan of the sippy cup.  What an amazing thing to get chilled water out of a "chewable" toy!  Though he is not really a fan of the taste of the water, it's still fun to play with and drench his shirt with too.

 

Now that Ethan is (almost) an unsupported sitter we have moved him to the little tub sitter.  He LOVES it!  He no longer has to spend his bath trying to sit up, he can actually do it!  He still needs someone close by, though, because he gets so excited and wobbles over a bit.  The nice thing with the tub sitter is that he can't wobble out of it! (At least we don't think he can!!)

 

"Bath time is so much more fun now that big brother, Caleb, can be in the tub with me!"

 

Another "first" for Ethan is eating baby food.  He was SO interested and excited to try eating real food.  Unfortunately, he's not really a big fan of food once it's in his mouth!  We haven't found anything that he likes that he doesn't give a sour face for.  (This includes the fruits!)

 

Stop and smile at Momma.  There's always time to look cute for the camera.

 

 

When Daddy got the Jumperoo out of the closet, Ethan was in heaven!!  Not only can he feel like a big kid in it, but it also has things to chew, grab, light up, and make sounds.  If his little legs didn't wear out, he'd stay in it all day.

 

Caleb wanted to be a part of the action and learned that if he jumped first, he could get Ethan to mimic him and start jumping too.  I love this new way that the boys can "play" together!

This is the face that we see every night no matter if the food is a repeat taste or a brand new one.  It does make feeding time VERY difficult!

 

Like every other baby, Ethan wants to help hold the spoon and then keep it in his mouth to chew on the spoon.  I'm pretty sure he likes the spoon better than the food on it!