This and That

Safeway had special events during Father's Day weekend. Ethan liked the mariachi bands of course. There were three guys playing and they circled the cart to play for Ethan.

We got a bunch of new toys from someone on Craigslist. I was a little annoyed that they didn't tell us that a few only speak French, but Ethan loves them and they were really cheap.

Ethan understands the concept of counting to three. He loves having his picture taken and will smile every time I count to three to take his picture. He can't keep his eyes open when the flash lights up though. I have lots of pictures like the one below.
Terrible pictures of me, but I still kinda like them.

We went to IKEA on Friday and Dad and Ethan had lots of fun. Ethan ended up in quite a few toy bins. He also got to hang out in a bin of sheep skin rugs, try out all of the toys, and play with a big silver bowl that he loved.
And of course Dad shared his ice cream.

Ethan is now very good at crawling. While talking to my dad on Father's Day, I found out that Ethan is just like my dad was as a baby: he pretty much uses crawling as a way of getting to something he can use to stand up. He loves to stand and walk holding onto things. He is very steady and only needs one hand to stay up. He can even stand on his own for a few seconds.

As Ethan grows, I don't know how many times I have said, "I don't want him to grow anymore; I love this stage!" But I find myself saying that about every stage. Ethan is currently in the "peekaboo stage." Anything remotely resembling the word or game peekaboo is hilarious. The funny thing about Ethan is that he laughs the hardest when you really scare him. The higher he jumps when we pop out, the harder he laughs.

Of course Mike is the best at getting Ethan to crack up. He will pop up and roar and Ethan will just about die laughing. Mike and Ethan also chase each other. Hopefully I will get a video of this soon, but it is the classic format of little kid chase. Mike will start crawling towards Ethan and growl or make some sort of menacing noise. Ethan will squeal and turn to crawl or walk (holding onto something) away. Then Ethan turns back around and goes towards Mike laughing. It is really really cute.

Ethan has a mentor in finding entertainment/trouble. He has started following Sam around and copying him. It is really funny to see the two of them crawling around, Ethan right on Sam's heels, enjoying any trouble Sam is smart enough to find.

These are fun times with my cute little guy!