Ways Ethan Has Changed...

This weekend, we're going to a first birthday party for the son of one of Joel's college buddies. We've been racking our brains for a good, appropriate, useful gift, rather than just another toy, and you'd think we have a seventeen year old instead of a two year old for how much memory work this little exercise has required. We dragged up some old memories of what he used to do back when he was just a year old, a whole year and a half ago, and here's what we came up with...

- Raking, sweeping, and general yard work: This kid loved being outside!
- Garbage can attack man: He was always trying to get the lid open and stuff little items inside, so we had to attach a latch to keep him from throwing away everything in reach
- Speaking of latches, we had to lock down the entire kitchen, TV stand, and bathroom cabinets. We actually just kept the bathroom doors shut, too, to keep him from opening up the toilet lid and doing god knows what in there...
- Hoses were like a gift from god straight to our boy. He loved them.
- Walking, crawling, walking, falling, running, and walking some more.

I'll think of more later... but he's only changed a bit from this, in that he's much more controlled about what he tries to get into and so on. He talks a lot more, he sings and dances, he interacts differently with the world around him, he's friendly and loves playing, he likes to read.... he's growing up!