Ethan is 15 months old: Aug 1st

Daddy has been planning on taking us to the South Lakes Animal Park today and the weather turned out to be a beautiful morning so we set off. Ethan was very happy and excited.

We queued up- lined up - to get in and arrived just in time to feed the giraffes.

Ethan was amazed at these huge, long necked, long legged animals and when he had the leaf in his hand to feed the giraffe backed away as its enormouse head came towards him so I fed the leaf to the giraffe. This giraffe apparently likes to head butt people.

There are lemurs that walk free everywhere which was pretty cool.

It was after the funny moustached and funny hairdo monkey that the camera ran out battery... so the following pics are from my new Nokia phone- (5610 if anyone is interested.) It did the job very well and I managed to take a couple of video of the monkeys.

We saw ducks, monkeys, a baby rhino, bears, tigers, lion, tortoises, bats and then the skies opened up and dumped a ton of rain on us.

We were wet and hungry and headed to the restaurant but couldn't find anywhere to sit so we decided to leave early and had a bit in the town of Dalton.

At this point, I must point out that we are very proud of Ethan.

Since last night, he has been eating about 1/4th of what we eat at the table and is determined to eat it by his hands or with a fork or spoon. Not only that but since he's been wearing a bib that has a catch pocket at the bottom, less food falls to the floor. He also is getting better hand control and isn't flinging food about as much.

Last night, he had potatoes and creamy cauliflower and cheese bake.Which I made for the first time and am SO PROUD OF MYSELF.

This morning , he had milk and Cherrios, and at the Dalton restaurant ate his children's portion of beans, sausage and fries (chips as they say here in the UK) He finished his entire portion of beans and half the sausage and a few chips!! YAY!

Then this evening... dad cooked pasta with a carbonara sauce (White cream and ham) and Ethan ate everything his entire bowl!!! He also drinks juice non stop and proudly proclaims how refreshing it is with a loud ,"AHHH!"

Then usually a very loud burp takes place a bit later... daddy and I find this quite hilarious but sometimes it's a bit embarrassing in public places.

What a great week and it's been nice taking our minds away from our anxiety about Adam's kidney transplant in 5 days and about Papa Zee who is donating. Again, thanks to everyone for their prayers and support. It means a great deal to both our families.

Up to no good...

Every now and then, more often than not, Ethan does something he knows he shouldn't do and this it the look he gives you before he smiles, runs away and does the thing he isn't suppose to again.

Silly daddy!

The Playbarn in Settle

Thursday was a great day with Mama Zee. We drove to Burton in Lonsdale school and met up with Danny and her two sons Eric and I think David. We had met them before for playgroup when we helped rescue a homing pigeon.

Then we followed them to the Playbarn in Settle. There was a great playhouse, some ride on toys and best of the climber.

We all had an amazing time and were impressed with Ethan's mobility! He managed to tire both of us out as we accompanied him into the climbing frame and we almost got stuck inside. Luckily Eric showed us the way out! LOL.

Ethan on the slides and ride on toys.

He likes playing house.

And into the climbing frame we go...

Our noisy boy...

Ethan helps us tidy up...while first making some beats.

Ethan's got his very own drum and trumpet and i'm trying to post the video but its very large and am having problem so photos will have to do for now.

Since Ethan has been so interested in drumming, this past Monday, when we went to Preston, we picked up a musical instrument toy pack complete with harmonica, trumpet, castanet,whistle, tambourine and yes... can you guess what it might be...wait for it... a DRUM!!

Using a bit of ingenuity, I attached it to two garbage cans and voila: Ethan's very own drum kit. He bangs of them like a pro!

Hahaha. (Below)This was in the midst of getting changed after he had pretty much soaked his onsie from top to bottom= teething, teething and teething. He the top 8 are through and so he's not irritable anymore and the drool seems to be lessening. Doesn't he seem to be conveying a look of embarrassment and innocence?

Here is a video, Ethan was helping Adam by taking things out of the dishwasher so he could put them away. I think I was a bit late in catching it on video.