Summer has begun!

Summer is in full swing and we have enjoyed doing so much. We started off the month of June going away for the weekend to Lake Arrowhead with some friends. We had been to Big Bear but not to Lake Arrowhead and it was equally beautiful. We stayed in this amazing house which belonged to a friend of one of the people we went with. We enjoyed hanging out, boating and just being in the mountains. Ethan loved riding on the boat and Eli was so wound up he didn't want to go to bed and ended up staying up late to play poker with the grown ups!

The next thing was the end of the year Spring Sing at Ethan's school. It was absolutely adorable. Ethan did great however I think the highlight was seeing his face when he saw that Bryan had come to surprise him. He will continue at school through the summer, though it is more like camp with fun summer activities. He is also moving up to an older classroom and will be getting a new teacher, one that he will have for the next two years until he heads to kindergarten.

Ethan continues to be obsessed with baseball. Like last summer he asks all the time for us to go outside and pitch, play catch or let him throw a tennis ball off the roof and catch it. He has gotten so good hitting with a whiffle ball bat that we got him a youth metal bat. It is much heavier than a wiffle ball bat and took some getting used to, but after a few times out, he is slugging the ball better than ever. We do not allow him to hit with it near the house and he often begs us to take him to a nearby field to play. Not only does he hit the ball, but then he takes off around the bases and slides into home plate. He sits and watches the Red Sox every night before dinner and has started to mimic some of the head and body movements of the players. It is a riot.

Eli has begun walking with a walker and is getting quite fast. It took some practice but within a week or so he is motoring around outside. He can stand alone for a few seconds but is still not completely steady on his feet. He is on his way and although I do not think he will walk as early as Ethan ( 10 1/2 months) I think it won't be too far off. He had his 9 month check up and he weighed in at 18 lbs 14 oz and 28.2 inches. The doctor was very pleased with his weight gain (he has gone from the 7% to the 25%) and Eli will eat just about anything. He is pretty much completely on table food for two reasons: 1) I have grown tired of making tons of baby food and 2) he has started to refuse the purees and wanting more of the real food.

Ethan has also resumed swim lessons this summer. What a difference a year makes. Last year we had to bribe him to get in the water for lessons. Once he was in he was fine but it was getting him to get in the pool. This year, he runs to the edge of the pool waiting for his lesson and can't wait. He is doing great. He can float on his back all by himself for more than 20 seconds and is starting to swim short distances by himself.