Lots of Firsts, Fourth and Otherwise

I took Ethan to the Boston Museum of Art for the first time last Saturday with our friend Beth and her daughter M. Ethan lasted about one hour, in which time we saw a mummy (is it real?), swords (a big hit), lots of wild boars (why are those dogs chasing it?), people walking like Egyptians, and hieroglyphics (snakes instead of B’s, hawks instead of D’s, etc.). At Beth’s suggestion, we brought pen and paper for the kids – a big hit, and a great idea – and they sketched several Greek coins.

Ethan was on especially good behavior since he had been promised a stuffed animal at the gift shop as incentive to view art (dad’s idea). Huge and dramatic disappointment (crying, running around, hiding, threats, etc) followed at the store when mom would not buy the (in her opinion ugly and wildly overpriced) stuffed dog. Much later in the day, he reluctantly admitted that he really liked the stuffed horse that he had plucked from the shelf with dramatic tears and complaints after it became clear mom was not going to back down about the esthetically unpleasing canines.

Last Friday night we took Ethan to see his first fireworks show. In truth, I think he liked running around at the playground, making random friends, more than the actual show itself. It was rather past his bedtime, and he kept complaining about being bored, which in truth, I had to agree, it was not the most exciting display I've ever seen. It was however next to a beautiful lake, and not too crowded, which were big pluses.

During the day on July 4th, Ethan also got his first ride in a hot-air balloon. It went up around 30 feet, and came down about five minutes later. After, he saw a play about Alice in Wonderland. I’m not sure if it’s the first play he’s seen, but the first with us.

My friend Tom took Ethan to the playground the other day. When they got there, there were no little kids to play with, only some older teenagers hanging out on the swings. Ethan got Tom to ask them if they wanted to play tag. They actually said yes, and everyone had a great time with it. This is such quintessential Ethan – engaging complete strangers to do something unexpected and fun.

Later, Tom took this video of Ethan on a swing singing a made-up song. You’ll hear references to the tag, and also to pumping (he only recently learned to pump a swing himself). The hand gestures, drama, gibberish, rhymes, creativity, etc. are all very Ethan. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IFB2QT5m8cg