An Evening out with Ephraim

     Ephraim and I drove the big boys up to a concert in Madison tonight.  It was held at a beautiful venue, Olbrich Gardens.  I had planned on having a lovely evening walk around the grounds, with Ephraim in the stroller while the boys sat and listened to the concert.  Ephraim had other plans.
     He is a boy who loves to be out doing things on his own two feet!

   His first mission was to catch a Canadian goose.  There were 50 or so, feeding in the grass by the lake. I don't think they can fly this time of year.  To escape Ephraim, they just speed-waddled away.  He really can't run yet, so the local water fowl are safe for a few more weeks.

    Ephraim was in awe of these geese and kept stumbling over the lawn towards them, tripping often.  He couldn't take his eyes off them, even when he fell.  They eventually waddled into the lake to escape him.

   The problem with that, was that Ephraim wanted to jump right in after them.  So, I packed him up into the stroller, and we headed across the street to the gardens, away from the lake, which he was very determined to swim in.

Here is my determined Goose Chaser.  Better luck next time!

   At the gardens, instead of riding in the stroller, he wanted down to walk along the brick paths.  He would stop occasionally and test the mulch.  At least he is past the eat-the-mulch stage.  He only eats gravel and wood-chips now.  I call that progress.

   Ephraim has started the point-at-everything phase.  It is fun.  He had so much to show me!  All the flowers, the birds, the people... It was like we were having little conversations. 

 Here he is... heading down another path.  He went for 2 hours on those little feet.

   It was funny to see him pointing and walking, trying to show me where he wanted to go.  Occasionally we went off-road, and left the stroller behind.
    (The stroller is still a good place to stash the water bottles, snacks, diaper bag, and other misc items, so I'm glad we had it along, even if it doesn't contain Mr. I-Can-Walk-Now-Thank-You-Very-Much.)

    He really was pretty careful with the flowers.  He only pulled off a couple buds, mostly he wanted to feel them.

     He loved all the different paving stones to walk over. I am glad he is stable enough now to walk without face-planting constantly... that would have hurt on all the stone walkways.

  By the end of the evening,, my feet were tired, and I sat down to blow some bubbles and appreciate the sunset.  Ephraim was still ready to chase bubbles.

   Eventually, chasing bubbles turned into chewing on my lens cap, and rolling around on the lawn with me.   He was completely exhausted after 2 hours of go-go-go. 

    The concert ended and we went inside to collect the brothers. They had a good time, as did we. It was a great night out with my little man, who will be 1 year old in a couple of days.
   Ephraim is 2 days younger than Prince George of England.  I see all sorts of pictures on the internet of the little prince... but I doubt he has the determination of my little man.  Ephraim has the sort of built in determination that just might make him rule the world someday! -If he could only figure out how to catch those geese...