Another fun first

First lets start with some new pictures of Ethan! He is getting SO big and expressive. These are the first pictures I've taken of him giving me a big smile. Although he has been grinning and cooing at us for about 3 weeks and we LOVE it. I think I've mentioned that. What parent doesn't love seeing their baby being to show personality!? He is definitely my little monkey. I'll blame McKay for that one!

I'll have to admit that the beautiful weather has a way of making me feel so good! I get to go outside and let Ayden throw rocks at everything that moves or doesn't. He's not a prejudice thrower either. You can be Mommy, brother or that one tree over there. I also get to watch him run away from the quail screaming because for some unexplained reason- he is terrified of them. He'll usually run to me saying 'Save you!' I think he means "save me", lucky for him I get the idea. He clung onto my leg today as we watched them so I could show him that they are not scary. I'll have to admit that I don't think he really

believed me. The entire walk home, which is only 3 doors from the park to our house, he hung onto me and cried when they'd try to run past us. The closer they got- the shriller his petrified screech became as well. There was one point where he completely froze and I had to nudge him with my foot to get him to move forward, which in turn just caused him to wrap his little hands around that leg. I'm just glad this walk was very short. Anything longer and we'd still be outside running from the quail.

oh- and here's an "exciting" first. We went shopping for food on Saturday and Ayden decided to throw his very first ultra-huge tantrum right in the middle of the frozen foods section! I tried not to laugh, because whatever he's upset about is a very big deal to him and I don't want him to think I'm laughing at him. . . even though I kinda am. Yes I know- I'm a mean mommy. I haven't ruined my kids yet though. Mckay and I did finally figured out what he was so incredibly upset about... Cereal. yes, you didn't read that wrong. He wanted to carry the cereal bag. Mind you it's one of those huge bags that is about as long as he is. So- not wanting to fight this little battle in the middle of the store, we conceded and gave him the cereal bag. He could barely carry the stupid thing! It got left behind many times when we would stop to get something and he'd set it down to take a breather. :) If I went back to go get it though, he'd throw himself on the ground facefirst and cry like someone had just told him his life was about to end. He just had to get it himself. There were many points throughout the store when I would have to go back to the middle of the aisle and pick him up by his arm because he'd just lay down dead center of everyone. Carts were trying to maneuver around the 2 year old who firmlyl believes everything was put on this Earth to please him. Which of course at this age is how he is supposed to think, but when he displays his thoughts all over the grocery store floor. Its gets annoying to Mommy and bystanders. Because the cereal was so heavy for him, I tried to give him something else from the cart to carry, but he was not to be fooled! So needless to say, we had a very long trip in the grocery store with Ayden. Everyone was smiling at him when he was walking around carrying the bag, some lady thought he was just "SOOO CUTE!" I bet she wouldn't have thought that if she could see what happened when we tried to take the cereal away.