Celebrate Ethan!

Ethan turns 1 YEAR , October 1st!!!!
(Picking out bagels at the cafe_
His look
Are you gonna let me out of here or what!

Wiped out from playing too hard, thought he'd watch a little TV for a while!

It has been bitter sweet this past year, learning Ethan and Ethan learning the world! He is such a happy baby, always smiling and looking to see if you are watching him, if not, he'll do anything to get your attention. He loves to sit on my lap and read books, or drink his bottle watching morning cartoons, every once in a while he'll turn his head towards me to see if I am laughing, then he'll laugh.
(caught ya!)
(cheese!)

He loves to dance, which is actually bouncing his upper half up and down, and sometimes he'll throw a little hand action in. No matter what, whenever he hears any type of beat, including the viola, he dances. If you are holding him, he squirms and kicks his legs to the music smiling. At church, he waves his hands around like the conductor while bobbing up and down. He is so funny and he knows it.
(but I WANT the camera)

He has mastered fake crying, which really sounds like "boo hoo, boo hoo", which he learned from Daddy. When Brad was teaching Ethan not to hit the face (which he thinks is funny to hit the face), Brad would fake cry to show Ethan that it hurt when he hit. When Brad would fake cry, Ethan would come up to Brad and lay his head on Brads shoulder and hold him, like we do when Ethan cries.

(not sitting still for the photo shoot)!

(what, you want me to smile?)

(lets look everywhere but the camera and he's outta HERE!)
The sweetest moments come from such a smart kid. He already learns so much from us. One of my favorites is when I call our dog, Roxy, in from outside, I usually wave her in and yell her name. Most of the time Ethan is on my toes or I am holding him when I do this. Lately when I call roxy in, Ethan is right behind me yelling something in his own language and has his hand in the air waving Roxy in. Or, he'll crawl to Roxy's food dish shaking his head and saying "no-no, no-no" the entire time while he is playing in her food or trying to eat it. He'll shake his head and say "no-no" when he knows he is doing something he isn't supposed too, yet he seems to think it is okay if he says what I do while he is doing it.
(caught ya again!)
One of the best lesson's I have learned from Ethan is to face your fears head on! Ethan, who cannot stand a few things, is the smartest kid I know. When I play chase with him, I will get down on the ground and chase him crawling around saying "I'm gonna get you". Ethan will first crawl away as fast as he can squealing, then he can't stand the fact that I am coming, so he'll turn around crawl directly toward me and lunge for me saying I can't stand it, just get me. Or he hates the vacuum, when I turn it on, instead of running away from the vacuum crying, he crawls directly toward the vacuum screaming his head off. Ethan faces his fears instead of running away or hiding from them. Is there a lesson here?
(little turkey)
One track mind, Ethan has... Ethan was sick, with snot running down his nose, to the lips, and yes, he would lick the gooey stuff, which he thought was interesting because he would try to grab it and look at it, then stick his fingers in his mouth. EWWW! So I got the "boogy monster" (blue bulb syringe) out to such the nastiness out of his nose. Of course Ethan thought it was torture, screaming saying "no no no nonononoooo" as I sucked it away. After the operation, I showed Ethan (still whining and crying to tell me he just hated what I did) the boogy monster so he wouldn't be afraid of it. He in turn hit it out of my hands, it rolled away resting a few feet away against the fire place. In order to comfort my child, I tried to read a book to him. Half interested Ethan would look at the book, but then stop and turn his head to the "boogy monster" and just stare at it, watching it's every move, because if it would have moved, he would have been out of there. I thought this was funny, so I tried to distract him again, reading and making the noises in the book, Ethan looked at the book and then his little head would slowly creep to the left, and his eyes would just stare at that boogie monster. It was so funny. So I throw it behind the toy chest where he cannot see it and start to read the book again, Ethans head, again, turned to the toy chest and he just starred at it, looking for that boogy monster to come out any time. I finally had to hide it without him seeing, and then let him explore to make sure it was really gone before he wanted to do anything else.

I cannot believe this year has flown by, all the while my little boy is growing up! I hope I will remember Ethans looks the most before he grows out of them. He has one that is vintage Ethan. It is the vacant look, staring at you with his mouth hanging open, usually drooling, 80% of my pictures he is doing that! Otherwise, he smiles, smiles, smiles!


THE LOOK! (I wonder what you're thinking bud!)