here I am, new shoes and cagoule

Today Ethan got his very first pair of real shoes. We had been waiting all week for the weekend to get here so my husband could attend this celebration of shoes and growing up and "hold on, let me snap a picture of you measuring his feet with that silver thing!" My parents and sister came, too. We took pictures and aww-ed over tiny no-show socks and studied the options on the shelves for far too long. In the end, we agreed on a spiffy pair of green and gray Stride Rite early walker shoes which my dad sneaked up to the register to pay for so it can be known that those spiffy new shoes on Ethan's feet? Yeah, they're from Grandpa! (Thanks, dad!)

At first he wasn't sure what the heck was on his feet. He acted like he had stepped in a puddle of quicksand and was having difficulty getting through to the other side.

Eventually he got the hang of it.

After all was said and done, we gave Ethan a chance to take his new shoes for a spin at one of his favorite places to visit.

Even the puppies agreed he was stylin'. (If I don't make jokes, I might cry about the fact my baby is old enough for SHOES. Real shoes. Real shoes for walkers! I had to zone out when the cashier started showing us the shoes for runners. My mind can't handle it!)