Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat was a success! Both boys had fun and got lots of candy. What more could they want? Here they are... Spiderman and Batman.









And now that Halloween is over, we made a Thanksgiving tree. We found the perfect branch in the back yard and stuck it in a vase with some rocks. Every night after supper we're going to write down something each of us is thankful for and hang it on the tree. Last night Jack was thankful for our family and Henry was thankful for playing boo.

Pumpkin Time

Tomorrow is the big day – Halloween! Jack and Henry are both very excited. They wore their Halloween shirts today and I’m washing them tonight so they can wear them again tomorrow. Jack had his fall party at school this morning and we also got “boo’d” this evening. That’s when someone rings your doorbell and runs away, but leaves you a bucket full of Halloween goodies. Tonight we also (meaning Nathan and Jack) carved pumpkins. This year, for the first time, Jack helped scoop the pumpkin guts out and got to help doing the actual carving. Henry marched right up and stuck his hand in the pumpkin too. Twice was enough for him though. He didn’t really like how it felt on his hand.

A couple of weeks ago we painted pumpkins.

Yesterday we took our last trip to the pumpkin patch. I think we went at least 10 times this year. They boys got to bottle feed the calf and an 8-month old baby goat. We also enjoyed our last pumpkin donuts and apple cider slushes of the year. Tomorrow I’ll have pictures of the superheroes dressed up for trick or treat. Jack is Spiderman and Henry is Batman. And, here’s an unrelated, but hilarious, Henry story. This weekend, he was yelling for no reason other than the fun of yelling. Nathan had told him to stop and he kept doing it on purpose. So Nathan told him to go to timeout. He stopped, looked at Nathan and says, “Alice camel one hump” and just walked out of the room. Alice the Camel is one of his current favorite songs, so I guess he thought that was an appropriate response to being told to go to timeout.

Just Henry

Jack is in Lebanon for a few days with Grandma Sue and Grandpa Bill. Henry was pretty sad to leave Jack and Grandma -- we met in Clinton. As we drove away, he kept saying, "Jack, Jack" over and over and almost crying.

Today we took him to Union Station to see the model trains for the first time. He thought they were pretty cool. His favorite was the Halloween train.



After the trains we went to Blue Koi for lunch. He ate his first Ants on a Tree, but wouldn't try dumplings. He preferred his goldfish and raisins.



A couple of weeks ago he went on his first hike with Daddy. He told me he saw lots of trees. But his favorite part of the hike was throwing sticks.

Folding Laundry

This afternoon Jack had a grand old time learning how to fold laundry. He folded a bunch of towels and washcloths and then did his clothes, along with Henry's and some of Nathan's socks. He thought it was great. I wondered why I hadn't taught him this before!


Then he decided to empty out his pajama drawer and reorganize and re-fold him jammies. He is definitely beginning to show some signs of my organizational tendencies (some people, Nathan, might say organizational problems). For instance, this morning he reorganized his clothes in his closet with no prompting from me. He put all his church shirts together, his sports shirts together, long sleeves, play, etc. It is interesting to see his little personality shining through. And I might have to add folding laundry to his list of jobs!

Wo, Wo Henry

Henry's vocabulary has exploded in the past couple of weeks. I read something the other day that said many 20-month olds learn about 10 new words a day. I think this is true for him right now. While I am certainly thankful he is learning to talk, it makes me a bit sad because some of his baby words are going away. So I thought I'd write some down or I'll forget them.

Uh-zah - This used to be his word for anything in the affirmative. He never said yes. One day he just didn't say uh-zah anymore. Now he says, "Yeah."

Boop - Now he says "book."

Bubba - He doesn't say this for Jack anymore. Now he can say, "Jack."

Mac - Now it's "mac-roni."

He also just knows things now. He's been listening to us talk all along and now he's joining in the conversation. Today we were getting ready to take Jack to school and Henry started saying, "Ms. Deana." She is Jack's teacher.

Yesterday when he was supposed to be napping he was yelling, "hot wheels" over and over. I went in and was rocking him to try and make him go to sleep and he kept saying it over and over again. So I said in my serious mommy voice, "Henry if you say hot wheels again I'm putting you back in your bed." He just looked at me and whispered, "hot wheels." Then he grinned at me.

And now when he's hungry he climbs up in his chair and says, "Ready eat." "Try one" is another favorite request, specifically when I'm cutting up fruit before meals.

But, he still can't say, "I love you." So he and Jack made up the phrase, "wo wo" to tell each other "I love you." I'll be sad when that one goes away. Wo wo Henry.

1st Day of Toddler Storytime

Today was Henry’s first day of toddler storytime. He loved it. And he was such a big boy. He didn’t even want to sit on my lap. He wanted to sit next to me, just like Jack. He chased bubbles, sang songs, danced with shakers, played with the parachute and attempted the craft.

He also told on Jack for the first time today. This morning I ran upstairs for something. Here’s the conversation with Henry when I came back down.

Henry: Bad Baby

Me: Who is a bad baby?

Henry: Jack

Me: Jack is a bad baby?

Henry: Jack hit arm.

And guess what? Henry was telling the truth. Jack claimed he accidentally hit Henry’s arm.

The last update on Henry is his deep love for Polar Bear, his very favorite stuffed animal. Or as he says it, “Po Bear.” Grandma Pam got it for him at the zoo when he was pretty little. Because he loves Polar Bear so much right now,  I bought a back up bear when we were at the zoo on Friday. Just in case the real Polar Bear gets misplaced. Henry was delighted to have two bears for a little while (before I hid the extra one in my closet!).

Apple Picking

This morning we went to Red Barn Farm in Weston to pick apples. The weather was perfect and we started off our morning by going to Lamar's for donuts and eating them in the back of the car. Henry is a big fan of donut holes. He is also very proud of himself that he can say "donut hole."



The farm wasn't all that crowded when we got there. We picked up our buckets and started picking.








On the way to the farm, Jack briefed us on his apple picking rules (from his field trip to the apple orchard last year with school). Don't an apple in your basket from the ground or if if has a hole in it. He didn't have a rule about not eating apples while picking. It seemed like every time we turned around Jack was eating, or starting to eat, an apple. Then Henry started in... luckily he only had a rotten one in his mouth once!





After we paid for the apples, we got some apple cider slushes and the boys looked at all the animals again and ran around some more.





This last picture was a funny, and a little sad, moment in our day. Jack wanted his picture taken while he was sitting on the fence. But after he got up there he freaked out and was very scared he was going to fall off. Poor little guy ended up crying and needed some hugs from Daddy.

1st Day of Pre-K

Jack started his first day of his pre-k year of preschool today. This year he is going on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 9-3. Last year, he only went 9-12, so he is very excited to take his lunch and stay at school longer.

His first day went just fine. Four of his friends from last year are in his class again. Today he took Woody for show-n-tell and his stuffed monkey to have during rest time. I also made him a little stuffed, felt heart to put in his pocket today. I told him whenever he felt the heart, he could remember how much we love him. Even though it is his second year at Second Friends, 6 hours is a long time to be at school. He thought it was the best thing ever and he made Henry and I our own pocket hearts out of paper before he left for school. Tonight he is sleeping with his.

Henry's New Haircut

After we dropped Jack off at school this morning, Henry and I headed to Harvey's for a hair cut. I made a game-time decision that we were going to go for a really big boy haircut, that's code for short! Here he was yesterday:


And here is his new look:





He was such a good boy while Harvey cut his hair. He just sat in the chair and held the special brush Harvey always gives him. Occasionally he would ask if we were all done, but he was fine when the answer was no. The best part of his haircut came afterwards, when Harvey gave him a Little Debbie oatmeal cream pie. He started saying "yum" pretty much as soon as he took his first bite.

That's Twice

This morning started out very much the same as Monday did. I packed a picnic lunch, loaded up the boys and we headed to the zoo. This time, as opposed to Monday, we made it all the way to the zoo. We even got a spot in the closest parking lot. And that's when it started feeling a lot like Monday.

Only this time when I looked in the rearview mirror, it was Jack and not Henry throwing up. To be fair, I guess I shouldn't have been completely shocked because he had been telling me his stomach hurt while we were driving to the zoo. I thought it would go away when we got to the zoo and he got distracted by all the excitement.

The first words to go through my head were, "Not again!", followed by thoughts of how are we going to get this cleaned up, we drove all the way here and now we're going to have to turn around and go home, etc. And then I heard Jack's little four-year-old voice say, "I'm sorry Mama."

My sweet boy, literally covered in puke, stopped my selfish thoughts in my tracks. He wasn't complaining about how was going to ruin his morning; he was thinking of me. And I was reminded that this is what Mama-love is. It's cleaning the puke off your four-year-old and his carseat as best you can while your 1 year-old-year screams and screams in his carseat because he wants to get out and go see the animals. And reassuring Jack that Mommy isn't mad because he threw up, and no you can't start eating your trail mix yet even if you say you feel better already.

Then we went to the zoo, saw the animals, rode the carousel and train, and Jack ate all his trail mix and all his lunch. And no, he didn't throw up again and yes, I am really good at cleaning puke out of carseats.