Fall Fellowship and Trick-or-Treating 2012

On October 20th our church hosted a community outreach called the Fall Fellowship. It is targeted at families with young children and included some bounce houses, "trunk-or-treating" and games of all kinds. The kids get to dress up and see all their friends so a good time is had by all. Nathan's costume this year was a farmer with overalls, plaid shirt and straw hat. He was supposed to be Farmer Brown from the book "Click Clack Moo," one of his current favorites, so I also got him a little stuffed cow to tote around. It was quarter, so I had to be at work downtown for the better part of the day, but I went in really early so I could leave in time for us to get to the fellowship reasonably close to when it started. Nathan was a little overwhelmed at first but eventually relaxed and walked around like normal.


We got to see Rylan (also a farmer) and Kylee (the most adorable penguin ever) and actually got them to sit mostly still enough to get a good picture. I just can't believe how big they are getting! As a refresher, Rylan is 5 weeks older than Nathan and Kylee is one day younger.

About to leave for the Fall Fellowship at Katy church of Christ.

Miss Kylee

Nathan, Kylee and Rylan

At least Lela was smiling!

 Nathan got to ride the choo choo train with Daddy while Mommy took pictures of our friends' cute kids. Nathan also particularly enjoyed digging for "treasure" in the rice and the only way we got him away was by distracting him with a bright green whirly gig. Another highlight was getting to see Papa Joe and Boo and getting snuggles from Mrs. Nancy. Most of these are from our camera, but "Papa" Joe also took some great pictures with his camera and shared them with us!

Second trip to the treasure pool!

Nathan and Papa Joe

Apart from two or three pieces of candy and the whirly gig, Nathan also came home with a bright pink pumpkin to carry his stuff in. I hadn't intended to go trick or treating, so I never bought him anything to carry around, but this came in handy on Halloween when we went walking on our street.

school had a costume parade on Halloween, so we dutifully sent Nathan's outfit to school. He got to be at the front of the line for his class. I borrowed this picture from the Primrose website. You can barely see him in the back of the shot holding his hat. 

That evening when Daddy got home and before it got dark we went for our normal walk, but this time carrying our neon pink pumpkin. Nathan was clearly more interested in farming acorns than farming candy. Several if our sweet neighbors gave Nathan some candy although his evil mother wouldn't let him eat any of it. Not that he cared. I don't think he realized you could actually eat the stuff inside those bright wrappers! He was more interested in separating those that shake (Nerds, Skittles and Milk Duds) from those that don't (lame). After we got back home he spent some quality time transferring candy back and forth from his pumpkin to the big candy bowl we had by the front door. I got some good pictures of us outside with my phone, but once we got inside it decided to crash and I lost a bunch of them. Fortunately we still had a few of the good ones so I wasn't too upset. Nathan seemed to have a very fun night. The pumpkin of candy is still providing entertainment. Evidently dumping out the candy and putting it back in doesn't get old when you're 18 months old.

Ready to go trick-or-treating!

First stop, acorns!

Jimmy and I made these to take to my work.  Jimmy made the pumpkin and I made the cat.

Now I'm looking forward to my next post about when cousins came to visit! What a fun October!

Weekend trip to Dallas

 

On October 13/14 we made a weekend trip to Dallas to attend Jimmy's cousin's wedding. Nathan slept a good part of the way there so that qualifies as a great 5 hour road trip! By the amount of luggage we took you would never know it was just an overnight trip.  Little people require a bunch of stuff!

Author's Note: We did not take Joule

Asleep. Notice the bear, open book and one leg cocked over the side of his car seat. Comfy?

We stopped in Madisonville for lunch at a gas station/Subway where we bought the final element to Nathan's Halloween costume, a straw  cowboy (farmers) hat. 

Lori, Ashley, grandma and grandpa were already at the hotel from the night before. Once we arrived our room became very popular (Popo even cut himself shaving he was in such a hurry).  Jimmy and I got showered and dressed for the wedding being held at Lakewood theater. It was a very interesting venue and Nathan was mesmerized by the lights. I will say that the facilities were not very wedding ceremony friendly,  especially for the bride who had to get her train up the stairs.  As at Tommy and Shirley's wedding in September, he got very upset by the clapping and cheering at the end. I was totally unprepared because I don't usually associate the end of a wedding ceremony as a time for loud cheering and clapping. I rushed out with him crying loudly but the sweet bartender gave him a balloon which made life better. We stayed at the reception long enough for dinner then headed back to the hotel to put Nathan to bed.

This was a view of the venue from our seats.

Oooooooh, lights!

Balloons make everything better.

Here's a better picture of Nathan in his suit (taken before church).  We couldn't get him to stay still in the hotel in Dallas.

Nathan of course loved seeing his Lolo, Momo, Popo and Aunt Ashley and was very well behaved the whole trip. The morning following the wedding we had breakfast with the family at a place recommended by Jimmy's friend Erik then hit the road to head back to Houston.  I had my doubts about making a trip like this with Nathan, but he did great.  Silly mommy!

Acting silly at breakfast.

A Big 18 Months!

My precious angel turned 18 months almost one month ago in October.  Since I'm behind again on my blog posts this is going to be the bullet list version of our 18 month update (the pictures are at the bottom...just keep scrolling).   

• Nathan weighed in at 25 lbs 10 oz (47%), head circumference 18.5" (28%) and length of 34.6" (96%). He's almost 3 feet tall!! I'm told that mamas are bigger in a boy's mind than they are in reality...so maybe I'll still have a chance of disciplining him when he's a teenager and a foot taller than me.
•  Language development: He started linking two to three words at 17 months ("I see Daddy" or "I did it!"). He can count to 10 in English and Spanish (better in Spanish until very recently), he can sing the ABC song by himself at 18.5 months and can separately identify maybe 5 letters. 
• He knows some colors at 18 months and is learning more every week. He started "reading" and singing with us by 17 months. Reading involves saying key words in certain books he has memorized, usually the last word in a rhyming set. He actually speaks pretty clearly and according to the pediatrician has the language skills and "acts" like a two year old. He is also the youngest child to say Dr. Haney's name (although I admit we practiced during the one hour wait in the exam room). He now knows the cats names and picks up new people/animal names quickly. He also really likes to identify shapes for you...especially circles. 
• Within the last week or so he started saying "I love you" but doesn't mean it (although I pretend he does because it makes my heart happy).  We also taught him to say "Go Cowboys" and "Go Aggies!" You really do have to start brainwashing encouraging them young.
• Motor skills: he can walk backward, is getting better at kicking and throwing a ball but is still not great. He tries to jump like a frog ("riddit") but has yet to make lift-off.  He likes to color more and more and also do other forms of artwork like finger painting.  He loves to play outside and would stay out there all day if we let him.
• Size 4 diaper, size 5/6 shoe, size 18 month pants, 24 month shirts
• Eating: He is still my picky eater. Depending on the phase of the moon he eats eggs, pasta, fruit ( loves blueberries and strawberries), yogurt, "smoothies", cookies, crackers, chicken, cheese, green beans and milk. He still gets no juice except at school parties (so maybe twice a year) and this evil mommy didn't even let him have any of his Halloween candy. I haven't been brave enough to let him drink out of a normal cup by himself.  He's getting better at using a fork and spoon, but generally prefers for me to feed him (as long as he has his own fork and/or spoon to hold).
• Sleeping: We took away the pacifier 2 weeks before he turned 18 months, when he had an ear infection and sore throat and couldn't take it anyway because it hurt. As a result he is learning to sleep alone through the night again. Some nights are good but most are bad. We moved bedtime back from 7:30 to 8:00 at the suggestion of Dr. Haney and in anticipation of the time change (which is from the devil...like holidays involving fireworks in unincorporated Katy). I miss sleep...

Here are some pictures from the last 2 months.

Go Cowboys! 

Blocks are a lot of fun right now.  Especially building towers then knocking them down.

Eating some oatmeal like a big boy!

Nathan was home sick with a fever but was acting pretty good, so we made pancake batter!

He kept trying to put more of everything in the bowl.  Stirring resulted in  flour and eggs all over Mommy, but we had fun.

"Do I look cool?!"

This is the response to saying, "Show me smiles!"

Bubbles!

Grammy and Nathan at Tommy & Shirley's wedding.

Reading Brown Bear with help from Joule.

So happy to be outside. 

Who doesn't love a slide?!