Halloween

After Andy's big day at school -- they had a huge Halloween party including a parade down the street and, according to Andy's version of events, some conversation with the barista at the coffee shop across the street -- I took the kids to work for some trick or treating, and to meet everyone! On the way there, I was prepping Andy for the idea that he was going to where mommy works, so we were talking about jobs.

ANDY: Daddy is a designer.
ME: That's right! What does he design?
ANDY: He designs houses. [ed.: well, HVAC systems, but okay]
ME: Do you know what Mommy does?
ANDY: Are you a designer too?
ME: No, I'm not.
ANDY: Are you a fireman?

Cut to the ride home, when I take up the idea of my job again, now that he's been there and seen my office.

ME: So mommy's a lawyer.
ANDY: Agabee, labbegwaubee!!! [nonsense talk]
ME: Do you know what a lawyer does?
ANDY: No, I don't.
ME: I help people follow rules. People ask me how to follow rules and I tell them.
Andy: And they listen to you?

No kidding.

Sweet pea Sylvia!

My sweet new office furniture. I'm loving it. Can't wait to get in there and put up some pictures, but for now Andy's hand prints will have to do!
Andy was the picture of a well behaved toddler and he sat and drew on a pad of paper in my office while I shot the s**t with some of the folks I've been missing! And cut paper on the floor... And asked every 2 minutes if he could have some candy!

I was hoping he'd go trick or treating, but he said he "already has candy" so we didn't push it. We usually don't get any trick or treaters, but that's partly because we've given up over the years and finally stopped turning on the porch light. Well, this year I decided to renew our commitment to Halloween. Shawn bought tons of candy (risky when you don't know if you'll get any trick or treaters!) and I put out several pumkin candles in the driveway and along the walkway leading to the well-lit front porch. We consider the night a success, with 5 groups of kids for a total of about 15 trick or treaters. And it's early enough that we might still get some teenagers!

Pumpkin Prowl at the Zoo!

On Sunday night, we took a quick trip (once Andy conceded to wear his costume) to the zoo for the Pumkin Prowl! They did a great job with all of the incredible pumkin designs, and let's not forget the magician!

Our little fireman
Shawn took this great picture of one of the many fields of pumpkins. So cool.

The zoo passed out black cats to the kids. Andy is cuddling his here.

Now this photo requires some explanation! I was nursing Sylvia from a folding chair, and Mom and Tom had taken Andy to see the magician on another stage. Around us were tens of zoo employees taking down chairs and parents and kids traversing the grassy area. Shawn said he might want to do a little break dancing on the empty stage. I told him if he did, I'd stand up and yell "That's my man!" He did, and I did (well, I yelled it sitting down, I was nursing after all). And that IS my man, always ready to surprise people with a little breakdancing!!!

Andy in the pumpkin light.

On the exit route, the zoo had a snake and bug exhibit for the kids -- major ick factor, but Andy liked it of course!

Sunday on Alki

Today we met Tom after his fishing derby so that Andy could spend a little time on the boat with Nonna and Grandpa. He drove the boat himself (on Grandpa's lap) and later Tom made sure I knew that the "fly by" when they whizzed by the dock was Andy's handywork. Apparently my son is a speed demon. Yikes. While Andy was out on the boat, Sylvia and I walked along the beach. This was her first big walk in the baby bjorn and I'd forgotten how handy it is!

After their boat trip, we got fish and chips and strawberry ice cream. Now that's a Sunday afternoon!

Andy wanted to make sure I got a photo of Nonna and him dipping their fries at the same time.

Time for a nap!

No "Nightmare" for Us

Melissa and I were all set on Friday to take part in our annual girl's night Halloween event: the Nightmare at Beaver Lake, our favorite haunted forest. True, we were one woman down (Jen is out of town), which screws up our "pod" strategy of spinning in a tight circle so that no one woman has to take up the rear in tight haunted house spaces. And yes, we were each oddly paranoid, considering our almost 30-year friendship, that the other would ditch us when a ghost or goblin jumped out of the woods (okay, there's some track record there on both sides). But we were nevertheless excited to leave the kids with the men and venture into the woods for an evening of running and screaming. Unfortunately, as we took in the scene at Melissa and Tod's house -- lots of chasing, jumping, and Andy's aggressive hugging -- we quickly lost confidence that everyone would be in one piece when we returned, and we wisely called off our a night. We'll have to wait another year for our adrenalin rush. On a very positive note, however, we had a great family night with great friends, although I'm sure Miss and Tod are used to a more relaxing evening!!

The Zoo

Check out the great photos of Andy, Bryn, Macy and Sylvia (oh, and some adults too!) at the zoo on Melissa's blog!

http://todandmelissa.blogspot.com/2007/10/woodland-park-zoo.html

Swing time

Sylvia takes a cat nap in the swing. She's loving that swing all of the sudden! Note the truck left for her amusement by Andy (one of his potty presents).

Potty Training Arsenal

Don't laugh at our aresenal of "potty presents" below -- they resulted in several successes today already! Yes, that's a lot of loot from the toy store (match box cars, play dough and the like), but well worth it if we don't have to change Andy's diapers for much longer! I set up a nice reading area today ... since Andy now wants to spend every minute in the bathroom attempting to get his next potty present. It's all about the incentives!

Pumpkin Patch

Andy's pre-school had a field trip on Friday to a pumpkin patch. Here he is at the school playground getting ready to load onto the school bus, a special treat ("it's so bumpy" Andy reported). Next to him is Logan, his best friend at school. We hear a loooot about Logan every evening. You can find Andy by his silly hat, front and center, listening intently.

Hat backwards, Andy enjoys the pumkin patch train!

Jack-O-Lantern

Shawn's special tool for making jack-o-lanterns? The Dremel! Nothing like a power tool to make that pumpkin carving a breeze!

A fuzzy but cute shot of Sylvia giving me sort of a smile. At 5 weeks, she is just over 13 pounds --- for those who are counting, that's almost 1 pound a week since she was born! She's almost out of her 3-month clothes already.

Straight-Up Bribery

Last night, in a desperate but successful (and therefore brilliant!) attempt at getting Andy to use the potty, Shawn surprised Andy (and me!) by telling him if he pooped on the potty, he'd buy Andy a truck. Andy went running to the bathroom yelling "I want to poop on the potty, I want to poop on the potty!" A few minutes later, Shawn made good on his promise and the two of them drove to Toys R Us and came back with ... the whole Thomas the Train set!?!?!? One Very Happy Boy

Vote New Pony!

Peter's band, New Pony (a new link at right) is nominated for Philadelphia's "Best Of" in the Local Band category. And you don't have to live in Philadelphia to vote! Go to the link below, scroll down to category 13 (Local Band), and click on New Pony!

http://www.citypaper.net/phpQ/fillsurvey.php?sid=39

Sleep much?

Okay, I just realized I'd already posted the first bottle photos a few days ago, and I just posted them again because I totally forgot. I am SO sleep deprived today that I'm not thinking straight, and it's not because of Sylvia even -- I've been up doing work and my self-evaluation for work (UGH) the last two nights in a row until 2 am. Well, you get to see some extra photos of her first bottle feeding...

One month old!

I took lots of photos to commemorate the one month mark, and captured a laugh!

Checking out the activity mat - which she suddenly finds fascinating. Note that she's wearing a green and blue gown that says "baby boy" on it - this is not for a lack of girly clothes, for sure, but sometimes big brothers' clothes are just the thing!

Bottle Bonanza!

Sylvia had her first bottle last week, just around her 4-week mark. Since then, we've been giving her a bottle every other day to avoid the trainwreck we had when Andy refused a bottle at the end of my maternity leave. Below are more bottle feeding shots than you thought one parent could possibly take - trust me, it's a bottle BONANZA!

Sylvia's first bottle!

A couple of days later, Shawn and Andy took turns...

What a great big brother - Andy really wanted to do this right and was so happy to be able to participate!

Sue visited us yesterday while she was in Seattle, and got bottle duty as well!
...and that's all the bottle feeding pictures you ever need to see!