Alex's Fall Musical Presentation

Here's Alex really getting into the "Tooty-Ta" song. He did a great job remembering the words and hand movements!

"Can you see my little tooth on the bottom? I like to bite people's fingers with my new tooth. Aren't I sweet??"

Can you spot Alex? We could not have sat farther from where he was performing! Clearly we missed the memo!

Alex's Fall Musical Extravaganza was this morning and we loved watching him (and all his little friends) perform! He had been practicing the moves to one of the songs at home this week, but it was neat to see it all set to music. Who knew he enjoyed dancing like a robot? Photos were hit or miss, mostly misses, as we sat on the wrong side of the room and the kids were moving around so much!

We are looking forward to trick or treat tomorrow night and dinner with Alex's friends afterwards! He is so excited that tomorrow is Halloween and has been counting down on a fabric countdown chart all month.

School Halloween Party

Tigger and Piglet ready to party!

Brad worked so hard crafting this box for me. He's the best!

Tigger and the pirate. I wish I had a photo of Brad flipping his hair around all day. If he wears this on Halloween, I'll try to snap a photo then :)

Alex loves this super comfy costume and it is still a little big on him this year! We must have had it super rolled up last Halloween!

Abby with her medal from the costume contest. 3rd place out of all the babies and toddlers, what a cutie!

This afternoon Alex's school hosted a little Halloween party for all the kiddos and their families. I love to see all the kids dressed in costumes and cannot believe how creative some of the parents are! Alex played some games and got hopped up on quite a bit of sugar. I love Halloween but could truly do without all the behavioral highs and lows of sugar consumption!!

Somewhat surprisingly, Abby did not seem to mind wearing her costume, mostly because it was warm and cozy. Abby placed 3rd in the costume contest for ages 2 and under and Alex chose not to participate in the costume contest. By this point, he was ready to leave and hoping we'd let him dive into all that candy on the ride home! His buddy Josh, our next door neighbor, did win first place in the 3 year old group and we were so proud of little Buzz Lightyear!!

We are definitely looking forward to Halloween being on a Saturday this year and are hoping for great weather.

Children's Museum

I think these hoses that blow forced air are for spinning the pinwheels that surround the ship. Or for blowing your own hair :)

She does not really enjoy sitting still.

Jamming like his idol Steve Songs!

Exploring the pirate ship together.

Playing drums in the music exhibit.

Yesterday I took Alex and Abby to the DuPage Children's Museum in Naperville. It was probably the least stressful trip to the museum that we have ever experienced. I'm not sure where everyone was, but we practically had the whole place to ourselves. It is usually incredibly loud there but it was really nice and quiet yesterday. Abby loved crawling around after Alex and pulling up onto anything she could find. I did bring a few toys from home that were OK for her to put in her mouth since she tried to eat everything in sight! At one point she crawled into the wind tunnel exhibit, not realizing what it was, but I think she enjoyed the gusts of wind that were blowing toys everywhere!

Dollinger Farms

With temperatures in the 50s and the sun shining, we knew today was the best day thus far to hit up the pumpkin patch! For three falls in a row, we have ventured out to Dollinger Farms and it is such a fabulous fall destination for the kids. Alex spotted his pumpkin right away--a large, lonely pumpkin set out in the middle of the grass, away from the organized piles of pumpkins. We told him if he could lift it into the wagon, he could buy that one. With a tiny bit of help, it was all his! Brad tried and tried to convince him that there were lots of other, more perfect pumpkins in the field, but he always came back to the one in our wagon.

Abby loved riding around with the big orange pumpkin staring right at her in the wagon and was very excited to reach out and touch it. She was content to ride around while Alex checked out the animals and played in the hay. We skipped the Civil War reenactment being held there this afternoon. We'll save that part for another year...

Indoor Play

Here's a photo of Abby in purple, just for Gigi, who insists Abby is a "winter". :)

Let's hope they cook up something better than Mom!

Excited to have discovered the kitchen set.

A problem area for Abby--getting stuck under the table and hitting her forehead. Will she ever learn??

Alex has been telling me all about how much he loves his sister. This is so sweet, especially when it is impromptu!

We've busted out the winter coats and are getting used to having all day indoor play. Alex has been showing Abby around the kitchen set and she has been busy gnawing on all of his toys. She's not walking on her own yet, but is very busy all day long. We do a lot of "saving" her from various predicaments. Her one little tooth is coming in nicely but does seem to bother her a bit. She's doing a lot of chewing on her bottle nipples instead of drinking out of them. Abby has also greatly improved her tolerance for the gym nursery, which makes us both happy!

Alex's new favorite show is Dinosaur Train on PBS. He was telling me all about carnivores and herbivores in the van this morning and I like that he's learning so much about dinosaurs. He has also learned how to go to pbskids.com and play games or watch videos on the computer. Alex really enjoys cutting/pasting, painting and other arts and crafts. He does not seem to favor coloring, unless it is with markers (my least favorite), but is greatly improving on staying in the lines and filling in all the blank space. He does an excellent job at writing his whole name and can write Abby's as well. We also like to play the rhyme game together and he gets pretty inventive with his words! He is very excited about Halloween and his upcoming Halloween parties.

Fall Frenzy and 1 New Tooth!

Alex's 4 year old class performed this morning at the park district's "Fall Frenzy". The classes provided the entertainment while kids welcomed Autumn with costume contests, crafts, games and yummy snacks. He was quick to change into his costume after they sang a few songs and loved jumping in the moon bounce in costume!

We noticed that Abby has a new tooth! She had one terrible crying fit yesterday at the mall that seemed to last forever and had trouble sleeping last night. This morning I put my finger on her gums and sure enough, there was a little toofer on the bottom! She has been much happier today now that it has broken through :) Looking back at Alex's baby calendar, he also got his first tooth at 9 months old.

A Cold Game

Alex's first time as goalie. He was awesome!
"But Dad, it's freezing out here!"

Seriously bundled up.

Saturday morning was Alex's coldest soccer game yet. We are anticipating some colder ones as we wrap up at the end of October, but yesterday's low-40s was pretty chilly! It was a 9am game so it hadn't really warmed up yet. We lasted about a half hour outside before Abby and I headed for the car to warm up (and so she could take her morning nap).

Alex also played his first time as goalie on Saturday. He had one great save and did not allow any goals. Go Sharks!

A Little Bit of OCD

Abby has a little bit of OCD, and it is adorable. She cannot stand for the highchair wheels to be in the unlocked position. All four wheels seem to be under constant supervision from Miss Abby. She crawls right up to the highchair and makes quick work of snapping down the pretty red locks on each wheel. This of course drives Mommy crazy because the highchair is constantly scraping across the kitchen floor at mealtime. The more I think about it, I believe Alex did this same thing as a baby and I switched him over to a booster chair before he was a year old. We'll see how much longer the highchair lasts in our kitchen. It takes up so much space and the wheel-locking thing, while funny, is a little annoying. She is in fact locking them up as I type this, grrr.

Arts and Crafts

Last fall, I purchased this foam pirate ship project at Michaels for Alex and I to put together. Well, we never got around to it last year so tonight, after Abby went to bed, we all worked on this. This was the first time I'd ever used my glue gun, and once we got past all the smoke, it was a really handy way to attach all the pieces. Alex is a big fan of these foam projects and I think the glue gun is a great way to hold it all together. I can't believe we hadn't tried this sooner! Anyway, here's some photos of Alex posing with his ship, the "Ross".

9 Month Check-Up

Abby got all dressed up for her 9 month check-up today. The doctor was pleased with her growth and development over the past three months.

28" long (64th percentile)

21lbs 1 oz (89th percentile)

Grandparent's Dance

Singing songs with his classmates.

We are so crafty together :)

Performing for the grandparents.

Self-portrait.

The festive duo. Even Abby had fun dancing with the big kids!

Alex's school held their annual Grandparent's Dance this morning and we had a great time together. These types of events are always tricky for kids whose grandparents live out of state, so I stood in as the grandparent du jour. Alex and his classmates presented the grandparents with a few songs they had learned for the event and we made a fall wreath together. We then headed to the gymnasium for cookies and dancing. The cookies may have been Alex's favorite part of the morning :) We retrieved Abby from the gym nursery and headed back to stop by the book fair, and get another cookie. What a fun day!

9 Months Old

Here's Abby picking out what toys she'd like to chew on. Shortly after this photo she put a sharp piece of that tow truck in her mouth and started screaming. Poor Abby.

Scooter is this baby's friend. She pulls his feet, pulls his tail, pulls his fur and he keeps coming back for more!

Alex built a fort (which he kept calling his "porch") to keep Abby away from the toys he wanted to play with alone.

Everything goes right in the mouth.

Abby really likes bananas. This morning she chased me around the kitchen until I finally sat down and shared with her. She ate half of my banana on her own! It is one of the few solid foods that she can eat since she still does not have any teeth.

Abby turned 9 months old earlier this week and is changing so much every week! She's trying very hard to walk so she can run around and keep up with Alex. She is, however, a very fast crawler and seems content to chug around in this fashion too. Alex loves having a playmate, as long as she respects his boundaries which she rarely does. She naps twice a day and has been starting her day between 6 and 6:30am, much to Mom's dismay. So far, she does not seem to be a fan of the cold weather. She has her 9 month checkup later this week so we'll see how much she has grown in the past six months :)

PJs

Alex has decided to boycott regular clothes since Brad and I are wearing pajamas all day long. Why should there be a double-standard just because we are ill? I say great, because I'm pretty backlogged on laundry following vacation anyway! Who knows what the neighbors think when they see him out on the deck dressed like this!

I guess Abby got up a little too early for her own good yesterday :) Brad said she fell asleep like this while he and Alex were playing Mario Party (all before I got out of bed in the morning).