aMAZEd

It has been a little chilly around here lately. I thought everyone could use some sunshine, courtesy of our trip to Grant Farms.




May your Monday be as fun as a trip through a hay maze.

Woo-hoo

At Halloween, I mentioned this hat. When class was over this summer, one of my former students asked if I'd like a hat her son had grown out of. I wasn't sure, until she showed me the picture.
Oh, yes, I wanted it.
You can't entirely capture the true glory on the camera.
Admittedly, the happy toddler zooming about makes it harder.


Picture this with a Vikings jersey, and you have a pretty easy backup halloween costume.

Tea Party

No, this isn't a political post. Just a note that, about a month ago, Eamon decided to try a whole new level of creativity.

A tea party. With a bunny, a saber tooth tiger, and a puppy in attendance. Shape sorter shapes and a disney princess were served, and everyone agreed that the green triangle was quite delicious.

Sunday Morning

When Ray's home he usually gets up with kiddo. And when he's home on a Sunday, they usually watch football together. Apparently they combined this and were pregaming with ESPN a few weeks ago. Toddler version of tailgating?

Fall Color

For a couple of weeks we had cool days and little wind. Thus, we had gorgeous fall leaves. Now, we have insane wind and gorgeous fall lawns. Or so I shall try to convince our neighbors now that I'm actually responsible for raking...

I tried to get some great pics of all that color, but somebody didn't think standing/sitting still was a good idea. So you get this.


"BIKE"
"wait a minute..."
"You stopped pushing!"
So much for artsy, gorgeous shots. The leaves do make a nice crunchy sound when you run them over with a tricycle, though...

Hold On Tight

Ray's parents are responsible for this. E says "Thanks". But he doesn't understand why it has to "go to sleep" every once in a while.

As my mother says, "Who needs cable with entertainment like that?!!" Now, if someone could just clue Ray and I into whether the Backyardigans sing "Movers of Arabia" or "Move Around the Radio". We just don't understand the kids' music these days!

Friday Cute: For my Dad

Enough said.

A Day in the Life...

E is becoming a toddler. He wants to do it himself, but then frustrates himself. Yet he's so happy when he succeeds.

Case in point:

Lafayette Play Park

It's hard to do good work when your supervisor refuses to wear pants.
"Where IS that peon with my coffee? I'm freezing over here!"
"I need COFFEE! And PANTS!"
Even pantless, he's a pretty adventurous driver.

We spent a Friday evening at the insanely huge Lafayette playground. For the sake of Eamon's future pride, I will not discuss the circumstances which resulted in his lack of pants. There are no pictures of the huge play structure with the crazy slides because it also has lots of crazy dropoffs that require constant vigilance by both parents, particularly with an adventurous toddler with no fear (or pants)...

Pumpkin Picking

One of the joys of our CSA is the chance to go out to the farm. This weekend they opened up the pumpkin patch. This is one of those things I've always wanted to do, but having a toddler makes it more of a must. Particularly a toddler who thinks pumpkins are BALLS.

E was in heaven.

Bigfoot

Eamon has suddenly figured out how to put on shoes.
Just not his own.

Rain Delay

Someone is very excited, but unlikely to see anything before bedtime...

?

I'm not sure who this boy is that Ray is taking with him, but could someone tell me where my baby went?

Still here!

The Vikings are on a bye week. Grading tests has sucked my week into a pit of pitness, and I haven't posted anything fun since Tuesday. Ray was flying Wed-Thurs, so that didn't help. Then, we spent this weekend running errands and having fun with a certain cute little boy.

Suffice it to say, I have no pictures for you here. We're still trying to get out as much as possible, but I feel like you've all seen the child coated in ice cream or running about the park, and I have no great way to show you the fun bike ride to get the ice cream or get to the park (although perhaps you would like video of him in the garage, torn between his trike ("bike? bike?) and the bike trailer ("hat? hat?" - as in, his helmet)?). E now slides down even the twisty slides with utter confidence, more of a daredevil than I was at five.  We're letting him take some of the (SHORT!) falls, hoping he'll start to notice that gravity is universal, even for him. He turned 20 months old this week, but he's two in a lot of ways - he wants to do it all, he can't express it well enough or do it as well as he wants, and that makes him frustrated and tantrumy.  I'm learning to get him to take a couple of breaths and slow down. Even in his toddlerness, he's still adorable and awesome, which means the hardest part is not laughing, because it's a dead serious matter to him (now if I could just figure out what "it" is).

Things are good. Change keeps coming, but I'm still too superstitious to put it in words here. Ray is flying, and busy, which is good, except that he's not home some. I'm working, but less that I have been, which is nice, except for weeks like this one where I have to work back at the old schedule and I'm not adapted to it any more. Eamon is busy taking over the world (or at least learning that he can reach more of it if he stands ON the chair), which is... eek.

I will get more up here. Please keep checking back. Until then: we're still here!

Happiness is...

...a walk to the park.






A slow walk, with a ball. The days are getting shorter. E is reminding us to spend as much of them as we can outside.