Halloween

We had a busy Halloween. I forgot my camera when we went to a friends house for a party and some trick-or-treating. I borrowed their camera and got a couple of pics. Not great, but here are my little dragon and firefighter. We had lots of fun even if we don't have the pics to document it.

Party Day

Today was JR's birthday party. We had the party at an indoor bounce arena. His whole first grade class was invited as well as some friends from Davis. And we had Mimi as a special guest for the weekend. I think everyone had a blast.

Fall Fun Has Begun!

JR's first grade field trip to the pumpkin farm:

Sunday's trip to Apple Hill:

(Tristan sees a chicken)

Trip to the pumpkin patch:

Pumpkin carving with a buddy:

The Toddler Bed - Not just for toddlers

We recently tried moving Tristan to his toddler bed that we got many months ago because when James and I would come to bed after Tristan sleeping in it for hours, we would find Tristan in such a position that would leave us no room to sleep. Parents of cosleeping toddlers will understand how a 28 inch tall 20 month old can take up a whole queen size bed. So to save us from curling in a ball at the bottom of the bed to sleep, we decided to try to start Tristan out in his toddler bed for the night. The idea was that I would put him to sleep in the toddler bed at 8pm and then we would come to our empty bed when we were ready to go to sleep. If he woke up to nurse we would just bring him in to our bed (or if he didn't wake up to nurse, even better, he would stay in his toddler bed). Well this worked out well for the first few nights. He even slept once in his bed until 5am. Tristan has really taken a liking his bed. But now, he likes it so much that when he wakes up in the middle of the night, he doesn't want to leave his bed. He demands that I come into his bed. So for the past several nights, I have spent a good portion of the night sleeping in the toddler bed. James sometimes wakes me up to come back to our bed, saying he can't sleep without me. (Awwwe! Sweet, right? But then he complains in the morning that he didn't sleep well because he couldn't fall back asleep without me. Sorry, not much sympathy going to the person who has the queen bed to himself from the person sleeping in a toddler bed with the toddler). But this morning was the highlight. I was in bed (the toddler bed) with Tristan this morning when JR came into our room. He saw that we were in there and wanted to come cuddle with his mommy and little brother. So he did. Now it is me in the toddler bed with Tristan AND JR, while James is in the queen size bed all by himself. Can you say jealous? I need to see a chiropractor.

Fun Weekend

We had a fun weekend. We went to go visit my dad this weekend. On Saturday, we got there around lunch time and went out to lunch before going to my dad's. We went to Fresh Choice which I love for the kids. Tristan had lots of sweet potato, beans, shredded carrots and squash, butternut squash soup and some pita chips. JR had some chicken noodle soup, beans, carrots, and lots of watermelon, and then he got to eat dessert. The lunch wasn't that great for the adults, but as many people can tell, I judge a place on how healthy my kids eat. After getting to my dad's and giving Tristan a nap, we went out to a little family theme park. Tristan and JR got to ride a train and carrousel and JR got to ride the bumper cars (which Tristan did not enjoy watching). We had a nice evening of dinner playing out in my dad's backyard. On Sunday we met friends at a pumpkin patch/corn maze. It was the world's largest corn maze (43 acres) and it took us over two hours to get through WITH a map. Even though it was hot and Tristan got a little cranky, it was a fun adventure. The kids also got to ride in wagons, pick out pumpkins, climb hay bail structures and play in a corn sand box. Unfortunately our camera is still broken and we missed tons of great picture oportunities. We just got our new camera today so hopefully we will have many more great Fall outings to take some pictures.

Tristan Dance

In August we had a great visit from Mimi and GrandDad. We went to the lake, they got to go bowling, JR spent two nights at the hotel with them, and we did some swimming. We didn't have our camera, but we got pictures from them of the visit. I just now looked through them and found this great video of Tristan dancing with Mimi. Isn't he a wonderful dancer?

Harry Potter

JR is really enjoying being read to and he has moved onto long chapter books. He had seen several clips of Harry Potter movies recently and I had told him that we had the books, so of course he asked if we could read them. I was hesitant at first, especially because our main reading time is right before bed. We started reading the first book on weekends. I would take him to the coffee shop and we would snuggle into a big cozy chair and read a couple of chapters. But he was too interested in the book to wait for weekends and it didn't seem that scary so James would read it to him at bedtime. The first book went fine and he eagerly started the second book. The second book was a little more scary and now JR is affraid to go down the hallway in the dark or go to his bedroom by himself (this is a big dissapointment for me since we had a big issue with this right after we moved). But on the lighter side of it, JR keeps making references to the book which is so cute. He loves the name "Hufflepuff" and will just walk around the house saying it. He also loves to pretend he is petrified now. Last night at the dinner table, JR and James were discussing some of the Harry Potter terms and Nick didn't know what they were talking about so they snickered at each other, pointing to Nick, and said "Muggle!"

My Little Math Genius

JR at the breakfast table the other day: "Four hundred and ninety plus six hundred and ninety is eleven hundred and eighty."

He did that in his head. He also knows negative numbers. He shocked me a couple weeks ago with : "Four minus on hundred is negative ninety six."

He's not going to have problems with math in school.

Cow's Milk

JR: "It's kind of like mommy's milk in a glass, except it's a cow's mommy's milk."

He understands more than most.

"Yay! Edamame!"

I was so happy to hear JR exclaim this after telling him what we were having for dinner. I have always hoped that my children will like healthy food. JR has quite of variety of foods that he likes: chicken satay, tempura vegetables, edamame, tofu, dal, and has started liking sushi. He still has the standard favorites of chicken fingers and cheese pizza, but I am happy that he will eat much more than that. I have also been working on fruits and vegetables with him. The new rule is he can have dessert if he has eaten five fruits and vegetables that day, at least two of those being vegetables. He has been doing so well with this that the other night after dinner, he hadn't eaten enough fruits and veggies so he ate a carrot and a banana just so he could have dessert.

Tristan is doing well with eating too. He eats what we eat and there is hardly anything he won't at least try. Sometimes he will pig out and other times take only a few bites, but that is toddlerhood. The only problem I'm having with Tristan at mealtime is the throwing of the food or bowls. He doesn't do it often, but mama is not happy when he does do it.

We have signed Tristan up for a couple classes he is really enjoying. We signed him up for a My Gym class which he loves - he is very active, running from slide to ball pit to trampoline to slide. He has also started going to a music class, which I thought he would love because he LOVES music, but I think that one will take a little more getting used to.

Our camera is still broken, so there are no pictures for this post. I hope we get a new one soon. I want to take some video of Tristan saying "Mama" and "Dada" before he starts really talking well. His language is slowly coming along. He now says "Mama", "Dada", "CK" (for Nick), ball, cracker, bubble, more, and he says no really well. It is too cute when he says no, he purses his lip and shakes his head in the most adorable way. I want to get a picture/video of that too. Sigh. Hopefully soon.