Happy Halloween 2017!

A belated Happy Halloween! We had a busy week of celebrations, and we didn't even do all that we could have!

The Tuesday before Halloween we went trick or treating at Patriot Place. Matt called it "practice trick or treating."

Dressed as a fire fighter ready for the rain

With Pat Patriot and a Super Bowl ring

In front of the stadium

Trying to keep his hat on in the wind while posing in front of a giant pumpkin

On Friday Matt had a costume parade at school while Andy and I helped set up the Halloween party for my moms club.

Andy in his firefighter pajamas/outfit

Matt in his firefighter outfit

We attempted to grow a pumpkin from seeds leftover from our jack o'lantern last year. After all of our effort we grew this one small pumpkin.

Andy with our pumpkin (in his construction worker pajamas/outfit)

Andy with the pumpkins we took home from a birthday party at the berry farm

On Sunday we went to the berry farm to check out the pumpkin patch and play.

Andy on the swings

Matt climbing

Matt enjoying a hot cider donut on the hayride

Andy with me on the hayride

In the pumpkin patch (which was pretty well picked over!)

Waiting for the hayride to return

Andy checking out the "bumpy" pumpkins

Matt feeding the animals

Andy making friends with the animals

 

Matt can climb on the bouncy structure all by himself now

Climbing up the tire "mountain"

By the morning glories

Matt on the horse swing

On Monday we went to a local trampoline park, where they were painting pumpkins (which were not going on the trampolines!).

Matt decorating his pumpkin (the one with the blue swath is Andy's)

Andy on the trampolines

Matt with the punching kangaroo

Matt trying out the rope swing

On Tuesday Matt had Knee High Naturalists while Andy and I went trick or treating at an assisted living center.

Andy checking out the pumpkins on the school grounds

Snow White and a pumpkin

Playing peek-a-boo while waiting to pick up his brother

Posing with jack o' lanterns

Eyeing the "Hello" pumpkins

On Tuesday evening Jon came home early and took Matt out for trick or treating on their usual route. At the last minute Matt decided he would be a "train master" for Halloween, which was fine because we already had that costume. Here he is ready to go!

Andy stayed home with me. He made a mess, which is his specialty, but also drew on the easel (the gray scribbles halfway up on the righthand side are his handiwork).

Matt had quite the haul! Here is his bag:

And that's a wrap for this year. Next year both boys will be trick or treating, so we'll see how ambitious we get with all of the celebrations.

Happy 15-Month Birthday, Andrew!

This past Wednesday Andy turned 15 months.

Building with blocks at the library

Going down the backyard slide

Andy remains one very busy little guy, often on the move. He prefers to be active, although he will sit to play if something catches his interest. He still loves sand and water. He also has picked up his brother's love of all things vehicle. Like his brother, Andy also tries to draw at the easel and color on paper. Andy also likes stacking things on top of each other, but he really likes throwing things and placing them in places like over the wall keeping him from the pellet stove, in the washing machine, in cabinets and drawers, in bins, and in the trash can.

Andy is bold and adventurous. He is a climber at heart. He is becoming quite skilled at getting up steps, stairs, and ladders in buildings and in play areas. Since what goes up must come down, he does well going back down or sliding down. Just this past week he figured out how to sit to go down a slide, but he still most often goes down feet first and on his belly. Andy is much surer and braver when it comes to scaling heights, unlike his more cautious older brother. In fact, the other week Andy was happily going down the tallest slide which his brother has yet to attempt (although Matt would be fine going down it, too).

Andy is up to around 15 words, at least half of which he uses somewhat regularly, and half a dozen signs or so. He says Mama, Dada, cat, that, ball, roar, meow, hi, bye bye, outside, bird, card, bug, go, cup, water, and bear. And he signs milk, all done, more, up, that one/that way, and dog. His vocabulary is started to increase at a faster rate; he added 3-4 words this week alone. And he is using a wider variety of sounds and inflections. He is very expressive, using words or sounds, pointing, or doing whatever he needs to try to communicate his wants and needs (although he will bite if he's being ignored). He will bring his own snacks or shoes to you when he wants to eat or go outside, for example.

We'll find out in a couple of weeks what Andy's current length and weight is. He is getting closer to 30 pounds, I suspect. Andy is close to outgrowing his 24-month clothes; one more growth spurt and he will be in 2T. He wears 6 wide shoes. Andy's canine teeth are still coming in. I may be happier to be done with that set of teeth than he will, as he is so busy during the day the discomfort doesn't catch up to him until the night.