Happy Halloween!

Things have been a bit crazy this week. Work has been busy, home has been busy. Our phone line was accidentally severed, cutting off our phone and internet access, so blog posting has been on hold for a while. But we are back up and running now and I've got Halloween goodies to share.

We'll start with pumpkin carving. It took Walter a while to figure out what we were doing, but in the end, he happily dug his hands deep into the pumpkin goop. He even helped me separate the seeds for roasting. Yum!

Aside: Walter will not put a piece of broccoli in his mouth – he practically gags at the sight of it. But raw pumpkin guts went straight in, without a thought.

We had a little costume trouble with Walter this year. We were wandering the costume aisle of our local Target and we saw this:

Walter LOVED it. "Neigh! Neigh! Neigh!" All smiles and nods and "Yeah!" We brought the horse home and tried to put it on him. He FREAKED! I've never seen such terror. He would pet it and hug it, but try to put it on him and he would scream bloody murder. Yes, folks, our son is afraid of his Halloween costume. So, back to Target we went, horse in hand, to the returns counter. We settled on a less frightening, homemade pumpkin costume, handed down from Kyla, and before that, Uncle Eddie. He still wasn't thrilled about being dressed up. Don't let the smiles fool you. The only way we got the hat on his head was by taking him outside. (Hats are always required for going outside.) He was costumed for about ten minutes, just long enough for some photos. Then, off it came. Oh well, there's always next year.

Happy Halloween!

Really? More sunshine?

I swear the forecast said we would have rain all weekend. But I'm not complaining. Not one bit. We spent another morning outside, making sure Walter was good and tired for nap time. And there wasn't a single complaint when I put him down.

Phew!

Today's workout:

A walk around the capitol square, carrying Walter and a bag of produce

Several trips up and down the hill in the backyard

Countless laps around the garden, holding Walter's hands as he walked on the stone wall

A horsey ride around the living room

Countless leg lifts with Walter riding on my ankles

A walk through the arboretum

Several laps through the house playing chase

And, a walk with Molly

No, I don't run or bike much anymore. But I have a toddler – that more than makes up for it! I think it's time for some ice cream...

Here are some photos from our day. We lucked out - no rain and even some sunshine! (Click on any photo to see a few more on Flickr.)

The game

Step 1: Remove lid from bucket

Step 2: Dump blocks from bucket onto floor

Step 3: Put blocks back into bucket, one by one

Step 4: Put lid on bucket

Repeat steps 1-4 until dinner is ready.

Thanks Emma and Ginny, for the new (to us) toys! They make the wait for dinner much more fun!

Fall photoshoot

I had a little fall photoshoot with some other Billmeyers today. We got some great shots of these very cute little girls:

This very energetic family:

And this very sweet dog:

We couldn't have asked for more perfect weather. It was a beautiful day for playing and picture taking.

Pumpkins

We made a trip out to Eugster's Farm Market this morning for their Fall Festival. This place has all the bells and whistles - petting zoo, (not-so) scary haunted silo, corn maze, and tractor-pulled wagon rides out to the pumpkin patch. We had a great time and I learned to be very careful while taking photos in the petting zoo. A goat just might try to jump in your lap!

Click on any of the photos above to see more photos on my Flickr page.

Choo-choo!

When I told people I was having a boy, one of the most common responses was, "Where are you going to put the train table?" I now have an answer. It's in the basement:

This Thomas the Tank Engine train set is a hand-me-down from Walter's Uncle Eddie. It passed through cousin Kyla's hands first, and now has a home on our old coffee table in the basement. Walter couldn't be happier and he promises to let Uncle Eddie play with them again whenever he comes to visit.

Mama!

Walter has words! Many words. And many of those many words sound incredibly a lot alike – they sound like "Mama." Mama is Mama, of course. But then Molly is Mama; Grandma is Mama; Elmo is Mama; both Emma and Ginny (Walter's cousins) are Mama. You need a sharp ear and some visual clues to tell you who he's referring to. I don't mind sharing my name with so many others. In fact, I'm pretty darn happy it's one of his best spoken words. Of course, there's only one "Dada."

Good news, bad news

Good news: Walter nodded "yes" when I asked him if he wanted to sit on his potty.

Bad news: He really just wanted to play with his potty – lift the lid, stick his hands in the bowl, etc...

Good news: This is the first interest he's shown in his potty in a while.

Bad news: He pooped on the floor while playing with his potty.

Really bad news: He stepped in it.

Good news: He sat on his potty. All on his own. For quite a while. These are big steps, people! Big steps indeed.

Brrrr...

Winter already, it seems. We had a chilly Saturday – 36 degrees or so. Walter and I made a very speedy trip through the Farmer's Market, and even still, my coffee was cold by the time we got back to the car. Then we headed over to the fire station for a look at the trucks on display today. Walter liked the trucks, but wasn't so excited about the person dressed up as Sparky, the fire dog, or the person dressed as Smokey the Bear. Apparently adult size stuffed animals scare the crap out of him. Noted.

While Walter napped this afternoon, I had time to finish off his second hat:

I'm much happier with this version. I actually paid attention to and followed the instructions, (found here, if you're interested) and it turned out great. This version fits more snugly so even with the little bit of stretching that I'm sure will happen, it's not going to be so big it covers his eyes, which is what happened with the first one. My favorite part of this hat, I think, is the cute spiral pattern on the top:

Now, on to some mittens so we can keep Walter's hands warm in this cold weather.

Oh, and Molly decided to pose for some photos today, too. She didn't want to feel left out.

Silly Walter

I was having Walter point to his ears, my ears, his nose, my nose, and so on. When we got to bellies, he pointed to his, then lifted my shirt and gave me a zerbert right on the tummy! And he nailed it! A big, loud, silly, fart noise! Possibly my proudest moment as a parent yet...

Done! Sort of...

All that creative energy from a few weeks ago finally got Walter a new hat. Of course, when I went to search my yarn stash, I was instantly distracted by a work-in-progress – a sweater for Walter. I put a little more work into it, but it's still unfinished. Nate thinks the colors are too girly, so I may change them up a bit and give it another shot. I'm going to have to make a bigger size by the time I get back around to that one. Anyway, I eventually made the hat I intended to knit:

It's cute, but I think that about everything I put on Walter. I'm not really happy with it. It was sloppily knit. I can spot my mistakes from across the room. And it's a bit too big, the stripe a bit too high. So I'm going to do it again, and do it better. Besides, what else am I going to do while Nate is watching all those football games?

A blogoversary!

One year ago today, I decided to give this whole blog thing a shot. Tall Tales has turned out to be a really fun project for me. Looking back at old posts, I'm finding it to be a nice little journal/baby book (without my bad handwriting to clutter things up!) I hope you are enjoying it too. Thanks for reading!

Mini-pumpkins

Autumn is here! Walter and I picked up some mini-pumpkins at the Farmer's Market this morning. These might even be more fun than cherry tomatoes. Maybe we'll plant some next year...