While Mommy was staying in North Jersey to help Seany's Grandma recover from surgery, Daddy took Sean up to see Uncle Peter in Saratoga Springs, New York. It looks like the boys had a blast, getting shown around town by Peter and Andrea for a couple of pretty fall days.
"Let's get started!"
Uh-oh! Somebody does NOT like to dress up in Colonial garb:
But he does like riding on the Congress Park Carousel...
What's Sean's favorite new toy? Pepper's crate! Seany crawls into Pepper's crate, giggles wildly, and says "bah-byyyye" over and over again. Pepper doesn't seem to mind - acutally I think he's confused as to why Sean actually wants to go in there - but we don't mind either. Sean's confined playtime buys us some time to get kitchen chores done - just like the playpen used to. :-)
Last Saturday night, we took the Sooy baby to see the Philadelphia Union's last home game - they beat the NY Red Bulls 2-1! It was a lot cooler than our last visit to PPL Park and this time the Sean was unable to combat the ants in his pants, so mommy and daddy each took a couple of breaks on the concourse.
Sean is just too busy to sit and watch a soccer game! He wanted to be part of the action - and he almost was! On one of Thom John's breaks with Sean, he brought Sean up to the edge of the field level and an errant ball hurtled toward them. Thom John blocked the ball, saving the Sooy baby's precious little head. Go daddy!
We've had some busy weekends in October - visits to North Jersey to see grandparents, a visit to LBI to see great-grandparents, pop-pop and an aunt-aunt, and of course - the corn maze! We took the Sooy Baby to Lancaster County, PA again to work through a giant cornfield, pet some livestock, and eat some goodies.
At the finish line:
The Strasburg Rail Road:
Driving the tractor:
On the same tractor one year ago:
Guess which animal was Sean's favorite at the barnyard? It wasn't the giggies...
it wasn't the baaaaa...
and it wasn't the duckies... it was the chickens! With the llama coming in as a close second. After all this, plus spending a little while rearranging every pumpkin display near the gift shop, we called it a day.
Seanybear, I can't believe it's your month-day again! What a whirlwind this month has been. You're 17 months and you're getting bigger everyday. We got your school pictures back and I thought the photographer had to have made a mistake - there in the photos was a little boy, not a baby!
-Fall is here in full force and you love pumpkins! I can't quite decipher what your word for pumpkins is yet, but it sounds kind of like: "paypee" :-)
-Speaking of words (ha!), your top five words these days are (besides mommy and daddy): "tuck" (stuck or truck, depending on the context); "uh-oh!" (whether you did something by mistake or not); "Pah-pur" (Pepper); "gig-eeee" (piggy); and of course, "moh" (more).
-You know the names of many body parts and can point to them on yourself and other people. The same goes for clothing, too!
-You are really into "Where the Wild Things Are." We read this at least 3 times each night before bed - once with the words and taking our time, again as a condensed version just talking about the pictures, and a third time when you pick the pages you like. Your favorite page lately is the one in which Max is chasing his dog with a fork. Hmmmm....
-You love to dance and clap and sing - especially breaking into random bouts of "la la la la la"
-Toddler-hood is rapidly approaching. You've discovered the word "no" and foot-stomping and screeching. Oy.
-Eye teeth: they're coming in and you're feeling them. Last night you woke up crying and it was mommy's turn to see what was up - you were crying and gnawing on the crib railing! Poor schnookums.
In honor of Fire Prevention Week, our town held an open house at the fire station! Considering Sean says the word "truck" about 700 times a day, we figured this visit would ring his bell. (Ha!)
The engine, the pumper truck, the chief's truck, ambulances and the ladder truck were polished up and open for kids to explore. Sean was a little shy at first, but he soon got his bearings and was running from truck to truck like a wildman!
Getting down from the first truck:
Exploring in the ambulance:
Up? Cheese! Yay! On the front bumper!
Sean really liked this little truck. He kept pushing it around the station - he was on a mission:
After awhile, we had to say a reluctant "bah-byyye" to all the trucks and the really nice rescue personnel to head home for a bath and bed.
...and so are "ishies!" It was back to the library for mommy and Sean after school today (mommy is hooked on the No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency series). Luckily there was a birthday party in the all-purpose room this time, so the chatter and shrieks of a dozen little girls masked Sean shouting at the fishies - it's hard to hear inside that tank, you know!
And hooray for fall and the return of carpenter-style jeans! I love Seany's little bum in these!
All last week, Thom John was on a business trip in Tucson -which meant that Mommy took over Daddy's job of getting the babe ready in the mornings. The very first thing I noticed when I woke up Sean on Monday morning was how tall he is in his crib!
In April, just barely peeking over the rail:
Last week, head and shoulders above the rail:
On his tippy-toes:
Just hanging around: Let's get this day started, Mommy!
"Let's get started!"
"Cheese!"
Yay! 
On the front bumper!
And hooray for fall and the return of carpenter-style jeans! I love Seany's little bum in these!
