Black Friday

After working several years in retail, this mama tries to stay away from the stores on Black Friday. Instead, we had our own kind of day, starting with black coffee (for daddy):A walk on the blacktop:Playing with our black dog:

Watching the black skies:

Wearing black running clothes:

Going for a ride in the black car:

Mommy and Daddy going to see the Boy Who Lived (he has black hair, you know):

Eating black bean soup:
And wearing a black sweater for the 18-week belly shot!

Gobble Gobble

Happy Thanksgiving!

Better late than never

It was about time to get the seeds out of our pumpkin for toasting. Sean was so excited to see his beloved "pahm-pee" in the house! He watched as Mommy cut up the top and scoop the seeds out. When asked to help, Sean took one look and said, "yucky!" He spent the rest of the process banging the pumpkin seed bowl with a metal spoon. At the last minute, Mommy decided it'd be shame to enjoy this nice pumpkin only for its seeds, so she got to carving...

And voila! Sean's first jack-o-lantern!

Better late than never!

Eighteen Months

We didn't miss your eighteen month-day, Seanybear. The dwindling daylight made it impossible to get your photos with Winnie. And Mommy's been hesitant to write this post. Eighteen months. One-and-a-half years old. Each day Baby Sean is slipping away and in his place is an independent, giggly, assertive, and sweet toddler.

Tomorrow is your first day in the Toddler B room at daycare, and we know you will love it. You really enjoy playing with older kids, learning new games, reading new books, and generally being a "big boy" all-around.

You're amazing us each day with your ever-expanding vocabulary and it's so neat to have you try to tell us what you need or what's frustrating you rather than guessing at it.

You are so adventurous. You will try almost any food. You have no fear about getting down off of the couch by flipping yourself or going down the slide head-first.

You love being outside! We can tell the arrival of this late fall weather is frustrating for you. But we're making the most of the weekends and whatever warm weather and daylight is available.

And here are your Winnie photos! Of course, you needed a book or two to sit still:

*Muuuu-ah*

Payback

Sean woke up last night in the middle of the night wanting to read his books. While we commend him on his choice of hobbies and are super-proud of his enthusiasm for reading, we need to set some boundaries! Reading before bed - good. Reading at 3:30AM - not so good. When it came time for Sean to wake up this morning for school, he just wouldn't budge! Here are some shots of our suddenly sound sleeper:

Mommy went in his room, threw open the curtains and raised the blinds. The babe did not stir. Mommy started unpacking new diapers - she was ripping boxes and crinkling baggies - no movement!

His little feet crossed like this always crack Mommy up:

Rise and shine!

Okay, okay...

Let's read some books!

Books books books

With everything that's going on this fall, we have a new challenge: keeping Sean busy in the time between school and dinnertime. Now that it's chilly and it gets dark so early, it's not practical to hang out at the playground or stack rocks on the patio. So we've been playing lots of games, "organizing" the kitchen cabinets, chasing Pepper, and watching episodes of "Meerkat Manor." This new darkness really makes our trips to the library worthwhile - especially because Sean is really into books:

Of course we spend quality time with the fishies, too. Last night Sean made me hold him up so he could plant a big kiss on this guy:

And Sean really loves to do the puzzles at the library. He likes puzzles about trucks, Elmo, and animals.

Of course this puzzle kept him occupied for a good long while. It has all his favorites - a moo, a kackie, a baa, a bok-bok, and a giggie:

Tonight after daycare I took Sean to the CVS to pick up a prescription. We had a ball - especially in the card aisle - tons of short books! And of course, there was the Christmas aisle. Sean is loving the snowmen and Santa that have started to populate the world around us.

Babies Babies Babies

Sean is going to be a big brother - really! We're expecting the newest New Sooy on/about April 28, 2011! So what do you think - will Sean have a sister or brother?

Chilly morning

Fall is here in earnest! Mommy, Sean and Pepper set out for a chilly morning walk this past weekend and had interesting conversations on the sights and sounds in our neighborhood.

We watched the "kackies" swimming in the creek:

We saw evidence that the neighborhood beavers have indeed been busy. (Wanna give an almost-18-month-old the hiccups? Just say "chomp-chomp" about 300 times - works like a charm!)

We talked about the sky and the planes flying overhead. The soundtrack to our walk was Pepper's jangling dog tags mixed with the crunch of leaves and acorns under the stroller. Sean really wanted a pine cone (pye-oh?) to bring home, but these were way too new. We'll go foraging for some that have already fallen in the backyard later. Of course, no fall walk is complete with chatting about "pahm-pees": After the walk, we hit the playground to break in Sean's new winter coat and see the leaves (leeees!) up close!

New food!

We've made a few new food discoveries with Sean recently. We witnessed his new love/hate relationship with lemons on Sunday, and now we've seen Sean scarf down lima beans and olives! I served up Sean a mix of peas, carrots, corn, and lima beans and Sean picked out all the lima beans, gobbled them up, and asked for "more?" Tonight I added some olives to my pasta and I figured "why not?" so I tossed a few on his plate, and he squealed with delight! Hmmm I wonder what we should try tomorrow?

Sunday Dinner... or Go Giants!

Yesterday the Giants' game was blacked out on our cable system since the Eagles were on a rival network at the same time. So we headed out for some dinner and football.

At the restaurant, Sean demanded the lemon from my water and gnawed on it for a good long while. He kept making faces and saying "yucky" but he would NOT let me take it from him!

Watching the game on Daddy's side of the table. Towards the end of the third quarter, we starting having fun with the camera until Sean decided to spike the camera onto the floor, touchdown-style. Then we knew it was time to go :-) At home with Daddy - Reminds me of a similar picture from last year!

School Pictures

Sean's school pictures are back! Well, they've been back for awhile, but I just got around to scanning them in. Picture day was a huge success this time around - Sean and mommy practiced saying "Cheeeeeeese!" the whole weekend. Sean had a ball at this time around and didn't seem to mind siting still at all (unlike this past Spring's session):