Monday, October 31, 2011

Halloween 2011

For Halloween today, Ben and I made two batches of slime. The first was green and the second was blue. Ben thought it was very cool. What a cheap (corn starch, water and paint) and easy activity!


Strangely, while playing with his slime, Ben informed me that he needed to "work out some toots on the potty." Maybe we will get back to potty training on his terms. I can only hope!


So, I think I mentioned earlier that Ben was supposed to be a fireman for Halloween. Today, he wore his fireman jacket to the mall and then when I asked him if he wanted to get his costume on for trick or treating, he said he wanted to wear the train conductor costume. I guess the fireman costume will get use as dress up or maybe next year. Oh well. It did make Lincoln's dalmatian costume a little random...










Sunday, October 30, 2011

1/2 750 Reunion

Today, we had a 1/2 750 reunion. (I realize only some of you will know what that is!) Two of my roommates from college, Bernadette (and family) and Jenn came over for a visit. Ben enjoyed playing with Michael, sharing his toys and having a nice lunch together at Ben's little table.


Brendan and Lincoln hung out while we ate.


After lunch, we had a mini Halloween celebration by dressing the kids up. We had some jungle animals and a fireman with his dalmatian. :) I've included a few because of course it was impossible to get pictures of all 4 kids looking at the camera. Here, they all seem busy except for Lincoln.


A little better...


Laughing about something



We were so happy to introduce Jenn to Lincoln!


1/2 750 and 4/5 of 750 2nd generation. Some day we will get everyone together!


Snow in October

All bundled up on October 29th to go "shovel" snow on the deck!


He was determined to get the show off the chairs for me.


He had so much fun, he was unwilling to take the time to look at me for a picture.


Back inside to watch some "Halloween Sid" with Lincoln.


Saturday, October 29, 2011

Happy 4 Months Lincoln

Lincoln is getting so big! It's hard to believe he's already 4 months old. I'm sure I'll be saying that every month from now on. We are a day late with this because yesterday was such a busy day. Regardless, here are some of the things he's up to:

- He's "talking" a TON and very loudly. I don't remember this with Ben, but he's such a little chatter box. Ben copies me and says "Really Lincoln?!" whenever Lincoln's chatting away.
- He smiles a lot and has a full belly laugh that's AWESOME. I remember loving that with Ben and it's still the greatest sound ever. I will have to get it on video.
- He is grabbing for things, sometimes inadvertently, and brings them immediately to his mouth. Speaking of his mouth, he's drooling a ton and often needs a change of clothes simply because of that.
- He's still not rolling over. We've had two accidental rolls, but he hasn't figured out how to do it on purpose yet.
- He is in love with the Jumparoo and is using it better than I would have expected. He gets the thing moving so well and loves every minute of it.
- His schedule still fluctuates quite a bit (I'm putting some of this stuff in there because I wish I remembered details like this about Ben.....I'll want it for the next baby. :)). He is taking about 3 naps a day and we are still working on getting him to sleep in the crib for his naps. He does ok, but still sleeps best in his swing. He often makes it through the night with only getting up once, however, he has a little cough now and seems to be getting up more often. I'm hoping the last two nights are not a new norm because I'm tired!
- He seems to STARE at our food when we are eating. The pediatrician says he's ready to start solids, but I think we are going to wait a little longer. I'm hoping he won't take after his brother and will gobble them up when we are ready to start.
- I'm going to say this very generally....he thinks he can sit. He loves to be sitting up and does pretty well if I prop him with my leg or something in front of him to lean on (i.e., gnaw on). I'm sure it will take a long time for him to be sitting up on his own, but he seems to have very strong stomach muscles.

At his doctor's appointment, here are Lincoln's 4 month stats:
Weight 17 pounds 3 ounces (90%) (2 ounces less than Ben!)
Length 26 inches (75-90%)

Here are some pictures!





We are all home today on a lazy Saturday in October and it's SNOWING outside. Really random! They are expecting 6 inches. What is going on?




Friday, October 28, 2011

Opps, I forgot....

Lincoln was dressed up for Ben's Halloween events today as well. It was too hard to get pictures of him at the school because I was either holding him or he was all cuddled up in the car seat so I snapped these when we got home. He will also be showing two Halloween costume's this year as his costume for Monday will coordinate with Ben's. :)

Thank you Kathy for this shirt. It was perfect for the occasion!



Ben's Halloween Parade/Party at school

So here is how the day went:

After we went to a little township Halloween party on Monday and Ben wore his Fireman Halloween costume, I learned that having a jacket for a costume is not ideal. He striped his jacket off pretty soon after arriving and didn't want to wear the big plastic hat. Since the Halloween events at school were going to be a few hours long, I decided to come up with another costume idea for today. I remembered his train engineer costume from last year was a 2T/3T and figured it would still fit. After undoing the quick sewing job I did last year to shorten the straps, he was ready to go to school. I dropped Ben off in his classroom and went upstairs with Lincoln to wait for the parade.

Unfortunately, I was feeding Lincoln and missed the BEGINNING of the parade where my adorable train engineer was the leader of the parade. His face was hysterical. He walked out holding the Director's hand and looked like a deer in headlights. The purpose of the parade (in addition to being an adorable spectacle for the parents) was to raise money for Unicef. The kids walked around with Unicef boxes to collect change from the parents. Since the kids were all only 3 years old (the rest of the school will do their parade on Monday), the idea of walking in a line around the circle of parents was quickly lost. Kids were everywhere. I got a little sad because I think Ben was looking for me and it was really hard to get his attention.



Eventually, a teacher took his hand and showed him how to walk around and collect change from parents.


And then he saw me. :)


He got some money from other parents, including Kate's Dad, Jon.


But then had a much better idea. He grabbed my cup of change, took it over to a nearby table and chairs, sat down and emptied my change (which was supposed to be for all the kids) into his box.


Having "filled" his box, he decided it was playtime.


When the money collecting part of the parade was over, the kids sat down and sang Halloween songs for the parents. Again, there were people everywhere and I had a hard time getting pictures of Ben when someone wasn't walking in front of me. These are some of my best ones.


Kate was an adorable Mini Mouse.





After the parade, the party continued in the classroom downstairs with fun Halloween treats including a bug made from cheese and pretzels! Ben also enjoyed a ton of frosting and a few cheese balls. You know, really healthy stuff.



While attempting a game of musical chairs (3 is too young for that one!) Ben stopped to give another boy (who is much bigger than he is!) a big hug.


This is how Ben "marched" around for musical chairs. As with dancing, it must be done with his hands in the air.


A game of Freeze Dance had Ben coming up with some new moves. This one was copied by two other kids. My son, the trend setter.



I explored my inner preschool teacher and read some Halloween books to the class.


The party ended with the kids getting Trick or Treat bags (which they had made last week) containing little Halloween presents/treats from a few of the moms (candy, pretzels, stickers, spider rings, etc.). I think Ben had a great time! My favorite part was when they were playing Freeze Dance. I was thrilled to see Ben dancing up a storm even more than he does when we have our dance parties at home. I hope he is that outgoing at school when I'm not there. He was having so much fun.

The only bad part is that I wish I had gotten more pictures and that I had been able to help out even more, but Lincoln was with me and took about halfway through the party before he fell asleep. He was very interested in looking at EVERYTHING in Ben's classroom. I was trying to get him to sleep by bouncing him around in the ergo during the craft time. The kids made little pumpkin faces with foam stickers. It was really cute! I think maybe for the next classroom party, I will find someone to watch him at home so I can give all my attention to Ben. Oh well, lesson learned.