Todd @ 10 months

I thought these pictures sum up Todd at 10 months old. Wiggly, happy, and climbing everything! Over the last month he went from one tooth to four. He consistently signs "more" and "all done" and has started waving bye-bye. As I said before he climbs anything and everything he can! Chairs, the dishwasher, toys, boxes, stairs, and slides... anything in his path. He loves going to Chick-fil-a for the food and the playground. He can walk along the couch or other things as long as he's holding on. He loves his Daddy and wrestling with him, but he's also quite a momma's boy. He and Elle play a lot more together. He loves his big sister and thinks she's so funny. His favorite thing to get ahold of is Elle's tricycle. He can now pull himself up to sitting on it. His other favorite thing to play with is the telephone or the wii remotes. Anything that remotely looks like a phone he holds up to his ear and talks to it. He's so sweet and happy. He is such a blessing to this family!

Pictures taken 10-11-12

choo choo express

Last weekend I took Elle and Todd to the Day Out with Thomas. They have it every year at the Railway Museum. I figured we should go this year because Elle may not be into Thomas next year. Of course we picked a COLD day, but we were so busy we didn't really notice. They played at the train tables, got a Thomas balloon bracelet, and we rode Thomas! Elle did NOT want her picture taken with Sir Topham Hatt, nor did she want to look at the clown or be near the big Thomas to take a picture. She did have a really good time though. 

The next day we went to a "carnival" at OC for Make-a-Wish. Elle got to ride this barrel train and had a blast! Todd liked it too, but was happier about picking out pumpkins. (Yes, it was so cold we pulled out winter gear!)

doing things different

We recently went to the zoo for the first time since the beginning of the summer. So many things were different and new this time. Todd is so mobile that he doesn't care to sit in the stroller for very long and thinks it's funny to crawl off. The weather was gorgeous instead of so hot we were melting! Todd and I went down the slide beside Elle. We went down to the aquariums, which we'd never seen. And we ate at the cafe behind the children's area. The decor is a toned down rainforest cafe, but Elle really liked it and the food wasn't bad. Elle really liked the blue frog and wanted her picture taken beside it and then sitting on it.

elle these days

At 3 1/2 she seems so much more like a little kid. There aren't the drastic changes like with Todd from month to month, but these little changes that sneak up on you. It's bittersweet to think about what she was like just a year ago. Probably the biggest change I see happening is her gaining more independence from her blanket. She leaves the house without it a lot lately and even told me this past week she didn't need it for school. She's done this all on her own and it's really nice that she's getting her confidence, but knowing that the blanket days may soon be over is hard. 

Elle started back at Sonshine school this month and loves to tell people she's in preschool. She's loving her new class and teachers, Ms. Amanda and Ms. Jane. She can write her name, but we're still working on how many lines go in the E. She also has started drawing faces, which is her first recognizable drawing. She's in to what she likes to call collections. Groups of the same objects. She'll stick with one for a few days and then move on. We've been teaching her about money. For a couple of months we've been giving her $3 a week. One to save, spend, and give. We went with dollars because we wanted her to actually be able to buy something someday. She decided early on she wanted a Tiana doll. So we scoped them out at the store and knew how much she needed to save. She finally had enough after about two months. I'm not sure how much she's really learned, but she did like paying for her new toy.

She's also been at gymnastics on Mondays. She's doing a little better in the big group and does fantastic in her small group.

She's having to learn that Todd wants to do everything she does so she needs to be a good example. I know this is a hard lesson for her right now, but I already see how much influence she'll have on him in their lifetimes. She is a good rule follower and has great manners. She makes us very proud and we love her so much!

facing my fears

You may recall that I'm a megalophobic. I've been petrified to go into a museum without knowing what's in there. Recently, I decided to attempt to conquer my fears. Chris needed to go to OU for work and so we decided to turn it into a family field trip to Sam Noble. I've checked this place out online and could barely sit through the video. But, I knew Elle would really like to go and I wanted to be able to do this stuff with her. Dinosaurs are in the top 5 big things that give me nightmares. It took A LOT of pep talks to walk into the building, then into each room, and people probably think I'm a freak! But, I eventually saw each dinosaur and it wasn't so bad after I had been next to them. It worked out that the first room we went to had just part of a dinosaur head and neck, then the next room had smaller dinosaurs, and finally we worked our way up to the big ones. This really helped me ease into it.

The upstairs had a fun nondinosaur display of animals and caves for the kids to play in.

The discovery room is cool too. Lots of toys, books, animals to touch, and a dino dig!

Overall, it was a fun place to go. I don't think I can just walk right back in, but it would be easier the next time.

why buy toys?

when you can give them a big box