the last of the leaves

The leaves have since been raked to the curb and collected by the township's trucks, but a few weeks ago the kids enjoyed using them to build a fort:

sudsy

the popsicle effect

New pictures coming soon. In the meantime, an Andrew story:

A couple months ago I bought a bag of freezer pops. You know, those artificial-everything plastic tubes full of sugar water? We don't buy them often, but it was the end of summer and the kids were excited to get them.

The popsicles are long gone, but still, every time I open the freezer door, Andrew excitedly yells, "pah-ki-kool!"

Seems he just can't get those pops out of his head. His car seat buckles are now "buh-ki-kools." Evyn's pencil is a "pin-ki-kool." And when we play with the kids' cash register, he points to the pennies and "ni-ki-kools."

Funny kid.

You may have noticed ...

... a curious and marked decrease in posts from us lately. For this I offer two explanations:

1) having an active, ornery 20-month-old is not conducive to dedicated computer time, and
2) the aforementioned toddler did a number on my camera.

at the park on a recent playdate

Hmm, perhaps that's only one, single explanation???

Anyway, my camera is hanging on by a string and, more often then not, it stubbornly refuses to take pictures. Thankfully I did convince it to snap a few, like these photos of Evyn showing Andrew the ropes of pizza-making:

(click to enlarge any of these pics)

For all his trouble cuteness, there is another side to Andrew. He is extremely affectionate. In fact, the last week or so, there have been many moments where getting anything accomplished is difficult (at best) because Andrew asks for hug after hug after long, squishy-squeezy hug. He is sharp as a tack - he's using 5 and 6 word sentences, and can remember and accomplish a series of commands. And he is determined and deliberate; he can sit for an hour and play cars or trains very methodically.



Another interesting (ok, to us anyway!) update- he's peeing in the potty! He's consistently telling me that he needs "go pee pee," and holding it until we get upstairs and unbundled. The only downside is that he gets upset if we are out in public - I think he can't figure out why I'm not consistently whisking him to the nearest bathroom.

I'm looking forward to Christmas this year (truth be known, I usually dread it!). We ordered a PV Mini-Glider for Andrew. He's going to go nuts when he sees it!