Happy Halloween! {and carving pumpkins too}

Yesterday, after much anticipation, we decided to carve pumpkins. One from our garden and one from the pumpkin patch we'd visited on Saturday (blog post to come).

I was so excited, it's been almost ten years since I've carved a pumpkin. I could not wait to see how James would react. Plus, these types of holiday traditions are one of the things that makes being a parent so fun. Re-living your childhood through your own children. :)

He was excited at first, then a little unsure (what is all this stuff?) and then excited again once we started carving. He's really into transferring things from container to container, so as E and I scooped the pumpkin innards out, he's happily scoop them back into the pumpkin. And as I fished out all the seed for roasting, he'd happily scoop those back into the pumpkin too.

Black cat was not posed for this. Rumpus was quite interested in what we were up to.

Scooping.
We asked him if he wanted to put his hand into the pumpkin. No way, the spoon was as far as he'd go.
Some of the seeds for roasting.
Halloween day started with an entirely too early of a wake-up, a majorly grumpy toddler, and Gymboree class that ended in tears for both Mama and boy (yea for pregnancy hormones and a fitting toddler!).

Luckily the weather was splendid, so I didn't stay sad for long. Also, a long nap for the boy, and reading Harry Potter in the living room sun for the Mama fixed things up. This afternoon we visited E's work and were delighted to see all the other kids of co-workers there for trick-or-treating. James got a wonderful haul but was mostly thrilled with the three "suckers!".

This evening it went perfectly, just as I'd always hoped. We gave James dinner and waited until dusk. Then E and James wandered hand in hand out into the night (with me following behind for a couple of houses with the camera). E said he was a pro. Used his little fist to knock on the door, said "treat treat" in his sweet little voice, picked out a candy, and stowed it into his bucket before moving on.

Heaven.

I was sad to miss it, but our house was getting quite a crowd, and I knew E has dreamed of taking James trick-or-treating since the moment I said "I'm pregnant", so I thought it fitting for Dada to take up the task.

James came home with his tiny bucket full of candy a half an hour later. E and James poured the loot onto the floor to examine (very important, right?) and James chose a sucker to take into the bath with him. Only on Halloween. ;)

What a wonderful night.

Our porch with our proud pumpkins and our cute-as-heck train engineer. He insisted on holding that pumpkin for the picture. Wouldn't hear of putting it down.
He loved being a "cho cho driver".
Off to the first house. Most the time on the sidewalk James will pull his hand away from ours. But he happily held E's hand the entire time.
Headed up the street.
Moon.
Our little Halloween display.
Blurry but adorable. He had the biggest grin when he got home. And look at all that loot!
Sucker! Yummy! He was in heaven. Never in his life has he had this much candy in one day.
Beautiful beautiful candy.
And I wore my pregnancy skeleton shirt again! I wore it when I was pregnant with James as well, only two Halloweens ago.
A lot has changed since a year ago when James celebrated his first Halloween. Check it out here.

Pregnancy quiz: 25 weeks {and AMAZING autumn colors}

How far along: After two weeks at 24 weeks (more about that here), I'm finally advancing and now at 25 weeks.

Size of Baby: Almost 14" long and 1.5 lbs.

Sleep: Not as good this week. I'm exhausted during the day too, so nap most days when James naps. What I'm struggling with is staying asleep. Seems like I drift off only to wake up again soon after.

Pregnancy Clothes: YES.

Belly button in or out: Still in, but flattening.

Movement: Kicks all day long and quite often at night when I'm trying to fall back asleep.

Pregnancy Symptoms: Pelvic pressure, funky taste in my mouth, exhaustion.

Food Cravings: Asian food craving is still going strong. This week we did Thai takeout. Yum.

What I miss: Not being in pain when I take long walks with James. Being able to wear my coats.

What I am looking forward to: Carving pumpkins this weekend.

Weekly Wisdom: I watched Food Inc. last night on Netflix and loved it. So interesting. So crazy. I've been thinking about it ever since.

Best moment this week: On Monday night E and I saw two friends married after dating of 8 years. It was a beautiful small wedding. James went down to bed for a babysitter (my sister) for the FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE! Melissa said he was great and cried for less than 30 secs.

Milestones: 25 weeks feels like a milestone, not sure why.

And because of the fact that I'm now napping most days instead of spending time on the computer, my blogging is a little backed up. Over a week ago a couple of friends and I met up at Temple Quarry Trail to enjoy the amazing colors. We were there by 10:00 am and the sun had yet to break over the steep mountains, which meant it was cold! So cold. But the colors were unreal.

This kid and his sticks. Finds one on every walk we take.
Reminds me so much of an early explorer here. Maybe it's the way he's gazing off or the stick clutched close.
The path littered with a rainbow of colors.
This tree was green only a month ago.
Finally the first rays of the sun!
With the sun, the already brilliant leaves become even brighter.

James is 23 months {Wolfy!}

Let's get the obvious out of the way. In less than ONE MONTH, my little baby, my tiny boy is going to be 2. How did this happen? Just yesterday I was hugely pregnant and wanting to start this special journey. These two years have flow by.
James is on a roll. He understands more, asks for things, has started using the word "please" and knows what he wants.

Here are some things about the last month:

• He takes a 1-2.5 hour nap at noon or 12:30.
• Sleeps 12-13 hours a night (which he's done for ages), 7pm bedtime until about 7 or 7:30 am.
• Is almost 30 lbs. Won't know his actual weight until his 2 year appt.
• Wears 18-24 month clothes. 2T is slightly big but we make it work by rolling it up a bit. Size 6 shoes.
• Has a memory that kills me. He remembers things that happened last spring and tells me about them.
• Two favorite books right now are Mouse Mess and If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. He laughs at the naughty mice.
• Adores diggers and bulldozers more than anything else. The only times he's linked three words together were when he asked "see digger work?" to us. Die of cute.
• If you ask him about his birthday party he'll say "cake!"
• "Mama" or "Mommy" is the first thing out of his mouth in the morning, and the last thing he says before bed. He likes to chant "Mamamamamama" from his crib. Cute and kinda insane.
• When asked what he wants to do, you'll always get one of three answers: "Park" (60% of the time), "Zoo" (30% of the time) or "walk" (10% of the time). He loves to be outdoors.
• Has reached an entirely new level of maniac dancing. He still dances to his drum before bed every night and each night is faster and scarier for E and I.
• When E is tickling James he says "no Dada! No Dada!" and then when E stops he looks sideways in a mischievous way and says "more!"
• Loves to notice lights, tells me if they are on or off. This has been something he's loved for quite some time, but I don't want to forget it.
• Has recently started using words to tell me things like "wet" when he sees something dripping or "hot" when he sees the sunshine.
• Uses a fork for all his meals. If we try to tell him its finger food (like chips) he will have none of it, and still try to use is fork. If we try to help him with his fork he has a tantrum. Yea for two year olds!
• Is getting more and more into Chuggington (a train show by Disney) by the day. Talks about Koko almost all the time (if he's not talking about diggers, that is).
• Asks for a "hug" in the sweetest little voice ever. The other day he ran to E saying "Dada hug!"
• Is amazing.
• And infuriating.
• But mostly amazing.

This is his "cheese" face. Today I asked him what he will say on Halloween (we are trying to teach him trick-or-treat) and he said "cheese!"


I asked him to give Wolfy a hug. Sweetest boy ever.
And from month 1 until now: