So, again, it's been too long. Halloween has passed, Thanksgiving too....and a lot has been going on! Let's start off with Halloween. Austin loved to pick out his pumpkin, and we let him paint one this year since he's not old enough to carve on yet. We tried to let him clean out the pumpkin guts, but he wasn't at all interested in that. He LOVED to pain his pumpkin though. Every pumpkin that Austin saw he referred to as "Granma Punkin". My mom had given us a decorative pumpkin, so he just figured every one was hers! Here's a picture of him picking out his pumpkin, which he actually chose about 10 different ones before he settled on one, and him painting it.
Towards the end of October, it was our niece, Kylie's, 6th birthday party down in Cincinnati. We made the day trip to celebrate with her and let Austin hang out with his cousins late into the evening. Here is one of the sweetest pictures i've ever seen of two little ones. Austin had a blast and loves visiting with his cousins. He'll get to see more this weekend, and even more the next weekend!
Who is the baddest sheriff in town? That would be Austin! Here is an awesome picture that Jared was able to capture of Austin on Halloween using his newest lens. Since Jared has worked so hard this year and has done so great with his side business, he deserved a little treat. This is one of the first pictures he took with that lens, and it's pretty amazing. Austin enjoyed trick or treating, but he didn't have much of an attention span for it like most things. We managed to go to about 4 houses, he said trick-or-treat, thanks, and was done. He didn't even really seem to enjoy the dressing up part of it yet. Maybe next year!
Typical male, huh? Austin is doing really well with potty training. Don't get me wrong, he still has his fair share of accidents (mostly he just poops his pants still), but he wears undies during the day, and he wears a diaper or a pull up at night since he can't hold it that long yet. After the holidays and things settle down, i'm going to start trying to wean him from his nap diaper, because as of right now, it's been quite a while since he's had an accident at nap time. He is finally starting to tell us when he actually needs to go at times, but it's still sort of hit and miss. He's doing so well though for just being over two.
Here's a picture of Austin....well, being Austin. He knows his first, middle, and last name now. He's also starting to learn his ABC's and loves to sing the song. He's even starting to learn some of the Letters and told me what 6 of them were the other day while we were playing with his Play-doh! He's also starting to sing other songs like "Clean up, Clean up". He loves running around and saying things from movies also. His favorite is getting a stool out, standing on top of it, and saying "To infinity....and eyond (eyond=beyond)" like Buzz Lightyear does in Toy Story. He also likes to say things like "Go Koko, Go Koko", "Coming Through" and "Oh Bumpers" from his favorite TV Show, Chuggington. You would think we let him watch t.v. all the time, but he just catches on that easily. He's using other things like "Bless you", "Excuse me", "Please", "Thank you" etc. He even tells me in the morning that "Daddy's not here. Daddy takin shower. Daddy go to work." He's getting so smart, and so observant. He's even starting to refer to use pronouns such as you, me, I, we, etc. correctly. He recognizes and can tell you most of his shapes (triangle, oval, square, rectangle, diamond, circle, octagon, and he still get's stuck on pentagon). He knows the names of colors, but he still doesn't get those right a lot. We'll get there with that in time. Otherwise, it's truly amazing to watch him learn and grow.
Here is one of Austin's favorite things to do now that it's so cold outside. He loves taking the cushions off the couch and jumping on them, and it allows me to sweep them clean. He asks to do it all the time, sometimes he even just pulls the cushion off the couch on his own when I say no.
Here's my little monkey. He's been such a handful lately. He's cutting his last and final tooth right now, and he's been a bear. He's hit his terrible twos and tantrums are in full swing now, and it's quite the combination! He's still such a sweet little boy......most of the time!
This isn't the best picture, but it's one of very few that I have of the two of them. We were over at my parent's house one day hanging out and grandpa stopped by for a bit. For whatever reason, Austin doesn't go around my dad that much, so this was a very special occasion. They were laughing and having such a good time pretending to sleep (another one of Austin's favorite things to do with people right now is telling them to "have sweet dreams"). Austin even tried to share his hat with grandpa (which could have fit, by the way. They both have HUGE heads)! This is probably a moment that stands out in my dad's mind, and i'm glad I captured it...even though the picture isn't the best, the memory sure is!
Here is us playing outside one of the last nice days we had in November. Even with as cold as it is outside right now, Austin still wants to play out there daily. This year he even likes the snow so far, which he hated last year. I love that he loves to be outside so much....it's such a wonderful thing, but man, is it not fun for me this time of the year! In the top picture, he's dancing in the street, and in the bottom....well, the kids just on a mission!
I just thought these two pictures were too cute not to share. Austin amazes me at how much he can be a booger sometimes, and still make my day. He's such a wonderful, special little boy, and we couldn't be prouder or more in love. I know that everyone always tells you growing up that there is no love like that you have for your own child, but it's the truth. I never thought it would be like this, but I just can't get enough! Even on the worst of worst days, there's always at least one great moment that makes everything in life worth it! :)
Another big event recently, the purchase of Austin's "Big Boy Bed". He is so proud of his bed, and he lets everyone know it. It's adorable! It doesn't matter if you've seen his bed before, he has to take everyone upstairs to show it off again. My parents were very gracious in giving us a lot of help in making it possible that we could move him into his bed so early, which was great, because he only had a few inches left before he grew out of his toddler bed. He loves sleeping in this bed! He especially loves the freedom that he can get out of it in the middle of the night, slam doors, greet us bedside, and give us 6 a.m. wake up calls (and sometimes earlier). Oh well, it's all a stage I guess.
My first cold of the season happened to be the day we had "Breakfast with Santa" that was put on by Jared's work. I felt like crap all day, but I wasn't going to miss Austin and his first encounter with Santa. He freaked out....and hated him! You can tell by the look on his face what he thought. We didn't go near Santa after that. We've said all along, we're okay if Austin likes Santa from a distance....and that was the case with him this year, for sure! I'm sure he'll LOVE him Christmas morning though!
Until after Christmas, and probably New Years, Happy Holidays All! (And if you're reading this, Thanks again, Josh!)
