November

Here it is, another month gone by, and 16-month old Tobias is exploding with activity, energy, excitement, and development…

Some of his favorite “activities” are…
• Attempting to jump. He goes up on his toes and raises his hands above his head. Mimicing his sister, he will then lift one foot off the ground at a time. So cute.
• Playing with G-pa’s watch (which he calls “dock” – maybe a combination of “tick tock” and “clock”)
Here he is with G-pa's "at" (hat)

• Putting things together, putting items “in” like trash cans, baskets, cups. And figuring out how things fit together. For example, the other day I gave him a plastic cup and he spent the time it took me to fix breakfast putting magnets in and out and in and out and carrying it around, and dumping it...
• Clearing off bookshelves (oh so much fun for mommy to clean up!)



What’s new with Toby?
• Tobes got 2 more teeth this month. I forgot how unpleasant this experience is since it hasn’t happened since he was 10 months old.
• Beginning to hit and push Lydia (and mommy and daddy) when he’s frustrated.
• A break-through at MDO: Tobias did not cry one tear this past week! Definitely lightens my heart to know he’s finding comfort there and having fun.
• Following more commands like “Go to your chair.” “Go upstairs.” “Throw this away.” “Take this to daddy.”
• Talking up a storm. It’s hard to write every new word he’s said. Some of his favorites… “dee dee” (DVD), “Bah-bool” = bubble (for anything related to water), “ah-pool” = apple, “ruck” = truck, “chooch” = church, “eat”, “byyyeeee” = bye, “mommy and daddy” (developed from mama and dada), “moon”… He’s also putting words together like, “Hiiieeee, daddy!” He pointed to my coffee one morning and said, “Hot juice.” Toby is very possessive and infatuated with drinking. I refilled his cup at dinner one evening and without thinking, gave it to his sister. He was not going to let me get away with that mistake and declared, “I WANT JUICE!” (his first sentence).

Sleepy head...


Truly Tobias is into anything his sister does. If he wakes up before her, he cries at her door, "Dih-dee-ahhh!" This month we've had instances where they used the dog water to mop/sweep the entire kitchen floor and where both of them decided to paint daddy's shoe (and themselves) red. Lydie the leader, Tobias the willing accomplice. Most days they spend a significant amount of time playing peacefully with one another. What a blessing that my children are becoming "friends"...

Here are a couple "Lydia-isms"

Lydia: speaking gibberish to Toby
M: It will help Toby learn to speak words if you speak to him using words.
L: Well, I’m speaking Spanish right now.

Since the weather has become cooler and drier I’ve been putting Vaseline on the kids’ faces to prevent chapping. Last night after tucking Lydia into bed, she declared, “Mommy, you forgot to put gasoline on my face!”


I love you, kiddos! :)

Boo!

Here are a couple photos of our Halloween. We had a blast - and the kids looked adorable if I do say so myself.

Lydia's Preschool Halloween Party
The princess makes her debut

The cow...

...escaping...

...and longing to join back into the fun

Lydia in the "parade"

Princess arms

Princess on the Playground


Daddy removing the "gunk"

And Toby inspecting it

Lydia, tired of the gunk-removal process, moved onto stickers - much more her speed

Pumpkins!


Trick-or-Treating on Main (Street, that is, downtown Cburg)





The day concluded with a dinner at my bro's followed by taking Lydia up and down the street for her treats - a blast!
Mommy and daddy catching a quiet moment.

Cousins!


The morning after... :)