Fall Festival 2012

Once again, we headed to Butler's Orchard for their annual pumpkin patch and fall festival. I'm not going to narrate this entire posts--  the pictures will speak for themselves.

Brice & Mommy, 2012



Chase & Mommy, 2010

 

 

Chase 2012

Chase 2011

 

Brice 2012

Chase at 2 1/2

He's too old for monthly posts now (although he does seem to photobomb all of Brice's monthly updates!), but Chase is definitely still growing and learning. He is funny, inquisitive, and strong-willed. He loves his "Bricey."

In his own words, at 2 1/2, Chase is:

-Talking about everything, asking a lot of questions, and repeating what we say, even when we don't think he's listening. We have really got to watch ourselves now! Sometimes it's hard to understand him, but we can use context clues to figure out what's he's saying. He even corrects what I'm saying to make sure I pronounce it right.

-Can count up to 14. Fifteen throws him off. To be fair, it should be "fiveteen"

-Can name his extended family and many of our good friends. One of our favorite tricks is to look through our wedding pictures and have him name everyone. We were all younger back then!

-Singing. Chase knows all the classic kids' songs, but now he's added school songs to his repetoire. He sings Friends, Friends 123 and Ram Sam Sam. I've used Google to look up a few of the songs, but Chase has the intonation and words right so now I trust him.
-Sleeping in a big boy crib! (entire post on this coming up) He goes to bed between 8:30-9pm and wakes up around 6am. He's got a new alarm clock that keeps him in bed until 6:40am. Most afternoon Chase takes a 2-2 1/2 hour nap.

-Quite independent. "Mommy, I can do it." We take advantage of this by asking him to pick things up and put them away, retrieve things for us (when we have our hands full with Brice), or help us feed Mueller. Chase usually happily obliges.

-Going through a whiny phase. It's awful. Everything has been whined or cried for a couple of weeks now. We finally realized that we need to tell him "no cry talking" and he sort of gets it. But when he's cranky or hungry, there's no stopping the tears/whine.

-Loving on his little brother-- They are so sweet together. Chase loves to hug Brice and Brice loves to hug and mouth him back. (entire post on this coming up too!)

-Doing great in school-- He loves his teacher and his class. Chase repeats school songs. He talks about the kids at school and what they are doing.

-Not eating much, but his favorite foods are:
          Breakfast: pancakes with syrup, waffles, fruit, yogurt
          Lunch: pasta, hot dog, peas, edamame
          Snacks: pretzels, rice cakes, fruit, yogurt, apple sauce, milk
          Dinner: pasta, rice, hot dog, sushi, broccoli, shredded cheese, cabbage, tortillas

-His favorite things to play are "shoot ball," "kick ball," volleyball, baseball, football. In that order. Don't even think about sitting down when you are playing with him. You have to be standing up to play with him. You also have to dribble, dribble before you shoot.

-Calling Mommy and talking on the phone. Chase has Carol call me every day after he finishes lunch. He asks, "How is you day at work, Mommy?" and tell me what he had for lunch, whether he went on the potty, and who blew out the candle during circle time at school. Lately he hasn't wanted to give up the phone so he'll say, "I have to tell you something," but then proceeds to carry the phone around as he plays with his toys. Needless to say, I'm usually laughing.

-Using the potty and often wearing big-boy underpants! He wants to wear them to school, but I spoke with his teacher and we're going to start that the week after Thanksgiving (another post coming on this! I had better get writing...)

-Funny!

More Halloween

This year Haloween was a little crazy. We were off from work/school the two days before for the hurricane and had all been sleeping in our room because the boys rooms are in the line of a massive tree with branches that all lean towards our house. We'd also been stuck inside for about 3 days in a row.

Chase's school had a Halloween parade followed by a class party so I volunteered to help out and took off work. Chase wasn't so sure what to make of everyone being in costume at school, with decorations, and his mommy there. He also wasn't so sure about the Halloween parade. But the kids sure were cute!

(Amish fireman)

(not all of the kids in his  school are blond...just most of them)

One of the activities they had for the kids was face-painting. Chase wanted to be a snowman. Why? I have no idea.

In our neighborhood, no one goes out to trick or treat until after dark (and after dinner). Brice had had a rough afternoon-- we think his teeth hurt and he was crying hysterically and didn't nap until late. So we got Chase dressed up first and hit up a few neighbors while we waited for Brice to wake up.

Chase decided pretty early on that he wanted to be a fireman for Halloween and since we have a limited number of years before Brice can protest his costume, it was clear he'd have to coordinate as a "fire dog."

(there is a little spec of black makeup on his nose. That's as far as I got on

giving him a Dalmation nose)

After our mini photo shoot, we went trick-or-treating. (I brought my camera, but it was pretty clear that I couldn't carry it and Brice AND take photos.)

Chase did great! He went up to houses (holding Daddy's hand), range the doorbell or knocked, and (quietly) said trick-or-treat. He loved seeing the other kids and watching them trick-or-treat. Brice was a good sport. We enjoyed meeting some more of our neighbors. We also up with Veronica, Josh, and an adorable little lamb Daniela (where was my camera when I needed it?!?!)  and went to a few houses with them.

After we came home where Chase liked giving the candy out to the kids who came to our house. Overall, I'd say it was a success. Chase is already talking about him and Brice being firemen next year for Halloween.