The One About Halloween

     It's 8:08 p.m. and I think we can put this Halloween in the books.  We haven't had a trick-or-treater now for over a half hour.  Asher is in bed, and Gavin has stripped off his costume and is lounging in front of Go Diego Go.  We didn't go to the Pumpkin Chunkin this afternoon like we had planned.  It started to rain, and with the temperature being so cold and everyone in the family having colds, we decided to skip and stay home. 
    Around 5:30, Gavin and I took a quick bike ride around town to scout for other trick-or-treaters.  They were out, so we hurried home to put costumes on and hit the road.  First stop had to be Lisa's house (daycare) so we skipped all houses along the way..Gavin's instructions.  It got cold pretty quick, so we headed home after an hour or so and the boys had fun handing out candy at our house.  Here are some pictures of the little terrors.

The Honorable Lord Gavin

Train Engineer Asher

Heading out to begin the night

Lying back and eating a cookie from Father Kramper

Happy Halloween!

Gavin would like to add this final message:

The One About the Paddlefish

This post comes by request of Ernie.  On Monday, Ernie went to Gavins Point Dam.  This year, he was lucky enough to get a permit to go snagging.  He went with another man and woman from Ewing, and snagged a big paddlefish.  Gavin went out with him that night to check out his catch. 

The One About the Pile of Leaves

It's something we look forward to every fall.  Raking up a big pile of leaves and jumping into it.  Gavin has been watching the front yard closely, just waiting for enough leaves to fall to build our pile.  The wind this week finally knocked those leaves down.  Here are some pictures from our fall fun:

One of the best things about playing in the leaves is a LEAF FIGHT!!

Other than playing in the leaves, we did some other fun things throughout the week.  My Mom and I took the boys to visit a Haunted Hospital.  They really enjoyed that.  Gavin liked touching the squishy eyeballs.  The boys were able to go ride in the combine and tractors a couple times throughout the week.  Asher looked so cute riding in the tractor with his Daddy.  It was his first time riding without me along.  He can't ride very long because he starts grabbing the steering wheel and pushing buttons.  Hopefully if the weather holds out, the guys will be done picking in 2 weeks, and I will no longer be a farm widow.  :)  

The One About Gavin's New Glasses

The One About Three

This post has been in my head for a long time, and I am just now getting the time to write it.  I haven't hid the fact that Gavin's upcoming 4th birthday is really hard for me.  My Mom cut out an article in a magazine for me that was written by a mother, slowly letting go of her child, Henry, as he gets older.  The first time she handed it to me, I had to put it away because I started crying so hard.  One day, I made myself get through it, and it was amazing.  She referred to each year of his life as it's own being, its own person.  Here is what she wrote about Three. Grab a tissue, I am warning you.

"Three is the one whose pictures I can't look at without choking up.  In those photos, you can see that Three is losing his baby fat, but he still has the round baby cheeks, the softness around the edges that would soon fade.  Three was in love with me.  Maybe this is why I miss him so much?  When I picked up Three from preshool, he'd jump in my arms and kiss my face, murmuring, "Mama, mama."  How could I not want more of that?"

I want to savor Gavin's face and voice as he looks up at me and says, "I wuv you to the moon and back."  Or "I want to go everywhere you go, Mommy."  Or the numerous kisses I get whenever I leave for work.  I am afraid the day is coming soon where he will no longer crawl up and in my lap just to cuddle.  He is such a little cuddler, and I cherish that:  "Mommy, come lay with me.  I want to tuddle." 

Since I am sharing from the article, I will share about One, since that is where Asher currently is. 

"One:  a joyous Buddha who erupted into chortles and shrieks at a smile from a stranger or the taste of a new food.  He discovered words and strung them together with babble, laughing uproariously each time.  "Mommy blahblah fire truck bbbbbth turtle," One would shriek, slapping his knee.  Everything was a question to One.  He'd clamber onto me and point at objects, asking: "What this?  This?"  Then he'd watch me closely, his milk breath heating my cheek, as I named it all."

See, that isn't nearly as heartbreaking as Three.  My cousin told me that she felt that age 5 was a hard transition, but I just think turning 4 seems to be the most difficult.  Maybe I have and will continue to feel this way at each of his birthdays.  Maybe it is because he is my first.  Maybe I am just a big sap.  Regardless, I am going to fully enjoy this last month I have of Three. 

Note:  Article excerpts taken from Redbook magazine. 
(Letting go of Henry, little by little.  By Alice Bradley)

The One About the Eye Doctor

    Today Gavin went to the eye doctor for his first appointment.  Ernie and I visited the eye doctor a month ago, and our doctor encouraged us to bring Gavin in for a quick screening since he is three years old.  I haven't noticed anything with Gavin's vision, but wanted to get the screening.  Gavin was excited to go to the doctor, and really liked the different things they had him do.  It was like a game, "Name this picture!"  He did a really good job sitting in the chair and following instructions.  At one point he said, "The eye doctor is fun.  I want to come here every day."  He did have a hard time keeping himself from touching the expensive equipment.  Before the eye doctor came in the room, Gavin looked over at all the buttons and said, "What do you think that button does?  I bet it blows bubbles out at me."  :) 
   After his examination, the eye doctor gave me the bad news.  Gavin has astigmatism in both eyes, which is making his vision blurry.  He ran three separate checks to make sure, and they all came out consistent.  For those of you who don't know what astigmatism is, basically it means that your cornea is irregularly shaped, more oval than round.  It is likely hereditary, and I know this because I have it in one eye.  I had Lasik almost ten years ago, but still have to wear glasses when I drive or need to see things faraway.  When we drive in Omaha, Ernie can read the street signs way before I am able to.  Sadly, Gavin suffers from it too.  The doctor talked about how children develop 20/20 vision, but need to have 20/20 vision in order to develop clear vision.  Right now, he doesn't have perfect vision and therefore can't develop it.  So by putting him in glasses, it is possible that he can correct this problem or outgrow it.  Now this is just a possibility, not a guarantee, and knowing that I still struggle with it today, I am not holding my breath. 
   So we sat down to pick out glasses.  At this point, Gavin is excited about wearing them because he knows that his Mommy and Daddy both have them.  He immediately said, "I want green glasses, because green is my favorite color."  So I am thinking, "Oh, please have green glasses that I like for him."  Luck was on our side, because there was a flexible, durable pair of green glasses for kids that looked really good on him.  However, when he first put them on his face, I seriously had to fight back tears.  I can't help it...I am the weepy mother.  And lately with this 4th birthday coming, EVERYTHING is setting me off into fits of tears.  I held back, we placed our order, and Gavin will have his glasses in 7-10 days.  I am still considering going to get a second opinion, but I have gone to this eye doctor since my first pair of glasses in hmmm...maybe 5th grade.  So I trust him completely.  Still, we'll see.  I plan to do some "google research" tonight.
    Now in the bigger picture of life, I realize that glasses are not that bad.  There are children dying of cancer or who have awful diseases, so I feel bad that I am so depressed about Gavin needing glasses.  Still, I have two petty concerns right now:  1) I hate that these glasses are going to hide those beautiful blue eyes.  It doesn't matter where we go, someone always stops us and comments on Gavin's gorgeous eyes.  They are his trademark. The blue color and the long, perfect eyelashes.  2)  How in the heck are we going to stop Asher from ripping those puppies right off Gavin's face? 

Look at those beautiful, blue eyes.  How can we possibly hide those behind glasses?

The One About Poppy's Pumpkin Patch

On Sunday, we headed to Norfolk and met Josh, Megan, Sydney, and Collin at Poppy's Pumpkin Patch.  After going to Vala's Pumpkin Patch, Poppy's seemed really small.  Still, we had a great time catching up with old friends.  Here are some pics from the day:

Megan and I let the guys trudge through the forest with the strollers.  Which if I may take a minute to stop and complain.  The path through the forest (or jungle, as they called it) was long.  I think it took us 10-15 minutes to walk through.  There was NOTHING there, except some spiderwebs on the occasional tree.  Lambert's Haunted Forest last weekend was much better.  Poppy's, you need to put some work into your "jungle" for next year. 

 Best friends Gavin and Sydney

 The kids loved crawling on the tires and through the tunnels, Asher especially.

Gavin surprised us all and tried out the mini-zipline. 

Gavin made sure Collin stayed happy. 

The kids couldn't wait to "drive" the train. 

 The goodbye

After we got home that night and took baths, Gavin and Asher decorated their big pumpkin with a stick-in Spiderman costume.  And yes, Asher climbed up on the counter all by himself. 

The One About the Language Explosion

No pictures on this blog.  I just had to brag about Asher's expressive language.  So I am warning you now that I am going to boast like crazy, so if you don't want to hear that, stop reading this post right now.  I work with preschoolers who don't talk as much as him.  After Gavin being such a late-talker, God is rewarding me with Asher's language.  Because I am so into child development, I am really into the baby books and keeping track of milestones.  I bought baby books that have pages to write monthly summaries about development up to one year.  After that, I try to sit down and write summaries every 3 months on each boy.  I love reading back through these, and remembering exactly what each boy was like at a certain age.  Good thing I did this too, because I can't remember anything.  The other day I was trying to remember when we took away Gavin's bottle, and had no clue.  Luckily, I could go look it up.  Recently, I sat down to write Asher's 15-month summary, and was just amazed at how many words he really does say.  Ernie and I brainstormed, and came up with 24 spoken words...and 3 signed words.  Not only that, he is starting to combine words into 2-word utterances.  He will say "shoes off", "socks off", and "tractor book."  He also started labeling things with the carrier phrase, "Thats a _____."  I just think he is amazing, and I am so proud of my little talker.  Asher never really was into the sign language like Gavin, but I am sure it's because he was able to verbalize earlier.  He only signs now when I won't give him what he wants when he says it.  Last night, I gave him a cookie.  He wanted another one, but I wouldn't give in, so he brought out the sign "more."  ha ha  He knows I am a sucker for sign language. 
    As happy as I am with all of this, I am also a bit fearful because Gavin didn't talk until 2 and now can't be quiet for 30 seconds.  So if Asher has this early start on talking, imagine what we have to look forward to.  I ran to Norfolk on Monday to get Gavin some new shoes (because his feet have seriously grown 1 1/2 sizes since July), and between the two boys talking I was ready to pull my hair out.  Gone are the days of listening to the radio. If I turn it up, they just talk louder.  :)  I am also not looking forward to having two boys potty trained (not that Asher is anywhere near that), but we seriously had to stop two times on the way to Norfolk and three times on the way home to potty.  Although I wonder how badly Gavin really had to go.  I think part of him just likes peeing on the side of the road.  He kept talking about how a farmer is going to turn on the road and think it rained.  I don't think we will rush Asher with the potty training...well unless he can't fit into diapers anymore.  He is already wearing size 6.  His growth seems to have slowed down.  We have been wearing this size of diapers/clothes now for months.  I'll have to put him on my scale later and see what he weighs. 
   Asher is also starting to climb things to get onto the counter.  Nothing is safe.  I am amazed at how he can somehow scale the cupboard doors and drawers to reach to the back of the counter.  My little shadow is also driving me crazy with his obsessive need to turn the lights on/off.  I will go to put away laundry, turn on the bedroom light, and he will immediately reach up and to turn them off again.  So then I have to somehow restrain him while I put the laundry away so the light stays on and I can see what I am doing.  And Ernie wonders why I am so tired on my days off.  :)

The One About Lambert's Hayrack Rides

We headed out to Lambert's annual hayrack rides/pumpkin patch today.  It was a beautiful autumn day.   We saw lots of friends at Lambert's and had a great time.  Here are some pictures from our afternoon.

Daddy and the boys in the Haunted Forest, which was awesome!  We went through it twice.  The second time Gavin even went over to chat with the werewolf.  Asher didn't know what to think.  He just stared. 

 

The big decision of which pumpkin to choose. 

Asher has expanded his vocabulary to include pumpkin, pumpkin patch, shoes off, socks off, and thank you.  He is talking like crazy lately.  We put the pumpkins on our deck, so he has been at the window constantly pointing and yelling, "pumpkin!" 

I also wanted to share a cute story.  I shared this on facebook, but just had to repeat it here.  On Friday, Gavin and I sat down to make plans for his birthday.  I asked him what kind of cake he wanted.  His reply:  "Umm..a combine.  with Daddy standing on the combine with a gun shooting a deer.  Or Dancing with the Stars."   :)   I don't want to ruin the surprise, but he did come to a decision and we ordered decorations/invitations/etc.. 

The One About Picnik

I have just discovered the editing program Picnik, and had to share a couple of pictures. 

I am going to have so much fun playing with this program.  :)

The One About the Edited Picture

My friend Kelsi saw this picture I posted on facebook, and decided to do some additional editing on it for me.  I am just starting to learn the ropes of editing pictures, so I was very grateful she took over.  I love this!!

The One About Harvest

Let the harvest begin!  The guys started picking popcorn yesterday, so tonight I took the boys out for the first combine ride of the season.  It was Asher's first ride ever.  He only made it one round before he started grabbing for the steering wheel and climbing all over the place. He also figured out the combine horn.  :)  I am sure anyone driving by thought, "What is that crazy farmer honking at?" 

After riding in the combine, Gavin got to ride in the tractor with Uncle Travis.  Uncle Travis even let Gavin drive.  Asher and I watched the tractor weave back and forth across the field.  I was hoping it was Gavin driving and not just that Uncle Travis had too many beers. 

While Gavin was riding, Asher and I just hung out in the cornfield. 

Asher taste-tested some of Daddy's cornstalks.