Pete the Cat: I love my white shoes

Ms. Sara said that Luke's call just LOVED the book "Pete the Cat," so when it showed up in the book order as a deal with book AND CD, I couldn't pass it up. The book was sent home on Monday afternoon, and Luke has listened to it at least 20 times a day for the past 4 days. We have all memorized the book. This is Luke reading the book-- it is split up into 4 videos because Little Micah was being a bit of a pill, and I kept having to put down the video camera.

(Micah bit me)

Micah Walking

Micah is taking first steps now. He started taking one or two last week. Now he can walk about halfway across a room. He is faster crawling, so he still prefers that. But he is getting braver and better with his walking everyday!

Drama

On the 10th of this month Luke woke up with his left ear looking like this:

I sent a note with his teacher asking if she would have the school nurse look at it and let me know if she thought I should call the doctor. The nurse checked it periodically during his time at school and then called and told me she thought I should call and ask my doctor for her opinion. So I called the doctor, and the nurse at the doctor's office told me to give him Benadryl and monitor it for 24 hours. It was quite a bit better Tuesday morning, but it took about 3 or 4 days for it to get back to normal. I'm still not sure what caused it, but I think it may have been a mosquito bite.

That Thursday (the 13th) we hit a deer coming back from a reading event at Luke's school. Luckily Jared was driving because my reaction was to throw both hands over my eyes. We weren't going fast, and Jared slammed on the breaks, so there was barely a bump when we hit the deer. We were all fine--not counting the deer (who was also hit by the car coming in the opposite direction)--, and there wasn't much damage to the car. The headlights had gotten pushed in (but were still intact), and the hood got bent. After talking to the insurance company and then after Jared tinkered around with the car a bit, we decided not to have it fixed. We didn't want to pay the deductible for a car that we most likely will not have for much over a year. But Luke was wired over it. Right after the accident he kept yelling, "What did Luke do? What did Luke do?" I think he was mostly concerned about the loud noise the breaks made. I explained to him that an animal, a deer, ran into the street and bonked the car. He wanted to know where the deer was, and then Jared got philosophical/ religious and told Luke that the deer's body was on the street but it's spirit was in heaven. Luke kept looking up at the sky trying to see the "deer flying at the stars." He kept saying that "the deer is hiding up there." Now when we drive on that street he tells me about the farmer and the policeman that took the deer away. I'm not sure how he came up with that explanation, but there you have it. He still talks about the deer bonking the car every day.

This week on Monday Luke was helping me cook pancakes. He was standing on a chair next to the stove, but he fell or bent over. Somehow he hit his lip on the pan and burned it. When he woke up on Tuesday his lip was swollen and looked sore. We called the doctor because I just didn't know how to help it since he kept licking it and touching it. The doctor wanted to see him, but the visit turned out to be mostly a lecture on my bad parenting. I left really shaken up. And now I am REALLY dreading Micah's 12 month check this coming week. I think I want to change doctors but am unsure how to do it. I talked to some friends about it today who both switched over to my current office because they both hated the other one (There are only 2 pediatric groups in Williamsburg). I wanted to know what they didn't like about the other office. After hearing their experiences, it didn't sound like I would like the other office too much either. They love their doctor at Sentara, but how do I change doctors and stay in the same group? Ahhh! The drama!

Then to add to the mix we've all been sick this week. It seems like there is no end to real-life drama.

Micah's Birthday Party

We had a little get-together about 2 weeks ago for Micah's birthday. We just invited friends to join us at Chickahominy Riverfront park for a cookout. It was a fun afternoon. The weather was very nice, and we had a relaxing time talking with friends. I wasn't sure how many people would make it since we had the party during Fall Break, so there were a lot of hot dogs leftover. Party favors ended up being a package of hot dogs and buns for each family :)

Micah had a good time crawling around and eating food that had fallen to the floor. Kind of gross!

Micah is still pretty confused about the cake/ candle thing.

But Luke helped him out again.

We're glad that we have you, Micah!

Inflation Nation

Last Friday night we went to Inflation Nation as a family. We weren't sure what to expect because last time we went (a year ago) Luke wouldn't do anything but look at the fans.

But he was so into it! He went right into the bounce house and jumped around, slid down the slides, flipped over the inflatable bars (What are those things called?) and generally had a blast! He only paused to look at the fans a few times and was redirected immediately without a fight. Wow!

They had one "bounce house" designated for kids aged 1-3 years. It was Micah's own little paradise. He crawled right in. At first he was a bit hesitant because he kept falling down. But then he got the hang of it, and just went crazy laughing and crawling and sliding.

Such a fun evening. Hope everyone got to do something fun for fall break!

Just for Amber

Corn?

When did Micah eat corn?

HaHaHaHaHa

Hope you had a great trip to Utah!

Is there anything cuter...

than a sleeping baby?

Say Cheese!

Two weeks ago Luke was learning about feelings at school. He would come home and say things like, "Was Luke happy at school today?" and "If you bonk your head, it would be sad." At the end of that week he brought home a laminated sheet of paper divided into 4 parts that had pictures of Luke making happy, sad, angry, and scared faces. It was sooooo cute!

So (Silly me!) I figured that Luke would be able to do a happy face on command. These are his attempts at a happy face:

He is FINALLY (sort of) smiling in the last one.

How did his teacher get him to pose???

Progress

Micah took ONE step yesterday!

Okay, it was admittedly a step--teeter--tumble.

But it's progress!

So it turns out...

that I have the WORST HAIR CUT in the world for sleeping on wet hair.

I think I'll wear THIS to the bus stop.

Holding Hands

The other day we were crossing the street. I reminded Luke that "we hold hands in the street." He looked up at me, clasped his hands in front of his chest, and told me, "I want to hold just Luke's hand!" Then he tried to walk across the street.

Sometimes I feel like I'm raising Amelia Bedelia.

Elementary

Luke just calls his school "Luke's school" which is probably normal, but I wanted him to know the real name of his school.

I said, "Luke, can you say Blayton Elementary?"

He said, "Blayton L-M-N-O-tree"

Mmm...it does kind of sound like the alphabet song.

One Year Old!!!

Micah's birthday was on Thursday, September 29th. That morning Luke had occupational therapy, and then we had to drop him off at school, so the morning wasn't much of a celebration. But it was funny that, as we were out and about, soooo many people asked me how old Micah was, and I got to say, "He's one year old today!" So he received birthday wishes from many, many people.

When we got home (later than usual), Micah took a super long nap. When he woke up, I gave him his first present of the day, a little toy piano that he really enjoys. Micah likes anything that makes noise!

We didn't do anything big to celebrate Micah's first birthday. We were planning to have a cookout with friends, but the boys were sick through the beginning of the week, and we weren't sure when they'd get better. We didn't want to plan an event until they were both well, but now they are! So we'll hopefully celebrate with friends this coming weekend.

His actual big day was pretty low key, but I tried to do some of Micah's favorite things. After Luke got home from school we went to the park-- Micah loves to swing! Then we stopped at the store to get frozen pizza and donuts. Micah had never had a donut, but he loves pizza, so it was a good birthday dinner for him!

Luke wasn't sure how he felt about his Gluten Free/ Dairy free pizza, but he was a trooper and ate several bites.

After dinner, Micah got to play around with (and in) the dishwasher for an extra long time. It's one of his favorite things to do!

I had the donuts ready to be served as soon as Jared got home. We stripped the high chair and Micah and lit the candle.

Micah was fascinated by the flame.

Luke demanded that we sing "birthday dear" instead of the regular Happy Birthday song. We compromised by singing both.

Luke helped Micah blow out the candle.

Micah didn't waste much time before digging in!

He definitely likes donuts!

We'll find out how Micah likes cake when we have his Birthday Cookout this upcoming weekend. I'm thinking he's going to like it.

After donuts we wiped Micah off and let him open his other toys-- bath toys-- and then stuck him right in the bath. Micah LOVES taking a bath (minus the part when we wash his hair), and he got to play for longer than normal. All in all, I think he had a good day.

Thank you Mima and Papa, Grandma and Grandpa, and Grandma Debbi and Grandpa Terry for the birthday money! The money that hasn't yet been spent will go towards Micah's new car seat that we will get as soon as he reaches 20 pounds. It should be pretty soon now!