Halloween with young children is so much fun! We went to Boo at the Zoo last Saturday and Bradley learned how important his trick or treat pumpkin is. It's your ticket to all the treats! We love candy yet our chapstick obsession continues and Bradley's favorite item he received was a couple little chapsticks from a local dentist office. What a kid.
There was a lot going on at the zoo and we were very interested in it all
Putting our candy into the pumpkin for the first time
Giant fez hat that Bradley made friends with
TUTU!!
Bradley's game face
High-fiving a penguin
Carousel!
I also learned that while adorable for photo ops, Eleanor's little red riding hood costume was not practical. And so we had our first fashion emergency at four months old! For Nathan's work trick or treating event this past Friday we had to make a quick trip to Target to get Eleanor a new costume. She is now Snow White and everyone is much happier.
Eek! Everyone loves a little princess!
Trick or treating at Nathan's work was a lot of fun, few children were as excited as Bradley (or as cute as Eleanor). Bradley would run up to bowls of candy and try to touch every piece. He would also pick out pieces one by one and line them up on desks. You'd finally get him to take one or two pieces and walk away and the second he would see a new bowl of candy he would drop whatever was in his hands and charge ahead to the new candy. And repeat. It was pretty entertaining to watch, I'm not sure what we're going to do when we're going around our neighborhood on Halloween night.
This was a backup costume that did not meet with Bradley approval. Kind mother that I am, I laughed and ran and grabbed my phone so I could take a picture of the crying child. And then I offered a bit of sympathy and took Elmo off. Poor Bradley, he has it rough sometimes.
One amazing office area had brought in a couple of toy horses, which brought GREAT delight and joy for our sweet Bradley. These same people gave Bradley an orange which he called his ball and tried to throw around the hallways. They thought Bradley was pretty great.
Eleanor had a pretty good time trick or treating too, she's getting so aware of what is going on and is more and more fun to be around these days. She's chatty, and smiley, and sleeps like a champ, what more could you ask of a sweet little girl?
At Costco. Bradley is making a face while trying to cram food in his mouth as quickly as possible but I'm using this picture anyway because Eleanor is so cute!!
She's getting so big and strong and can play in her exersaucer and jumperoo now!
She loves it!
Examining the jumperoo
Bradley thinks that it's pretty cool that she plays with real toys now
Bradley sharing with Eleanor is an experience to be sure. He is so crazy about her but he also really really wants whatever toy Mommy is making a big deal about in front of the baby. So generally he cries until I finally let him have his turn with the toy and then he immediately tries to give it back to Eleanor. This consists of shoving the toy in her face which isn't great, but the spirit of sharing is there so I'll take it.
The other day I left Eleanor on her quilt for a minute while I ran into the kitchen and I came back to this sweet scene:
It seemed so sweet ... until I realized Bradley was stealing her toy away and making her cry. Oh well. We can't all be perfect at sharing instantly.
And I'm pretty sure this face is going to get whatever she wants 99% of the time. Perhaps it's okay that toys get snatched away from her here and there.
As Eleanor has gotten bigger car trips and stroller rides have gotten a lot easier and more enjoyable as well.
Toy for Eleanor!
Sitting up so big. Eleanor loves the cozy outfit her Auntie Laura got her!
We've also upgraded Eleanor's bath time to a comfier infant tub thing for her. She loves it!
Bradley is all for anything that allows him to have greater access to play time with baby sister
Bradley bum!
Bath time is so much fun now for all involved
Nathan is loving having a bit more time to relax now that we're finishing up with odds and ends of the move. This means cuddles with Eleanor!
Cuddles with Eleanor and Layla. Nathan's kitty does not like to miss a good cuddle opportunity.
There is a baby under all that pink blanket.
And if Nathan has been getting good Eleanor time I've been getting some pretty great Bradley time.
Actual cuddles from the boy who never slows down! He was humming a tired song to himself while I was holding him. Love this kid.
The video below was taken on a day when Bradley refused to take a nap at all. It was right before bedtime and he was tired and anything would have been funny but I like to think this would have been fun times for our little guy regardless. Please note how I'm still smiling and loving on the child who is trying to drive me insane by refusing naps. Yes, I am a saint. And Bradley is really cute and it's really hard to stay annoyed at someone so adorable.
Things in general are go go go with Bradley these days, which is right up my alley. We have so much fun together. He's all over the place at the park and is constantly trying to figure out new ways to climb up dangerous looking ladder contraptions.
Fortunately he doesn't quite have it figured out yet
Bradley was delighted to come outside and help us rake today.
The fun slowed down when Bradley began to suspect that the "special rake" that we got for him was much less effective than the original. Bradley came inside soon after this photo was taken. But not before trying to make a break for the park and having to be hauled back crying. Sometimes it's not as convenient to have a park entrance one house away.
Wait .. is this a mop? Where's the park?
But it's important that we channel his energy for good because otherwise it's aimed at getting packs of diapers down the stairs. I'm not kidding when I say that he's a bit obsessed with this at the moment.
I keep the diapers out in Eleanor's room and Bradley will run into her room whenever the door is open in search of the diapers. We could hide them but come on, what little boy doesn't want to get to throw things down flights of stairs? And better diapers than boots from my closet. That has been tried and was sadly stopped instantly. Fun with Mommy has silly limits sometimes.
However, I DID teach him to fist bump this last week so I think I come out even. He's adorable, I say fist bump and then he says "bup!" back to me while he hits his fist against mine. He's a little parrot, talking with him is getting more and more fun!
We also went and had Eleanor's 4 month check up and Bradley 18 month check up this last week.
Eleanor is 25.25 inches long (86th percentile) and 15lbs 3oz (83rd percentile)
Bradley is 34 inches tall (87th percentile) and 30lbs 15oz (94th percentile)
Big kids! I love it! The shots were a bit sad for Eleanor but Nathan got to cuddle her up and sing her to sleep when he got home from work. She's so lucky to have such a wonderful daddy! Granted, he did sing Bon Jovi and Red Hot Chili Peppers songs to her, but Row Row Row Your Boat is about 30 seconds long so we're giving Daddy a break on this one.
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