Happy Halloween!

Hunter had a very busy Halloween weekend! He went to a pumpkin farm with his buddies at Day Care and got to dress up with them, too! We also had his neighborhood friends, Ethan and Ian, over to make "Monster Cupcakes." He just loved playing and entertaining them at our house; he really adores those boys!

On Halloween day, we attended a party where the 20 or so kids from our neighborhood dressed up in their costumes. They really had a blast playing games together. Ryan raked a huge leaf pile and the kids spent hours jumping and playing in it, especially Hunter!

Later that evening we walked Hunter to a few of the houses in the neighborhood, so he could get a feel for the whole "Trick or Treating" thing. He was a hit and was completely exhausted by the time we got him in bed at 8:30. He passed out without a peep!

Pumpkin Carving

This year we rolled up Hunter's sleeves expecting him to cover himself from head to toe in pumpkin. Much to our surprise, he didn't want to touch the squishy insides at all. So we quickly adjusted our plans and tortured him with it instead!

Definitely our Child!

Hunter got ahold of the remote for his Daddy's Fart Machine and, much like Mom and Dad, he finds farts hilarious!!

The Question Was...

"Hunter what does a fishie do?"

Entertainment for the Whole Family!

Fall is Here!

Now that October has arrived and the weather has cooled, we've been out and about doing those things you do this time of year.

We took Hunter to the Fell's Point Festival and, while we were too busy looking at all the displays to take many pictures, Hunter did get his photo taken perched on top of a race car. (Baltimore is hosting its first Grand Prix next September so there was a sweet car on display to advertise it.)

We also took a trip with our dear friends and neighbors, the Wagners, to Applewood Farm. Hunter went last year, but was obviously limited in what he could enjoy. Not this year, he had a blast checking everything out. He started on their playground, then found his way through the corn maze, played antler toss, got a hayride to the pumpkin patch where he found his very own pumpkin, and visited the animals at the petting zoo. Unfortunately their train had derailed soon after we arrived, so we were unable to take a ride. We'll have to save that for next year!

Some small talk!

Hunter is now saying a few words to indicate what he wants! We are excited as we imagine there will be much less frustration on his part once he can better communicate what it is he wants. Although, we must say that he does a pretty good job with nonverbal communications now (a grunt and a point say so much!) and we've realized many times the frustration stems from him wanting things he cannot have!

His chosen first words are very telling... Here they are in order of first learned and used, to last.

1) Mama and Dada: he started using these months ago

2) Iddy At = kitty cat: again, he started saying this months ago

3) Up: this was perfected about 2 weeks

4) Kee or Coo = cookie: started saying this all the time just a few days ago, mysteriously after a visit from Mom-mom

5) Mor = more: said this for the first time this morning while making the sign language gesture for it at the same time. This blew me away because, interestingly enough, I was doing this sign and a few others with him a lot when he was around 4-7 months old, but stopped. We can't believe he just did it out of the blue with no provocation while eating breakfast this morning.

In addition to these words, he has learned several animal sounds which he started using many months ago. He moos like a cow, pants like a dog, clicks his tongue like a horse galloping, snorts like a pig, and roars like a lion. We couldn't be more proud!!