Enjoying Another Fall Day

It is starting to get colder, so we thought we'd take advantage of an hour outside before it becomes unbearable. Today Conor wanted to ride his tricycle. At first, he didn't want to wear his helmet. Then after he turned too fast and fell over, he quickly realized he should have it on. After that, he wanted to wear it in the house for lunch, but I was able to distract him before we made it that far. (This is the tricycle I had as a kid, that I got when it was three years old...it still holds up pretty well, though it could use some WD-40!)

Autumn Leaves

We have had great fun in the last few weeks taking advantage of the fall weather. All the leaves seemed to fall off the trees at once, but we still had a little burst of sunshine and warmth, so we taught Conor the joy of playing in the leaves. He wasn't sure at first, but after he figured it out, he wanted to play out there every day...and night. We got some great pictures of him!

Our biggest struggle these days seems to be getting him to take a nap on the 3 days a week he stays home (Fri, Sat, Sun). He will sleep at daycare most of the time...and we do all we can to wear him out in the mornings at home, but he has figured out that if he keeps talking or singing and moving (even though he will usually stay in bed, he will roll around and kick the wall), he can prevent himself from falling asleep. We try rocking him, sleeping with him, leaving him alone, sticking to a routine and a schedule, but this is still a work in progress. Any ideas would be great appreciated!!

If he doesn't get a nap, he doesn't always even fall asleep early. Then in the mornings, he gets tired and crabby like this. And on this particular day, apparently cold...he wanted to have his hat on for breakfast!! Don't ask me :)

Hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!! Can you believe it's already here??

Happy Halloween

Halloween morning was spent cheering on the Huskies to victory at NIU. It was cold and windy but Conor did very well despite the weather and the delay in his nap. The one game we brought him to last year, we all left hot and sweaty. I'm not sure which was more uncomfortable for him...or a mom trying to entertain him while dad watches the football game down on the field :)
By the time we got home, after a short nap in the car, it was time to greet the trick-or-treaters. They started at 3:00 around here, and Conor was excited to see "all the kids come for the candy" and to check out their costumes. We soon had his Woody costume on as well, to help answer the door and pass out candy.

Didn't take long before he had the swing of things and was ready to go out to collect some treats of his own. Being the unorganized mom that I am, I had forgotten to pick him up one of those cute halloween buckets to collect candy in so he carried around a sturdy gift bag (which he later affectionately called his purse, I'm sure because it carried all his riches and treasures). Don't worry, since then a resourceful grandma and aunt picked him up a pumpkin bucket on the after-Halloween clearance rack (thanks, Mom and Laura)!

It only took him a few houses to figure out what this was really all about. When there were bigger gaps between houses, he rode in the stroller to give his little cowboy legs a rest.

He was so proud of the stash he came home with. Daddy even helped show him how to sort it (before Daddy stole a few pieces for himself).

He is really loving this candy!! Dad says he's just 2, I say he got Mom's sweet tooth! I hope Dad is right!!

Farmer in the Dells

Last weekend we spent a long weekend with my family (parents, sisters and brother-in-law) at Wisconsin Dells, the indoor waterpark capital of the midwest. (For those of you southeasterners who have never heard of the place, its great fun within a short drive of both Minneapolis and Chicago, making a great meeting place for a short family vacation.) As we prepared him for the trip, Conor kept saying how excited he was to go on the waterslides and see everybody at "the Farmer in the Dells". I thought it was pretty funny. Anyway, we had so much fun that I didn't get to take too many pictures.

Conor did take a nap in Grandma's lap in the lazy river and they read stories together at bedtime.

He got to eat his favorite lunch of french fries and chocolate milk.

He showed off his glow-in-the-dark Trick or Treat shirt, along with his cheesy grin.

And he modeled his Woody halloween costume next to the fall decor.

It was a fun trip, but of course, the short weekend went by much too fast.