Pumpkin Patch - 2010 (Warning: photo HEAVY)

We had a wonderful time at the pumpkin patch this year!  We returned with our friends Lulu and Brian and their adorable daughter Bria.  The weather was horrible headed down and on the return, but other than 10 minutes of rain while at the farm, we had ok weather. 

Which is good considering there were storms and flooding all over the PNW this weekend.  This is a shot of "the Nothing" that I was driving in to yesterday:

Last year, Bria was terrified of all things pumpkins.  This year?  Not so much.  She did great, and I think part of it might have had to do with her newest little boyfriend:



My dear, may I escort you over to the goat pen?



It's plain to see who was pursing who in this photo sequence!



Can you blame him for two-timing his girlfriend Lyla??  Look at this sweet little face!

 


He kept trying to pick up pumpkins whenever she was looking.  I had to tell him girls aren't impressed with the "poop face"



 


Here you go young lady, let me load that pumpkin up for you

 


Where to?

 


I hear chicks dig tricks.  Watch THIS!





Yes Poppa, Momma is watching too.  She's impressed with both of us.



It worked!



And kept working all over the farm!



My poor pale babycakes.  Every photo of him with Troy, Jack looks washed out because the camera can't comprehend that light shade of skin tone.



Thankfully with me in the photo, he gets a chance to look tan




This cracked me up.  It means every one of these things actually occurred and made them put up a sign.  If you can't read it, it says: Pony Riding Rules:
No Yelling
No Screaming
No High Fives (don't high-5 the pony?)
No hitting the pony
No Balloons

 



Even with all the cute girls around, in the end, you go home with the lady who brung you



Jack's 18 month appointment

Weight - 24 lbs 8.5 oz.  He's moved up from the 20th to the 30th percentile!
Length - 33 inches (?).  He is at the 75th percentile.  He constantly fluctuates between 75th and 80th for height.

The pediatrician was very impressed with his verbal skills, and complimented us on his healthy diet and lack of TV watching.  He does get to watch a little bit of TV each week when we need to do stuff around the house, but generally it's off all the time.  The doctor also said he loved to see all the bruises on Jack's legs.  He said he worries that 18 month olds without bruises aren't having enough fun.  Hee hee.

The doc told me that Jack's development is fairly advanced with words, signs, colors, counting, etc.  Troy and I work with him, but much of the praise goes to my amazing Aunt Connie and Uncle Jim (Gackie and Unk Jim) who watch him 4 days a week.  They love reading with him (except for "Are You My Mother"), and teach him lots of great things.  Thank you!

At 18 months, Jack is:
-Wearing 24 month or 2T shirts
-Wearing 18 or 24 month pants
-Can count to 10, but chooses to usually ignore "7" because 7 sucks
-Is finally giving us kisses and hugs without being bribed.  I like this new affectionate Jack!
-Is referred to as "The Mayor" whenever we go anywhere.  He loves to smile, wave, say hi, and give random strangers "high-5's" and "knucks".
-Knows most animal sounds if you ask him.  For the record, Penguins say "brrrrr", flamingos say "I'm pink, pink, pink", and Meerkats say "meow".
-LOVES "reading" books, especially in the car

-Can say A,B,C, and D.  And can identify and say "O".
-Adds an "a", "eh" or "y" to the end of any word with a hard consonant. Cup = Cupa, Fort = Forta, Pete = Petey. My friend who is a speech pathologist said it's normal.
-Knows almost all his colors, including teal.  His favorites to say are "pinka, booooo, and geen".
-Loves anything Mickey and cowboy

-Has his naughty moments, but is generally a really good boy.  When he gets timeouts he always says "sowee".
-Has gone poo poo on the potty twice.
-Loves hip hop and says "no no no no" whenever I turn on NPR in the car

-Is the light of his Poppa and my world.

Thank you!

Thank you to those of you who donated to Team Baby Bear for the Lupus Walk this past weekend.  Many of the donations were annoymous, so I'm unable to write you a formal thank you.  I appreciate the generosity and donations; every little bit helps in the end!

The weather was nice, and Jack and I had 2 great friends and their son join us for the 5k.  The whole thing was incredibly disorganized, but we enjoyed our time for chatting.

At one point we got left behind by the crowd due to a potty stop.  We couldn't figure out where everyone went (did I mention how disorganized it was?), so we decided that Lupus wasn't going to be cured by us wandering the downtown streets of Olympia.  Instead, we headed off to a restaurant for chicken fried steak and eggs.  One cannot cure Lupus on an empty stomach!  Just a note that we were like 99.9% done with the walk.  So, you didn't donate for me to eat CFS.

Jack decided to voice his thoughts on Lupus: