Christmas at Home

We had a fun morning watching Linus open and play with his gifts.  His favorite toy today is the car garage toy that has ramps and an elevator.  He was so excited about it and helped Matthew assemble it.  He received a number of books, including a board book about Mzee and Owen, the tortoise and hippo that became friends. He had me read it to him twice in a row.  At nap time he was visibly tired, but was trying so hard to keep playing.

The second picture is of Linus accompanying Lucero on the piano last night.  Lucero is wearing the patchwork scarf I made for her.

Holidays and Magic

Here is Linus' stocking that I've been working on. I finished it yesterday afternoon. I embroidered it on fabric I cut from a linen top that is too big for me now.  The checkered fabric came from my stash.

I'm also attaching a cute photo of Linus playing with the little jewelry box I got him at Goodwill.  He is mesmerized by the ballerina twirling around and around after I wind the box up.  He says ballerina as "reena."  When I came across it I thought he would be interested in it since he really liked a Christmas music box at our neighbor's across the street. While we were visiting with them when we delivered their baked goods, Linus had fun checking out Mrs. Jones' pretty glass and ceramic knick knacks.

We are going to a  Solstice Party tonight at Anna Louiza's and Santa is coming to our house tonight, as we depart Sunday for Massachusetts.

Cranky Linus

In case you were wondering what he looks like when he is cranky, here you go.  When he was finally healthy enough to go out and play in the snow last week, he had no interest in it and pitched a fit.  He got grumpy at me when I wouldn't sit down in the snow, even though I explained that I didn't have snow pants.  So after spending about 5 minutes bundling him up, we were outside maybe two minutes total and he was heading for the door.

Once we were unbundled, I let him play in the kitchen sink to keep him occupied for a good hour.  He figured out how to climb up to drink from the faucet.

Linus invented a game that he springs on me at odd times.  He'll say, "Sleep!"  I have to close my eyes and pretend to sleep.  Then he'll chirp, "Morning!"  and I wake up and say, "Good morning."  He sprung it on me while I was pushing him in the cart at Target.  So here I was, walking hurriedly through the store, all the while playing the game.  

Holiday Sweets, Installment 3

Our neighbor, Anna, had a holiday party on Sunday. It was really great seeing some of the neighbor kids that we haven't seen much of since it started getting dark so early. It cracked us up that the sweets were on the coffee table right at toddler-height. In the first picture, little Charlotte is looking at her dad, Anna Louiza is telling Lucero she's had enough, and Linus is grabbing at a chocolate.  As the party was starting to wind down Linus and Alex started running laps though the house by running through the living room, entry way, guest bedroom, and dining room. As Linus completed each lap, I held my arms up above my head and cheered, "Yay!" He started doing it too. Juliana positioned herself at the entry way and Matthew positioned himself at the hallway between the bedroom and dining room to make sure no one got hurt. Alex's little brother Max joined in, but was easily distracted by the Christmas tree and his mama.

Linus didn't have as many tantrums yesterday and he's only had one so far today. I need to check out Happiest Toddler on the Block again from the library.

In one of Linus' books there is a line about a cat looking for something wild to eat. Linus has started to follow that line up with giraffe and camel. I don't remember telling him they were wild animals, but he picked it up somewhere.

I told Linus that grandma wants to bake and read books with him. He replied, "Cookies. Sprinkles." He has also been talking about Junie all of the time. He'll say, "Junie. Yogurt." I say, "Junie doesn't eat yogurt yet" and he'll say, "Bananas." He also says, "Junie. Hug. Kiss."

Holiday Sweets, Installment 2

Here is Linus decorating the ginger snaps. He really poured on the green sugar on some of them. Last night the three of us went door to door distributing bags of ginger snaps, angel food candy, and cranberry pecan toffee. Linus wasn't too keen on giving the bag to his little friend Charlotte. Then he caught on that we were giving presents and the rest of the stops went smoothly.

I'm pretty near my wits' end these last few days. Linus has been so ornery and screams at me about nearly everything. I'm hoping he is teething and that this isn't his new personality. I put him down for today's nap about 20 minutes early because I couldn't take it any more. Now I'm going to make some tea and relax while embroidering his Christmas stocking.

Holiday Sweets, Installment 1

Here is Linus helping me make the gingersnap dough. What you can't see are the 3 animals on the counter. He wanted them to help with the mixing. Speaking of mixing; doing a wide variety of activities with Linus broadens his vocabulary. From baking cookies he has learned: mix, mixing, sprinkles, sift, and flour. (He also knows the difference between a tea pot and a tea kettle.)

The other day Linus and I went to the basement to get the laundry from the dryer and for me to look for something in one of the many boxes. He was going around with his keys, locking and unlocking things. When I didn't hear any sounds from him I looked and saw that he was pulling the laundry from the dryer and putting it into the basket. When he was done he pulled all of the lint from the lint trap and put it on top of the dryer. Then he closed the door and came and said to me, "Fluffy." I was speechless.

Holiday Activities

Here is Linus helping me untangle the Christmas tree lights on Saturday when he was coming down with a virus. The other picture is of him checking out the tree a couple of days later. He has been good about looking at ornaments and not playing with them.

This morning he helped me make ginger snap dough. When he was dumping flour into the stand mixer the measuring cup fell in. I stopped the machine quickly and all was well. He really liked sampling the dough off of the beater when we were done. I explained that we were baking treats to give to our neighbors for presents and he liked that idea. It will be fun to go as a family from house to house distributing the treats.

One of Linus' animals was in the snow by the car all night. When it didn't make it into the house yesterday I thought it was in the car. When we ran an errand today I found it in the snow by the car. Poor lamb. Linus gave it a kiss.

Animals

Linus has started playing with his animals all of the time. When he refers to them it sounds like "animos." He insists on carrying the pig, lamb, cow, donkey, horse, and lizard around everywhere. Yesterday they had to eat yogurt when he did and he wouldn't eat his crackers at snack until I gave the animals some. He likes arranging them on the back of the couch and pushing them so they slide down onto the cushion. He also likes for them to sit with us when we read books.

Since he was still recovering yesterday I didn't want him to play outside in the cold. I got out some dried beans and a little muffin tin and we played with that for quite a while with the animals. He is feeling a lot better today, but seems to tire out easily.

Christmas Card Elf

Here is Linus coloring the Christmas cards. I've been making the cards in fits and starts as Linus plays with buttons in the craft room. Most of them will go out tomorrow.

Linus is feeling better today and his temp is normal. The doctor said it appeared Linus had a virus and a sore throat. I think I need to keep him away from much of society until we travel east for Christmas so that he arrives in Massachusetts in good condition for lots of fun. Even in the throes of a mean virus, Linus still said thank you when we handed him things. It was very touching. Holding his hot, feverish body against mine certainly pulled all of my heart strings.

Yesterday Linus gave me a kiss for the first time. He kissed me on the cheek twice. When I was on the phone with Jean telling her about it, Linus heard me and he showered Matthew with kisses. What a little sweetheart.

Sick Baby

Linus is sick again. Or maybe he didn't get over what he had at Thanksgiving and it worsened? Who knows?! He had a temp of 104 much of the weekend. He has spent the last two nights in our bed. He started to appear sick when we went to pick out our Christmas tree and to see Santa at our neighborhood yarn shop. I thought he was crying at the tree lot because he was scared of the chain saw. But he didn't eat the candy cane the tree seller gave him and when we got him to the yarn shop he felt warm. I was hoping to get a good picture of him with Santa to use for our Christmas cards, but he looks sad and sick in all three shots. See what I mean? Poor little guy. I'm hoping he naps for at least 30 minutes right now and I'm taking him in to see the doctor later.

Sweet

Here is Linus licking the beater when we made a cake together last week. He helped me sift the dry ingredients together. (When I shared this story with the neighbors they were astonished that I sift.) His fine motor skills are improving and less of the batter or dough gets thrown around when he mixes by hand.

Linus has been driving me a bit batty with some of the conversations we have repeatedly from morning until night. The main one goes like this:
Linus: "Yogurt?"
Me: "You can have yogurt for breakfast."

Later--
Linus: "Yogurt?"
Me: "You already had yogurt."
Linus: "All gone."

We have this part of the conversation throughout the rest of the day. If I give in and let him have a second 8-ounce yogurt, he gets very gassy and last night he wouldn't eat dinner. When we bring groceries home, Linus puts the yogurt away on a lower shelf in the refrigerator and I let him pick which one he wants each day. He knows that his yogurt has a cow on the container.

Pretend

In that last couple of weeks Linus has started pretending a lot. He pretends to pick hay and feeds it to me and tells me to be a horse. Today he was walking around with Matthew's electric razor and pretending to shave himself, me, and his stuffed animals. He even made shaving noises.

He has also started to get interested in his crayons for more than telling me to draw bees. He scribbles up a storm. He calls every color yellow. He also asks me to draw horses, cats, and babies. He now asks me for a pen and when I ask him what he is writing, he says, "Name."

Here he is wearing the reindeer antlers he has us take turns wearing.

Date Night

Matthew and I actually took the plunge and had Annalouiza watch Linus so we could attend Matthew's work party. It was fun to get dressed up and participate in the half hour salsa dancing lesson at the party. Linus cried a bit when we left and Annalouiza said it seemed as though he was waiting for us to come home. He survived and we had a great time.

As you can see, Linus liked my purse. (Creases, do you remember this cute shirt of Brandons?)

Cozy

Linus refers to quilts and blankets as cozies. As I rushed to finish Lyz'z 30th birthday quilt/cozy, Linus saw quite a bit of it. He plopped down on it to play with buttons while I embroidered the label for the back. He played under it when it was hanging over the ironing board. I kept reminding him that it was a present for Lyz so that he wouldn't get too attached to it. He seemed okay with that as he helped me wrap it up. He learned all about curling ribbon and he stuck stickers on the box.

Monkey

When Lucero came over on Tuesday to play while her mama enjoyed some crafting time, she brought over monkey hats. She didn't wear hers, but Linus loves his. He even insisted on wearing it when he went down for his nap later in the day. The two wanted to play in Linus' crib and next thing I knew, they were jumping up and down. With Linus wearing the monkey hat, I couldn't help but sing, "Two little monkeys jumping on the bed."

When they were snacking together, Linus said thank you every single time Lucero handed him a piece of cereal. Every single time. He also says thank you when he hands something to someone. When Lucero fell down and cried, Linus became distraught. I cuddled him and said we should give Lucero a hug. He gives hugs to his little friends by resting his head on their chest. It looks awkward because he has to bend down to accomplish it, but it is very sweet. He appears to be a sensitive kid.

Haircut

Linus' first professional haircut experience went great! I felt so relieved when he was done, as I had been stressing out about him making a scene. I should have known better, because Linus really is a mellow kid. I took him to LolliLocks, a locally- owned chain of kids salons. The place is little diva girl heaven. They sell tons of pretty hair things. They have a play area and fun chairs for the younger kids to sit in while getting their hair cut. Linus chose to sit on the dragon. The stylist apologized that she only had a pink cape for Linus to wear because the blue ones weren't dry yet. I said I had nothing against Linus wearing a pink cape. She worked efficiently, talked nicely to him, and gave him books to look at while she worked. She asked what I wanted and I said I wanted it trimmed up and for him to look like a sweet little boy, no buzz cut. Voila!

Keys

I don't remember posting about the set of keys I bought Linus at a neighborhood hardware store. He showed no interest whatsoever in his toy keys, but loved playing with mine. When I told the guys at the hardware store what I wanted keys for, they got very excited and involved in coming up with the best solution. One suggested giving us keys that they had cut wrong for other customers. They said I could have them for free. Then the one guy was worried that the edges were too sharp. I said I'd buy blanks. When I asked if they had colored bands to put on the keys to help with teaching Linus colors, they were so excited to pull out colored keys. Linus has a set of red, blue, yellow, green, and purple keys on a real key chain. Every now and then he plays a game of running around the house "locking" all of the doors. Fortunately, we live in an older house with skeleton key locks in each door. Here he is locking our bedroom door at night.

Notice how long his hair is? He will no longer let me trim it, so I'm taking him in on Thursday for his first professional haircut.

Child Development

Here are some random things about Linus at 19 3/4 months:
--He has started saying thank you without being prompted. At the library on Saturday an older boy was handing him plastic animals and Linus thanked him. I was so very proud of him. Reminds me yet again of Brandon's early courtesy development.
--He now tells us when he has pooed. He'll say, "Poo," and point to his diaper, or he'll say, "Diaper." I'll say, "Should I change you?" and he heads to his changing table. This is the first step toward his being potty trained. Every little boy I know hasn't mastered it until he was three, so I'm under no delusion that Linus will potty train any earlier. Sometimes he says poo and he hasn't. Maybe he felt the urge? Who knows? Today he said poo right before he very obviously pooed. Getting there kiddo, step by step.
--He has become aware of gender. He has correctly identified people as boys and girls. Lucero points out that boys have penises and girls have vaginas, but Linus hasn't started asking about that yet.

We had to mail Flat Stanley back to Wisconsin today. We'll miss him. Here is a picture of him posing with Matthew and Linus at a public art installation outside the library.

Thanksgiving Wrap Up

We had an enjoyable holiday at Martha and Bill's. That morning he kept saying, "Pahty," for party. The food and conversation were great. We put a little piece of turkey on Linus' plate, but he didn't even taste it. He didn't eat much other than butter off of his roll. It was past his nap time and he was getting a bit worn out. He rebounded in time for pumpkin pie later in the afternoon. He enjoyed running around the house, playing with Bill's stuffed eagle, and trying to feed the dog that was a guest at the gathering.

Friday night we went to our first holiday party for the season. One of the families from the Congress Park play group invited folks over for food, drink, and play. The plan was for the whole group of us to head downtown to see the lighting of the city county building, but when we got to the party the host said it was too cold to go. My first thought was that they were pretty wimpy. We'd come prepared with warm clothes, coats, boots, scarves, etc. So after the party we went down to see the lights on our own. Saturday we took Flat Stanley downtown to see some sights. This morning we went for dim sum and Linus kept trying to drink from his chopstick, like it were a straw. He liked the sweet little rolls we gave him.

The pictures are from Thanksgiving: Linus posing with Flat Stanley and the turkey and him reading a book with Thomas.

Verbosity

Linus has started using verbs. He uses them to tell me what to do: sit, stand, hug, run, eat. He also says, "Come on," in the cutest way. He says, "Swim, swim," as he makes his stuffed animals pretend swim. Yesterday he said, "Would like that."

After clearing up my clogged head with a decongestant, Linus and I worked together to put plastic over some windows this morning. Mostly he just climbed the ladder with me on it.

Flat Stanley

We received a Flat Stanley in the mail yesterday. We've been instructed to take it places and take pictures to document his visit here, then send it all back to an elementary classroom in Wisconsin. He must have come from Brandon's classroom. Linus took Flat Stanley in the stroller for our walk yesterday and let him go down the slide into the leaves at Lucero's house.

Linus was sick with a temperature of 104 over the weekend. He is feeling much better, but Matthew and I have scratchy throats. I keep plugging along, because I can't tell Linus that I don't feel well.

First Shot at Video

Here is my first attempt at attaching video taken in Photo Booth on my Mac.

Dishpan Hands

Linus had a blast playing at washing dishes. When I boosted him up onto the chair in front of the sink, he seemed confused; until I said, "Can you wash these dishes for me?" He dove right in and washed with gusto. When he dripped water on the chair, he'd let me know and I would dry it off. When water splashed into his eyes he would exclaim, "Eye. Eye," and I'd come over and dab at his face with a towel. His clothes got soaked, as did the floor under him, and he had the time of his life. He played at it for over an hour, leaving me time to sweep and mop the kitchen floor and start dinner. A rousing success!

Fun and Games

We joined Chase and her mom at the Museum of Nature and Science this morning. The place was a madhouse with field trip kids. Even the Discovery Zone was full with toddlers. Linus spent about 15 minutes playing with wood cylinders. They are designed for older kids to pick them up and try to pair them up based on weight. Linus had fun stacking them, dumping them out of their box, putting them back in, and dropping them into another activity. The volunteer behind the counter said that Linus has an amazing attention span for someone his age. I beamed with pride, of course. When we parted from Chase and Langley, Chase blew Linus a kiss and he blew one back. He has never done that before!

After his nap I'm going to introduce him to a new game to see if he likes it. I read that toddlers like to play at washing dishes. I'm going to put a chair up to the kitchen sink and fill it with plastic bowls and dish soap and let him play.

Here is Linus "playing" at the computer. I set the font size to be rather large and let him type. The Waldorf school people would disdain this game because they don't think kids should use computers at all until they are in high school or something like that. While I don't let Linus play computer games yet, I think typing is a good way for him to experience the alphabet.

Language Update

Linus' vocabulary is growing rapidly. For example: I was getting dressed this morning and I asked him what I should put on next. He held up my bra and said "bra." Then he pointed at my chest and said "breasts." (He will be embarrassed when he reads this in 12 years.) He has also started catching on to the furnace operation. He was intrigued by the heat coming out of one vent and cooler air moving by another. I explained that the furnace sucks air in from one vent and blows warm air out another. Now, when the furnace kicks in, he says "heater."

Linus wants very much for me to partake in whatever he has or is doing. Last night I was done eating my dinner, but he was having seconds of stewed apples. He was upset that I wasn't eating any apples and he put one of his apple pieces in my bowl. Then he resumed eating with a satisfied face. When he was having his morning snack today he wanted me to also have apple cider and cheddar bunny crackers. I was leaning against the counter while drinking my cider and he brought his cup over and stood next to me, also leaning against the counter. It is little moments like these that make parenting great.

Last night Linus was all about doing the boogie woogie. You should hear him say boogie. He puts the emphasis on the second syllable -- boo GEE. The three of us were putting away clean laundry and he bounced around on our bed saying, "Boogie, boogie," and laughing up a storm.

Mountain Hike

Yesterday afternoon we went on an impromptu hike at Gennessee Park. This is one of the mountain parks owned by Denver. It was the first one purchased back in 1913. Great foresight! Matthew said let's go to the mountains and I googled for a place to go and within a few minutes we were on our way. We saw bison in an enclosure there, but they were pretty far away. We spent our time walking a one-mile trail. It took quite a while because Linus mostly wanted to pick up rocks to toss down the embankment on one side of the trail and up the embankment on the other. It was pretty amusing to watch him. At the trailhead there were signs warning of bears and mountain lions. Then Matthew reminded me we had to watch out for rattlesnakes. I'd forgotten about that. We got out without any predator sightings. We did see deer on our way out of the park.

Major Developmental Leap

Since turning 18 months, Linus has become a new kid. It seems as though he is always doing or saying something new. For example, on Monday I ran out of room to write down his new things on the calendar. He pointed to the cd player and wanted me to turn on music. That is the first time he requested music. He said sticker for the first time. The sticker game goes like this: I pull out a sheet of stickers I'm willing to share. He points to the stickers he wants, I pull them off the sheet, and he puts the stickers on a shoe box that I gave him. We call it his treasure box. His treasures are buttons from my button stash, a little glass jar, and sea shells. He also started saying "peep peep" for little bird sounds. I say peep, peep and cheep, cheep for chicks and other little birds.

On Wednesday he did imaginative play with his stuffed bear from Peter and Betsy. He brought it into the kitchen and showed it the trash can, the pictures on the refrigerator, and gave it a pretend drink of water from his cup. Linus started dancing and I asked if the bear could dance. He bounced it around. This morning he was stacking his stuffed animals on his shelf and decided they all needed to lay down and sleep. He only just recently started playing with the stuffed animals that live on the shelf. I guess he thought they weren't for playing with until one evening I spread a blanket on the floor and pulled all of the animals down on top of it. I showed Linus how to pull up the corners of the blanket over them. Since this impromptu game he has played with the animals in different ways. Yesterday he pulled them all down onto his lap and wanted me to read books to all of them.

Linus' most recent skill is twirling. He twirls around to music and says "twirl." The first time he did it he invited me to join him.

My Little Helper

I've been giving Linus more little jobs to do because it makes him so happy to do "big people" tasks and because it will teach him to help out around the house. He likes putting his dishes in the dishwasher and putting his laundry away. The dishes are sometimes put in diagonally and the clothes become unfolded, but he has done his part and feels important.

When I gave Linus his bath one night last week he proceeded to scoot around the tub, washing down the sides of the tub and the faucet. Then he wanted me to put my feet in so he could wash those, too. Good training, huh?

Here he is enjoying my birthday cake and wearing the apron I sewed for him.

Spaghetti

We had spaghetti for dinner recently, which is a rarity in our household. I don't know why; I just don't make it very often. While eating, it suddenly occurred to me to teach Linus how to slurp spaghetti. He thought it was hysterical and dinner quickly turned into a giggle fest by all of us.

I had a wonderful birthday yesterday. The sweetest moment was when Linus came into our bedroom saying, "Carrrd, carrrrd." I rolled over in bed and he handed me a card. When I pulled him up onto the bed, he grabbed the card and said, "Open." So sweet. Matthew had sent him in with the card, but even so, it was adorable and touching.

Zoo Class

Halloween morning I took Linus to Miss Spider's Tea Party at the zoo. Each kid got a name tag that was a die cut spider made out of orange paper. It was Linus' first name tag! There were hunks of orange play-doh at the tables and kids were instructed to play with it until class started. Linus was more interested in playing with the stuffed zoo animals on a zoo themed rug. He would grab one, run it over to me, then run back for another. He said hippo for the first time when he brought me the hippo one.

Once we got underway, we all gathered on the rug that featured zoo animals reading books. The instructor handed out two laminated bug pictures to each kid. As she read through Miss Spider's Tea Party, the kids with the bug on that page got to run up and stick their bug on the fuzzy board (there was velcro on the backs of the bugs). Linus had one of the bug that got called first. I sent him up on his own with it, figuring the instructor could guide him. She wasn't needed because after seeing what the other kid did, Linus confidently stuck his beetle up there. Then he bent down, grabbed something, and ran back to me. He had a bee puppet. Linus had the second bug that was called up, a lightning bug. After he was done with this task he wasn't interested in the book any longer. There was too much text for him. Instead, we went to the back of the room and played with the stuffed animals and he crawled on and off of the little kid chairs at the tables.

Then there was what was labeled a "take home craft," which turned out to be making a spider out of an Oreo and little red licorice sticks. He gobbled up the cookie as soon as he got it. Curious about how he ate his first Oreo? He separated the halves, ate the one without the filling, then licked off the filling, and ate the other half.

Lastly, the kids got to see a tarantula up close in a little cage. This was the point of my signing Linus up for this. I wanted him to get a good look at a spider. He couldn't see it very well because 2, 3, and 4 year olds were in front of him. As soon as the instructor set the cage down, Linus ran up behind her and plopped down in front of the cage to check out the spider. I was impressed at his confidence to pursue his desire.

I was feeling sad for Stephanie that bee has taken Winthrop-Linus'-Monkey's place and so I asked Linus if he could say Stephanie. He said it two differerent ways: Stemp-hee and Stemp-nee. Stephanie, I hope this makes up for it!

Halloween

Linus was an owl for Halloween and what a full day it was! I took Linus in to Matthew's work to parade him around a bit in his costume. Then we went to Miss Spider's Tea Party at the Zoo, sans costume. Immediately following Linus' nap, we went to a Halloween party at the home of the organizer for the Congress Park play group. There were two monkeys, a cheerleader, cow, bananna, football player, train conductor, and a dinosaur in attendance. Linus gobbled up a cookie and some mulled cider. Then we rushed home and met up with Matthew to commence with trick-or-treating. Our neighbor, Anna, gave Linus his very first trick-or-treat experience. It was here that he figured out the point of carrying around the pumpkin bucket. After this, he wanted to reach into candy bowls multiple times at each house. We took Linus to our friends' houses, so he visited ten houses in about an hour and a half. We spent time visiting at most of the stops.

When we got home, Linus grabbed out the homemade popcorn ball he got at Bennett's house. We let him eat that and then had dinner. We stashed the candy on top of the refrigerator. Matthew and I are in disagreement about how much candy Linus should get to have. I say one piece. Matthew whined that "how would he know what kind of candy he likes?" I retorted, "An 18-month old doesn't need to know what candy he likes." I'm not a sugar nazi in this household, but would rather Linus had home baked goods.

The smallest pumpkin is Linus'. I carved it for him. Matthew's is the bee. Linus' favorite stuffed animal is his bee from Grandma and Grandpa, so that is what inspired Matthew this year. New words in Linus' vocabulary as a result of the holiday:
Ha-WEEN for Halloween, pu-kin for pumpkin, and cos-TOOOM for costume. He was a good sport and tolerated wearing his costume, which I'd sewn from fleece. I made it big enough to go over his jacket so he would be warm enough. When we could get him to flap his wings, he waved them in front of his body.

Sharing is Caring

I've begun the lessons on sharing. Well, I like to think I started those from the start by modeling my generosity. Even so, we are in the early stages of, "Oh, please don't take the toy away from her. You play with her toys and she can play with your toys." Linus isn't an agressive non-sharer, but is right where he should be developmentally in terms of thinking the world revolves around him and that if he wants something, of course he should have it right this second. He is very good about sharing with me.

Last week I caught Linus and Lucero sharing milk without any intervention from me. They were having milk, crackers, and raisins while I was cleaning up in the kitchen. I turned around to see them giving each other drinks of milk! So adorable. The camera is nearly always nearby (helps to live in a smaller abode) and so I was able to snap some shots. I LOVE the expression on Linus' face when Lucero is offering him a drink.

The next day Linus came down with a cold and I had to call Annalouiza and warn her that Lucero might come down with it. Fortunately, she didn't.

Lucero and her parents are in Texas this week and I can feel a void in our neighborhood. The night before they left, Annalouiza was discussing the trip with Lucero, who asked if Linus was coming with them.

As a side note: We have a picture of Linus' cousin Junie up on the fridge. I asked him who it was and he said, "Noony." I'm still working on how to spell his pronunciation of Brandon. We need some pictures of the Cole cousins to hang up so Linus can learn their names, too.

Prelude to Halloween, Part 3

Our neighbor, Anna, invited a bunch of us from the neighborhood to come over and carve pumpkins together. Eighteen people showed up! She served sparkling apple cider and caramel apples. Some other folks brought tamales and amazing cupcakes. Linus wasn't interested in helping me pull the guts out of his pumpkin, but he did like stirring the guts around in a bowl. He also had fun going between me, Matthew, and another guest for bites of the food. I love the fact that we live in such a fun-loving neighborhood where people enjoy one another. It is also great to have Linus surrounded by wonderful people.