Pumpkin Patch

AJ, Hunter and I spent Sunday afternoon at the Sweet Berry Farm Pumpkin Patch. It was about an hour drive and was really a gorgeous, scenic trip. The weather this year is quite different than it was last year....our pics from last year show us in sweatshirts and jeans...this year we are in shorts and flip flops. We are having some unseasonably warm weather which makes it a little bit harder to get in to the fall spirit. My favorite season in Indiana is the fall....I just love the crispness and smell of the air and the gorgeous scenery with the leaves changing. The IU campus is absolutely amazing this time of year. But, I digress...

Sweet Berry Farm seemed to have a lot more to do for kids Hunter's age than last year's Patch. I think next year he will be able to really get into it. He wasn't thrilled with the drive so he was really excited to get out of the car and run around. He loved the goats and thought it was funny that they ate the leaves that he was feeding them. He also liked trying to pick up every single pumpkin in his sight (and there were A LOT of pumpkins) and enjoyed watching the bigger kids ride the horses.

All in all, it was a great trip and I'm looking forward to heading back next year.

Tomorrow we will be trick-or-treating at Dell. I'm trying to teach him how to say "Trick-or-Treat!"...we're getting there! Hopefully he'll have it down pat by Sunday so he can earn lots of candy (for us to eat... :) ).

American Idol 2025?

Hunter has been a singer for a while. He would usually do it in the backseat, mostly when he was tired as if he was lulling himself to sleep. He has an Elmo book that plays "Take me out to the ballgame" and sings along with it sometimes, which I FINALLY caught on video the other day. Click only if you can stand the cuteness!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=le1g_PiyQxg

18 months

Hunter is officially closer to two than he is to one. Unbelievable, but true. :( He can tell you how old he is though, putting up one finger and saying "one". Everything else that you ask him, though, the answer is "two". Examples - Hunter, how many naps did you take today? Two. How many blocks are there? Two. Etc, etc, etc.

I was excited for his appointment today because I really feel like he has been growing a lot lately. He pretty much skipped the 12-18 month size and I'm finally buying age appropriate sizes. 18-24 months are still a little baggy but make much more sense at this point to get him through the season than 12-18 month would. So...his official stats are: Height - 30 3/4 in. (10%), Weight - 23 lbs, 10.5 oz (22%). He's finally out of the 5th percentile and slowly moving up! The most impressive part of the day is that he got three shots and didn't even cry a tear! I was such a proud mommy. :) His little face got red and he let out a tiny little whine but never cried or shed a tear. The nurses were talking about him as we were walking out of the room because they couldn't believe it either! He is such a big boy!

Here are some more pics from his half-birthday:


Since my last post, Hunter attended his first high school football game. Our friends Chris, April and Owen had been to one recently and invited us. Hunter loves watching football and can point it out on TV, a magazine, anything that either has an actually football on it or a player in a football uniform. Hunter and Owen had a blast and we lasted until halftime only because Mommy and Daddy needed to eat!


He has been so much fun to watch at Gymboree lately. He is really enjoying all of the activities - climbing, expoloring, playing with the other kids, etc. rather than just playing with balls by himself. Here he is playing basketball this week. He made a couple of baskets by tossing the ball in as he does here rather than tipping it over the edge of the rim but I couldn't catch him making it on video...of course!

This setup was outside of our grocery store - who would have thought it? Couldn't resist Hunter's first John Deere picture!

First Dentist Appointment

Hunter had his first dentist appointment today. He was so well-behaved and I was so proud of him. It was pretty easy but he was a perfect angel while the dentist was brushing his teeth and looking around his mouth. This office sure isn't anything like the dentist I remember growing up! The waiting room looked like a toy store and the exam room had a flat screen on the ceiling cued up to Baby McDonald before we walked in. I really liked his dentist and he said that Hunter's teeth and mouth looked great! We won't need to go back for a year.

Here are a few pics from today:

Chatterbox

Hunter's vocabulary seems like it has grown exponentially over the past week or two. He has been talking throughout most of the day for a while, whether it be baby talk, pointing out things around the house that he knows the word to, or saying "Hi doggie", "Hi mommy", "Hi dada" (I LOVE how he says hi to everyone. So sweet). However, he is now consistently putting together three to four syallable phrases. His latest are: Bob Builder (Bob the Builder), Bless you (appropriately after someone sneezes), Here go Mama, Let's go Mama. He also says please appropriately, which I can't resist. He gets whatever he wants if a "peeease" follows it. :)

He also says thank you occasionally unprompted but mostly after I tell him to say it. He says hot when he sees food or the oven (thankfully the door doesn't get hot on the outside). He touches whatever he says as he says hot, so we need to work on not touching things that might be hot. He does blow for hot things, mostly coffee (foffee, as he says), which is pretty darn cute. He has started hiding his eyes with his hands and saying peek-boo while uncovering them, recognizing the Longhorn logo and saying Texas as he points to it. No fear, my fellow Indiana fans, he has been saying IU for a while now. :) We tailgated for the first time last week and he has about half of the hook 'em horns hand gesture down -



His other lower molar came through yesterday. Man, his teeth seem to come through slowly. He has been waking up in the middle of the night again, so I think these molars really bother him.