Happy Halloween, ummm, errr...

If you need us, we'll be home. All night. Boooooooooo (a sad "boo", not a ghost "boo"). Unfortunately, Mr. Declan has a 103+ temperature and is pretty miserable. I'm so glad we decided to venture out Friday night to our local Boo at the Zoo. It was a blast and Decs was in awe of all the characters! I guess, for this year,  Boo at the Zoo was his little taste of Halloween.

So, without further adieu, here's our precious little pirate:

Previous Halloweens

2008, our little dragon:

2009, our adorable newsie:

1,2,3?

Don't let this delicious face fool you:

We are definitely battling wills with Declan recently. I'm reading "Raising Your Spirited Child" which is good. I've learned to give him choices, be clear about activity changes and be consistent. It's been working well and minimizing melt downs. Where we still struggle is discipline. I just re-read 1,2,3 Magic and curious if anyone has had success/failure with this program? We need to jump on board with it or move on. Also, we're open to other discipline methods or books.

26 months (!!)

Deck-an (as he pronounces it) is 26 months today. Time continues to fly. Today, he accompanied me to a photo shoot and, when we arrived early, I took advantage of the gorgeous back drop and snapped away. 

This past month, you:

-popped the last of your 2 year molars (thank you, Lord)

-count everything!

-sleep tons: 9pm-9am or 10am plus 2+ hour nap

-started learning colors

-now wear 3T pants and 2-3T shirts, size 4 diapers, size 7.5 shoe

-still love balls but are now obsessed with pumpkins and the moon

We adore you, Decs. Your spunk, curiosity and zest for everything bring us so much joy.

Imaginative Play

Last night at my parents, in between kicking balls, collecting acorns and fighting a nap, Declan happened upon Christopher. Christopher is my childhood doll that looks way too similar to a real baby. Declan came out of the play room burping him and asked that I come help him put him "night-night" in the crib. After Christopher's brief nap, my dad offered up some good Papa/Declan Duplo time but Declan first had to go get the baby doll and (with much effort) he drug out a "floor play" toy for real infants. I snapped this picture to document his first real obvious imaginative play.

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Here are some of my favorite recent cell phone pics.

Doesn't Declan look at least 3?!

 Doesn't everyone's kids pose going down the slide? (He literally stopped sliding looked at me and said "cheese")

 My babe and I:

This is really poor picture quality but so worth remembering. Last night Declan found his boppy (in his closet? not sure...) and drug over a stool. He stood on it and said "Mommy, cheeese". I asked him if he wanted me to take a picture and he said "YES!" So I grabbed my phone and took this. He stood in that position until I was able to take the picture. Afterwards, he said "I'm cute" which is his standard phrase after I take any picture. This kid is too much!! In the most fabulous of ways.

Pun-kin Patch

Declan looooves pumpkins. He has one on our porch that he likes to hug when we walk by and talk about from the window. Today, we had an absolute blast on a gorgeous Fall day at Roca Pumpkin Patch.

Watching the pig races.

corn maze with sister-in-laws. love this picture and these ladies.

 

Grandpa, Deckers, Asher and Grandma

Cousins Asher, Declan and Evie

Train ride with G.ma

go....big....red: GO BIG RED

Today we took Declan down to experience what every true Nebraskan knows and loves: Memorial Stadium on game day. No, we aren't bananas, we didn't take him to the game, just the pre-game hoopla. My parents were volunteering at a face/hair paint booth and they kindly took him home as the game started. Some faves from the day:

Just chatting with Aunt Jess about footballs.

How'd the game turn out? I forgot. That or I've blocked out the painful memories. 

Leaves

Today, Declan and I collected some leaves to rub on paper. That's just a right of passage for Fall, don't you think? Mark even got in the action.

It's all fun and games...

...until you are steamrolled by a bounce house. More on that later.

Yesterday my parents joined us for a fundraiser at a pumpkin patch nearby. It was pretty chilly- about 60 degrees- but the sun was shining and we were excited! Declan with Nana & Papa on the hayrack ride:

Declan got to pick out his own "pun-kin". Unfortunately, he thought they were all balls and tried kicking them. So, Mark found a cute little toddler sized pumpkin and all was well. 

We were all enjoying ourselves until the screaming began. Yes, screaming. My dad and I were helping Declan in to a bounce house when we looked over to see the larger "big kid" bounce house barreling towards us. It was like a scene out of Twister. We put up our hands up to stop it and were completely leveled by the weight of it. All this time, I was horrified that Declan was under it. Though it felt like forever, the whole horrifying thing was only a few minutes long. My dad held the hundreds of pounds of bounce house off of Declan and a stranger grabbed him. All kids quickly became accounted for (there were kids inside the house too). Fortunately there were no serious injuries. It could have been BAD. My dad is banged up and I have a knee and neck injury that are pretty bothersome when "taking it easy" isn't in the vocab. This morning the pain was much worse- every inch of my body hurts. Hopefully all our injuries heal quickly. I'm pretty sure Declan won't be bouncing in or near one of those houses until he's 17.