We had a lot of fun for Halloween!  First Daddy took me trick-or-treating at his college for a while.  Then, for the evening, we went up to Counsin Philippe and Cousin Nicholas house.  We ate dinner and played while the grown-ups chatted.  Then we got into our Halloween costumes and went out to a mall. 

I was a little lion.  At first I cried a lot, because I was having fun playing and didn't want to get down to work.  They started calling me "The Cryin' Lion".  I couldn't have that, so I started doing my signature Roar.  I've been working on that roar all month!  Anyway, by the time we got to the mall I was a big hit. 

It was really cool the way everyone kept giving us candy.  Unfortunately, they all tasted like plastic.  Daddy said something about needing to wait for the wrappers to be taken off, but I finally found one that tasted good with the wrapper still on - a Now or Later.   I decided to take it up on the Now part, wrapper and all.

After the mall we went Trick or Treating around the neighborhood.  We got lots of good stuff, but my favorite was the popcorn.  Eventually we went home and I slept pretty well! 

We want shopping last night and I got my own stroller - my own stroller to push, that is!  It's a little purple doll stroller, and we got a stuffed pig to go in it.  I walked all over the mall pushing my baby pig!  Mommy and Daddy had a hard time keeping up with me.  I took the lead walking and ducked into all sort of stores , just like all the adult shoppers.  My favorite, of course, was Build-A-Bear, though Mommy and Daddy told me one stuffed animal a night was enough. 

In pure frustration that Mommy and Daddy can't understand mw, I'm really starting to work on my vocabulary now.  My favorite phrase of the week has been "no Mama!"  I enjoy saying it so much I say it even when I don't mean it.  I'm also working on 'nose', 'mouth', and 'eye', and occassionally longer words like 'turtle' and 'butterfly'.  Of course, I have 'here you go' and 'what's that' down pat.

My favorite past time these days is... playing video games!  If you've ever met Daddy, does this really surprise you?  I have a VTech Baby console and a couple different games to play on it.  Every day when we come home from school I run for the system.  I can turn on the VTech all by myself and grab the keyboard.  Now if I could just figure out how to work the TV remote I'd be all set!

Happy Fall!

I've been very, very busy growing and exploring.  Let's see if we can catch you up a little bit!

I love having fun with everything I do.  Reading is still one of my favorite past times, but now I also like to play outside, especially on slides.  I like picture books of animals, and when animals are playing on TV.  I can make about 10 animal sounds now, and recognize at least 2 dozen animals by sight.  

Nevertheless, I don't talk a lot.  I can say several words, but Mommy and Daddy know I  understand a lot more than I say. 

Mommy often gets asked about me and the pets.  Our first experiment with the fish tank didn't go well, and we lost all the fish.  According to the internet, that's very common as the fish tank gets the proper balance of fish, bacteria, and chemicals.  Our last batches of fish have gone well, and we now have 12 live fish, mostly mollies and platys.

As for the cats... Ginger and I don't get along too well.  Mommy and Daddy call her the "Mean Kitty".  She seems to think I move too fast and make too much noise, and she often hisses at me.  A couple times she's scratched me.  But I'm not giving up!  That kitty and I will be friends one day.

Cleo and I do better.  We both enjoy watching the fishes, and she is pretty patient with me.  I can ocassionally pet her, and sometimes I even pick her up.   A couple weeks ago Mommy asked me to help her feed the kitties by bringing her cat food, and instead I brought her Cleo!    Both Mommy and Cleo were very surprised!

It's time for an update, don't you think?

On July 1, I moved into the Toddler Room at my school.  Until then I was the biggest baby in the infant room, which made me the big sister to four other babies and Teacher's Helper.  Although I may not get the same notoriety, I get all new learning experiences.  Thus far they say I'm transitioning well, but I do wish we had more snack times!

We are also working more on my vocabulary.  I've got Mama and Dada down pat, and now I'm working on animal sounds.  I know quack, moo, meow, and I'm getting there on woof.  I can also say "what's that?" and am desperately trying to get a handle on 'butterfly'.

What impressed everyone the most, though, is my recognition abilities.  Mommy and Daddy like to put pictures in front of me and say things like "find the butterfly."  I get it right 95% of the time.  Usually the things I miss are stuff like "find the giraffe".  Really now - how should I know what a giraffe looks like?  Anyway, I do know stuff like cat, dog, elephant, butterfly, monkey, Elmo, and a bunch of others. 

Based on my obvious fascination with fish (see the pics from the Seaworld trip), Mommy and Daddy decided we should have an aquarium!  So we bought a 26-gallon tank and Daddy set it up.  Last Thursday we bought our first fish, and when they made it through 48 hours we expanded slightly.  I am now the proud owner of 4 guppies, 2 glofish, and a pleco. 

I love to point at the fish and watch them swim.  The only one in the house who I think enjoys it even more is Ginger!

We went to Flamingo Gardens today.  It was great! 

There were lots of peacocks, and ibises, and other birds.  I liked chasing them around and feeding them.  For some reason Mommy didn't want me to get too close to the flamingoes, though.  I guess it was the big beaks.

We went to dinner tonight and the restaurant had a clown.  She was doing balloon animals and face painting. 

Mommy was really skeptical because I am teething and was in a little bit of a mood.  But I insisted!  I wanted to spend time with the clown.  So Mommy gave in and I got a rose on my arm.  A little later, Daddy set me down and I pushed a bunch of 5-year olds out of the way so I could get my face done!  The clown gave me a cat face!  Yay!