Halloween 2010

Paul worked for hours on Friday making this awesome Jango Fett costume for Gabriel. Paul had a great time getting creative with cardboard and colored duct tape and Gabriel has been having fun blasting around the room.
We went to the church's Trunk-or-Treat. This year they had carnival games for the first time. There was bean bag toss, a balance beam, penny drop, gourd bowling (yes!), and a hay ride! We went inside for a quick dinner and then back outside when it got dark for trick-or-treating to everyone's car trunks. Gabriel was enthusiastic and so cute. We left early since it was already after bedtime and both kids (okay, and parents too) were getting worn out.
Yay, photo booth. Gabriel dressed as Jango Fett. Paul wore the R2D2 hat I had started for him years ago. Ephraim was my sun (pun intended) and I was the sunset (since he was in the front pack the whole time).
I found matching shirts the other day and the boys wore them to church. I tried taking lots of pictures to get a good shot but Gabriel was having trouble smiling and Ephraim couldn't stop smiling and playing peek-a-boo with me. By the way, that is Ephraim's favorite game. He was raising his arms to hide his eyes from people as I walked around last night, trying to get them to play with him.
I forgot to mention that both boys are in the same room now. I think this is the 4th night or so. I start putting Gabriel to bed around 7pm. Then Ephraim falls asleep sometime between 8pm and 9:30pm, and I creep in there and put him in his crib. This works out great because now the office is free for Paul to work (search for a job!!) at any time and he doesn't have to leave when Ephraim naps or goes to bed.

Ephraim discovered his reflection (reminds us of Gabriel's reflection in our old kitchen door window).
A friend of mine gave Gabriel a pumpkin and a Paint the Pumpkin set. Here he is practicing on the paper before painting the pumpkin. (Mommy wants to carve the pumpkin still.)
Paul is making an awesome costume for Gabriel. I hope to get pictures of it when it is finished.

Gabriel's Alphabet

Gabriel loves singing. He'll sing the opening song from the Wall-E movie, Twinkle-twinkle, and almost any song he's heard a few times when prompted. Here is a song he learned from a website we visit called Starfall.com (linked to video if you want to compare). It helped him learn his alphabet phonics. He used to just sing A through H, so when he sang the whole thing for me this afternoon with the hand signs, I had to grab the camera and ask him to do it again.

Preoccupied

Things have been busy around here lately. Not only is Paul home a LOT more than usual, it is his birthday celebration week. Last Saturday we invited many of Paul's friends over and had a party all day to play video games and boardgames and boffer outside. The weather was perfect. Gabriel got his fill of all of the above. Paul's friend from Arizona is staying in the area for the week so there's something exciting every day.

Gabriel continues to do well with potty training. He's had a few accidents, but nothing often or unusual. I feel comfortable taking him to the store or park with me now. Ephraim continues to try to catch up to his brother. He crawls anywhere he wants (chase the cat, chase the mom) and loves to pull himself up to stand. His 2 bottom teeth have grown quite a bit and his 4 upper teeth have finally poked through. I'm being more aggressive in feeding him baby food solids. He's been eating pears and green beans this week. Look at those bottom teeth:
Cute story: Gabriel loves jumping on his bed. I have allowed and encouraged it since he was young because the mattress is directly on the floor so it is safe and he badly needs a way to get out all that energy. Tonight was a particularly energetic evening, so there was lots of jumping. Ephraim kept crawling over to Gabriel's bed and crying when I pulled him away so he wouldn't get hurt. Finally, I understood. He wanted to jump WITH Gabriel. So as I held up Ephraim on the bed (who jumps in our laps all the time) and faced him toward Gabriel, the most beautiful sound occurred. Both boys squealed with delight and heartily laughed as they jumped together on the bed! A glimpse of days to come, I'm sure.

I Wanna Stand

Ephraim has only really been crawling a short time and already he's more interested in pulling himself up and trying to stand. The proud grin on his face as he tries to be like his older brother is priceless. He loves exploring the whole house now and follows me around.
In other news, Paul is able to spend some extra time with us. On Thursday he got laid off. :( It is sorta expected in this industry, but we were hoping this company would be better. We can easily be angry at the timing (a day or two before his 2 year mark there, a week before his birthday, right before the holidays and an expected nice Christmas bonus, etc.), but we are choosing to revel in all the special extra time as a family. Paul gets to play with Gabriel every day (as you can see) and watch Ephraim's face as he crawls at top speed to pull himself up on Paul's knee.
In other exciting news, Gabriel is starting his second week in big boy underpants. Yes! He's potty trained. He saw a bag of M&Ms that Paul had bought (which have been bribes in past attempts at motivation and reward) and all on his own he wanted to use the potty. We haven't looked back and have been very successful in general. We even went to the park this morning and grocery shopping this afternoon without any accidents.

Without prompting, Ephraim started playing this game with me tonight. I've been saying "peek-a-boo" to him for weeks, which always gets a smile, but he started raising his hands and hiding behind his blanket. And the game began.

Laundry Basket Fun

I love this video of Gabriel. We sometimes swing Gabriel around while he's in the laundry basket. Now that he's so much bigger, we don't last as long, so we encouraged Gabriel to give his stuffed animals a turn himself. I'm so glad he had just as much fun. "Coming in for a landing. kaboom!" It doesn't last too long, he wants his turn again at the end of the video.

Happy Weekend

Ephraim is officially crawling! However, he is more interested in practicing crawling a tiny bit to reach a toy and then backing up with toy in hand so that he is sitting again. He is quite proud of himself! Here he is happily surrounded by all his toys (thanks to Gabriel, I'd guess).
Gabriel loves Star Wars right now. He goes around the house making accurate light-saber noises and slashing at imaginary Darth Vader. Here he is flying his spaceship (a sideways chair) and shooting the badguys spaceships.
A happy Sunday afternoon...all three boys are on the couch playing Lego Star Wars. I love Ephraim's expression. He's playing with a Wii controller that doesn't work anymore, but that doesn't bother him a bit.
Oh, and we lowered Ephraim's crib mattress (pediatrian's recommendation at this age). Just in time too. Besides crawling and going from crawl to sitting, he is trying to pull himself up on things. He can't quite get to his feet yet, but we want to make sure he doesn't pull himself out of his crib.