Lyndon loves the piano

Alternately titled: "I did not put him in here, either."

Crawling under the piano bench is very fun . . .

especially if you can touch the underside of it.

Hmmm, inside his exersaucer. Under the piano bench. I think I'm seeing a pattern here. He's not just crawling. He's adventuring. And I'm so glad I can let him. At the daycare I worked at, we weren't allowed to let the children crawl under anything except the playground equipment specifically made for it. I understand why (what if it collapsed?), but it makes me even more thankful that I get to stay home with him and make my own rules. He's testing his skills, developing his abilities and getting to know his body, and all it took was a piano bench and a hand-me-down toy.

I did not put him here.

Yep. He climbed into the belly of his exersaucer, and he looks pretty proud of himself for it.

Apparently, it was quite fun in there.

He did succeed in climbing out again all on his own . . . which is probably why he's done it half a dozen more times since these were taken.

field trip to Filasky's

On Friday, our play group went to Filasky's Farm for a hayride and some pumpkin picking. It was a lovely time, despite the October chill.

First, we learned where pumpkins come from. Did you know it takes 100 days to grow a pumpkin?

Ethan was pretty pumped about the inflatable slide. It did look pretty fun, although I guess I'm too old for things like that. :-(

Say 'hi' to the scarecrows!

This was a cute idea. The signposts had questions on them, like, "What should you do when your teacher asks a question?" or "How many times a day should you brush your teeth?" The right answer took you through the maze, while the wrong one led you to a dead end. One of our older boys ran ahead and pretty much took us all through.

wandering through the soybeans

This brother and sister pair really enjoyed the hayride . . .

as did these guys.

This little guy was so cute, I had to get a few pictures of him. He was pretty much in awe of everything, especially the tractors.

a good-sized pumpkin patch

I totally embraced babywearing for the day and have decided I'd like to do it more often.

It was a lovely morning.

Aaaand he's off!

Lyndon started crawling about 2 weeks ago, but he really started to get the hang of it this week. His favorite is the army crawl, which is fast enough to satisfy his curiosity, but slow enough for me to stay one step ahead of him (most of the time).

He can now finally torture the cats to his heart's delight. They're still significantly faster than him and will be . . . probably forever, which is fine with me. The less threatened they feel, the less chance we have of them taking a claw-filled swipe at him. You can see the claws come out for a moment on this one, but Ferrari listens pretty well when told to "be nice".

Our little one is exploring his world, and I love it!

happy birthday, er, sort of

Tuesday was Adrian's 25th birthday, and we were both determined to have a great evening together, just the 3 of us. Do you ever find that when you most want an evening to go well, it all falls apart?

Yeah. Me neither.

Lest I be accused of (more) complaining, I'll give you the cliffs notes version: Lyndon refused to eat, which made him cranky; I had to tend to him in the middle of making Adrian's special birthday dinner, which he had to finish making himself; we went searching in vain for Adrian's birthday present, which apparently is sold out everywhere; Lyndon screamed the whole way home; by the end of the night, both of us had upset stomachs.

But the point of this post isn't to feel sorry for myself. The point is to praise my husband and his attitude. At several points throughout the night, when I lamented or felt guilty about how the evening was going, Adrian would say something along the lines of, "it's only a disaster if we think it's a disaster". On the ride home, he said (over Lyndon's wailing), "This is my life now, and I can either complain about it and wish it was different, or I can love it and make the best of it." And he said it with a genuine smile on his face. There was no bitterness or regret at having his one special day "spoiled" by annoying circumstances.

We've called Lyndon our little "idol killer" since before he was born, but I had no idea how much he had pushed Adrian to grow until last night. His attitude now is so different from his attitude even a few months ago. He's actually glad to have his life turned upside-down now for the sake of his family. So, as we sang Glee songs together on the way home (because they made Lyndon stop crying), I thanked God for my wonderful husband who (by God's grace) is turning into a wonderful daddy.

Happy 25th birthday, sweetie. I love you.

channeling Justin Bieber

At Lyndon's dedication the other day, his Aunt Christina said he had the "Justin Bieber look". I just laughed, as I am completely ignorant of pop culture and had no idea what the "Justin Bieber look" entails. Then, just out of curiosity, I looked it up, and she's right. We are definitely channeling Justin Bieber around here.

The original:

and our little one:

Any tips on how to cut an 8 month-old's bangs would be appreciated. It was a disaster the last time I had to do it. Oy vey.