Halloween

Coolest thing ever, one of my friends has an older brother who leant me this fantastic costume.  They now of my deep love for Lightning McQueen and had this from a previous Halloween.  Since they gave it to me I have worn it everyday.  Mom wasn't even sure if she was going to get me a costume this year, but now that I love wearing this, we may even go Trick-Or-Treating to some friends houses.  I have some race car checkered flag jammies that I might wear underneath for a real race car treat.

If you read this post before Halloween please make a comment that you think the creme de la creme would be if Dad wore his drivers suit when we went out trick-or-treating....  Wouldn't that be the coolest!

It is so good I don't take it off to read books with Dad.

Dear Otto

Dude, you are the coolest.  Everyday you amaze me with more words that you can say, but more than that, entire concepts you not only understand, but can express to me.  While all of your developmental milestones have been wonderful to experience, nothing compares to gaining the ability to communicate so quickly.  You still feel the need to scream at the top of your lungs, which thanks to you being my child is incredibly loud, a fair amount of the time but I am dealing with that by telling myself it is just a phase.  However if you wanted to grow out of that soon it would be a-okay with me.

Still with all of the momentous things that you have been doing lately, there is one I would like to mention.  I hope that by talking about this it won't end it, but it is too good not to share.  For whatever reason, and really anything is fine with me, you have decided to sleep in.  Since you were born you never really slept past 6:30 and there have been long stretches of time when you woke up before 5, God help us.  But all of the sudden we aren't hearing from you until almost 8!  I will admit to being certain you had stopped breathing and checking on you the first few times.  Really, what can you expect.  I would have thought that 7 was glorious and 7:30 far too decadent, but 8, it really is more than a girl could hope for.

Maybe this is you way of being nice to me and giving me a little break before you little sibling is born and my sleep is once again thrown totally out the window.  If it is, it is the best present you could ever give me and I promise to get you whatever hotwheels you want.

You have always seemed like a happy person but now that you are talking so much I really do think you are a jolly soul.  I hope we continue to have as much fun together as we are now.  

love,

mom

Conversation with Otto the other night

A few evenings ago after dinner I was hungry for a sweet snack.  I decided to have and orange which Otto of course wanted to eat as well.  I told him if he waited while I peeled it we could share it.  He responded "share the mommy", close enough I thought.  So while I was peeling the orange and trying to keep him from eating the peel, I thought it would be a good time to talk about the concept of sharing.  I said "do you know what sharing is?  It means you are going to have some of the orange and I am going to have some of the orange".  

Otto responded clear as day, "both of us".  I was floored!  He waited for me to divide the orange up into pieces he could munch on and sat next to me on the couch while we ate our treat.  I know he understands SO much and it far more aware than we are prepared for sometimes.  But understanding and using the concept of "both of us" on his own.  I think we are in for serious trouble with this kid.

He has also started counting.  He really likes the number 6 and 6 7 8 is his favorite string of numbers but he can go along quite well if you help him.  The concept of starting at one isn't high on his list but being as he is figuring this out all on his own I am blown away.  He also recognizes that numbers are different from letters.  He can't tell which is which although some times 7 and 4 are correctly ID'd but still!  Eric and I are thinking about learning a new language fast since we think he might learn to spell soon and that would be the end of it for us!

Cago

I am back from the windy city.  I have been expanding my vocabulary every 15 minutes but even I do not have words for how much fun I had.  Mom and Dad took almost 200 photos but I don't think we should bore you with all of them now.  I am going to pick out some highlights for you now.

This is the Children's Museum by Yia-Yia and Papou's house.  We went here a few times.  They have an amazing car ramp with build your own cars and tons of cool things to climb on and play in.

Part of being at your grandparents is you get a lot of cake.

A little light reading with dad about Porsches

We went to the Museum of Science and Industry which really should be called "the train museum".  I was sure to point out all the trains to every passerby in case they missed them.

I was allowed to climb all over this plane which was a nice change from being strapped into my seat!

One of the near by parks had an awesome water feature.  When you pushed buttons on the ground water came shooting up at different times and from different directions.  I started off dry...

and got wetter as time went by.

Pretty soon I needed a change of clothes and a chance to dry off in the sun.  This was also the moment of me discovering both the Id and the Super Ego.  I declared I wanted to sit on the bench "self", mommy had to get down.

Chicago has a wonderful botanical garden which also happens to have a fantastic model train exhibit.  This trip was defiantly themed by trains.  I had a wonderful afternoon watching all the trains and running from one to the next shouting "TRAINS".

They even had a Thomas train.

All of the scenery was famous places around the country.  Everything was made from all natural materials.  Here is the curvy street in San Fransisco.

We also had a great visit from uncle Matt for a weekend.  He came along to a farm where we enjoyed a beautiful fall day.

You have already seen pictures from my day at the aquarium, but what I forgot to mention was we took the Metra downtown that day.  I LOVED riding on the train, but you might have guessed that.

Too keep it interesting we also went to Brookfield Zoo.  I liked it a lot, but not so much for the animals.  They were cool, but the wide open spaces to run around and paths through the woods were what really made me happy.  They even had sticks to play with!

Sometime a long day calls for a nap on the way home.  The train is a good place for that.

Just in case you were worried that there wouldn't be enough cars for me to place with.... Uncle Matt's die-casts will never be the same.

Since one Children's Museum wasn't good enough, we also went to the one on Navy Pier.  This one had great tools to build with.

and cars to drive

No trip to Chicago would be complete without visiting my uncle Racer.  He has a way cool bongo drum he let me wail on.

Then I told him all about the trains you can hear outside his place and how the cars have to wait for the trains. -a concept I am very much interested in-

So there you have it, a recap in pictures of our trip.  There are a few more I think I might have to post later, but this gives you a good idea.