what have we been doing

Things have been pretty snotty here in Dudeville.  He has not only cut two canine teeth, he also seems to have caught a cold at the same time.  Needless to say we had quite a few jammy days here this week.  As the week wore on his mood improved and we were able to do a bit more, including going out and playing in the first snow of the year.  

Otto has really been a fan of blocks for a long time.  Lately in the evenings he and Eric have been making giant towers and castles.  He builds most of them telling you the colors of the blocks as he goes along.  He is talking so much these days it is really amazing.  So much in fact two days this week he made himself hoarse talking all day with post nasal drip and a cough.  He sounded like he had been smoking a pack a day, it was quite funny.  

Here he is all bundled up in his hat, mittens and snow boots.  We were coming back from my doctor's apt. when he NEEDED to play outside.  This was his first real chance to run in the snow.  The snow kept him busy for a little....

... and then he declared in a loud voice, "LID OFF, DIG WITH BACKHOE IN SANDBOX!"  There was really no getting around the fact that playing in the half frozen sand was all he wanted to do.  Before Eric went in to get a hat and gloves (it was about 25 degrees out) he opened the sand box.  Otto climbed on in and starting digging away.  Happy as can be.  We had to pull him kicking and screaming out of there when he was clearly freezing and it was almost dinner time.  You think a wet toddler makes a mess when they come in from the snow, try one who has been playing in the sandbox!  Anyone who would want to volunteer to help us move the box and all the sand to an out of site location is more than welcome.  This is not a battle I want to fight all winter.

A new game that Otto and Eric like to play is "see-saw".  It is a great workout for Eric's legs.  Needless to say when Otto asks me to play this game I tell him to wait for Daddy to come home.  He'll play with him.

Eric has been working away on redoing one of the rooms downstairs and turning it into his office.  It is almost done and looks fantastic.  

Today he was fixing one of the chairs for the office and had quite the little helper.  Otto loves anything to do with hammers, screwdrivers etc...  So much in fact I am going to try to find him some kind of little kit construction set to add to his wishlist.

As promised

Alright, I not only managed to find the camera, but I also found the cable to upload pictures.  That was perhaps an even bigger feat as Otto thinks it makes a fantastic fueling rig for his cars and tends to carry it around with him.  Today was a rainy, yucky day here and we could not be bothered to get out of our jammies.  To make up for our supreme laziness we baked blueberry muffins (with frozen blueberries hand picked by our friends in Vermont!), as well as chocolate chip cookies.

I set Otto up with his own little cooking station where he was busy mixing and cooking as he liked to call it.  Mainly he just ate the rest of the blueberries that were not needed for the muffins.  Good to note, frozen blueberries do not make near the mess as fresh ones.

Here you can see his new cropped do.  I still can't believe that he let me cut his hair.  This from the child who over the summer when we cut his hair outside we literally have to warn the neighbors so they don't think something has gone terribly wrong from the sounds coming out of him!

Haircut

So I managed to give Otto his first haircut without having him have a complete meltdown.  He didn't shed a tear.  Thank mostly to the CARS movie and M&M's.  I'll take it though.  It looks quite cute and I would love to show you a picture but I put the camera in a really clever place where Otto wouldn't find it.  Turns out I can't find it either.  I promise to devote tomorrow morning to finding it and taking pictures.  

For now I am going to have a talk with Otto's little sibling on how my gall bladder is not a place for feet and trying to come out my navel is not really at great alternative.  Aaah, the last trimester (yes, I am there already in one week!!!) the joys.  Back to constant bathroom trips, your stomach is too big to make sitting up or rolling over in bed something that seems possible without a winch...  Good times.  Still, it is kind of fun.

uncle Ben and Shannon

This weekend we had a great surprise.  Uncle Ben and Shannon came to visit.  They actually met us at the cabin for a relaxing woodland retreat.  We had a great time, but mom foolishly forgot to bring the camera...  figures.  They did however stay for dinner at our house sunday evening and she was able to snag a few quick photos of us playing on the third floor.

 

random photo update

Here are a few great moments caught on film...

Snacking on the candy covered pretzel from the neighbors for Halloween.  This was the first time Otto ever said "yummy", figures.

He and his buddy taking a "nap" on the cushion on the floor, complete with snoring sounds.

Election day treat, sushi.  He ate an entire california roll.  

Wearing my rain boots.  They were a bit hard to walk in but that didn't stop him from trying!

Stacking

For a while now Otto has been quite good at stacking things.  The other day while visiting Rachel and Isaac he made himself welcome in their kitchen cabinets and made this tower.  I didn't notice what he was doing until he already had 5 cans stacked.  I was there only to make sure if it fell over it didn't land on his toes.  Quite impressive if you ask me.  At his age developmentally they are supposed to be able to stack four blocks, I'd say he has that skill down.

The Real Deal

So thanks to all who commented, I was able to convince Eric to wear his driver's suit to go out Trick-or-Treating.  It was a huge success.  He went down to the basement to get his suit on and when he came up Otto took one look at him and said with the most adorable tone of true love, "Race car driver".  If he wasn't the coolest thing in Otto's mind before, he for sure is now.

Otto was totally taken with the whole outfit.  He loved the helmet and wanted to wear it, even though it weighs about half as much as he does.  He also really liked the earplugs and wanted to wear them as well.

The suit is made for driving so Eric wore it while we drove to some friends houses a few blocks away.  We weren't sure how Otto was going to take the whole concept of trick-or-treating and people being dressed up so we thought the car would be good for a quick exit if necessary.  Turns out we could have walked there and back, Otto had a blast.  It did not take him long to say trick-or-treat on command if he thought they would give him candy.  He also really liked seeing all the other kids dressed up.

The two of them were quite the team.

Digging into the candy bowl at our neighbor's house.