Action-packed

Wow, what a busy week; I don't even know where to start!

Well, let's see, on Thursday (your BD) you started walking independently; you can go ~6 steps on his own now. While pushing the scooter you've also been seen walking backwards. We went to get you new "walking shoes" yesterday, and you've gone from a size 4 to a size 5 1/2 in less than two months. The saleslady chastised me because your shoes were so small. Who knew you'd outgrow them before you needed the next stage up!

Friday was the Fall Festival at daycare. There were various games and stations set up for the older kids, and you had fun watching, but were too little to do any of it. You did get to wear your costume though. Friday also brought your Granddad and Great Granddad for a weekend visit. You seemed fascinated by these men who looked so much like your papa, but weren't him. Your Granddad said he got worn out just watching you play. You were a busy boy all weekend--but that's nothing new. Saturday your Aunt Cynthia and Uncle Alex drove up from Charlotte, and because she and your Grandad are Vanderbilt alums, we went to the Duke vs. Vanderbilt football teams. Both teams are pretty bad, but Vandy beat Duke 45-28. We only took you to the second half and the weather was gorgeous. You met the Vandy mascot (the Commodore) and seemed a bit creeped out by him.

After the game we went home and had a brief BD celebration for you. You got lots of nice presents, and we will help you write your thank you notes soon. You enjoyed the presents, but paid much more attention to the wrappings (of course!) We then went out to dinner where you liked bopping to the music at the restaurant. You do that a lot now if you hear music or if someone is singing.

Let's see, you have also started saying "up" and raising your arms to show you want to be picked up. You still say "ball" and we've occasionally heard other words like "oops," but I don't know if they are firmly in your vocabulary yet.

Friday into Saturday it seemed like you were fighting a cold and by Sunday it was obvious you had a cold, and it morphed into croup. We also discovered that you are in the process of cutting your top two teeth. So between those two things you've been soaking lots of drool bibs and many tissues have been employed on your nose. You've been in pretty good spirits despite the croup, although it is worse at night--you are mostly sleeping in between coughing fits, but your papa and I aren't. You aren't eating much either, but that's to be expected with new teeth and a cold.

We did take you to the pediatrician this morning just because last night was pretty bad, but he confirmed our suspcions that there isn't much we can do but wait. He did also say it hasn't led to an ear infection-let's hope it stays that way! You seemed to be feeling much better today--you would not stay and cuddle with me at all. In fact, through this whole thing you would only stay on my lap for about 10 minutes yesterday while we watched Sesame Street, but then you wanted to play.

Tonight, since you are too little to go trick-or-treating, we took you to my friend Sara's house because she lives in a neighborhood where they get hundreds of trick-or-treaters. You wore your Charlie Brown costume and we had some dinner and helped hand out candy. You were a big hit. Maybe next year you can go trick-or-treating.

So, that's been the craziness of the last few days--add to the mix mama having a rehearsal and then a gig Thurs night and Sun night and then getting your cold--and it's just been jam packed!