Devon: October

Devon got to pick out his own Halloween costume this year and though I tried to steer him towards something not so hot, he picked the CUTEST costume around. He was an astronaut complete with helmet and a salute! We went to La Encantada and he went trick-or-treating store to store. It's a fancy, out door shopping plaza and the weather was perfection.

Devon has recently learned how to wink and got baby Claire to do it too. "Look mom! She's winkin!"

Devon picked out the pumpkin and selected the skeleton design that he wanted off the computer.

I love taking the kids to the pumpkin patch, letting them ride around in a wagon and pick out a pumpkin. When they are a little older we'll go to the actual place where they get to pick it from the ground, but at this age they are perfectly happy with this tradition.

Devon is very artistic and spends a good part of his day coloring with crayons, pencils, markers or painting. He has transitioned from scribbling to drawing people. This is me. Love it.

The figure below me is Audrey, to my left is Joe and below him is Devon and his long feet. We are not drawn as people. We are drawn as .... bugs. Yup. This is our family if we were bugs. How adorable is that?!?

Devon had a runny nose and I was always scouring for tissue. I decided to wrap him like an Egyptian mummy, which he loved, so I could always find a tissue :) He only had this on for about 3 minutes, but he liked it fully for that amount of time.

He is very much into doing big kid things himself. He wants to help me stir stuff when I cook, he wants to pour his own juice, take his clothes off, etc. He LOVES to cook. I sent him out to the garden to pick some basil for dinner. he washed it in the sink and I taught him how to chop it with a butter knife. I also let him use a real knife (under my INSANELY close supervision) and he did great.

I started Devon in "Little Feet" soccer and it is just about the cutest damn thing I have ever seen. It is for ages 3-5, they only do games and drills (no actual games, it's 6 weeks and an hour each time. The weather is beautiful so Audrey and I do a little picnic breakfast on the grass and watch Devon do soccer. He gets to run around and kick the ball, learn to follow directions, score a goal and meet new kids. Truth be told, he loves his coaches so much he would rather just stand by them so they do a lot of gentle encouraging, but I know that he has a really good time. Plus, his cleats and shin guards are super cute. He picked out his socks.

We go to the park once a week at least and Devon has really come out of his shell and has been very brave trying new things. He will climb and slide down really high equipment, but he is very careful and proud of himself. He pretends to be Spiderman or Batman or some other superhero and will designate an identity for you as well.

I am still struggling to get Devon and Audrey to peacefully coexist. He seems to constantly take toys from her and will hit her for no apparent reason other than the fact that she is in his general vicinity. He is very sweet when she is not around so I think he just needs a lot of personal attention and Joe and I are working on that. He is so funny and smart and a really wonderful kid. He loves to be read to and knows each and every word to "The tale of Custard the dragon". This is a great book with wonderful vocabulary words. The other day when we were driving around he said,"Mom, when we get home and I use a cutlass bright?" AKA a knife. My sweet little boy and his knives ...

Audrey: October 15 months

Audrey is a happy, cheerful, funny and sweet natured baby.

I am amazed how independent she is. She will crawl away from me and play by herself with toys or other kids. When we go to "jumping class" (a class where kids go to a gymnastics gym and get to use the trampolines, bars, rings, etc) she loves to jump on the trampoline and heads straight toward the foam pit. She loves to crawl all over the obstacle courses and even when she wipes out she just gets back up and keeps going.

Audrey loves yogurt, pretzels, Kixx, bread, eggs, soup and pasta. She does not like fruit snacks or raspberries. She loves to feed herself a bottle and I am slowly transitioning to a sippy cup, but she hates them.

Audrey loves to go to the park and swing. She crawls all over the equipment and goes down the slide, head first and on her belly, with out any help from me. Did I mention that she's 1? She squeals the whole way down and then tries to climb the slide to go again. My little dare devil.

Audrey is getting into coloring more and more, but still seems to like being read to and playing toys the most. Her favorite book is "Counting with Blue". She will crawl over and hand it to me to read to her then do the sign for "more" and we read it more. I didn't do signs with Devon, but I think Audrey doesn't get to do a whole lot of talking since Devon seems to be so "chatty". I thought this would be a good way to help her language. She can say mom, cat and bubble. She can sign milk, more and again.

She loves her Daddy and her brother, although, Devon is not too keen on returning that love at the moment. Joe and I are being very conscious about spending one-on-one times with the kids and taking them places so they get that special attention and age appropriate outings.

Audrey is getting 4 teeth and took 3 steps all by herself a few days ago. She can push the grocery cart around the living room and LOVES to walk assisted. I call it "the shuffle" because she holds onto the back of my pants to hold herself up while I shuffle around the kitchen. She is so sweet and happy and very easy to be around.