October + November in Review

Oliver has proven to be a very difficult and LOUD toddler for the past month.  He screams when he doesn't get fed IMMEDIATELY after the pantry door even cracks open.  He throws a tantrum like the best of them.  He sleeps horribly (wakes up in the wee hours of the morning, usually before 5am) and then is up around 5:30 and when brought into our bed only 50% of the time will fall back to sleep.  He HATES riding in the car...screams every time he gets into it and all the way to our destination, usually.  I have a feeling he'll do better the minute we turn him to forward facing, but I wanted to wait on that long after 2 if he could stand it.  He is getting more and more words every day.  It is incredible how much he understands (two part directions, questions, can point to all sorts of things in books) and still eats like a champion.  He is the SLOWEST eater, though.  It takes forever to get through a meal, but we'll try to take his plate away or ask him if he's done and he'll use his slow, signature, "Noooooooooooooo".  If we're having a conversation and we point something out to him he'll use his surprised and pleased "ooooooooooh" which is totally endearing.  He loves to do forward rolls and is bonkers about jumping.  Jumping on the ground, jumping over things, jumping off the furniture onto Daddy.  Loves it!  Jumping is usually paired with body slamming, also.  His favorite songs are "Run Baby Run" by Caspar Babypants and "Let it Go" from Frozen (which he sings along with on Zoë's Frozen microphone. "Goooooooooooo")  At his 18 month check-up he had dropped to the 75th percentile for weight and 80th for height (still 90th for head size, though), which makes me sad because he's not so roly-poly any more.  He's growing into 2T clothes now.


Zoë has been sleeping much better and our only complaint is that sometimes she is up early when O is and prevents him from going back to sleep when they're both in our bed.  She is attending a preschool at the Federal Way Community Center which is nothing like BCP in that it is in a super small room with 10 kids and definitely not play-based.  I'm having a hard time with it, but she seems to like it ok enough.  They spend about 20-30 minutes outside in a 3 hour time period and I know she would love it if there were more.  They do parent pleaser crafts about letters and Z can't tell me the letter she learned about each day.  I'm not worried about her learning her letters, I'm worried that she's missing out on playtime when they're doing so-called learning.  We have a lead in at the Nature Center preschool which is outdoors most of the time they have together.  I think she would love it.  We'll know in the next day or two if it's a possibility.

She is loving ballet and has her first recital in two weeks.  We are very excited!  She is attending up at the local community center and it is (cheap) wonderful.  The teacher is fantastic and there is nothing cuter than 10 three year olds in tutus prancing around a dance studio following their teacher.  I can't wait for the showcase!

I ran my first half marathon at the beginning of October, and was ready to run my next one within 24 hours.  :)  I had the best cheer-squad ever, even when, at 11.5 miles, I saw an unexpected hill ahead of me and was ready to quit.  I ran the Fall City Half, self-proclaimed as the fastest and flattest half in Washington and it was ALL flat except for that one hill (at the end!).  It was a beautiful course.  Chris says I'll enjoy running the Seattle Rock and Roll Half better because there are more people cheering and more energy.  I'm looking forward to it (crazily enough)!

And, Chris ran the Stein Dash, a 5K during the Oktoberfest festival at the Washington State Fairgrounds.  It involved chugging a beer at each mile.  He did great and ran like the wind!  It was fun to watch him run off the start line and then through the finish.  And then, of course, we enjoyed the festivities in the hall afterwards.  Something we'll do again next year for sure!

We enjoyed Halloween festivities all month starting with a party at the Center at Norpoint a few weeks ago and two fun parties the last two weekends with good friends.  Zoë had wanted to be a ghost since the first time we mentioned Halloween costumes a few months ago and she stuck with it.  I was disappointed because it didn't seem like a fun costume to make, but I think it ended up pretty great with some fun lights wound around her tutu.  I was trying SO desperately to come up with a fun family themed costume around Zoë's ghost request, but didn't think Pacman was cute enough for Oliver...so Chris came up with The Hungry Thing from the children's picture book and he fits the part perfectly.  :)  Trick or Treating was almost cancelled because both kids were sick but Zoë perked up at dinner time so we (as the amazing parents we are) took both out in the slight rain and cold.  They had a great time and were absolutely adorable.  We went around our street and cul-de-sac was the perfect amount of time for them to collect enough candy and to feel pretty accomplished.

November was busy with getting outside playing and, well, not much else that is super notable.  We had a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner at the Seaman house and are ready to roll into the holidays with full force.  This year is going to be so much fun!!!