Tanner's Halloween!

We debated whether to take Tanner out for Halloween this year. At his age, we didn't know if he would enjoy it much. But a group of our friends with their (older) kids were going to a popular subdivision where we heard trick or treating on Halloween is like Times Square on New Years Eve. So we decided to give it a go. We were so glad we went. There were hundreds of little kids with parents and the houses were done up with Halloween decor like it was Christmas. We met up with our friends - 4 couples, 2 kiddos each, just as dusk was falling and we geared up. We had the stroller, snacks, camera, everything we needed. Off we went. Much to our surpirse, our little guy wanted to truck around everywhere himself, so the stroller went entirely unused! Tanner loved it - he got right into the groove and followed the gaggles of kids from door to door. At times, we had to hurry to keep up with him! Once in a while he would take a candy from one of the hander-outers...and carry it around crinkling the wrapper in his little hands (no we didn't give him any candy)...but most of the time he just walked up to doors, looked at people and went on his way. It was hilarious. We had to steer him in the right direction many times - I'm sure he'd still be wandering in someone's backyard right now if we let him. We were there a little over an hour and he enjoyed every minute of it. He was so cute - he even got a "look at that little guy! that's the cutest costume I've seen tonight" from a passerby. Of course, we thought it was too...

Roarrrrr!

Trick or Treat...
Truckin'

Just meet me back at the car mama...

Oooooooo...they're handing out crinkly things...what fun

Family Photo...

At the Playground

We had so much fun at the playground a few days ago. Daddy took pictures instead of playing because he was sitting nearby with his sprained ankle...(which is much better now by the way)...Tanner is very verbal these days...chattering all day long and has several recognizable words...which he never will say on command, but will come out with when he feels like it. So far he has at least 10 or 12 words besides mama and dada...lets see...Car ("ga"), truck ("chuck"), hi, bye bye ("buh buh"), cat ("got"), duck ("dut"), stick ("gick"), dog ("daw"), Theo ("Gleo"), boo!, and today's word of the day hello ("hey oh"). he seems to get attached to one and say it a lot for a period of time then we wont hear it again for a while.

We have our follow up appt with the Pediatric Gastroenterologist tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to hearing his take on all the tests Tanner had done in the last month. We've been giving him a lot more foods and it seems to be going pretty well! He's sleeping a lot better. Still waking up a couple of times a night but going back to sleep a lot easier most of the time. He's an early riser, rarely sleeping past 6:00 and often tries to get us up at 5:00 or 5:30. ugh.

I'll post tomorrow after we get back from the doc!

Its all fun and games until someone sprains an ankle

Mark and Andrea had Hunter's 5th birthday party at the All American Gymnastics Club today. It was quite an experience. Tanner's first real birthday party. It was a blast. And we had to leave before cake was served. First, I'll tell you the fun part. There were about a dozen kids ranging from 9 weeks old to 6 years old. It was quite the scene as the staff lead the kiddos through the different activities in the padded gymnastic room. There were all different kinds of surfaces for the kids to play on...springy flooring, foamy flooring, trampoline flooring, the foam cube pit, a rope swing, and even a Halloween fun house. While the littlest babies sat sleeping in their carseat carriers and the older kids followed the organized instruction of the Staff, our time was spent chasing Tanner around as he ran helter skelter across the different surfaces, laughing and tumbling in random chaos. He was having the time of his life...

Tanner LOVED little 9-month old Nolan. They were almost the same size. You can just see the look on Tanner's face in this picture. Well he proceeded to hug and maul poor Nolan until he had had enough and I had to pull Tanner off of him. It was so cute.

Tanner LOVED the foam cube pit!!!

You can't catch me!!!

Aaaand then it happened. Amidst all the action, I see Rob lumbering toward me with a strange hunchback-like limp, Tanner dangling from his side. He dumps Tanner at my feet and flops down on the mat, thrashing from side to side like a fish on dry land. I knew he had to be really hurt. Rob, like most guys, will act like nothing is wrong unless its level 10 pain. The Staff got him an ice pack and one of the other moms said "RICE. RICE". "Rest, ice, compress, and elevate"...So we bolstered his leg up while I gathered our things and brought the car around and headed to the hospital. After 2 1/2 hours in the emergency room, we left with an Air Cast and an Rx for 800 mg motrin. Apparently, Rob misjudged one of the surfaces in the gymnastics room - he thought it was a solid surface and it was actually a trampoline surface. So when he stepped down onto it, his ankle rolled inward and took the fall. Looks like we'll be nursing a sprain for a while!

Halloween!

Our annual Halloween party was last night at Snow's Restaurant/bar. Our little group had pirates, a flasher, Lord of the Rings creature, a Page Boy, and a Go-Go girl. We all had a blast singing karaoke and having a night out without kiddos. We were out from 9pm - 1am but it seemed like we were gone for just an hour. It went by way too fast! Stay tuned for Halloween for the kids - next week!

Gramma and Grampa Lockwood Visit

Grammy and Grampy Lockwood came this weekend and we had a wonderful day on Saturday. We took a drive to Sturbridge, enjoyed the Fall Foliage, stopped at a tag sale and went to an Apple Festival. We went to iParty to get Daddy's Halloween Costume...then Marshalls...had lunch at the Oxhead Tavern on the Lake, and even made a stop at Walmart on the way home. Tanner was a gem all day - even at the restaurant! Everyone took turns toting him, but I think Grampa got the Lion's share...Tanner really loves his grampy and sometimes doesn't give him much of a break. The "Grampa's little guy" t-shirt couldn't be more perfect...

Matching Recliners

Tanner has recently become enamored by chairs. He climbs up on any and all chairs that he can. Sits in them for a minute. Turns around and slides down. He'll do this again and again. Apparently, great fun. Gramma and Grampa Lockwood were here this weekend and they bought a Tanner-size recliner that matches (relatively well) our living room set and dada's recliner. It is in perfect shape and Tanner loves it. Another great tag sale find!

"I Do All My Own Stunts"

Believe me, we dont encourage this sort of Daredevil Stunt Riding. This kid does it all on his own. I'm afraid he might have some of his uncle Barrett's genes...Mommy is worried already.

Clear the Way!

Gramma Va got this little 4-wheeler for Tanner's birthday. We have been keeping it outside and he really hasn't done much with it until I brought it in the other day to get it out of weather. Ever since then he's been hopping on and off it all day long. He doesn't get the "steering" thing yet, but he presses the "go" button with his right hand while holding on to the center with his other hand and proceeds to plow straight into whatever is in his path. Nevertheless he seems to love it. And its quite funny for mom and dad too! (sorry the pic is dark - WHY is it soooo hard to get good photos?!)

I love tag sales!

Last weekend Gramma and Grampa Lockwood were here to visit. We were out Tag Saling on Saturday and they found Tanner this 4 wheeler. We figured it would fit him in a year or two but for $35, who could pass it up. Well we got some use out of it already when Hunter came over for a couple of hours on Wednesday. They road it all over the yard and around the house. Tanner was laughing all the way, but of course by the time I grabbed the photo op, he was ready to get off.

Yesterday was unusually hot and we had already put away the kiddie pool for the year, so we got out this toy that we often use as a "water table" of sorts for Tanner. We figured he could spash his hands around in it and play with some toys in it. Well I guess he had other ideas. I mentioned in the last post that he has been climbing up on everything...well there he was, sitting in the water on top of/amidst all his toys. He sat there like that for a good 15 minutes. (BTW, the toy you see is also from a Tag Sale last summer).

Rob, Tanner, and I also went Tag Saling this weekend. Among other things, we found this Kelty Kids carrier for just $20.00! We "tested" it out in our yard today and he seemed fine in it. We've been wanting to get one of these for a while now - its in perfect shape - like new. A fall hike is on our agenda for next weekend!

What, Is this unusual?

I heard Tanner yammering away in his playroom the other day...I walked in to see what all the happy chatter was about and there he was sitting in one of his toy baskets, digging stuff out, examining it then tossing it out on the floor. What fun! He actually sat in this basket playing for about 20 minutes. Its hard to get him to sit in one place for 20 seconds, let alone 20 minutes. Climbing seems to be his thing lately. He just loves climbing up onto or into things. He's mastered the couch and loves it. Theo is not thrilled, as his "back of the couch" safe haven is now in jeapardy...

He climbs in and out of this little wagon by himself too...