Better 2 weeks late than never!

I had taken Halloween pics with a disposable camera instead of my digital, so I just finally got them back...Tanner had a great time again this year. He kept asking for "trick or treats" for about a week after we went trick or treating. And he didn't even have any candy! Somehow he knew it was something good...we go to this large subdivision one town over where the families really go all out catering to the kids and putting up Halloween displays like its Christmas...We went with 3 other families. There were 8 adults and 7 kids...Tanner had a blast.

Look mom, our little giraffe, isn't he precious????

A little apprehensive...there was quite a Halloween display on this porch. A witch stirring a cauldron and some other dressed up adults...He stood there for about 6 minutes...he didn't want to go up on the porch but he didn't want to leave either...

Here he is camped out on someone's porch. I think he was planning to spend the night...



OF COURSE, it wouldn't be Halloween with out the adult halloween party - the next night. We went to our favorite little place a couple of miles from our house, Snows. I was an aviator and Rob was a Pirate of the Carribean...

Jim and Ann (old man and Beth the bounty hunter) and Tina and Robert (the Grinch and Cindy Loo Hoo) came out for the night...and of course our friend Scott, the caveman...

Tanner's Favorite Things at 2 years 3 mos

Isn't he talented? (Rob, that is...) :)

Okay, decided I can't go to bed without posting a few recent pics...plus I'm watching the CMA's and REALLY enjoying it...I'll curse myself later for it.

Tanner's favorite activity these days is Play-Doh...we get it out and put it away sometimes 6 times in a single day! Its the first thing he wants to do in the morning (while having breakfast) and usually the last thing I'm putting away at night. We've been buying 3-4 containers a week!

Tanner is equally passionate about "cozy jammies"...he's learned that its most comfortable to hang around in his pajamas all day...which I let him do sometimes when we're home all day...putting off those errands. :) I may have shot myself in the foot by doing this because now he never wants to get dressed. And the next day when we need to be out the door by 7:30 am, I'm sure the neighbors can hear him screaming "NOOOOO!!! COZY JAMMIES!!! NOOOOO!!!" As I chase him around the house trying to get him dressed for daycare...

As you can see in these pics, he is in his jammies all the time. I even took him to Walmart in his jammies the other day after I gave up on a power struggle. I tried to disguise it by putting snow boots, a big coat, and a hat on him...of course I ran into people I knew...oh well.

There are a couple of more "favorite things"...I'm going to get some pics tomorrow and continue...

Complainy

For some reason I've been putting off posting...I can usually get on here and blot down a whole lot of stuff without hesitation. May be partly due to being over-busy with the new house the last couple of months, and partly feeling like I didn't have a whole lot of news...Poor Tanner's Halloween pics are still at Walgreens. I forgot my camera that night and had to use a disposable. Its just not that easy doing errands with Tanner so sometimes those little stops get put off...He is a tough one for errands. Most days I dread it all day long or just avoid it altogether. He doesn't like to sit in the cart, puts up lots of fussing, sometimes screaming and crying, a little kicking here and there...he gives me a generally hard time all around. 9 out of 10 times I end up leaving with about 30% of my list accomplished. Yup. I'm "that mom". That mom that everyone looks at and pities for the screaming child in her cart. "That mom" that people look at and think "why doesn't she DO something about that child?!" That's ok. I'm quite used to it. He's been like this since he was a baby.
My second complaint tonight. He's still not a reliable sleeper. I guess we drew the short straw in that category. I'm giving up hope that he'll ever be one of those 8pm to 7am kids...Some nights go pretty well - he goes to bed around 8:30 or 9:00 and gets up around 6:00...that's a good night...glorious actually. But many-a-night go like this: After starting bedtime at 7:45 he's finally asleep and its 9:30 or later. I go downstairs to take a few uninterrupted minutes to do house chores before going up to shower and get to bed by 10:30, hoping for a little free time the next night...1am - Tanner's in our room "mommy, I wake up." I jump up and put him back in bed telling him over and over its the middle of the night and he has to go back to bed, etc etc...1:45 - same thing. 2:15 - same thing but add in a little crocodile tear tantrum because I wouldn't let him turn on his dolphin lamp...5:00am - here we go again - this time Rob handles it. 5:30 - its ground hog day. 6:00 - I get up with the energizer bunny and go down to start the day. That was last night. Am I just being dramatic?
So tonight I'm going to bed very soon. Hoping for a better night's sleep. He's a strong headed little guy and presents us with new challenges multiple times a day...but I don't mind that if I get sleep. I can pretty much handle anything he sends my way if I am rested...so on that note, I'm headed to my pillow...with intentions to post a much "merrier" post tomorrow. :)

New Furniture

We got new living room furniture delivered - as many of you know, we had to give up a lot of our furniture with the sale of the old house - the buyer was in a situation where she needed furniture fast and I guess she liked ours. She made it part of her offer and we felt we had to go with it. In this market, we couldn't afford to take a chance! So here is our new living room furniture - which I love. The couch is a unique sectional that has the ottoman fit in several locations. In the picture, it is positioned to create a chaise on one end. Its a "stone" colored microfiber. We still don't have dining room furniture yet...

Aunt Tina's House

Tanner had a blast at Aunt Tina's house yesterday. We rode 4-wheelers and played in the sand by the creek. He didn't want to leave. I have to admit, the 4-wheeler was fun!

Pumpkin Patch

We celebrated fall by going to the Pumpkin Patch in Esperance, NY this weekend. Its literally less than 1/2 mile from Rob's parent's house, and this was my first time there. We had the freshest cider donuts we've ever had...still warm and squishy. Tanner loved them too... We went through the corn maze....Tanner didn't quite get it. I think he was expecting more. When we came out the other end and that was it he didn't seem impressed.

Looking at the goats with Aunt Tina...

The goats were walking along wooden walkways suspended high in the air. Strange but entertaining...

Nana and PopPop went on the hay ride down into the Pumkin Patch with Tanner...Poor Nana ended up chasing Tanner 1/2 a mile across the field...while Tanner was having the time of his life in a game of "chase" Nana was actually trying to catch him. Little devil... Anyway, we had a great time at the Pumpkin Patch and afterward Tanner got to play with his second cousins - Joey, Anthony and Krissy - back at Nana and PopPops. He had such a big weekend he was totally exhausted.

A Rainbow up in the Tree

A horsie from Gramma Va...He keeps saying "Ridin' to Town..."

A visit from Nana and PopPop Lockwood...he was very impressed that his PJ's "were like PopPop's"...

The leaves are changing here...and on the way to work this morning Tanner was in a great mood, chattering away...at one point he said "A rainbow." I said, "a rainbow?" "where?" he replied "up in the tree mommy." He saw the red, yellow, and orange leaves and thought of a rainbow. Its so fun to witness him discovering meaning and language.

He's been saying "alright (awight), mommy" after I ask him to do something...it melts my heart. Tanner is not a child I would describe as "agreeable." So to hear him verbally agree is so sweet. He's going through a cookie stage where nine times out of ten, he wants a cookie for his meal. Coming down the stairs to the kitchen at 5:45am (his usual get up time) he's shouting "cookie!" I wanna cookie!" with such delight that its hard to deny him (but I do). So then we end up in a struggle over what's really in front of him because he wants a cookie (or a popsicle - "pockatu").

The other day he counted to 6 all by himself. He was sitting on the floor taking crayons out one by one and counting very matter of factly. I was impressed, though I think he may have skipped two (I'm pretty sure it went "one, three, four, five, six"). Nevertheless, mommy was proud.

This weekend we hope to paint Tanner's room. It needs it desperately - they had it this bright orange. I mean BRIGHT. And ever since Rob spackled every hole in every wall throughout the entire house, I'm looking to move along with the painting. All I asked was for him to spackle some holes in one of the bathrooms (because we were planning to paint in there). Next thing I know, the WHOLE house is polka dotted. Looks real good folks. Men. I tell ya.

Quick Catch Up

I'm going to try to get in a quick update since they've been so few and far between this summer! We closed on our new house one week ago today and started cleaning and moving right away. We had a 24' Uhaul rented on Saturday. Rob somehow convinced 10 of his guy friends to help us move in exchange for beer and pizza. The move went very well. Although most of my belongings are still in the basement and garage, I've only found one casualty so far - a broken planter. No big deal. They made 3 trips that day with the truck...and then Rob and I made 4 trips the next day with our old neighbor's pickup truck. Whew! I was thinking about having Rob drive the last couple of loads straight to the dump. Who needs that much stuff!@#!!

Rob's parents came on Saturday. His dad ran some wiring (we converted the gas stove in the kitchen to electric) among other things and his mom looked after Tanner all day. I cleaned and expedited all day (someone has to answer "where do you want this?" "where should I put that?" etc etc)...somehow Rob's mom managed to clean and scour all 3 bathrooms top to bottom that day as well. I mean, she scrubbed walls with bleach water people! Unbelievable. His parents were only here 24 hours but they did so much for us.

In the past week, we've had so many people in and out its crazy...the furnace people were here twice (once to deliver oil and once to clean and service the furnace), Lowes delivering appliances, Verizon, Comcast, Carpet Cleaners, and Rob's brother Jim came for 3 full days helping to install appliances, lighting, repair water damaged drywall from the pipes bursting etc etc...

Tanner has done great with the move. He says he likes the new house...he's sleeping well - only got up one night...and has made it past 6:00 most mornings! Yay. Good thing he's so adaptable b/c today is his last day at the daycare he's been going to for the last 2 years. He starts a new daycare next week. We went twice this week to transition...I think he will love it. Amanda, his current provider, is having her 3rd baby...so that's why he's changing...its time for a bigger, more structured environment anyway...I think he'll do great and am very excited for the change. It just so happens that it coincides with our move a little too closely. Ah, he'll be fine.

There's so much more, but I have to go get Tanner. So I'll leave you with a "funny" story. Last night, Tanner got a hold of a black permanent marker. He came strolling into the living room where we were trying to hook up the TV, with big bold black lines drawn all over his face. At first, I thought it was just his washable markers in dark brown...then I realized how black it was and he doesn't have black in his washable markers. My heart sunk as I walked quickly into the family room envisioning black lines on furniture, walls and carpet...luckily, he had only decorated his face...whew! I took a pampers wipe to his cheeks and it worked quite well. Between that and his bath, there was only one faint line left...
:)

Tanner Update!

Despite all the craziness with the house shananigans, Tanner is still the center of our world. He turned 2 on August 15th. He is doing great, talking more than ever with 3-word sentences the norm these days. Today on the way home, he yells "mommy mommy, icky toes!" I look back and he's got his toes up next to his eyeball and I see that he has a little dirt on his big toe. He's sleeping great in his big boy race car bed (though still an early riser by 6) AND he went poop on the potty yesterday! He's been telling everyone he sees "poop the potty"...

We went to Beaver Lake last weekend after a day of moving stuff into storage. We grilled chicken and corn and played on the beach. Beaver Lake is just a 10 minute drive from our house now, but it will be walking distance when we move! We'll live about 1/2 mile walk from the Lake and our house includes lake rights!

We didn't have a party for Tanner's bday this year - we just had our friends Scott and Mark and Andrea and their kids over for some pizza and cake....

Playing with the Aquadoodle from Mark and Andrea...

The $2.99 slinky we bought him got the most attention that night!

A visit from Nana and PopPop a couple of weeks ago...

One of his latest capers..."Captain Tanner" - He puts on a dishcloth cape, his sunglasses and ballhat and he shouts "Captaaaaaain Tanneeeeeeer" He climbs onto the ottoman, puts his hands out over his head and jumps...where did he get this from?

At the playground with his friend Kameron...so cute together.