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.