Happy Thankgiving!

Here's August before:



And after:

Raleigh's New Favorite Toy

Just as a preface, our kids do have toys, but we buy them a birthday present or a Christmas gift, not a new chest of toys for every special occasion.  Before Raleigh was born, as we sat in a friend's house that was overrun by toys, Erik joked that our kids won't have toys, "they could just play with their imaginations."  :)

Now that Raleigh is three and started preschool, we decided that he can choose his own toys and learn a little about money.  So, we started giving him a (very small) allowance and explained to him that he could use the money for buying toys or treats or save it for later to get something bigger.  From then on, whenever he'd see a toy in a store and wanted it, we'd tell him he could use his money to buy it if he wanted.  Yesterday was one such day.  As we were standing in line to buy him a new coat, he saw a toy he wanted, but, of course, he didn't have his money.  "Well, maybe next time we're here..."  Then today, we were going to buy gloves since we didn't find any yesterday.  Raleigh asked if the "glove store" was close to the "coat store".  They were.  So, he told us that he wanted to bring his money to buy the toy he saw yesterday.  After buying the gloves, we walked to the "coat store" (where the toy was) and the line to check out was a mile long.  We explained about how we'd have to wait for everybody else first and that it would take a very long time.  We even told him we could come back after lunch or even order it online so it could be delivered to our house.  Raleigh ignored our pleas; he was determined.  He waited patiently in line for HALF AN HOUR so he could buy the toy.  And what was it?  Wooden traffic signs.  Go figure!



Raleigh held the wooden signs in the car, played with them in the restaurant during lunch, wanted to take them to a birthday party so the birthday child could play with them too (we forgot them in the car), and took them with him to another friend's house.  Not only can these signs be signs, but also blocks, puzzles, spinning toys...  During one car ride, as Raleigh was getting close to nodding off, he asked that we make sure his signs didn't fall down.  As we were leaving the friend's house, Raleigh made sure we didn't forget his signs.  I think Raleigh will take good care of this toy.

Christmas Came Early!

Little Helper

There a new helper in town.

Happy Birthday August!

Our sweet baby boy turned one year old today. To celebrate, we took a family vacation to New Orleans for a long weekend and got back last night. We had cake today after dinner.






We gave him a bite of the whole cake, hence the chocolate frosting mustache, but he wasn't interested in eating the cake.





Enter big brother, to show him how it's done.





...and this is how we eat cake.





Take 2 (we thought maybe if he sees the inside of the cake, he'd be more interested).





A small bite.





Maybe Raleigh should try some...





Hmmm... Should I eat the rest or throw it on the floor?





Throw it on the floor.






Maybe mommy doesn't make very good cake. ...or maybe he was full from eating so much dinner (chicken, rice and broccoli).

Pizza Night

Walking and Talking

August added "up" and "uh-oh" to his list of words. He's been saying mama, dada and RaRa for a while--we don't know when they became official words because they gradually gained meaning. He's also been taking a few steps.

Here he is enjoying spaghetti.



He's catching up to brother--and brother's narrowing the gap by pretending to be a baby.