Pumpkin Patch and Potty

This is the first year that Ewan has been a part of Halloween. Last year I thought I was funny with dressing Ewan as Ewan McGregor, but that was for a quick photo shoot in our home. Really, the holiday was overshadowed by the Giants being in the World Series. Since that is, unfortunately, not  a distraction this year, we have time to do some of the traditional Halloween things I remember loving as a child.  I knew Ewan would LOVE the pumpkin patch because he has been excited to look at and rub the small batch of pumpkins we have at the Google Children's Center. Sure enough, he ran around yelling "pumpkin patch!" (unless, of course, the camera was on him!) for a long time and cried when we had to leave. Here is a series of photos that include the pumpkin patch, carving the pumpkin with Papa, and then trying to carve his own small pumpkin with his tool set.
You will have to excuse me yelling out at my child over and over in this video, but I kept trying ot get him to scream "pumpkin patch!" for the camera. It is still a fairly good indicator of how excited he was to be there running around touching pumpkins and sometimes stopping to watch cars speed by.

On another subject, we have been asking Ewan if he wants to sit on the potty for a while now. He seems to enjoy that, but also seems very far away from actually getting to the point where he will do anything in it. The other day he undressed his doll and said "baby has poo-poo." I assumed he was pretending to change his diaper, but instead he went and sat in him on (or rather in) the potty. Seems a step in the right direction :).

Getting back to a healthier work/life balance...

Things have been crazy at work for me. The beginning of the school year is always nuts, but for reasons I will not get into, this year is particularly crazy! I have been working while Ewan naps every weekend and after he goes to bed almost 7 days a week. There is always work to do, but things have calmed down slightly. I have my classroom blog post to do, but have decided that my family comes first and I need to stop working so much!! In my first baby step in the right direction, here is a blog post of recent videos and pictures of my lovely Ewan. There are even a few pictures that are not of Ewan from Adele's party. I know, pretty crazy!
Let me start with some recent activity from our boy. He has been reading himself stories, singing and playing the guitar like crazy, wanting to watch videos of himself as a baby (vain, but so cute), and enjoying drawing on his new easel. On the flip side, he has been whining more lately and being more mischievous (oh, how I love when he gets that smile and does exactly what I just told him not to!). Luckily the good outweighs the bad at the moment. Jamie and I are gearing up for the full-blown "terrbile twos"...bring it on!
 These videos show some of these recent happenings and more. Enjoy!

Let's start with the singing. Ewan is obsessed with Raffi songs and watching him on youtube. He loves Baby Beluga and has been singing so many songs it is hard to keep track of all he knows.
Here he is singing Baby Beluga as he reads it.


In this video, he has discovered the music box I got for my birthday (at about 14, I think) and plays it while singing his ABCs.

Watching one of his favorite videos and asking to watch it again:)

This one is a little long, but I love it. He is reading Baby Beluga and Goodnight Moon to himself. I tried to hide a little because he stops when he sees the camera. I like the shots of Gumbo looking confused.

Our genius :)

A bonus "Happy Birthday Papa" video. This was one of my first attempts, but the gum in my mouth distracted him.



Here are some cute recent photos and some from Adele's First Birthday Party.