Lightbulbs!

We finally made it back to Pyramid Hill to see the Christmas lights. It was spectacular, and of course looks totally lame in photos.

We let Sean hang out the car window for a minute as we passed a really close bunch of lights.

Oops, forgot to wait until the car stopped to take this one....

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Here's a random photo of our stockings and Christmas cards thus far. Yes, we have a faux wall in our family room. Groovy, huh? :)

In other exciting news, Dad got his first #2 catch last week! Sean pooped on the toilet! For a couple of evenings, he would sign for toilet about 3/4 of the way through dinner. We were thinking this was becoming a habit for not eating dinner (it's just so hard to sit still and eat!), but then the next night he didn't ask to go to the toilet. Anyway that was pretty exciting - it's SO nice to be able to communicate with Sean! That has been a frustrating point for us since the beginning. I can't count the number of times we looked at each other and said, "If only he could tell us why he is crying!" Now he still cries but at least it's easier to figure out why. :) Now we ask lots of yes and no questions until we can narrow it down to the "Yes!"

Also, Mom is proud to announce that Sean knows the numbers 1, 2, and 8. I think that's because he loves playing with the Rummikub tiles, so we talk about numbers a lot. He also knows the color green and is getting better at only calling green things green (at the beginning every color was green).

We are now in Webster, NY for Christmas with the Spoonhowers. I will post some pictures soon.

An Early Christmas Gift

Uncle Paul was generous enough to send Sean an awesome red Schwinn bike for Christmas! The box was under our tree for a week, and we opened it up today since we had a bit of free time. Sean was very excited.



Video:



And here is it all put together!



Thanks Uncle Paul! We will see you and the rest of the Spoons next week.

Last week we drove to see the lights on Pyramid Hill. Unfortunately they couldn't make change for us, so we just had to go back home. We'll return and see the whole thing soon. Sean loves lightbulbs, after all.

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Last weekend we drove to Champaign to visit our good friends, Ev, Erica, and their daughter Elana. We had a great time! It was strange to drive by our old house (in their neighborhood) but for it to not be our house. Also we missed some of our other friends (Kenny and Amy) who don't live there anymore.

Here's our old house. I took this picture to show off my pride and joy, the tree that I planted in 2006. I bought it for about $1.20 from the Saint Joseph County Soil and Water Conservation District. When I planted it it was about 18" tall and was constantly referred to as a "stick" by Jeff. Well, look at it now! It's a hybrid poplar, a fast-growing species. I was unhappy to see that the new owners killed all of my native plants and strawberries (why would you get rid of delicious strawberries?) that I put in around the front porch, but at least they kept a few things - this poplar, a pussy willow, a sycamore, a couple of juniper shrubs, and some lilacs.

Elana had a pair of cymbals that Sean played almost constantly as soon as he found them. He will be delighted on Christmas to find out that St. Nick picked up a pair for him this morning.

This is the new library in Champaign. It was amazing. They built a whole new building that was finished this year, I think. It was incredible! We spent a lot of time at the old library and loved it. The new one looks even better! To me its exterior is not architecturally impressive, but the inside is really nice and open.

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Here's one last picture from yesterday at home. Sean likes to stack the "donuts" on his arm. If anyone has suggestions on how I can get Sean to stop sitting like this, please let me know! I am constantly rearranging his legs so that he sits properly, but he continues to "kneel" like this which I've heard is bad for the knees.

I think I have some more photos from Champaign. Stay tuned.

November

So, November turned out to be a month of blog-slacking.

Here are some highlights of what we did.

The people who live across the street had a tree cut down one day.

It was very exciting to have so many trucks and wheels in our street!

Later we went outside for a while, but then all the trucks were gone.... This photo was taken by Dad who was inside staying warm!

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We went to the Christmas tree lighting in downtown Hamilton. It was extremely cold. We had Sean bundled up just fine but we forgot our own hats and gloves! It was about 23 degrees I think. I managed a smile after we found some hot cider at the Cappucino Depot.

The city also offered free horse-drawn cart rides. We had to wait a long time (well it seemed like a long time because it was so cold, and nearing bedtime) but it was worth it. Even now every time we drive through downtown, Sean says "Horse! Horse!" so I know he remembers how much fun we had. In this picture Sean is loitering in a dark corner outside the courthouse, waiting for our turn on the wagon.

Finally! On the wagon! They even had some nice heavy blankets for us.

After the ride we saw the horses up close. Sean stuck his tongue out just like the horses did.

Isn't the horse's eye interesting?

Toilet! Toilet!

This evening as I was changing Sean into his pajamas, he squeezed out a little toot, laughed, then made the sign for toilet. I thought for sure we were going to get our first solid catch (we've been trying this for a little while now, encouraging him to let us know when he needs to use the toilet, and explaining that instead of pooping in his diaper - which requires the dreaded diaper change - he can poop on the toilet). There was no #2 but we did get our first #1 catch in the toilet! Woo-hoo Sean! You make your Mom and Dad proud! :)