Mark of Tuesday Night: Punkin Carving

Attached are some photos from tonight's pumpin carving session.  Mark drew the face and did a good bit of the scooping himself.  He needed a little help with the cutting.  Anne even "helped" a little, too.

Just for fun:  Can you spot the Mommy Elmo photo bomb?

Nine Month Anne-iversary

The stats: Well, I’m in 12 month clothes now, which makes me a healthy girl. Grandma says I’m looking less chubby all the time. While Mommy thinks I'm very pretty and is glad I'm such a happy baby, she not so sure about the "less chubby" part.

Favorite place: Everywhere! I like crawling all over the house looking for (a) toys Mark has left in my reach, (b) electric cords or plugs, (c) tiny specks of lint/dust/hair/paper/plastic bag to covertly shove in my mouth or (d) dog food. I am also sneaky quiet for a baby who can’t even walk yet.

Things I like: Feeding myself in my high chair. I’m not so crazy about taking the bottles these days or having the mushy stuff in the jars. I want to do it myself! And I’ll eat anything they put in front of me, despite the fact that I only have four teeth (two tops, two bottoms) and they don’t even line up. I also like standing up. Sometimes my parents try to sit me on the floor and I refuse to bend at the waist so they’re stuck holding me up. Other times I pull myself up on whatever I can reach—grandma’s ottoman, my toy box, the stairs or stair rail. Mom and dad are locking everything up now to prep for when I start walking.

Things I don't like: Holding still or being confined in any way. If someone tries to hold me—even to walk me around the room—I just start lunging and trying to force my way out of their arms. You should see my parents try to dress me! They had to move the changing table to the floor, because I roll over mid-diapering and try to crawl away with no pants on. Once they get on the diaper, they chase me around the room trying to shove pants on my legs while they’re moving and I’m yelling about it. It’s actually best if someone holds me under my armpits, with my feet dangling, to attempt any sort of dressing maneuver. And I still writhe around and kick them with all my might until they put me back down. Then, once I’m dressed, I resume being my unusually happy and smiley self. Also, I don’t like socks. I can have them off my feet and mysteriously missing in one minute or less.

Major accomplishments: Crawling, pulling up, trying lots of new foods. I can also do “So Big!” (arms up!), wave hello and bye-bye, blow kisses. I think all of these tricks are hilarious, so whenever someone asks me to do one of them I throw in the rest… my own “So Big-hello-kiss-bye-bye” maneuver. I also wave hello and blow kisses without being prompted sometimes, like when I see mom for the first time each morning. And I

mash my teeth and say num-num-num whenever I see someone eating. That's my way of saying "I want some too!" and I'll strart screeching if you don't feed me.

Quotation Mark Mondays: Dancing Shoes

 

Mark was the Ring Bearer at Aunt Leslie and Uncle Martin's wedding on Saturday.  He did a great job and had a wonderful time.  His favorite part was the dance party (with riding in the limo a close second).  Here's a conversation we had about his dance skills:

Lynne:  Did you have fun dancing at the wedding?
Mark:  I did. But I'm sad that we can't do the dancing anymore.
Lynne:  What do you mean?  We can have a dance party in our house whenever we want!
Mark:  No, I can't do my spins without my pointy shoes.  The spins don't work in regular shoes.  Spins work best when the shoes are very pointy.  And if you want to upside-down spins, you would need a pointy hat.

Noted, little man.  Noted.

Anne of Fridays: Bang, bang, bang on the bowls, baby

She's reached the age at which shiny bowls are much more fun than toys.  And said shiny bowls are even MORE fun if they're across the room... or something she's not supposed to get into... or have recently been licked by the dog.

Quotation Mark Mondays: Fit Talk

Lately, Mark has been having fits.  Giant, throw-himself-on-the-ground-kicking-and-screaming (and hitting) fits.  Most of these, we figure, are because Anne is mobile and getting into his stuff.  We've been working with Mark on communicating his feelings without yelling or hitting, and we've set aside some space for Mark to play sister-free.

But we've also been doing a lot of Putting the Smack Down.

Here's some hightlights from a recent Smack Down Session:

Matt:  I know Anne wants to do what you do and play with your toys, and that can be frustrating sometimes.  But it's really because she wants to be just like you and do what you do.  Don't you sometimes want to be like me?  And do what I do, even though you're littler?
Mark:  No.  I want to be like mom.
Matt:  Oh yeah, why?
Mark:  She knows how to do more things than you.

Then, later, after several hours of sitting alone in his room, without any of his toys or anything to do but talk about his behavior:

Mark:  I am going to be ready to talk about my behavior in a few minutes.  I gave each of us a guy to sit next to us while we talk.  Dad, you have Baby Elmo.  Mom, you have Knuffle Bunny.  I have Grover.  Is everyone ready?  (insert dramatic pause here)  Then I get to go first because my guy has the biggest eyes.

Mark and Anne of Fridays: How do you like them apples?

Last Sunday, the whole Hanley-Seago-almost Bell clan headed out to the apple orchard for some good old-fashioned fall fun.  We had beautiful weather, a great time, and as you can imagine (at 1/4 peck apiece) a whole heck of a lot of fresh-picked apples!

Mark carefully followed the rules (it's OK to eat apples off the trees, but you have to eat the whole thing) and even Annie tried some!

Mark of Fridays: Birthday Re-cap

 

Some photos of Mark's birthday are attached.  He chose the theme--states--and asked that everyone wear a shirt with a state on it.  He made the party hats.  Luckily, he has a family full of Gamers, and they all played along...  even Uncle Tom, who Mark told there is no such thing as East Virginia--it's called Maryland.

 

It was fun party, complete with a state cake and a State Challenge Game that required players to match each state with its postal code.  Mark almost beat Aunt Laura!  And everyone, including Mark, had a great time.

 

In fact, he had so much fun he threw up.  Literally.