Happy Halloween!

It's raining today, very typical for All Hallows Eve. We're having a fun day, though. This morning Shawn went into work late and he and Max got into their costumes. Max is a crocodile and Shawn is the narrator from Poe's "The Raven". I got some cute pictures which we'll post soon. I'm going as a witch (or, as myself before coffee. Ha ha). We walked out to the bus stop with Shawn and we had fun waving to each other across the street. Shawn headed for work downtown and we set out for the wonderful Firehouse Coffee shop in Ballard that boasts a nice playroom. Our friends Sara and Jasper met us there and when the kids needed a change of pace we went to the consignment shop down the street and the boys had fun playing at the train table. They had an even better time getting soaked and stomping in puddles as we waited for the bus. So much fun, that they both sacked out early when we got home. I think this will work to our advantage, Max and I have been invited to Shawn's office Halloween party this afternoon. I think we'll go to that, and then maybe join our friends for trick or treating at the shops in Ballard.

Here's a silly photo of Max tromping around the apartment in one of my shoes, and one of Shawn's.

I'm enjoying some quiet and tea while Max naps and baking up some squash for lunch and putting flannel sheets on our bed. The chilly weather is here! I love fall, even all the rain. Only a native Pacific Northwesterner would admit to loving the rain. Happy Haunting everyone!

Max the great eater

So I just have to brag for a minute about what a great eater Max is. He wowed us tonight by eating a brown rice and black bean burrito (with a whole wheat tortilla, no less) and he also gobbled up some baked Delicata squash. Wow!

I have to credit our organic produce delivery, New Roots. We just switched to a weekly delivery from biweekly. It's so great having a plethora of good food around all the time. The variety is lovely, I made minestrone soup last night and Max happily ate the cabbage and leeks mixed in with the other ingredients. If you are a local, check New Roots out! For $35 you get a large bin of really great stuff (this weeks bin included Asian Pears, and Persimmons, two of Shawn's fall favorites). There's no way you could buy all this stuff organically for $35. It's a deal, and it keeps us eating a variety of things, such as collard greens that I would not normally buy.

Some of Max's Favorite Things

Climbing on chairs and tables
Scooters
Bikes
Trucks
Books
Cheese
Scrambled eggs
Applesauce
Bath time with Dad
Reading with Dad
Running around outside
Saying hi to dogs and cats

Fall fun at the zoo

Hmmm, maybe I alienated some readers by writing the other day about toilet training... won't post about that again :)

We had a great morning at the zoo with our friends. We got there just in time for the Pumpkin Bash. We watched hippos eating pumpkins, it was great fun. It was a wonderful fall day, beautiful weather and Max had a lovely time running all over the zoo grounds, it is one of his favorite things.

Yesterday was neat, too. I took him to the Ballard Locks. He loved watching all the boats, and he enjoyed looking at the fish ladder (salmon!). His favorite part of the morning was watching these guys welding and repairing part of the walk way, they had parked their little work scooters (kind of like golf carts) and they let Max sit on them and honk the horn. He was so excited, I loved seeing that big smile on his face. We'll be heading back there next week!

Big news in our house!

Maybe some of you think this is a TMI, but we're excited. Today is Max's 17 month birthday and tonight before his bath he peed in his toilet for the first time! Big progress as he has been sitting on that little toilet for a few months every night before his bath. Hopefully this wasn't a fluke and he'll start using it regularly. Less diapers are a good thing!

The fog has lifted

After 3 weeks I finally am over my cold...I woke up without a stuffy nose. The world seems brighter and my head feels clear. Hooray!

Max and I had a fun, mellow morning. We visited friends in the neighborhood and met their almost 3 week old daughter. So cute, and little! She was wearing the sleepsack that we brought Max home in, seeing that brought back sweet memories. Max had a great time playing with 3 year old H's toys (he was at preschool) and I enjoyed coffee and conversation now that Max gladly entertains himself with trucks and cars. He's such a boy... we've got to get him a truck for Christmas. At the playground yesterday he played on two trikes and cried and cried when it was time to go, the radio flyer scooter is due to arrive Monday, it can't come soon enough!

He's napping early today after hurting himself with a rubber toy, it snapped and hit him in the face. Poor guy has a welt...hopefully the arnica I rubbed into it will speed the healing. It's another gorgeous day in Seattle and we'll likely head out to a playground after lunch, have to soak up this blue sky and sun while we can.

It's a busy week as usual, tomorrow night Shawn and I are attending an open house at a neighborhood preschool (Max is already on the wait list for a year from now!). Friday night Shawn will work late...so if any locals want to hang out friday evening let me know. Sunday we're delighted that our good friend Linsel and his mum, Vanessa will be in town, it will be fun to see them, and Max hasn't met V. yet. She gave me some great advice for childbirth (won't go into the details here), I'll be forever grateful for that.

I'll close this rambley, journalesque post now. Max is asleep and I've got to eat lunch while I can.

Remlinger Farms

Wow. We trekked out to Remlinger Farms in Carnation yesterday morning with our neighbors. Their 2 year old son and Max had a great time on a pony ride, steam train ride, and steering antique cars around on a track. This place was huge, a big carnival next to a pumpkin patch. Fun, but expensive, $52 for the 3 of us to get in! That's right, full price for your kid if they are one year old! Max burned out after 3 hours and we headed home for his nap before getting to the pumpkin patch. That's ok, though, he was so caught up in the other stuff he barely noticed the pumpkins. This place was fun, but I doubt we'll go back until he's 4 or 5--when we can spend a full day there and get our money's worth. We got some good photos and will post them soon.

We had a busy weekend with Saturday morning spent at the zoo (a 1 year membership to the zoo cost the same as what we spent at Remlinger Farms yesterday. Puts it in perspective). Max enjoys taking the stroller for a walk on the pathways on the zoo grounds, he liked watching elephants and giraffes, and he took off following a 3 year old girl at one point. That Max, already chasing skirts!

Last night we went over to Alicia and Loren's for dinner with our neighbors Sara, Fred, and Phin. Loren made a delicious beef stew, Max ate an entire bowl! I've got to get that recipe. He and Phin enertained themselves and us by playing on Loren's skateboard, and Max sat on Fred's lap reading books.

He was up at 6:30 this morning, raring to go. He has so much energy that after a trip to the playroom at Firehouse coffee (Love it, a coffeeshop with a free playroom) we went up to Playmatters, a drop-in playroom, where he tired himself out playing at the train table. He has been asleep for 2 hours. Bliss!

Scooter!

I'm so excited! I just won this vintage wooden Radio Flyer toddler scooter for $12 on ebay! Our neighbor friend, J. has one and Max is always riding on it when we are at their house. I can't wait for the scooter to arrive and he and his friend can cruise the neighborhood sidewalks together. Look out, Fremont!

Talking Max

Max has really started talking and is putting words together, it's really exciting. This weekend he started saying things like "No Milk", and saying "more" and "cheese" while signing for more, he's also started signing when he wants food. How interesting as I have haven't done any sign language for months as I didn't think he was getting it. I forget how astute the little guy is.

He's thankfully sleeping in this morning after waking 4 times last night, we think the 2 year molars are en route. It's foggy and cold this morning, I've got the heat on for the first time this season and I'm enjoying a fresh cup of coffee. I'm so thankful for this time in my life, being able to be home with Max is priceless.

Clothes Shopping

I've decided to get rid of all of my clothes that don't flatter me, and to only buy clothes that I really love. Does anyone have a pickle barrel I can borrow until I find said clothes?

I bought a pair of jeans for $5 at Goodwill today ...maybe they are too young for me. I'm wearing them right now and they just feel odd. Maybe I'm not a jeans person anymore?

And, just for kicks, here's a cute photo of Max eating macaroni and cheese.

The cold that just won't quit

I picked up a cold 2 weeks ago, and Max came down with it Wednesday. Earlier this week I thought I was kicking it, no such luck, it's ramped back up and now Shawn is coming down with it. Ugh. Woe is us. Today at the playground there were several little ones with runny noses. I hope we get better soon and stay well. It's not even 9pm and for the second night in a row I'm turning in early. Stay well!

Zoo or the Aquarium, anyone?/Sleep Deprivation

Today I bought 1 year memberships to the zoo and aquarium. This was the first time that Max noticed the animals at the zoo, he loved the flamingos and ducks, and stood for several minutes with his face pressed up against the glass exclaiming "Duck!"

We can get up to 4 people in half price with our zoo membership, let us know if you'd like to go!

On another note, it's time to start my fall projects. I want to make Max a sock monkey for Christmas. I think I've got everything I need to get started, except energy. If only Max would stop waking up three times a night. He's been doing this for six weeks. Shawn and I are at our wits end. I was up with Max this morning from 3-430. Ugh. You know your kid's crappy sleep is kicking your ass when it's 8:15pm and you are getting ready to turn in for the night.

Anyway, back to projects. Our couch, which we bought used and I've never liked the look of (but it's perfectly comfortable)...Max makes messes all over the place, so a new couch is out of the question for at least a few years. So, I've decided to make some covers for the cushions and throw pillows. I think this will help the aesthetics a lot. I also want to start putting together a scrapbook for Max, mostly a baby book of photos. I think I've got my work cut out for me. I've also been wanting to bake up some pumpkin bread. mmmmmm.

Colds

I've had a cold for a week and a half, and unfortunately Max came down with his first cold of the season this morning. Too bad, he's not been quite himself today. And also too bad for Shawn and I, we had a dinner date planned at Brouwer's that we've postponed until next week. It's a great place to have dinner in the fall, lots of heavy belgian food, and over 50 beers on tap. We've been trying to have a date a week in an attempt to have some time together. It's getting easier with Max, though. Last night we watched the debate over at our neighbors. They cooked a wonderful meal and the boys (their son is 2 months older than Max) played well together throughout a good portion of the debate, I think I actually got to watch about half of it. Progress!

Max has been a joy lately, giving us lots of hugs and talking so much. New words this past week are: fish, teeth, shoes, feet, socks. I've been really enjoying this fall with him, we've spent a lot of time on walks, and at parks. Yesterday we took the bus down to the International District to run a couple of errands and then we bussed over to see Shawn's new office and go out to lunch, after that we had our first visit to the Children's Museum (nice, but not nearly as cool as the Portland Children's Museum). We were out for 5 hours and he didn't cry once, he's really growing up. Here are 2 photos from a trip we took to Discovery Park last month.

Life Aquatic

Max was pretty restless this morning so we decided to introduce him to the Seattle Aquarium, downtown on the waterfront. We set out on the bus and he enjoyed the trip downtown until the last few blocks before our stop, he decided in no uncertain terms that he wanted off the bus. Now.

We wound our way through Pike Market and took the elevators down to the waterfront. We got in on the cheap, thanks to our good friends Fred and Sara we had a buy one get one free from the Chinook Book, for you locals, this is a great coupon book good for a whole year, the 2009 edition just came out, it's $20 and there are many great coupons in it. Shawn and I used one on our date the other night for a performance at On The Boards and saved $20, and I saved $5 at Epicurious books in Ballard on Shawn's anniversary gift.

Right when you get inside the aquarium there is a 20 x 40 foot glass wall with tons of fish behind it, Max sat enthralled for several minutes, and then really enjoyed playing in tidepools, and watching seals and otters. He had a great time. I think we'll be purchasing an annual pass. After about an hour we went to the cafe and had lunch and then we headed home, it was a long trip as we just missed a bus, we had to kill 20 minutes waiting for the next one. Max was a trooper and didn't cry and 5 minutes after we got in the door he fell fast asleep.

It's been an aquatic weekend. Yesterday Max and I went down to the Ballard Locks to watch my brother's NOAA ship pass through on his way out to sea. He'll be surveying up in Alaska for 2 weeks. It was really windy and cold but Max didn't mind a bit, he enjoyed running all around with his cousin Bryce. Pete's ship was really impressive. It was fun to talk to him while he was on the ship and waiting for the locks to be filled with water. Shawn and our friend Dusty (visiting from Portland for the weekend) made it just in time to see the ship and see Pete off. Afterwards we went up to Gorditos for some burritos as big as your head. Dusty surprised us by paying for dinner as an annivesary gift to us! We wanted to introduce Dusty to the biggest burritos we'd ever seen, and he surprised us by eating the whole thing, sans one black bean. We joked that eating that last lone bean might make him explode. We enjoyed some after dinner conversation and watching Max tear around the apartment and then Dusty headed back to Portland.

It's been a good weekend. Shawn and I are basking in the quiet while Max naps, indulging in some afternoon coffee, tea, and fig bars. Mmmm. Love fall afternoons.

Happy Anniversary

Today is our sixth anniversary. Happy Anniversary, Shawn. Love you!

First cold of the season

Drat. I've come down with a cold, it's a pretty bad one with a sore throat. I am happy that Shawn and Max don't have it, I'm not sure how they escaped.

Shawn and I had a nice time last night celebrating our 6th anniversary. We met for a drink at the Mecca Cafe and then went on to dinner at Racha Noodles. Good, but not even close to as tasty as our favorite, Tawon Thai. The best part of dinner was they were showing the VP debate in the bar, so we got to watch that while we ate. I lost track of how many times Palin said "Maverick". Ug. And her shoes, yikes, looked like she should have been walking on 82nd in Portland, if you know what I mean.

After dinner we walked over to On The Boards and enjoyed an opening night performance by Holcombe Waller, a charming singer/songwriter. We walked out of the show to discover a text message on Shawn's phone, Max went to sleep for Alicia and Loren, this is big progress as he's never gone to sleep for anyone but us. Huzzah, this means more dates in the future! Well, if we can talk Alicia and Loren into it :).