Trick or Treat

Daddy and I are so proud of our big boy and his awesome night of trick or treating.  I think I have to give major credit to his school, because when I said it was time to trick or treat, Noah put on his costume and was out the door.

He rang doorbells, said trick or treat and thank you, and had the best time.

And, he got to spend it with his buddy Henry... the racecar driver.

Henry did a great job trick or treating too.  And, don't forget about his super cute little sis, Molly the cat. 

What a fun night of trick or treating!

Happy Halloween!

The Hunt for a Halloween Costume

Not to recreate last year's post on Halloween costumes, but I will say that again Noah is not a fan of costumes.  This year, I racked my brain to think of something easy and comfortable for him to wear.  My first choice was Super Why.  A cartoon character that he loves, and I think secretly wants to be.

Although, once I got it on him, he just wanted me to "take it off, take it off."

Next I thought of a cowboy, and I found this super cute horse for Noah to wear over his regular jeans and t-shirt, but once again he wanted me to "take it off, take it off."

Noah's school, which totally has it going on, asks for parent's to bring the children's costume in about two weeks before Halloween.  And, every afternoon, the kids dress in their costumes and practice trick or treating.  The deadline to drop of the costume was approaching, and I felt that I couldn't in good conscience send Noah to school with costumes he hated, so we had a discussion about it.  The discussion pretty much consisted of me suggesting costume ideas, and Noah saying he wanted a "spider costume."

I googled "spider costume," and I found this one.  I showed the picture to Noah, and he said, "Yes!  Spider costume."  I picked it up from the store, and wrote out a lengthy note to Noah's teacher about how it wasn't a big deal if he didn't want to wear it, and I could always find something else, and please let me know, and blah, blah, blah... and I dropped the costume off at school.  The couple days later I asked her how the trick or treating was going, and she said it was going great and Noah loved his costume.  Really?!?  I got to see it for myself yesterday at his Halloween party.

Hat and everything!!  What a cute spider!

Field Trip - The Pumpkin Patch

Noah's class took a field trip to the pumpkin patch last week.  The weather was great, and Noah loved being outdoors.  He was pretty excited about all the huge stacks of pumpkins. 

The class took a hayride to an on site playground, where the kids got to have a snack and do some playing.  Aside from car rides, Noah is not a big fan of rides of any kind.  He did however, stoically handle the ride to and from with his hand held in Mommas.  I think it was worth it because he really enjoyed the park. 

Unfortunately for Noah, the torture wasn't over since the next activity was to ride the train.  Again he handled it with no tears or fussing.  So proud of my little man. 

He did have a great time picking out his pumpkin.

And, he really, really loved seeing the goats.  What a fun field trip!

Five Things Friday 10.21.10 - What He Says

1.  While I was fixing breakfast one morning, Noah walks into the kitchen and says, "Hey Momma, what you doing?"  Strong work on the sentence structure, buddy!

2.  I hear him chatting over the monitor at 5:20 AM one morning.  He says in a spirited voice, "OK... it's time for (pause) walk-ing!"  Next thing I know, he's out his door headed for our bedroom.  At least, I had something to give me a chuckle that early in the morning.

3.  One morning this week, it was really foggy outside.  We walk out the front door and head to the car, Noah gets really excited about seeing the fog.  He starts to jump up and down says, "Ooooo... it's spoookky!"

4.  It always makes me laugh the songs he ends up getting stuck on.  This week it was randomly "Sixteen Tons" by Tennessee Ernie Ford.  I think we listened to it on repeat the entire 30 minute drive to school one day this week.  Good thing I like the song.  The best part is to hear him sing, "I sold my soul to the company store... doo, doo, doo, doo, do, do, do, doooo [and then he clicks his tongue until the next verse]"  So stinkin' cute.  I tried to get it on video, but it ended up being way too much of me singing.  Maybe I'll try again another time.

5.  Noah had picture day this week.  I snapped this shot by the front door.  Doesn't he look like such a big boy?!?  I used to be able to get him to smile and look by singing really loudly, "La la la la laaaaaaa."  Now he just sings it right back to me.  Guess I'll need to come up with a new trick. 

Headgear

I mentioned in my previous post that "early to rise" has been the status quo in our house as of late.  What that means is that Noah could probably use a nap in the afternoons, but napping in the big boy bed is a bit more difficult than going to sleep at night.  Today, Noah really wanted a nap, but it was already 3:00 PM, and well, Momma said no.  So, around 5:00 PM, he ate dinner, and around 5:30 PM, he took a shower, and around 6:00 PM, I was planning to let him watch a show, and then maybe try to stretch it a bit... Noah was having none of that.  After shower, he headed straight to bed.  And, very quickly was fast asleep. 

He's usually strongly opposed to hats as a general rule.  Not really sure why he wanted to wear one to bed tonight. 

But, if there is one thing I've learned as a parent, sometimes, you just gotta roll with it.

Big Boy Bed

I decided the whole toddler bed idea was not going to work out for Noah.  I decided to just make the move to a big boy bed.  So, last week, Pottery Barn arrives to deliver Noah’s super cute full size bed. Noah was pretty excited about it, and as soon as the mattress was on, he closes himself in his room, and proceeds to jump on the bed. I wash his shiny and new sheets and intentionally do not come up with a game plan for bedtime. I decide to just wing it. Bedtime arrives and surprisingly after about 30 minutes of begging Daddy to stay in bed with him, Momma puts the kibosh on it, and Noah falls asleep alone in his big boy bed. Guardrail is on backorder, so I surround the bed with his old crib mattress and pillows.  Turns out it was a total rookie mistake not picking up a backup guardrail.  At 11:34, as I was just about to fall asleep, I hear a loud noise over the monitor. I head to Noah’s room and find him sitting up on the crib mattress on the floor. Luckily, he falls right back asleep once I put him in the bed. I toy with the idea of spending the night with him, pretty sure he will just fall out again.  Instead, I decide to pick up guardrails in the morning and let him spend the rest of the night in his crib. 

The next night, I still have no guardrails, but I push one side of the bed against his crib (which is still in the room), and put his crib mattress on the floor near the other.  I decide to wait out the PB guardrail, due in next week.  He goes down so easily and sleeps the whole night without falling out.  He is up bright and early - 5:45 AM.  I can hear him through the monitor getting out of bed, and then the monitor goes silent, and I can hear him padding through the house.  I call his name, and he comes to our room.  So far, the last few nights have been more of the same.  Still no guardrail, but hasn't fallen out again.  Yay!  He is going to bed really well.  He is sleeping all night.  But, he is waking up super early.  I guess I can get used to the super early.  We may have to have a discussion about the sun and staying in bed until it comes up.  But, all in all we are so proud of our little man, and his super smooth transition into his big boy bed.

 Loving his new big boy bed.

  How little is Noah is his big bed?!?  To be cotinued with cuter pictures, since still waiting on the rest of his bedding and some painting to be done.

Noah and Molly Sitting in a Tree

Noah loves his little friend, Molly. 

And, if the number of times Molly says Noah's name when they're together is any indication, I think Molly loves Noah too.

Sweet smooches for his little friend.

Hmmm... maybe Noah and I need to have a talk about open mouth kisses.

Good Day Sunshine

Enjoying a sunshiney fall afternoon.  Noah loves outside. 

The Bounce House is Open

One morning last week, Noah and I again had the conversation:

Me: "We have school today!"

Noah: "No, not school. How about bounce house?"

Me: "No, not bounce house."

Noah: "Bounce house is closed."

Funny. I guess I'm not above using the batteries are dead, the toy is broken, the bounce house is closed, little white lies to Noah.  Although, in my defense, the bounce house usually is closed.  So, that day I decided to find a bounce house that was open in the afternoons. And, what do you know. There not always closed. We invited our friends Sara and Ryan, and we had a super fun afternoon.

Following his friend Sara to the top of the big slide.

Sliding down.

Let's do that again.

Does This Match?

I thought it did, but apparently, Noah wasn't so sure.



He was super excited about his new "3" shirt (see previous post), but he was not so sure about the shorts. As I was putting them on, he asked me, "does this match?" Ummm... yes. I promise you can pull it off. Your Momma would not send you to school in anything less than cute!

The Art of Persuasion

I have a little parenting trick that I use.  It's something that I do so often, that I am pretty sure it happens before I even consciously think to do it.  It comes in pretty handy to avoid meltdowns, and on Noah, it works like a charm.  Simple explanation.  I convince him that what I want is what he wants.  And, I use a little super happy Momma cheerleader persona to do it.  I use phrases like,  "the best ever" and "super fun" and "so awesome."  With lots of happy chatting and easy questions with multiple choice answers.  I get him thinking about the activity/clothing item/food that I want/need him too.  And, you know, I'm learning that at three, it's less important for Noah to make his own choice, then it is for him to think that he made his own choice.  Well, whether it's subconsicous or not, I'm afraid that Noah has caught onto my little trick.

One morning last week as I was transitioning him to go brush teeth before school.  I said, "We have school today."  Noah responded, "No... not school today.  Bounce house.  Yeah!  Let's go to the bounce house.  Yay bounce house." 

And, one night this week Noah and I were having dinner with our good friends, the M family.  Noah had a set of five markers in his hand, and Henry wanted to borrow one.  Henry wanted red.  Of course, red was the one color Noah didn't want to part with.  So, Noah pulls the orange out of his hand, tries to give it to Henry.  "Orange.  Look it's orange. Yay orange. Wow orange."  Let's just say it didn't work quite as well on Henry.