So much to be Thankful for!

Busted! Joe left Summy alone for a minute and look what she got into!

Walking!

Thanksgiving was a pretty low-key event. It felt good to relax with the family. Uncle Aaron came to visit us for a few days from college, so we were all thrilled to see him, especially Leo. At night, we went to my parents house for turkey dinner and Somerset decided to debut her first steps there. Perfect timing! I guess she was just waiting for the perfect audience. Since then, she is slowly building her confidence and I have witnessed her take as many as 8 steps in a row.

Leo has been very interested in numbers and counting and he is trying to learn to count to 100. He is very close to doing it without assistance, so I bet that by the end of the week, he will reach his goal. Go Leo!!!

We decided to finally sleep train Somerset. The first night was difficult with her waking almost every hour, but luckily for me, Joe dealt with all her wake-ups. The next night she did great, no wake-ups, just an early morning wake-up (5:45 a.m.). Last night, she only woke up once and went back to sleep easily. I am so relieved that we have decided to start getting more sleep.

Tonight we visited Santa at our mall, and the kids looked so cute. I really wanted that perfect Christmas photo, but Somerset freaked out when we put her on Santa's lap. We may try again soon, but this time Joe and I will jump in the photo to help our precious girl out.

Happy Birthday Daddy!!!

New outfit....cute guy!

Crazy hat lady!

My 2 favorite guys!!!

Somerset LOVES drawing.

Our blanket fort.
It stayed up all weekend.

Almost walking!

Joe turned 35 on a very special day, 11-11-11. He took the day off and we had some quality family time. Joe did what he wanted to, which included much needed napping and a trip to a local burger joint. We planned to go out and have some fun with a few of Joe's friends at night, but babysitting plans fell through, so Joe went alone. I tried to make the most of my night, so I built a blanket fort with Leo. Joe received some $ for his b-day and plans to add to his sneaker collection. I also bought him a new outfit and had the kids make his framed art using their hand prints.

Somerset is sooooo close to walking. She cruisers confidently and can pull herself into a standing position without the aid of furniture. She can also stand for up to a minute without sitting, so I am sure she will be walking very soon.

She is down to one nap a day and I am also trying to ween her. I remove a feeding here and there, but the next big step will be to stop the night time feedings. Yikes!!!

I started a class with Somerset called Tots and Tunes, which features singing, instruments and general play with kids ages 12-18 months. We had so much fun!!! Leo was always a challenge in these settings because he was into mischief, but she was super engaged in the class and loving every minute of it.

She has recently become obsessed with books. She often comes to me or Joe with a book and requests for us to read it. Her attention span is quite short, but I love that she has so much interest in books. She also pretends to read books on her own, which really surprised me and Joe.

Leo loves playing a game in which we pretend like we are animals. We are dogs, beavers, foxes or mice. I am always the mommy and Leo and Somerset are the babies. Daddy is usually the pet owner. He gives us names too. He has been Coconut Pie, Zumba or Mickey. Somerset is almost always Zoey and I am Skateboard Ice Cream. He likes to play this game in my bed and burrow under the covers to sleep and then wake up for snacks. It is amongst the cutest thing he does.

He has also become so much better behaved. The last 6 months have brought about a dramatically more mature Leo. He is so much more reasonable and Joe and I love it!

He is also getting a more refined sense of humor. The other day, when I was cuddling him for a nap, I accidentally said, "I love you Summer." He responded with, "I love you Daddy," with a gleam in his eye. He then said, "Daddy, can I play with your phone?" knowing darn well that I don't have a phone for him to play with. He was clearly teasing me and it was so much fun.

Leo is also really interested in numbers. He is always asking what number combos are called, Mommy, what's and eight and a seven?" I think he will have 1-100 down soon enough.

Halloween!

My little Spiderman and lady bug had a great Halloween. Our little Summy was sick leading up to Halloween, so she missed the trick or treating, but she was able to greet the the trick or treaters with Joe.

The day before, we took the kids to Bridgeport Plaza (an outdoor mall), where they went from store to store gathering candy. The treats were great and the kids had so much fun. Leo was able to practice using his good manners and we got even more candy (oh know!).

Halloween was fun! I got into the spirit by carving a kitty bat pumpkin and making orange, skull sugar cookies with Leo. I love these holiday themed activities. I also LOVED taking Leo around our neighborhood, which is small enough to hit up most of the houses. Leo loves collecting the candy and showing off. Since he is so outgoing, it is fun for him to meet new people as we cruise the neighborhood.

The candy has been a great incentive to get Leo to eat. If he eats all the content of his meals, breakfast excluded, he gets to choose a candy.

Now, I am getting excited about Christmas...my favorite holiday of them all!