Halloween

Halloween was a busy time for us. We had three major activities: a party in the community garden, the annual lantern parade around Jamaica Pond, and handing out candy on the night itself. It was also a time when we realized procrastination isn't necessarily the best way to get things done. We waited to the last minute to get Elliot his costume, and we had to settle for a dinosaur costume that was a bit too small. Who knew? The important thing is: he got to learn what a dinosaur says. In case you don't know, it says "graaawl." Much like a lion and a bear.

Here's Elliot looking ferocious.



And again, waiting for his prey.


On the actual Halloween night, Elliot hung out with his other predator friend Henry. They were supposed to hand out candy together. Although most of the night, they simply took the candy out of the bowl and put it back in again. Fun fun!


As all good things must come to an end, his dinosaur persona was quickly replaced with sleepy boy persona. Here he is, after days of predator behavior, returning to his previous identity as the "perfect little angel." ha ha.

Vermont Trip

We made it to Vermont this fall. With a great invitation from our friends with a house - we all headed up north to enjoy the foliage season.

It looked something like this:



And we felt something like this:


We went into this tool museum, where they have a collection of centuries of household and farm tools. Let's just say it wasn't child friendly. Elliot had quite the gleam in his eyes.


But, as with most trips to Vermont in the fall, the most important part of the trip was stomping in leaves. This is where Elliot made that discovery. I don't think he'll ever be the same.



The action is caught on tape. With that giggle, he is really saying, "Leaves will set me free!"

California Pool Madness

In September, we took a trip to Los Angeles to visit with family. The theme of the trip: swimming pools. Elliot and water go together - perhaps that is why he says "das boot" quite regularly. It would seem that my son can pick a boat out of any picture, any he can recognize boats in pictures even where they don't exist.

Take a look at these boats:







We took lots of family pics - both at my parents' house:


This is Elliot, with his maternal grandmother and paternal great-grandmother.

And Justeen's sister's house:

Fall Harvest

There are few excuses for being so inattentive to this blog. But, let me try to find them: this has been a crazy few months. It's hard for me to find the time to update this thing. Yeah, yeah, you say. Should your work life trump your ability to communicate your son's milestones? Well, no. But alas, it has. So, without further apology, allow me to present to you the last several months in pictures.

When we returned from the UK, we went directly to a New England farm so that we could regain our sense of place. Without much pause, we went straight to the petting zoo.



Elliot was not for a second fooled when I stood behind the great cardboard bison.



Then we sat.


But a funny thing happened during this trip to the farm. We discovered just how many peaches Elliot could eat at one time. I kid you not - the boy ate three of them. And no, he didn't have "running" problems afterward.

All was well.