September Update, Part III (of 3)

Baby Animals galore . . . Hogle Zoo was buzzing this year with everyone anxious to see the new little baby elephant and giraffe! They were sooo cute! As in the past, Mason wasn't real thrilled with the animals at first, but then he liked looking in the displays to see what he could find. There were a few he was scared of (the black bear, the elephants, and the huge cockroaches in the rain forest), but he liked to watch the monkeys and even tolerated the giraffes long enough for a photo! When we went on the Merry-go-round, he went straight for the peacock bench, but someone was already there, so he actually sat on the big giraffe! Tristyn was asleep so he used her ticket to go back, but that time would only sit on the sled. At least he had fun! I think his favorite thing is always the train. Tristyn liked it all! She loved watching the elephants and pretty much everything that was close enough to see. Luckily, she had a little nap in between so she was in a great mood! It was nice to get out and spend some time in the sun before it got cold!

Last weekend Melissa and Dan played catch out back with Mason. Well, it was more keep away than anything. Mostly Mason liked to get the ball and have them chase him to get it. Tristyn watched them run back and forth, but for some reason didn't want to walk through the grass to play. I guess the long grass tickled too much! She did end up with a super dirty face after playing on the slide and swings (top right photo). While they were doing all this . . . I was reading Twilight! I started it the day before and wanted to get through it on that Sunday before going back to work! Since then I've also read New Moon and started Eclipse last night! I'm now an addict and need to get through them so I can concentrate on other things! We watched the movie last night--A lot of things weren't as I imagined them, but I was glad that when I read afterward that I was able to go back to the things I imagined rather than what was in the movie. I can't wait until the opening of New Moon!

Not really an update for September, but Tristyn turned 16 months old on October 2nd! I can't believe she is getting so old, so big, and so smart! She has no problem getting her way has learned to sneak away and to naughty things even when we tell her no. Actually, when we tell her no she thinks it's really funny and she never stops what she's doing. She likes to copy us and shake her finger at us saying no, no, no. In the last couple of weeks she has been doing animal sounds on demand and she can do an elephant, duck, snake, dog, cat, cow, owl, frog, bunny, fish, lamb, bear, lion, dinosaur, tiger (the last four are all the same growl), monkey, and more. She says the names of a few animals too. On Friday when she heard the garage door open, she said "Dad"! Normally Mason hears it before she does and runs to the door, so it was cute that she recognized that he was home. She likes to climb on everything, most recently up on to the table. She likes to draw and gets mad when I take the pens away. I've had to scrub ink out of her shirts and off the couch, so I'm not so crazy about letting her walk around with pens! She mostly uses her left hand to color and draw, so maybe she'll be a lefty (won't be bump elbows at the dinner table?) She is getting better at going downstairs and I would almost allow her to play in the front room without the stairs being blocked (almost). She likes to dance and loves to run after Mason and be chased. She's giggly and likes to tease. The other day I was asleep on the recliner and she kept tickling my toes (maybe Dan put her up to it). She knows where her eyes, ears, nose, hair, belly button, and toes are and will also point to ours. The poor thing has been teething for what seems like months! Hopefully those nasty molers will be in soon so she'll sleep through the night! She likes to get up and watch Blue's Clue's, so I wonder if she's been faking it some nights! She's definately keeps us on our toes and is wearing us out! She's super cute and way fun, though!

As mentioned earlier, Mason is talking a lot more and is getting really good with words. He'll read a few of the words in his books and he especially likes to 'do words' on our computers, where he types words into Microsoft Word. He knows a lot of them from memory, but will also get one of his first words books and will look at the word, then type it in. He likes to type his name, mom, dad, Tristyn, Go Aggies, hat, bat, cat, and more. If he doesn't know, he'll ask us what letter is next. Tonight when we were reading, he asked what a word was ('and'). Some of the pages he has memorized, but I love that he'll look at the words and relate them to what's in the picture. He is learning his part for the primary program and has 'Choose the Right' down pat! Now if he'd just repeat the rest of it! My sister Karen and her husband Steve were in town for the weekend and he had a blast playing games on their iPod Touch (and messing up the apps). Thanks for keeping him entertained, guys! He likes to paint and write words, play outside, do puzzles (he can do a new 24 piece puzzle in a few minutes), play the 'board game' (wii fit), and play with the cookie scoop! He always wants to make cookies, but just because he wants to scoop them. Eating them is only the 2nd best part for him! He also loves pulling all the cushions off the couches and making towers, trains, and 'holes' to hide in. I don't really like that game, but I'm afraid it's going to get worse as the weather gets colder! Hopefully he'll like making towers and holes in the snow! Oh, and he's great at telling Tristyn 'no, no, no'.

Dan took Steve golfing for the first time yesterday and also took him shooting. We had fun with them here, so hopefully they had a nice visit too. I have boutiques for three weekends in a row, so October is going to be crazy. I better start planning for Mason's birthday! I still can't believe that summer is over! Where does the time go???

That's my update for now! Thanks for sticking with me! You should be able to click on any of the photo collages to see them larger.