Halloween

Eddie has been really into the idea of Halloween this year. He has been talking about it for weeks. "Halloween is coming," he says. "Where is Halloween?" He has been really interested in all the kinds of monsters and ghouls: he learned about mummies recently, and was really enamored of the word because it sounds a lot like "Mommy" but means something very different.

Talking about mummies revealed a big gap in Papa's education! I told him that mummies are dead and wrapped up in bandages, and are in big tombs, and that if you steal treasure from the tomb, the mummy will come alive and come after you, moving slowly but inexorably until it catches you. Eddie wanted to know what happens when the mummy catches you, and, well, I don't know! What does happen if a mummy catches you? Zombies will eat you, vampires drink your blood, witches turn you into a frog, werewolves bite you, but mummies?

Another time, he gave Mommy the lego treasure piece, informed her that she was a mummy, then stole the treasure ("I steal your treasure!!!" he says. He actually pronounces the exclamation points, somehow.) So Mommy made the requisite angered mummy sounds while Eddie scampered around. Then he had second thoughts about this plan, so he gave it back (saying "I give back treasure.") So Mommy-mummy says "Oh. Well, I guess that's all right then." Does a mummy's curse get lifted if you return the treasure? I don't know!

Frankenstein's monster is another of Eddie's favorites. He first saw him in an anatomy book we had from the library a few months ago, and he's also in several of the books we have around now. Ever since that first book, Eddie has always been careful to say "Frankenstein's monster" and corrects us whenever we call it "Frankenstein." He doesn't seem to mind saying the long name over and over: frequently he pretends to be Frankenstein's monster, and he'll say "I'm Frankenstein's monster. Frankenstein's monster likes to play! You Dr. Frankenstein. Read to Frankenstein's monster!"

Anyway, here's Vincent:

The Darndest Things

I asked Eddie to clean up a mess he had made in his room, but he wandered out too soon to have done it and started playing. "Hey Eddie," I said. "Did you clean your room?"  "Not really," he said.

When Eddie wants to be free of parental interference, he says "No coming!" This is almost always a sign that we need to come. The other morning, he said "No coming!" I peeked around the corner and saw him in the glider chair. "Why not?" I asked. When he saw that I'd seen him, he grinned and said "Cookies!" The rascal had grabbed a pack of cookies out of the kitchen and was trying to figure out how to open it!

Today, we went for a walk and Eddie found some hair bands on the ground, which he decided to bring home. After we got back, he wanted to put them in his hair, but it wasn't long enough. He thought about it. "If my hair grows bigger and bigger, then I become a girl?"

We haven't really taught Eddie about the days of the week (we don't have a very rigorous schedule ourselves.) But he goes out to get the paper with me every day, and this morning when he saw it, he said "Paper big. It's Sunday? Big funnies?"

Rabbits

This morning, Eddie had a big box which he was using as a bear cave. While crawling around growling like a bear, he carried a toy rabbit in his mouth into the cave, then said "I ate the rabbit!"

"Yeah," I said. "Bears eat rabbits."

"What do rabbits eat?" he asked. "Plants," I told him.

"What do YOU eat?" he asked. "I also eat plants," I said. "And rabbits too."

"Noooooo!" he said. He was appalled. "Don't eat rabbits!"

"But people eat rabbits," I asserted.

"No, eat food!" said Eddie. "Rabbits are food," I told him.

"No, you eat sandwiches," he said.

Well, he got me there.

Vincent asleep and awake

Brothers

Vincent

Eddie's little brother Vincent joined us unexpectedly early, Tuesday morning! He is wonderful and healthy. With birth weight 7 lbs 6 oz, he's much smaller than Eddie ever was. Vincent loves his Mamma and likes to be with her all the time. When she holds him, he is often very sleepy. When Papa holds him, he often gets riled up, which is good because then he's awake enough to eat.

Vincent is very good at hand control already! He can hit Papa in the face when Papa is making him mad, and he grabbed my glasses off my face and threw them on the ground when he was only 4 days old.

We tried tummy time for the first time today. He managed to roll onto his back, all by himself! (I remember Eddie managing a similar feat around the same age; he didn't do it again for many months.)

Eddie likes to rock Vincent's bassinet, rub his tummy, and sing him lullabies (we're still working on proper volume.) Eddie has also started crossing his eyes a lot, in imitation. Eddie gets excited when Vincent is awake, saying "Baby's eyes are open?!" Then he'll hold Vincent's hand and say "Look at me, baby. I'm your big brother."