One of Emmett's latest obsessions is his red tricycle he got for his first birthday. The reason it has surged in favor is that he finally wears his helmet, so we take it out in the neighborhood! He loves going "fast!" and is good at slowing down/looking for cars, and has only tumbled twice. He also loves hanging (there are some hanging bars like on playgrounds on our neighborhood greenway that he learned it from, and now he wants to hang on EVERYTHING). He wants to see everything (whenever I finish a meal, he demands to see the inside of my bowl to ensure it's empty like I promised it was - ha!). He's also showing lots of interest in potty training, so we got a second option for downstairs (we have a stand alone kid potty upstairs, so I got a lid with little stairs for the downstairs) and will need to put a potty training book in my amazon cart I guess. I'm not ready yet really, but it'll be nice to get our feet wet (ha!) over the next few months.
We had a busy November including a trip to Grandma and Papa's (Emmett decided to call him that all of a sudden) and the San Antonio zoo. Emmett LOVES "telling the story" about our visit to the zoo and still perks up whenever he gets to tell it.
We also had a delightful visit out to Barton Hills Farms near Bastrop for his friend George's birthday party - he loved the baby pigs and goats, pumpkins and jump spot and tells that story too :)
We traveled to Houston for my nephew Ben's birthday and also go to stay with our friends Christine and Nate (and their darling daughter Aurelia). It was a whirlwind weekend and a great chance to see my sister one last time before she has baby boy #2!
Thanksgiving week was full of family and fun. Luke's brother and his girlfriend came for a visit from Raleigh, and his parents joined in too. Then his extended family came for a belated celebration on Friday. Luke fried the turkeys and I made this cheesy corn casserole from Bon Appetit and they brought a slew of sides.
7:30 a.m. I hear Emmett making happy noises in his crib. I'm thrilled he slept in this late since we were spoiled by grandparents hopping up when he wakes up and letting us sleep in all week. I come in and he says "grandma? papa? dada?" - sorry to disappoint kid, just plain ol' mommy today! Luke stayed up late playing video games with his bestie in Corpus Christi, so I let him sleep in. We head downstairs and I start the coffee, then Emmett wants me to read him several books. Then I change a dirty diaper and he asks for breakfast. He's super into pumpkin yogurt (half canned pumpkin, half Greek yogurt) that he then dunks cereal in. And, he's mixing up his fruit loves (apples are always #1) and recently also really likes pomegranates and raspberries.
8:00 a.m. Luke comes down just in time to sit down with us for breakfast. I have my bowl of PBJ oats with raspberries and blackberries and a nice big cup of coffee. No pic - sorry!
8:20 Emmett is all done and (shocker) wants to play. I throw some shoes on him and Luke takes him in the backyard to play while I tidy up from breakfast a bit and pack up our hiking gear for a morning outing. Then we swap and Luke gets himself ready and does a bit more kitchen cleaning while Emmett and I play at the sand box.
9:15 a.m. We hop in the car and drive towards the Turkey Creek Trail, about 25 minutes away from our place. Emmett happily watches Daniel Tiger (and I think he missed it since he didn't really watch all last week).
9:45 a.m. The parking lot is bumping, but there's room for us - woohoo! So many hikers and their dogs out today (it's a gorgeous off-leash dog trail and I don't think they allow bikes, so dog lovers frequent this place big time). Emmett wants to start out hiking and we happily oblige him. But I think he's a little tired because after two mild "tumbles" he wants to go "up!" on Dada. Luke wore the Onya so we could easily put Emmett up and down and not have the bulky hiking pack for when Emmett was walking - it's perfect especially when we're both there so I could wear the backpack with snacks/water/diapers. We do a mile adult paced then Emmett wants to get down and hike again. He has so much fun hopping over the rocks and roots and figuring out the best way to get places. Eventually the pace slows and we near lunchtime, so we throw him back up and walk (/run! He wanted a fast pony ride on dada, so we were the weirdos galloping down the trail). That brings us to 75 miles so far this month for the Hike It Baby 30 Challenge - sweet! Beating our September 65 miles, I'll take it.
12:10 p.m. Back in the car home, more Daniel Tiger for E (don't judge me!). Then the guys horse around in the front yard playing with chalk while I warm up Thanksgiving leftovers for lunch. We finish up all the sides but still have plenty of turkey left for some dishes I'm making this week (score!).
1:00 p.m. Emmett wants to go back outside to play, so I pour his milk and we head out. With the nice weather, he's taken to enjoying his milk outside to watch squirrels and have me read to him. I totally love it so we do that again. He's FINALLY OFF THE BOTTLE! We got him to use a transitional bottle a Hike It Baby friend passed down to me, but we accidentally left it in Houston last weekend, so on our drive back we picked up a hard spout cup and he's been using it no problem. At last! He's not tired at all yet and we run around and party for a while, playing basketball, running in circles and having tickle fights (kid LOVES tickles). I sneak upstairs to take a shower because it is NECESSARY.
2:00 p.m. I emerge from the shower as I hear the guys brushing teeth, so I make it in time to help tuck him in and read his book, then we say bye bye. Luke and I have a whirlwind naptime where we put up our Christmas tree and inside decor, install our new TV (Luke found a black Friday deal and pulled the trigger since some of the pixels were failing on our old 65 inch TV), I finished the last installment Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, and I worked on this blog post. I also whip up some beet hummus to take to our friends' house later this evening.
4:45 p.m. Geez this kid is STILL asleep. He must be growing/teething because I swear his sleep has been epic this past week. I'm also certain come Monday it'll be back to normal, so I'm embracing what I have while I have it. I go up to wake him and we get right in the car to head to our friends' house.
5:15 p.m. It's paella night! Our friends do an annual paella night to kick off the holidays. They live in one of the beautiful Mueller courtyard homes so Emmett loves to run around with the other kids there (and they had a super cute dance party too). The paella was SO FREAKING GOOD, we were all raving about it (did I mention she's 9 months pregnant? #myhero). Emmett was being picky unfortunately, so he loved the salmon in the seafood paella and some crackers, but no rice or anything else.
6:45 p.m. E has decided he's all done with being there (and oops, that's usually when we start bedtime nowadays) so we say our goodbyes and head home. E is still hungry and asks for broccoli, so I whip him up a bowl that he munches on -score! We check out the Christmas tree and he puts as few ornaments on, then we snuggle and tickle on the rug.
7:30 p.m. We all go upstairs to start tubby time. E enjoys playing with toys and helps scrub himself down. Then we sing the shark towel song, put on a diaper and let him select his jammies. (He screams WEEOOO WEEEOO on the top of his lungs looking for fire truck jammies - they're all dirty so he settles for construction truck bottoms and elephant tops). He enjoys some milk while we read him books. Then it's time to brush teeth and get in bed. We read him one last book and all say goodnight!
8:15 p.m. He went down a little later than usual (and we hear him talking to his animals on the monitor another 10 minutes) but we'll take it! We sit down to watch Designated Survivor and admire the new TV.
9:45 p.m. We head upstairs to get ready for bed. I get through one chapter of my book and lights out by 10 after 10.
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E woke up at 6:45 the next day which wasn't bad, but only had a 45 minute nap which NEVER happens. It all evens out I suppose :)
