Neighborhood Halloween

The Pusateri's had basically the whole neighborhood over before Trick-or-Treat tonight for dinner, although we just stopped by for a little bit.  It was very fun to see all of the kids in their costumes.  Diana is in the front left, already eating a sucker and Jonathan is in the very back on the left.  So many cute kids and costumes!

Happy Halloween

I did a horrible job of getting pictures of the kids this Halloween.  Thank goodness that my parents were here to help me Halloween night because it was a bit chaotic.  I can only imagine what next year will be like when Diana actually understands trick-or-treating.  Ah!  A special thank you to Nana for making such adorable costumes for the kids again this year.  Captain Hook and Tinkerbell sure were cute!

Halloween PJ's

Thank you Nana for our adorable Halloween pajamas!  Not only did we really need pajamas that fit for this time of the year, they are so festive! 

Pizza Parlor

Diana is starting to outgrow the "put everything in my mouth" phase so I am allowing her to play with the pizza making toys (before the pieces were too small and would go right in her mouth).  Jonathan still is a little protective of his pizza stuff so Diana has learned that while Jonathan is at school she can play with "his" toys.  Today she even made me put on his apron, which I thought she looked adorable in.  She is still very much a busy body!

Turner Farm

We went to Turner Farm with Jonathan's preschool class today.  This is our favorite farm so it was fun to be able to go again this year.  Jonathan has a great class and a wonderful teacher.  It was really neat to get to see Jonathan interact with his classmates.  He definitely is a social child!  He picked some HUGE turnips and even tried them.  We brought a couple home to snack on because he liked them so much.  We then fed the sheep the turnips and he wasn't too sure about that part of the field trip.  He got to bring home a white pumpkin too, which he has been teasing for a white pumpkin all season.

We Will Miss You

GB & Grandpa Weeks!  Today was the last day we are going to get to see GB & Grandpa Weeks until Thanksgiving!   We have enjoyed our special time with them, especially the Friday's as of late.   The kids love to play outside these days and we spend most of our time out there.  We have to enjoy the weather before it gets too cold.  Diana still only goes backwards in her cozy coupe but has gotten very good at climbing up the jungle gym and going down the slide.

Diana is 17 Months

Diana is 17 months old! So hard to believe. She is definitely not a baby anymore but in full toddler mode! She is a very busy bee and hardly sits still. She will sit still while she is eating but when she is done, she wants out of that highchair as quickly as possible. She is being very stubborn and refusing to give up her bottle. She only gets a bottle in the morning and at night now. During the day I try and give her milk in a sippy cup and she bats it away. She will drink water just fine from a sippy cup just not milk. There has been lots of crying and temper tantrums over the bottle but I am trying to be as stubborn as she is. :-) I have noticed that she eats a lot more food during the day now that she isn't drinking as much milk. She is a good eater and eats things I didn't think she would, such as black beans. I think her favorite things right now would be tomatoes (she goes over to the garden when we are outside and just points) and yogurt (any time I give her a spoon to play with she will walk over to the fridge and point. When I get the yogurt out she starts "happy" dancing and gets very excited). She normally goes to bed about 7 to 7:30 and wakes up around 7 am. She no longer takes a morning nap unless she is up early (6 am) or is fussy but then usually takes an afternoon nap from noon until 2 to 2:30. She still has her pacifier but I try to limit that only to her bed although she has been getting smart and any time we are upstairs she will go in to her room, pull herself up on the crib rail and reach in for one. Or when we get her out of bed, she will have one in her mouth which we take out, but she will be hiding at least one if not two in her hands. Since I last wrote an update about her I feel like she has started doing a lot more things, although none of them on queue very often, it has to be on her terms. She now waves and says hi. We will be playing outside and she will wave to the cars that drive by. I am afraid she will be a social butterfly just like her brother. She also blows kisses and makes a noise while she does it, "Mmmmmwwwaaa!" She is constantly pointing at things she wants or sees and grunts. We are working on words and she will copy a lot of sounds, she just doesn't have very many words yet. She has to be doing whatever her brother is doing and I think he might be her favorite toy. She loves it when he plays with her, even when he is tickling her. She loves it outside and throws fits when we have to come inside. She has discovered the sand pit outside and loves her riding toys and wagon. She goes backwards still on the riding toys but just the other day she went forward just a little bit. She is up to 8 teeth!  She is cutting her teeth better and this last one I didn't even know she was getting it until I saw it.  She is still very independent and "spirited" but that is the little girl I have known to love and I don't know if I would want it any other way now. 

Capital T

Trouble with a capital T....yes, I am speaking about Diana.  Today after I dropped the boys (Alex, Evan and Jonathan) off at school, we had to drop the van back off at Shonda's.  Diana fell asleep in the car, which she normally does these days, but when I went to get her out of her seat she threw a fit.  She kicked and screamed the whole way home.  I thought she was just tired so wanted to get her to her bed as quickly as possible.  I took her up there and she didn't calm down...major temper tantrum (another reason for the capital T).  I brought her downstairs and she wanted her shoes on and go outside.  When I said No, she screamed louder so I thought, ok fine I will go eat lunch and give you some time to calm down.  I even gave her the bottle thinking it would help...nope.  So finally I decided she just needs to cry it out in bed.  Bad idea on my part!  By the time I could get downstairs I heard a big thud and louder crying.  I figured she had fallen out of bed and sure enough, when I opened her bedroom door there she was standing by the door.  I have no idea how she got out.  Luckily she didn't hurt herself.  I knew this day was coming, where she would crawl out, I just didn't think it would be so soon.  Ugh!  She is sleeping peacefully in her bed now.

On a side note, Shonda watched the kids this morning and sent this picture.  Evan adores Diana.

No Diana!

As I am making dinner tonight and Jonathan was having some "down" time after school, I hear "NOOOOO Diana!"  I went into the living room to see what was going on and this is what I see.  I decided the only thing I could do was to take a picture and laugh.  Diana literally dumped an entire bag (Sam's club size) full of cereal onto the trampoline and was saying "Oh Oh" and pointing.  This is a very blurry picture but the kids faces are priceless.  I didn't even hear her come into the kitchen and grab the cereal.  Guess I will be moving the cereal.

Halloween Decorations

Jonathan is a typical Norwoodian.  He LOVES Halloween decorations!  Every day he asks if there is anything else we can put up.  He is seeing things in other people's yard and asking if we can do that.  So far we only have our scarecrows (one unfortunately did get stolen this past weekend...Jonathan thinks we should call the police) and new this year our spiderweb and big spider.  While we were outside today the Goodyear blimp flew over our house.  Literally right on top of us.  I get out of the car and couldn't figure out what that noise was, I look up and the blimp was right there.  By the time I ran into the house for the camera, it was further away but still very cool.

Family Hayride

We celebrated GB and Kyle's birthdays today by spending the day together and going to a pumpkin patch.  It was a little chilly but we all still had fun.  Jonathan got spoiled by GB and Grandpa by getting to pick out a pumpkin, going on a train ride (and hayride), an attempt at going into the haunted farm (but he got scared and didn't want to go in any further than the door), and a caramel apple.  Whose birthday was it anyway!?!?  :-)  We then spent the day all hanging out together and having dinner.  Happy birthday GB and Kyle!

Fall Family Pictures

We had some fall family pictures taken last Sunday.  I didn't have very high expectations with Diana as she had no interest in sitting still or smiling.  She was also very distracted as the park was pretty busy.  Jonathan refused to put on his sweater as it was actually pretty warm.  So all in all, I think they turned out fairly well.

Play Time

Daddy had a United Way volunteer event today so the kids and I got creative in our play.  Jonathan loves to climb the tree in our backyard so while Diana was sleeping he hung out in there for awhile.  We got out Diana's tunnel for her and she had so much fun in it.  She would squeal especially when Jonathan was chasing her through it.  She also started rolling around in it today which I had not seen her do before.  She thought that was fun!

Tough Guy

GB and Grandpa came down again today...to help me furniture shop, again.  I just can't find chairs that I like that will fit in my space.  Anyways, after Grandpa watched the kids for a couple hours while GB and went shopping, Jonathan was outside riding his bike and somehow he rode his bike off the wall.  We have one little spot on our driveway that is missing a brick, so there is a hole, and Jonathan claims he tried to stop but his bike couldn't stop.  Brad thinks he was testing his limits to see how close he could get to the edge and fell over the wall.  Regardless, we are lucky he is ok and I don't think he will do it again.  I am stickler on wearing a helmet while bike riding, so much in fact that Jonathan won't let anyone on his bike without a helmet.  Now we have even another reason to make sure a helmet is worn at all times on his bike!

More Preschool Pictures

Mrs. Riccardi sent some more pictures today...

She said that Alex and Jonathan were listening to music from the computer and to ask them what color it made them feel like.  Jonathan didn't tell me a color but he did say that it was fun!  That there were drums beating and that he danced crazy!  I can only imagine.

They are working on their grids still and got to use a T-Square to help them draw the grids.  Jonathan thinks T-squares are pretty cool.

Sensory Table

Today at school Jonathan played with water in his sensory table.  He told me this was his favorite thing in school today.  Another picture from Mrs. Riccardi.  She promises us parents that she really is teaching and not on her phone all day, and I believe her.  Jonathan has already learned so much this year it is incredible!

Preschool Update

Mrs. Riccardi emailed a picture today of Jonathan playing in the muscle room.  Looks like he is having fun!  I noticed that Jonathan has been writing Jon on some of his papers...which is like nails on a chalkboard to me.  When I asked him about it, he said Mrs. Riccardi said it was ok.  I decided to ask her about it and she said that she thought his long name was keeping him from art and other activities. They have to have their name or some identifiable mark on their papers.  She said he needs to write his name at least once during the day and then he can do a shorter name.  She told me that he wrote two words (Wrote...jumping and climbing) today but wanted her to have them so she put them on display in the blocks. She also said this about Jonathan..."He is one of the most empathic children I know. What a gift. He's a good friend to all and has taken a special interest in Lola and Gracie.  He asks lots of thoughtful questions and loves a challenge."  I thought it was very sweet of her to say all that about him but the funny thing is he talks about Lucy and Stella in his class to Brad and me and doesn't mention Lola and Gracie.