Some things...

We have been awfully busy around here lately! Last Friday (11/13), I joined Stephen at school for a Thanksgiving Luncheon. The director cooked all of the food herself!! Parents volunteered to bring drinks and/or desserts, and it was a delicious meal. Stephen surprised me by not only sitting in a regular chair all by himself (no booster seat!!), but using his fork remarkably well for the situation. He was definitely lower to the table than he was used to, but he did well anyways. This bodes well for our trip to see Aunt Erin, Uncle Adam, and Cousin Zachary, so that we don't have to worry about a booster for meals!! He also drank about half of a juice box, and then wouldn't take a nap... I had left him at school after the meal so I could get some more housework done, and he could play with his best buddy.

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Stephen has been waking up during the night wanting to use the potty, and often times, he has a dry diaper! So when it started getting colder at night, our poor boy was cold when he was on the potty, because he was wearing a blanket sleeper, and had to be completely stripped down to use the toilet. The other day at Target, I came upon this:

Yep, it's a two-piece, fleece PJ set! Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find it in any other patterns yet... (If you notice that his nose appears bruised and a bit swollen, it is. He was running in the family room, and didn't pick up his feet when he got to the rug, and did a face-plant)

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On Saturday, we went over to JCPenney to have this year's portraits of Stephen taken. He did remarkably well considering he has had a cold for several days. He also decided that he didn't like that the flooring in the studio was squishy - we think he felt off-balance due to the cold/congestion and the odd floor. He absolutely REFUSED to stand on that floor either in shoes or not, but he was fine once we got out the door. Strange. And that is why he wasn't wearing shoes in the photos! Here is a little sneak peak...

The shirt was a custom order from www.hopscotchsquare.etsy.com. I think she did a great job! I suspect, however, that Stephen will quickly outgrow this shirt (just based on how his growth has been these last several months!), and we will be asking Grandma Janet to put the "3" applique onto another, larger shirt.

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Stephen is now tall enough to turn on and off all of the lights in our house. When he was first able to do it a few weeks ago in his shoes, I measured him, and he was just under 37" tall. He can now do it in his bare feet with minimal stretching, so he has probably grown a bit since then. It's just amazing how much more he is growing now the he SLEEPS!!!

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Speech is coming along wonderfully! Stephen has been babbling more and more around the house (and OUT of the house more too!), and is having actual conversations with us on occasion. His vocabulary is growing by leaps and bounds, and he is USING his words more frequently. Erik asked him a question a few days ago, and instead of just shaking his head "no," he actually SAID, "no!" And when Erik then reminded him that using his words was fun, Stephen said, "VVVVVUUN!!" (fun) We are loving hearing his voice finally!