Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving from our little turkey!

Public Service Announcement

I'm taking some time away from Stephen updates to post a link to an extraordinarily informative blog post regarding winter carseat safety. If you are a parent or grandparent, please, PLEASE read and watch the video. Carseats are ONLY safe if they are being used properly.

http://thestir.cafemom.com/baby/109699/6_tips_for_winter_car

In other news, Stephen still loves his new bed, and is sleeping much better. Hopefully this is the solution, and we'll all be better rested.

Big Boy Bed update!

Well, Stephen has been sleeping in his new bed all week, and so far, it's been going well! We thought that moving him to a larger bed would help reduce his night wakings, and it seems to be working. We suspected that Stephen was moving around at night, and waking himself up when he hit the sides of his small bed. Hopefully this new change will mean better sleep for ALL of us!

In other news, we have been busy planning Stephen's birthday party. We are hoping that his friends from school will be joining us to celebrate, and play. I think he'll have a really good time.

Big Doings at the Heine House!

Let's start with the events of Friday... Stephen went to the dentist! I don't have any pictures from that visit, as I was very busy wrangling a nervous boy. Stephen, unfortunately, has had to see enough "new" doctors in his life that he now gets very nervous at most doctors' offices. In spite of all of that, his teeth got a clean bill of health, and we'll head back in 6 months!

After the dentist, we headed over to the park to meet up with some friends. We played with a little boy from Stephen's class, and that boy's twin brother and older sister. It was FANTASTIC!! Stephen used to be very clingy when we went to the park, but this trip was completely different. He was running around with other kids, and trying to play with them - and not just the 3 kids he knew, but a large group of kids that were playing together! He went on the play structures by himself, and down all of the big slides on his own. He played pretend with his friend's brother and sister - the boy was pretending to be a giant, and once I explained it to Stephen, he decided to be the "brave boy" (that is what the sister dubbed him) who was chasing the giant. After about an hour and a half, we were pooped, and went home for a nap.
After naptime, Erik came home, and we went to the furniture store. We had decided last week that it was time to get Stephen in to a full-sized bed. His sleep was getting worse and worse, and we were guessing that he was waking himself up by rolling into the sides of his toddler bed. The bed was set to be delivered on Sunday, and Stephen was SO excited about his "big boy bed." Unfortunately, they brought the wrong frame, so they had to redeliver today.

Today... Stephen fell down some stairs and got his first goose egg. This was the best picture I could get of his injury. As you can see, he wasn't too upset about it at this point. He fell before school, but after watching him for 30 minutes, I decided to send him to class, but not after giving his teacher a head's up. She said that he did just fine all morning, and was fine by the time he came home. The swelling went down as the day wore on, but I suspect it will be more colorful when he wakes up in the morning!

This afternoon, however, the correct bed frame was delivered! They attached the headboard and footboard that used to be the front and back of his crib, and I got the rest set up for him! Stephen is quite pleased with his new bed.

After his stories, Stephen fell asleep with no problem. Here's hoping he'll sleep well all night, although I won't be shocked if he wakes up a little bit because it's hard for him to sleep the way he wants because of his head.

Trick or Treat!

We took our little robot out to the zoo to do some Trick or Treating on Saturday night. We had to wait in line for 45 minutes just to get in, putting it close to bedtime by that point. Stephen managed to keep up for the first half of the walk, but then he was just toast. It had been a long walk, and it was late. He really had a good time watching the other kids, and looking at all of their costumes. This picture was taken at one of the stops at the zoo.


On Sunday, we got a bit of an earlier start.

Stephen thought it was a lot of fun to show off his robot costume to all of his friends on the street. This was at one of our neighbors' houses, and he wasn't at all intimidated by the decorations!

In fact, here he is, dancing at that same house!

Halloween was a big success this year! We all had a lot of fun, and now we have more candy than we know what to do with!

Happy (Early) Halloween!

I thought I'd show off our Halloween banner, created by Grandma Deb! I just love it, but I'll hang it somewhere else next year. Maybe in front of our... NEW WINDOW!! Do you like it? I know, it's hard to tell what you are looking at, but it's a double pane, double hung window, replacing the one damaged in the hail storm. You also may be blinded by our freshly painted, white porch!

This year, Stephen is a robot for Halloween. I've been working for a week or so on his costume, and he tried it on this morning before the finishing touches were added. He wanted to be a dancing robot.

And a silly robot...

But mostly, just very happy with his costume. When I ask him, "Who's a robot?" he points to his chest.

We are going Trick or Treating at the Zoo tomorrow night, and going to our neighbors' homes on Sunday. Should be fun!

Our little Stephen has had many new accomplishments this week! In addition to pedaling his tricycle (downhill, but he keeps his feet on the pedals, which is an improvement!), he has also begun walking up the stairs outside our house without assistance. He will only do that with his dad thus far, but it's a major accomplishment nonetheless.

Stephen was invited to his first birthday party today. The party was for his friend's sister, who was turning 5. They had a Moon Bounce at the party, and after overcoming his initial fear, Stephen LOVED bouncing in it! He wasn't jumping on his own (we're still working on that), but got some good air time with the help of his dad. I forgot my camera, so I don't have any pictures. Stephen really enjoyed the party, and loved seeing his friend (this is another little boy in his preschool class).

This week will bring another first - the first FIELD TRIP!! I am, of course, going as a chaperone to the farm, where the pre-k kids will be learning about animals and pumpkins. I'm going to drive Stephen myself since they are not taking the buses with the carseats in them. When he's bigger he can take the bus, but for now, it makes me feel better to know he's safely strapped in to a carseat. I WILL remember to take the camera for this one!!