unveiling of the costume...Little Pim

This is Lo's very first Halloween! He was born a few days after Halloween last year, so he just missed celebrating it in 2009 (well, I did decorate my belly, but that doesn't quite count as his first costume). We missed out on the Halloween parties put on by Jerry's work & our church since we were traveling on those dates, and then didn't go trick or treating since the holiday fell on the Sabbath this year--but we just had to find ways to document this cutest of costumes. So we took a quick trip to the local Sears portrait studio yesterday: Our Lo is sporting a panda look this year. Not just any old panda, mind you, but the multilingual Little Pim, who has been gracing our home via dvds from the local library as of late.

This costume is size 2T, but I'm certain he won't be able to wear it next year. Oh well. It doubles as a toy/stuffed animal since Lo has been playing with it all month, dragging it all around the house making growling bear noises at the same time.

The lady taking his photos insisted on doing crazy stunts like stuffing him in this basket, and he kept trying to climb out of course--which resulted in him falling and bumping his head (see the red spot?!) and then when I tried to say, "Ok, that's enough pictures," she said they had a minimum amount to take. So she made our poor crying baby sit there for a few more minutes while she clicked away. Crazy.

Anyway, Halloween was great. More good posts about it to come. I think. I am actually overwhelmed by how behind I've gotten on blogging stuff from the trip we took recently plus the holiday stuff and other everyday cuteness. What to do.

Whittling away at it

Well, I still have this intimidating chunk of photos left to blog from our Boise trip--and no time to do it, it seems. So I'll just whip out a short post. Another free birthday meal for me, my grandparents took us out to Tucanos. That Lo enjoyed sampling everything from my plate, and most enjoyed strawberries, as you may observe from seeing his face/shirt: Wish we remembered to bring a bib! This next photo is blurry, but precious enough that it still got posted. Lo feeding Grandpa Clark (this is actually Great Grandpa now):

Thanks Grandma and Grandpa for the fun lunch, and especially thanks for making sure the whole restaurant sang to me, Grandpa (I would have dodged it if it weren't for your "helpful" reminding of the server, lol).

Interview with an RM

Just a few days after he returned home from serving 2 years in Australia, we got my little brother on camera...So cute. My aunt Jennifer had stopped by my parents' house that morning and had the idea to do a quick impromptu interview. Good idea! Gotta capture that accent before it fades away. This will be an especially fun clip for anybody who has known Brandon before his mission.

birthday stuff

My birthday recently turned into one of those glorious week-long events, with lovingkindnesses showed me by myriad friends and family. I am so thankful to get to have birthday fun in both Idaho and Ohio. I feel very loved! One fun thing we did here in Ohio was to visit a local Hibachi restaurant. It offers free meals for the birthday guest. When Lo saw all the fireworks and clattering of the chef, his eyes just about popped out of his head and his mouth dropped open. It was so funny and cute how amazed he stayed for nearly the whole mealtime. We didn't have our camera, but just picture that our Lo looked like this:

The most precious part for Jerry was when Lo got a little scared of the flames (they jumped several feet high into the air!) and then our sweet baby boy clutched his daddy's shirt and snuggled into his shoulder for comfort.

Also wonderful: we shared a table with another family, and their boy was an aspiring magician. He did magic tricks for us while we waited for the food/show to start. Adorable.

Out for awhile

We are vacationing with family in Boise right now. My little brother returned home from his mission to Australia Brisbane, Chinese speaking. We enjoyed his homecoming talk, and it has been sweet to hang out with him. He still has that delightful missionary spirit about him, and I like to have him speak Mandarin with Lo. Jerry had to go back to work, so he flew back to Ohio this morning. We should have a lot of fun pictures and stories to post soon, but before I get anything uploaded, I just wanted to say a cute thing that happened while we were packing last week.

I brought out our suitcases to the middle of the room while packing, and Lo thought they were his coolest new toys. He climbed all over them, and then started to spin the upturned wheels while making car noises. He likes cars and trucks and often makes an imitation of their noise when he sees them or is reading a book about them, etc.

I may have neglected to mention Lo also makes animal noises. He tends to do a growly noise for them all though--overgeneralizing, but we don't care because it is still darling to see he recognizes animals as something distinctive. He got to play with a cat and some chickens yesterday. Good pics to come soon...stay tuned.

pumpkins, pumpkins everywhere

We have had so many pumpkins around our house lately, several had to be eaten. I felt a little cannibalistic cooking cute little pumpkins that Lo had used as playmates for days on end... But he didn't seem to mind eating these little friends one bit. Now, they weren't all LITTLE pumpkins, mind you. This ginormous one has been a lot of fun even before the carving stage:

Testing his strength yet again, Lo tried to lift it. Not sure how much it weighs, but it even seems too heavy for him to roll:

I like that his shirt color matches the pumpkin. =)

Here is the whole pumpkin family that we brought home this October.

I made Jerry stop for pictures as he carried The Big One out the door. Here it is next to a "regular" pumpkin for size comparison.

And check out the guns on my man.

We found half of our pumpkins at one of those road-side produce stands. Er, it wasn't an official "stand," but rather just some house that had an overabundant garden. Glad they decided to give us a bargain on the pumpkins.

Lo got suspicious of Mr. Scarecrow.

I love, love this season. Bringing all these pumpkins home has given me a real warm spot in my heart. Plus also, the chocolate chip pumpkin cookies I've gotten to bake from the pumpkins haven't been too bad either. I did try to roast the seeds but burned them. Good thing there are still three more pumpkins left to go...

New Faces of Lo

A few more fun changes in our Lo department. He has discovered how to make a squinty-eyed face, which I laugh at every time. I like to pause this video at the 37-38 seconds mark and just stare and laugh at that crazy kid. He does the same funny face several times on this clip, so watch til the end.

He sings along with us. This happened for the first time a couple months ago at church, but more recently has become a consistent "trick," so I'll finally say he learned how to do it. Yesterday at family home evening Jerry and I were singing a song about bishops (we just got a new one in our ward!) and Lo came to stand in front of us. He put a hand on each of our knees, then swayed back and forth "aah-ing" along with us. That is how he sings; "Aah's" and "Eh's" etc. mostly.

He seems to revel in his newfound strength, and delights in carrying heavy objects all around--apparently just to prove to himself that he can lift them. A few nights ago he kept playing fetch with this large bundle of toilet paper rolls. Listen for his grunting and exertion as he lifts and carries. Also it cracks me up that he is so vocal in describing his efforts to us.

Regrets

We gave that Lo another haircut last week. It was getting long enough that it hung over his collar and ears in an awkward manner, and he kept giving me skeptical looks, like this: But then his head moved around too much while we buzzed around the back and sides, so his new haircut is choppy and bad. =( Hope it grows back in time for 1-year photos in a couple weeks...

Mr. 11 Months

Somebody turned 11 months old over the weekend. He got this cutest bib from our Hong Kong family--thanks for the thoughtful gift! I love getting packages in the mail out of the blue. His favorite past time now includes wrestling his stuffed animals and carting them all around the house for Mommy to pick up.

He signs "more" and "all done," which is sometimes exciting and sometimes leaves me grimacing as I feel like I need to honor his communication attempts. The other day he was whining for an orange, and I didn't intend to give him one--but then all of a sudden he began signing "more," while stretching up at the counter toward the orange. So of course I had to give it to him after that. He loves oranges, grapes, and apples. I ration them as though they are candy. Because they sort of are the baby-candy-equivalent.

He can climb up and down from the couch and bed.

My favorite thing he does right now is to have periodic "resting" during active play. He'll be rushing all over, busy as can be, and then suddenly flop down on the ground and take a breather, his cheek against the floor so comfy. Sometimes he drops onto a stuffed animal or pillow or blanket that he's left on the floor, and that looks like a comfy spot to rest also.

He is definitely down to just 2 naps a day now. And the morning one is not as reliable as it used to be. I think we are still adjusting.

His favorite book is called Where is Maisy's Panda, which is a lift-the-flap book and Lo claps at the end when the panda is found. We think he is so brilliant. Or maybe just well-trained.

Speaking of training, we taught him a new trick. He plays "fetch." He has always liked playing catch with a ball, but now we can throw the ball really far away, across the room, and he'll run to get it, then run back and hand it to us. Then we throw it again, he runs for it again, and brings it back. Gets him nice and tired. =)

Mormons know the most about the Bible

Wow, this is a fun study looking at religious knowlege in the United States. Direct quote from the study summary: "Mormons are the highest-scoring group on questions about the Bible." Granted, I am a Mormon and therefore feel inclined to believe such praise. It seems legitimate anyway, and they even have a fun quiz so you can see where you stack up with other Americans on religious knowlege. I'll take a moment to pat myself on the back for getting 100% correct on the quiz. Though I should point out that religious knowlege and spiritual knowlege are not the same thing, and I'm far from getting 100% correct in my spiritual walk with God each day. But I am trying my best most of the time.

If you want to focus on spirituality as well as religious knowlege, General Conference is happening this weekend. Yesterday I got to listen to the whole morning session almost entirely free of interruption since Lo took his morning nap at a freakishly late hour. Turned out for the best. I could go on forever about my favorite parts, but I'll just say for now that what stands out to me the most are themes of agency and integrity. I liked what Elder David M. McConkie said about a good teacher getting the students to act, not be acted upon. "A good teacher facilitates knowlege being caught rather than taught," he said. I have been thinking a lot about teaching our Lo, and especially wondering how to manage church now that our baby is so active. So I think I'll do a separate post on it another day, but do have some interesting thoughts now after prayerfully listening to the conference talks during Saturday's sessions.

Hope you can all tune in today to Sunday's speakers. Come, listen to a prophet's voice. And I hope we can all do better on our religious and spiritual knowlege--in America, and all over the world.