Halloween 2007

Getting dressed for Halloween was a bit of a chore and Jackson didn't want much to do with his cow outfit. It's not that he didn't like it mind you, there were just more important things that he wanted to do - like watch Elmo on t.v.He went trick-or-treating around my office building in the morning with his daycare class. He had a good time riding in the buggy and shouting "Eat! Eat!" everytime he saw a piece of candy. He sounded like E.T. He did leave the group for a little while and join Mommy at work. He got upset when I came out to the hallway to see him with his class, like I was abandoning him or something, so he came into the offices for a visit and a snack - chips and salsa! Then he went back to his classroom after a little while and got to have a Halloween party, including one of his favorite treats - cupcakes.

When we got home, he played in the backyard for a little while until it was time for dinner and more trick-or-treating.

Please don't ask me what he is doing here, since I have NO IDEA.Then, we went trick-or-treating near Jackson's friend Jake's house. He lives in our 'hood, but in the older part, where trick-or-treating is still a vague resemblance of what it was like when I was young enough to trick-or-treat. Jake's Mommy & Daddy expected about 200+ kids at their house. In contrast, we left a bowl of about 25 full-size bags of M&Ms at our front door - and when we returned about 2 hours later, there was still some candy left in the bowl. Quite a different Halloween scene just a few blocks away, huh! He did really well trick-or-treating, but I never was able to get him to say "trick-or-treat", but he did say something that resembled "Halloween". There was several times where he did get scared by some of the decorations and costumes, but they were things that were sufficiently freaky like Freddy Krueger, the Scream mask, light-up and talking skulls, etc. He didn't super freak out and scream or anything traumatic like that, but he did turn around, run, say "Mommy! Mommy!", and grab my leg/neck in freight. As long as I was hold him with both arms, he was okay. He just kept saying "all done, all done" to get whatever scary character to go away, and it usually worked.

Here he is hanging out with his buddy "Doctor" Jake and watching the trick-or-treaters.Making sure to pick up the dropped loot. Apparently, he just didn't have enough candy to let that piece go!Walking with Daddy to the next house.He was a good boy and waited in line for his candy....unlike some other hoodlums we ran into.Mmmmmm! Why can't Halloween be every day?!?!Surveying all his loot to see what he wants to eat next.I think the cupcake, juice, salsa, and candy residue that he had ALL OVER HIMSELF are sure signs that Jackson had a pretty good day, don't you agree?

Weekend at Aunt Maureen's

It was cold, wet, & windy at the local farm, so we didn't stay long.But we did stay long enough for Jackson to find this plastic rat. I don't understand this kid. He's not afraid of this rat, but he's scared of the neighbor's inflatable pumpkin in their front yard....weird kid.He went on a train, I mean "choo-choo", ride at the mall with Mommy.He also went on a caraseul ride at the mall with Maureen. He's still talking about this ride: "Horse up, down, up, down".Trying to pop the bubbles or aliens or whatever they were on the video floor. Honestly, he wasn't very good at it. In fact, he kinda stunk. I'm sure he has other talents though.

Getting Ready for Halloween

Practicing his Frankenstein walk...

Yay! I Went Pee-Pee in the Potty!!

We were in the bathroom filling the tub for a bath and Jackson was getting antsy to get in the tub. To keep him occupied, I got him undressed and told him to sit on the potty to wait for his bath. As I was tending to the tub, Jackson said "all done", but I thought he was just saying that because he wanted to get off the potty and come over to the tub where I was. BUT....lo and behold, there was pee-pee in the potty! I'm actually less shocked at him actually peeing where appropriate than I am about the fact that the pee actually made it in the potty and not all over it or the floor. I'm sure it will be weeks, if not months, before he does it again, but it was exciting while it lasted. To celebrate, we put the potty in the living room and took photos of a dramatic reinactment for all to enjoy.

Pretending to do "the business"...Clapping and cheering after he pretended to do "the business"...

Waterman's Fall Festival

Running down the straw hill...Children of the corn. They used the term "maze" very liberally - it was a u-turn and that was it. I guess they weren't joking when they said that it was their "easiest". I think the other mazes were a bit more extensive though...What do you think of this pumpkin?Believe it or not, this balloon cat didn't pop here....but it did fly out the window of the car as we were leaving and Jackson was not very happy about that...Getting inside a calf nursery painted to look like a pumpkin...Inside the pumpkin calf nursery..."If I only had a brain..."

Don Rickles is Jackson's New BFF

Move over Ernie and Cookie Monster, Don Rickles is taking over the toddler market. He is Jackson's new best friend.

During take-off from Tampa, I was trying to keep Jackson's attention away from being scared, so I pulled out Southwest's in-flight magazine: Spirit. Right on the inside cover was an ad for one of the older Las Vegas casinos (Golden Nugget maybe??) talking about its $100 million renovations and entertainment. It also had two inset headshots of some headliners that were going to appear at the casino - Don Rickles and Rich Little. For WHATEVER reason, Jackson really got attached to these two chucklers like white on rice. He made me say their names over and over again. He wasn't laughing at their names, he was just trying to get them right. I can't imagine what the passengers sitting around us thought as I said "Don Rickles" and "Rich Little" for the 9th billion time. Jackson just kept pointing at their headshots and making me say their names over and over. I tried to distract him with toys, food, juice, ANYTHING....but he wouldn't bite. He just loved him some Don Rickles. Don't get me wrong, Jackson asked about Rich Little too, but only in the way that the ugly girl at the bar gets attention from guys because her friends are good looking and THEY are the ones that the guys are after. For those that couldn't follow: Don Rickles would be the good looking one in this scenario and Rich Little is the ugly one.

Jackson just really took a liking to Don Rickles. He would not put the magazine down. At one point, I snuck the magazine away from him so that he could have a snack, but he immediately started reaching and screaming: "Don! Don! My Don!", so I gave it back to him. Lessen learned: Be careful what you show Jackson when you are trapped in close quarters. You never know, next time, he might get attached to a picture like this:

Continuing an Old Family Tradition

We visited the USF campus bookstore during our day in Tampa. I'm sure this makes Grandma proud.

Fort Myer's Imaginarium

On our way from Naples to Tampa for the night, we stopped at the children's Imaginarium in Fort Myers. It was a small Children's museum, but it was nice. I think I only saw 3 other children in the place the whole time that we were there. The Imaginarium has lots of exhibits/activities that were different from what we normally find at the Indianapolis Children's Museum. There was a simulate hurricane room, a thunderstorm experience, touch-a-cloud, and a bit of sea/Florida wildlife - including two large turtles that were doing something I never wanted to see turtles doing (if you need more of a visual, you can check Jackson's Daddy's blog later because I'm sure he's gonna post a picture of it). After our Imaginarium visit, I'm thinking that Halloween isn't going to be much fun for Jackson this year. He was afraid of the touch-a-cloud and the thunderstorm room because of the visuals and the thunder. Because he ran from those two exhibits, we didn't even try to get him into the hurricane simulator. This all makes me think the halloween spooky visuals and sounds are gonna make him FREAK OUT!

Naples Beach

Naples Zoo

Bringing a Bit of the World Champion Indianapolis Colts to the Gulf

We Went All the Way to Florida Just to Get Some Chicago Pizza

Mmmmmmm.....Yummy! Mommy's favorite is here in Naples!

Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane!

Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Hi Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! More Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Mommy look! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! White Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! More Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Blue Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Bye-bye Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane! Airplane!

There.

Now you have a VERY SMALL idea of how the first hour of our vacation went. The first 10 times it was cute. Thereafter, it was nothing but annoying. I think that the entire terminal heard and watched Jackson as he shouted "airplane" over and over again.

Of course, then when he was actually ON the airplane, he had no idea he was riding one. Or, at least, I don't think he understood. He did point out the window at the wing during the flight and say "airplane", so maybe he knew. I don't know. He did cry and throw a bit of a fit when we first boarded. Then he didn't care for take-off too much or flying for the first few minutes either. But, he did calm down and just sort of whine once he got into his car seat. He only stopped crying once I put my arm around him and then he insisted on my arm being around him the rest of the time in exchange for him not whining. Getting my arm over him while he was in the car seat and holding it there for such a long time really caused my shoulder to ache and my arm to fall asleep. Luckily, he fell asleep about 20 minutes into the flight, so I was able to move my arm again. He then stayed asleep for about 1 hour or so. So we only had to fill the last bit of flight time with snacks and some books and then it was over. We didn't have to break out the DVD player at all. Although, I suspect that we may have to on the way home. Our flight on the way there was over his usual nap time. We are flying home just AFTER his usual nap time, so it may be a whole different game the second time around.

I have to say that, all in all, the flight went better that I would have thought, but it is still not something that I am looking forward to doing again....

Maybe The Outfit Will Bring The Cubbies Luck in Game 2...

Thanks for the t-shirt Grandma & Grandpa!Edited at 9:15am 10/5/07....I guess that didn't work, huh?!?

Boob Tube

Do you think they like it any?!?

Having Fun With the Computer Camera

Acting Like a Dog & "Reading" the Keyboard...


Fun on Mommy's Shoulders...


Blowing Spit Bubbles. I'm sure someday he'll really be able to impress his buddies on the playground with this skill...