Halloween

After much wavering, O decided this year to be the Cat in the Hat. He was lobbying for Colin and me to be Nick and Sally, the two kids who accompany the Cat on his adventures, but he had to settle for his little sister as the Cat's fish friend.

We started the Halloween fun with a party and parade at O's school, then went to Channel 3 for some trick or treating around the office. O loved handing out candy to trick or treaters who rang our doorbell (every night since he's asked if more kids are going to come by) Colin got home from work, the two of them went to a couple of houses in our neighborhood.

(Here's a photo of the originals -- how did I do?)

Future footballer?

It's no surprise that Owen already loves soccer. He gets a healthy dose of it at home. Throughout the winter, we entertained ourselves with many many many games of living room soccer, using the fireplace as on of our goals. As soon as the snow melted, we were at the field at our park, practicing dribbling, shooting and taking corner kicks.
Most "organized" soccer groups start with kids who are 3 years old - O is just shy of that. My friend Polly decided to put together an informal group though, and when I asked O if he wanted to go, his "Yes!" couldn't have been more emphatic. Then he proceeded to have a five-minute discussion with himself about what he should wear. "Maybe I'll wear Liverpool. Or Roma. Or Liverpool. I'll wear Liverpool."
Having all the right gear is very important to him. When we play T-ball, he has to wear a pair of purple gardening gloves for batting gloves. So, knowing this, I took him to get a pair of shin guards and size 3 ball, and we found a bag that would work for his stuff. He was so proud walking out the door with the bag on his back, all ready to play.
After some initial trepidation, by the time his coaches got to a game of "Red Light, Green Light," he was having a ball. He's gotten pretty good at passing and dribbling, so all our home practice must be good for something.
Then again, maybe he'll decide hockey is his game. This morning I got out of the shower and discovered he had emptied all the diapers from his drawer in to a pile in the hallway.
I asked him what he was doing with them.
"Skating."

Leaving for work

As I was heading out the door for work, O stopped me.

"Mom, I want to tell you something!"

I came back to where he was eating breakfast to listen.

"I love you a whole much!"

Good start to the day

It took the little man a long time to settle down last night, and I actually had to rouse him this morning to get him ready.

He got out of bed and crawled in my lap, then hugged me sleepily and said, "I'm so happy you're here."

From the backseat

O: "I don't have a Joe Mauer bobblehead. Let's look for one online."

Baseball according to O

We went to the Brewers game today and I discovered baseball with O requires a translator.

Glover: the pitcher
Masker: the catcher
Every masker must be Joe Mauer
Sometimes a mitt is a "mitten"
Every hit must be a home run, meaning Bernie Brewer has to go down the big slide in left field
Everything that happens must be followed with a question starting with "Why?"

When we got home from the game, he set up
his John Axford bobblehead that we got at the gate and pretended he was the hitter facing Axford's pitches. I remembered we had a Robin Yount bobblehead from a game last year and now the two of them are facing off in the living room.

The best text ever

Not long after I settled in to my desk this morning, I received this text message from Colin:

"O: I have a good mommy. She's cute and I like her."

If that doesn't get me through the roughest days, I don't know what will.