Halloween 2010

It was another busy Halloween for the Scotts! We started the afternoon at a party at Mike, Sandy, and Sophia's house.

MMMM....cookie!



Then, we visited Grampy! Here comes the dragon!



He was so obsessed by playing with the toy bus at Grampy's house that trying to get another cute picture of the Scott men (like I did last year) would have probably been easier with a real dragon.



Luckily, a ninja and Dorothy (a.k.a. Jacob and Jillian) showed up and we got ready for Eli's first official trick-or-treat. How adorable is Jillian as Dorothy?!?!!?!



First stop was the Burgio's house. He called Mrs. Burgio Grandma (luckily, she was an older woman and seemed to think it was cute, not offensive). He also later called another older man Grampy (who also thought it was cute) and an Italian man Gino (who thankfully didn't hear him)...a mildly disturbing trend.



A quick stop by Grandma's and we were off to trick-or-treat with Jacob and Jillian. Our little dragon was great. He said "trick-or-treat" and "thank you" and put all the candy in his bag.

He started to breathe fire after a few houses, so we packed up our tired dragon and got him home for a late dinner and bath! But, not before a cute picture with his cousins. He posed perfectly for Bridget, and then became obsessed with the candy in his pumpkin and could not be bothered to look up!



We can't wait to see what next year will bring. He is only almost two, so there is no way he could understand we don't do this every night. I am thinking a warning is in order for Gino that Eli might wander over with a bag expecting gifts for a smile and "trick-or-treat!"

Only one month to go...

...until we have a 2 year old! Eli is 23 months old today - and I bet this is the last time I count his age in months! I can't believe how fast it flies.



As I write this, Daddy is trying to put Eli to bed in an effort to break his "all Momma, only Momma, all the time" regime. I asked Daddy to try to keep to the routine of books we read and he did not feel this was important. I am going to be really upset if I am posting an update at 3AM!

Eli had me up at 2:30 this morning and he is completely unwilling to let Daddy calm him down, which makes for a very tired Momma. It has to stop! I don't know what has changed, but I do know I am not very good on only a little sleep. And the only time I can handle the "cry it out" attempt is when I am exhausted and at the end of my rope...so far, the score is Eli-1, Momma-0. That kid has stamina!

Bears, Birthdays, and Buses

Eli and Mommy had a busy weekend last week. First, on a cold and windy Friday, we decided to brave the weather and head to the zoo. It was actually great! We were the only ones there. The yak and the crane spoke (or snorted and chirped) and we FINALLY saw the coyotes (we had only thought there was one), but I was sad the snow leopard was temporarily off exhibit - we ran into one of the curators on one of our trips and he explained that she is 16 and their life expectancies are only 15-20 years. We hope she is okay!

We did get to see the bear and cougar up close.





On Sunday, we went to Nicholas's birthday party at the Kids Klubhouse. It was fun, but Eli is still small for some of the things there. He loved the bus in the toddler room, especially when Sophia came in to play



There were these cars you could ride around a track. He loved it. Mike got pure enjoyment out of the fact that my little boy only wanted the pink car! It was actually a blast to ride around on this with him - I was the power and he was the steering. He did pretty well, too! We didn't hit anyone or anything!



He also loved climbing around in the pirate ship.



He was tired on the way home...it is tough to run around and play, eat cake, and have fun! He wasn't too tired to play with his balloon in the backseat. He liked to look through it and razz it.



We ended the day with a trip to the playground after the Pats game (of which I saw very little - I was scrubbing the kitchen floor while Daddy and Eli bonded during football time...I think I got the better deal!).

He loves to play on the bouncy bus, especially when there are older kids there to bounce him around even harder.



Coming down the slide, Momma!



He tries the monkey bars, but isn't quite there yet...unless he has a little help.





Our little boy is just the cutest! He is so sweet (even though he hasn't been sleeping much lately). I can't believe how fast he is growing. Every day I feel he can say and do more. He can name all his favorite books when I hold them up and he uses sentences. Tonight he kept telling me that the police were at the door with Daddy (not sure why he makes that association!) and he kept telling me he saw a ghost. Uh oh! He sees dead people!

Off to the zoo!

The Franklin Park Zoo, that is. Ok, Mommy might have the Stone Zoo down, but the Franklin Park Zoo is HUGE compared to Stone! I don't think we saw 1/4 of it, but we only had about 2 hours...

Eli's cousins were with us for the weekend, so off we went to the Franklin Park Zoo! First, we saw the zebras and some wildebeests. The zebra on the left is a baby...awww!



Next, it was lions and tigers (no bears, oh my!).





So, the lion didn't have us shaking in our boots, but the tiger was pacing back and forth and looking us up and down. It was like he was trying to figure out who would make the best meal...

Next, we figured out that Dave and Jillian together are about the height of a bongo, Jacob is about the height of a gorilla, and Eli plus his stroller are roughly the size of a pygmy hippo. Momma decided she did not want to be compared to any animals, fearing the inevitable "Those jeans makes you look like a (insert animal here)" comments from Daddy.



Next were the gorillas. We found one that seemed to be comfortable with having its picture taken. There were some less than appetizing remnants on some of the windows, if you catch my drift...



Eli couldn't believe how much bigger the zoo was and how many different animals we saw!



That boy does love his cousins...I think they had a good time.



We ended the day with a group shot.



The sweetest story of the day came when we saw our last animal, the leopard. It was a beautiful animal, but like the tiger, it looked hungry. It was pacing and I swear, it was sizing up Eli as the weak one in the herd. When I said that out loud, Jillian instantly stepped in front of Eli. She said something quietly about not letting it get Eli, but she didn't make a big deal of it. It was the sweetest thing! Jacob, ever the practical one, couldn't understand why she would do that because the leopard would bite her instead.