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Todd coached Mercer's baseball team again this year -- this season, they were called the Sharks.
Mercer moved up to a new league.... it was QUITE an adjustment. The teams and parents seem to be more competitive. The rules changed a bit and the kids are hitting differently - some off of a fast pitching machine / some with "coach pitch." The amount of time committed during the week increased with 1-2 practices per week or 1-2 games per week. (Basically, there were 3 days a week committed to games and practices.... Mondays, Thursdays, and Saturdays.) Everything is stepping up... including the snacks - 3 or 4 items included in the parent-provided snacks sometimes!
The boys were ALWAYS concerned about the snacks after the game -- sometimes more so than how they were playing! They won a few games overall and tied one as well. Mercer kept wanting to change to the other teams that were winning earlier in the season... but by the end of the season, the Sharks started to get the hang of it and was happy to be a part of that team. One thing that Todd did that was fun for all: he held a parents-vs-kids wiffle ball game! I thought that was pretty creative and something both parents and kids would remember for a long time! (kudos~)
Isabella would NEVER sit through a game. Luckily at the field where Mercer played, there was a little playground next to it! Baby girl is active! She is tough. She falls down and gets right back up. On the flip side, she has some hypochondriac tendencies. (Todd reminded me that Mercer went through this phase too.) If something lightly brushes her hand, she starts to whimper and complain that it hurts until you will kiss the "boo boo" or pat her on the head and tell her she will be OK.
The kids enjoyed Halloween over the course of a couple of weeks. Mid-October, we went to Chattahoochee Nature Center's Halloween Hike. The hike consisted of stops along one of the trails that featured talks about different animals on the way. (there were people dressed up in animal costumes that talked about features of that animal).
No flash photography was allowed so the only photo that somewhat came out / that's posted from the hike was before all of the sunlight had disappeared. Isabella - in her usual fashion - would demand a response from those dressed up in animal costume. "Hi" -- accompanied by a wave. An even louder "Hi" would follow if no response. Then a yell "HI" until the person in the animal costume would say hi back. It made those in our group laugh!
There was a bonfire, a drummer and acoustic instruments that could be played, and children's activities. Isabella pretty much colored while Mercer tried out everything else. It was a pretty fun event.
We went to a few parties this year and got some good mileage out of the costumes. At one of the parties, Isabella discovered candy corn.... and she liked it. (I think she has had a piece of candy once before - her daycare teacher begged to give her something once.)
Isabella is able to reach most table tops and even things that may be on the edge of a kitchen counter. Someone had a bowl of candy corn on a table. Quick little hands went into that bowl... a fist-ful of candy corn was grabbed... and transferred to a little mouth all in about 1 second flat. I moved the bowl to higher ground. She kept returning to the same spot looking for it. Holding up her arms in a "where did it go?" fashion!
On Halloween night, we went to a neighborhood party and then we split up. Todd and Mercer did the serious trick-or-treating up and down the street.
Isabella is still too young, but I did the thing where planting healthy-ish "treats" at a few people's houses on our way home from the party so she could participate / they could see her in her cute little outfit. Mercer picked out the theme this year: Isabella to be Minnie Mouse and he would be Mickey Mouse. We introduced him to Wizard Mickey (from Fantasia) and he was excited to have a wand, a robe, and a cool hat.
At the end of this Halloween series: Isabella blowing kisses and waving goodbye. This is so typical... and so cute!!
Here's a quick pic from my office (my part-time green building job). Nice view of the city - oh yeah - and a big black cat stuck to the window!
Our neighborhood also had their annual art festival this past weekend. We "helped" color the street with chalk the night before. Last year, we went on a farm tour and missed most of the festival. This year, we stayed most of the day.
The most memorable thing that we did at the festival this weekend: Mercer built a one-string cigar box guitar! He got to pick out his box. He got to pick out the dice that went on the front. He chose the color pic that he wanted. Here are some pics of that awesome experience.
The guy reaffirmed each decision Mercer made with - "yeah - that's a cool box" or "that's my favorite color too." The guy had so much positive energy and joy to share in the making of the guitar.... it was a special thing for ALL of us - not just Mercer.
He's been playing with it non-stop since. It was much better than buying a kids guitar (which he has mentioned in the past that he was interested in) or a pre-made cigar box guitar that the guy was selling.
I refer to Isabella often as "Baby Girl." She somewhat aggressively told me earlier this week: "I not baby." Oh... how crushing!!!!!! She will be 2 soon~ There will be a post about her birthday coming up soon!
Baby girl really has us in a tailspin. For the past 1 1/2 months, she has woken up in the middle of the night almost every night. Sometimes it's easy enough to get her to sleep, but most of the time, she's up for the count.
Anywhere between 2, 3, 4, 5 am.... she wants to get up. read a book. drink some milk. watch mickey mouse. we have tried a number of things - rocking her back to sleep. letting her cry it out. giving her milk. reading a little to her. giving her teething gel (which - actually in the last few days, we do think she may be cutting another tooth). praying over her. rubbing a "calm and relaxing" essential oil over her. pre-bedtime baths with lavender / "sleepy time" baby wash. keeping her up later. feeding her more food so she'd have a fuller belly.
We've tried A LOT of things! And - in desperation - I've reached out to some people to ask for advice. Pediatrician and several friends said that perhaps she has "nigh terrors." I looked it up / based on the description / I'm glad to say that I do not think that's it. What seems to resonate with her "symptoms" is something called sleep regression.... something that seems to be attributed to toddlers of a certain age who are developing rapidly.
Maybe she's growing and has growing pains? Maybe her mind is racing because she is starting to talk a lot? Whatever it is - pretty much we are resolved to the fact that she just has to "outgrow" whatever this is.
It's been pretty tough. (Especially since I'm not sleeping well during the week. Monday and Thursday nights - I'm pretty much pulling an all-nighter to prep for teaching on Tuesdays and Fridays.) Todd has been getting up with her on many of those nights because he knows I'm working.
whew.... we'll get through this!
On the positive side... Isabella has done something new this week: she's started using a little child's potty! Several weeks ago, she started telling us before she was going to go poo. So, we put the potty out. She was not interested in trying it out 'til this week. So far - she's poo-ed 3 times and pee-ed once in the thing. wahoo!
She is pretty possessive these days (almost 2!). In the photo above, she kept walking around in Todd's shoes saying MY daddy's shoes. MY daddy.
Also, she is still the absolute MOST adorable thing when it comes to hugging on and loving on animals. She even sees photos of animals and will lean in / kiss them! She demands attention when she or anyone else is leaving. "Bye" "BYE" she yells until she gets a response. Depending on who it is, she will hold out her arms and indicate that she wants a hug. Sometimes she'll lean in an give a kiss or blow a kiss with her hand. She IS affectionate!
Enclosed are some photos of the kids that have not made it to the blog earlier this fall.
We've been to the fair.
Mercer's school had their annual fall festival, so Mercer dressed up for the day.
We went to a baseball game.
We've been on hikes and to new playgrounds with cool equipment.
We've been working in the community garden.
We went to a high school football game for the school that I teach (4 or 5 of my high school students are on the team).
Basically, on the weekends - we jam in as much family fun as we can!
Now, we're about to enter the holidays and festivities of the late fall season. There will be lots to blog about in the coming weeks!!
A picture is worth a thousand words! So - with that, I will not write much!
The temperature is in the 50's this evening. It's been sweater / jacket weather all day. It's pretty fantastic! Spur of the moment - we decided to go apple picking AND search out for the perfect pumpkin after Mercer's (cold) baseball game today.
We had a pretty great day, actually - as evidenced from the abundance of photos here. (There were really about 80 photos that we kept out of the over 100 that were taken. This is just a sample!)
A couple of things that were pleasant surprises:
1 - Mercer just jumping into a tree and scaling it to get to the apples at the top. He had a BLAST climbing trees and being rewarded with some plump juicy apples. I loved watching him explore overhead!
2 - The hayride at Burt's farm. It was great, actually! Sitting on hay (instead of a hay bale). Driving under a covered bridge. Going through a real pumpkin patch. There were these animatronic pumpkins, though, that were a bit cheesy, but the kids really liked them! They had little displays set up here and there too with farm equipment and pumpkins. I would recommend it. I'm sure we'll do it again sometime.
And this last little series - Isabella getting ready for bed tonight. She wanted to "feed" her frog milk instead of drinking it herself.
