Now known by his German name

Helmut von Baby

Yup, E is now a helmet baby.  We noticed by the time he was about a month old that his head was getting a little flat in the back...a little more on his left side than his right.  We were told at his 2 month appt to try to turn his head more to the right when he slept to "offload" a little.  We did that...but by his 4 month appt nothing was getting better so we were sent for a consult with the cranial specialist.  Turns out he has a bit of torticollis (neck muscle is tight on his right side making him turn his head preferentially left - hence the asymmetrical flattening).  His torticollis is mild, and we are doing some stretches and physical therapy to fix it, but it lead to his flat head which was considered moderate (as opposed to mild or severe).  So, in comes the helmet for help!  He's had it on for 5 days now...it hasn't bothered him a bit, and I swear I can already see improvement.  He wears it for 22-23 hours a day with a couple half hour breaks throughout...with a much needed bath time in there as the helmet is much like hockey helmet material...and makes his head smell like a hockey helmet too. yuck!

In other news, Dave got home from a week long conference in Berlin last week, and Mom graciously offered to come and help out for the week while he was gone.  It was so nice having her here to help with the kids...especially because I had to go out of town for 2 days.  But of course, as soon as Dave left, the transient animals returned...as usual.  So night 1, not 4 hours after Dave's flight took off, I heard the bat had returned to the unfinished attic space...and this is after we had the pest control guy install bat doors to rid us of all bats about 4 months ago.  He must have only come for a quick fly by as I haven't heard him since. Day 3, as I'm on the 5 hour car ride back to the cities I talk to Mom who informs me that Dribble is currently "playing" with a mouse in the living room...which she promptly lost under the couch (we haven't seen it since...I'm hoping the cats made a good snack of it).  This only happens when Dave leaves...seriously, what are the odds?  I should be a gambler...

chat and play with Grandma

having fun at the children's museum

And of course, other pics from just around the house

brothers...awwww

Owen really wanted to read to Elliot...very cute

O insisted that Bull help us make arepas...very helpful

E just watched the arepa action during his
helmet break (note the sweaty head)

playing caballos!

Can you spot the difference?  Who is who?  are they both O? Both E?

Hint: E now wears lots of kimono style shirts so I don't need to squeeze shirts over the helmet

And some funniness from Owen to leave you with:
O: That's the garbage truck (hearing a truck while we were walking)
D: Oh, do you hear a garbage truck? (mildly skeptical, given it's Sunday)
O: Yah! The garbage truck will come to take away the poopy diapers!

Indeed Owen, indeed.

Happy Halloween!

 We joined up with MJ, Greta and Teddy to do a little trick-or-treating.  The highlight of Owen's evening was definitely getting to trick or treat at the fire station!  Our highlight was strolling around with travel mugs of wine  ;)

cheese!

Saturday was spent raking leaves...another favourite activity!  O was a big help, wielding his rake, helping pick up leaves...until he turned the bucket over to "do it again!", and just generally imitating everything we were doing.

perhaps we should find a mini rake

leaf tamper

pushing his lawn mower just like Daddy

"wheeeee!"

And I found a bunch of other photos both on my phone camera and on the good camera, all from the last month...so here you go!

it's not easy being green...but it's better if you get a hug from your buddy

clearly from earlier in the month when it was still warm outside!

riding around the backyard on his balance bike

tune up time!

4 months (+)!

E turned 4 months a bit over a week ago and we had his 4 mo doctor check up this week.  Here are the official stats:
weight: 14# (18%)
height: 26" (85-95%)
head circ: 42cm (59%)

A little bit bigger than O was at this age, but with a similar weight to length ratio (long and skinny!)

And now that he is 4months+ we also started in on a little bit of solid food (so far rice cereal and apple sauce)...and he. loves. it.  I think he only dribbled food out on the first go around, all subsequent feedings he has chowed with very little bib wastage!

eyeing up the new food

he likes it!

pumpkins and foxes and giraffes...oh my!

Dave's brother, Rob, and nephew, Patrick, came to visit this weekend.  The weather was excellent and we had a great, if short, visit with them!  Saturday morning we headed up to the local hippy food coop where they were having a little pumpkin fest in the parking, complete with face painting.

these 2 seconds for the pic were about the only 2 seconds Owen sat still for the face painting...he kept trying to look at what she was painting...doh!

Elliot of course lounged around through the whole event

enjoying some apple cider

And no visit is complete without some family photos! (Most of which are out of focus because small people don't stop moving long enough for photos!)

pre nap story with Uncle Rob

sometimes it's hard to get the big kids to stay still too!

with big cousin Patrick

skulk of foxes

After Rob and Patrick left, we headed to Como Zoo for the ZooBoo!  A family friendly trick or treat with the animals!

baby giraffe

Julia was volunteering at ZooBoo...with her fabulous preggo costume!

trick or treating is serious business

first joke

Owen told his first joke yesterday.  At least the first jokingly thing he intentionally said, he's certainly said plenty of other funny things!
A little background (although this in no way guarantees you will find this as funny as Dave and I did): Dave has had a very sore back since he returned from Kenya a month ago and as such can't easily pick Owen up to carry him.  Owen for his part insists on being carried everywhere these days, I think it is his reaction to Elliot and I"m sure it will pass.  I waffle between being frustrated at this and enjoying it as I know one day he will never want me to carry him again.  That being said, I wouldn't mind if he stopped insisting on being carried up and down the stairs...which is where the joke comes in.

I was upstairs giving Elliot a bath and it was time for O to head up for his bath.
O: Daddy, carry me upstairs?
D: no, you can walk.  I'll hold your hand
O: no, carry me!
D: I can't carry you
O: because you have a sore back?
D: yes.
O: carry me?
D: how about you carry me up the stairs?
O (laughing at this): no, you are too big.  I am too little.
D:  you carry me? (mocking Owen)
O: I can't, I have a sore back (then breaks into a fit of laughter at his own joke)

which we also thought was quite funny, and clever.

And a pic of E from this morning:

Owen at the same age.

We're raising clones.

apple picking

We headed out to do some apple picking yesterday.  It was a bit chilly, but we bundled up and went anyway before it got too late in the fall.  O had a great time riding on the tractor out to the apples and was an enthusiastic picker for the first bag...after that he got really into just eating an apple and didn't want to pick anymore.  Which is fine, I picked while Dave, O and E sat and watched the tractors.  Then on to the petting zoo and the playground!  E spent his apple picking time chilling in the moby just soaking it all in!
When we got home O insisted on making apple pie.  Can't really beat a homemade apple pie with fresh picked apples! yum!!

getting suited up in the back of the car

hay ride!

little sock monkey has come out of retirement

the novelty had not worn off yet

tasting the wares

precariously propped on a pumpkin

3 months of E

E welcomed in 3 months of time with us yesterday!  It's hard to believe it's already been that long...and in other ways it seems like he has always been here as he's such an integral part of the family already.  E continues to be a super chill baby.  He has been sleeping through the night for a couple of weeks now (7pm to 6ish am) which is amazing to me.  O didn't sleep through the night like this until he was 13 months old!  He is also a monster eater in a way that O never was (yup, E, you're going to be compared to O on all these baby milestones...deal with it).  He's going to be my chubby baby for sure!
He has also turned into a big "chatter" and loves to coo and smile away...at least to Dave and I (and his Grandma! They had a big chat every morning while Grandma drank her coffee while we were on vacation).  He will sometimes smile at O, but more often than not is a bit wary/apprehensive of the 2+ year old energy.  But for all this smiling, as soon as he sees the camera come out, this is what I get:

The smiles stop and he just stares at the camera transfixed.  I did manage to get some smile photos yesterday though...he must have been distracted by things other than the camera because we were outside.

I love those big gummy grins!

O, as always, is a great big brother and so much fun to hang around with.  He talks all the time and makes up so many fun stories and has so much to say about all the things going on around him, or reliving what happened yesterday, or last week, or last month!  His memory amazes me!  I really love this age (not so much the "limits testing" portion of it, but the rest of what 2.5 brings is pretty great!).

my little tree hugger