Fall Adventures

Fall is my favorite time of year.  Apparently, I want it to be Abby's favorite time of year too.  We did as many seasonal activities as we could, some of which I caught on camera.  Here'a a sample:

Pumpkin Painting Party.

Kite-flying during Hurricane Sandy winds.

Pumpkin Carving.

It's more fun to put the pumpkin guts back into the pumpkin.

Welcome to Abby's Halloween laboratory.  Eye of bat.

 Sprinkle of spider.

And some rubber mice, for good measure. 

Tape & Markers

Here's a glimpse into arts and crafts time at our house.  Or, at least, this is what it looks like when my husband is facilitating arts and crafts time.

A couple of points to note:

1. Why is there tape on noses?  This is one of Abby's commands.  She saw Greg use those nasal strips a few times and now we all must wear tape on our noses at least once a week.  Her favorite is blue painter's tape but masking tape will do in a crunch.

2. Why is my husband writing on my child with markers?  Your guess is as good as mine, friend.

Random Catch-Up

I know.  Over a month of Abby's life has gone undocumented in cyberspace.  It's not my fault.  More on that later.

I decided to cut my losses and post pictures from the summer, unedited and without explanation.  Imagine that each shot has a great story to go with it, even though you won't get to read about it.  Hopefully, October will bring more timely and organized posts.

Here's a random story that has nothing to do with the pictures that follow.  It's called "Yet another reason parents hate battery-operated toys."  Feel free to bypass it and head straight to the phots of the adorable child.

The other night Abby carried her Tickle-Me Elmo upstairs for bedtime.  We shuffled into the bathroom and I turned on the water in the tub.  I went briefly to the sink for something and when I spun back around I found Elmo taking a bath.  Sigh.  Abby was thrilled, of course.

Twenty-four hours later, Elmo was still drip-drying in the bathroom.  I put Abby to bed last night and was ready for bed myself at 8:45 PM.  Greg was out of town on a business trip, so I wouldn't get sucked into TV time.  Yes!  Sleep!  I couldn't wait.  When eleven-thirty rolled around I was wondering why nature was playing this cruel trick.  I was exhausted but wide awake.  

Eventually, I did drift off only to be awoken by 

"Ha ha ha.  
Ha ha ha.  
That tickles.  

Ha ha ha.  
Ha ha ha.  
That tickles." 

In my dazed state I first thought Abby was crying.  Then I thought she was playing with a talking toy.  Then I remembered she didn't have any talking toys in her crib.  It was pitch black, I was alone in the house with a baby, and there was an eerie voice laughing at me from the next room. . .over and over again.   Scary thoughts, scary thoughts.  

OK.  It's just Elmo.  He's probably pissed about the bath.  I went into the bathroom to turn off the evil laughing red doll, but, unfortunately, you can't turn it off unless you have a mini-screwdriver to open the battery case.  My mini-screwdriver lives downstairs, too far away to travel in the middle of the night.  So I shook the battery case until it stopped laughing, wrapped it in a towel and left it on the floor.

It took a while to fall back to sleep, having had an adrenaline rush.  It seemed no sooner than I was asleep that I awoke to a muffled 

"Ha ha ha.  
Ha ha ha."  

Adrenaline rush #2.  Child crying?  No.  Child playing?  No.  Evil battery-box laughing on its own from the bathroom?  Check.

I took the box wrapped in a towel down the hall, into the study and shut the door tight.  Once again, sleep eventually came.  And five minutes later, Abby was up for the day.

A little of what Abby was up to this summer. .