Happy Halloween!

For weeks, we had been telling everyone that Brady was dressing up as a giraffe for Halloween. Today, when we finally put on his costume, we realized that it was, in fact, a lion. Despite his parents' animal incompetence, the boy made an adorable lion.

We towed Brady in his wagon through our neighborhood for trick-or-treating tonight. At first, he didn't understand it was okay to take the candy away from those offering it. He would just stare with wide eyes so everyone took it upon themselves to drop a piece into his bag. He responded with a distraught, "Uh oh..." because he thought that candy was gone for good! Eventually, though, he reached his little paw into the candy bowls and plopped some yummies into his own bag. It only took 12+ houses for him to get the hang of it...

He actually allowed me to draw a little nose and some whiskers on him; I only had to sing Three Jolly Fishermen six times in a row to keep his attention. Ironically, it wasn't the forced makeover that made him unhappy; it was the paws and the fact he couldn't find his hands! He got over it eventually, but not before shedding a few tears.

Our neighborhood is a gold mine for trick-or-treating and in the years to come, Brady will really enjoy running around and grabbing handfuls of candy. And he's getting a lot of practice on his feet these days. FINALLY, the child has decided walking is pretty fun. In fact, we took him to the Pittsburgh Mills on Friday night and he walked the entire length of the place. Everyone was very understanding and patient with our little guy as he toddled this way and that. I'm sure it helped that he was dressed in his skeleton sweatsuit and lookin' pretty adorable.

We took a quick detour into a shoe store with intentions of buying the boy a pair of shoes with good tread. I kept telling Zach (who was less than thrilled to be shopping, let alone for shoes...) that Brady needs better tread so he doesn't slip. Unfortunately, every shoe we liked wasn't available in Brady's size, so we went home empty handed. More unfortunate is the next day at the park, Brady slipped on a leaf and did a face plant in some dirt. He bawled for three seconds and was then distracted when the sun peaked through a cloud for a half a second. He announced he saw the "suh-shy" and that was the end of his tears. I wish I could say I got over it as easily; the more he walks, the harder he falls, and I'm having a hard time getting used to the sound of his head smashing off various objects and/or the ground. God knew what he was doing when he made babies so flexible!

Boo-boo nose after his tumble at the park :(

Before his face-to-face encounter with a mound of dirt, Brady thoroughly enjoyed "wingin," or swinging. He's a big fan of the wind in his hair which is why Zach has patented The Tornado where he blows on Brady's head until the kid laughs so hard he surely pees himself. Ahhh, the simple things in life!

On a completely separate note, Zach and I had a date night with Mr. Bill Cosby last night. I really loved it! He talked a lot about marriage and the relationship between husband and wife, and I especially liked his views of grandparenting. He maintains that small children, regardless of who they belong to, are gross. Their hands are always sticky, they ignore authority figures, and their mothers are never around to "make the smell go away." It was a change of pace from what we hear from Brady's grandparents, that's for sure! In fact, they tell Brady he's so smart so often that he's starting to point to his head and nod when he does something well. He feels the need to remind us just how smart he is in the event that we forget. He's also taken to looking at himself in the mirror quite a bit. He'll entertain himself by making faces and gestures, and then is always compelled to give himself a kiss. I sure hope we're raising a confident toddler and not an arrogant one :-)