David is off today and I don’t have class until this evening.  It’s going to be a beautiful day outside.  It is time to get ready for Halloween.   Several people have already decorated their balconies for Halloween.  We’ve never been too good about decorating outside when we’ve lived in houses, but an apartment balcony seems to be a nice manageable area.  Davey is very excited.  We are playing “Monster Mash” right now to better get into the Halloween mode.  (Although I think we are pretty well there.)

We ate breakfast out this morning.  David had to get his annual bloodwork done, and so we met him at Perkin’s afterwards.  It’s like Tippins?  (Isn’t that what it was called in Tulsa?)  Place that has lots of pies.  Davey had Rainbow Pancakes.  It does not get much better for him than a pancake with sprinkles and whipped cream.

I am knitting more again.   I am on the heel flap of my second sock.  The heel flap requires twining, so it is going kind of slow.  I got the bright idea to take a picture with Davey holding the sock for me.

Can you tell already that this might not be a good idea?

When I handed him my sock, there were 3 needles in the sock and 1 needle that was for knitting.

All of a sudden there were 2 bare needles in his hand.  (I had to really lighten up this picture – it was terrible and dark.)

It was time to act fast.    See all the lonely loops in need of a needle? I was left with a little repair work, but not a stitch was dropped and all was well.

Happy Thursday!  It is time to decorate!

I seem to write lots about Davey and me, or even Davey, David and me, but sometimes it’s just David and Davey.  I teach from 8am to 1:30 pm on Mondays and Wednesdays, so they do all kinds of fun stuff when I am at school.

This morning they went back to the park with the big red slide.

David took some interesting pictures as he went down the slide.  I like this shot of his feet.  At first, I just saw his feet.  Then I saw a cute little kid standing and waiting for David to get on down the slide.

Davey also amazes me how he climbs everything at the playground.  I would have thought his little legs would have had trouble making it from rung to rung.  I’ve been proven wrong several times though:

Davey had fun swinging as well.  I am always thankful that so far anyway, he does not have my dizzy gene.  I can’t even watch him swing without getting nauseous, but swinging doesn’t seem to phase him.

So after they went to the park, they had lunch at Chick Fil A, and then they went to Target.

When I got home, we did the switcheroo.  (Thank goodness for schools who work with our schedules!)  David went to class, and Davey and I had an ice cream picnic on the balcony.  Timber wanted in on the action too.  (Lately, Davey likes to pretend that he is “babysitting” Timber.)

Timber’s constant quest for ice cream or just plain mooching never fails to make Davey laugh.  He yells at Timber:  “Scram!  Scram! Scram!”  Then Timber knows he is supposed to get the heck out of the living room and head back to the bedroom.  Timber trots to the room as fast as he can go, and Davey watches carefully to see if Timber tries to re-emerge from the room.  As soon as Timber’s head starts to peek out, Davey’s on top of it.  “MOMMMY!  MOMMY!  TIMBER IS TRYING TO COME BACK OUT!”  Timber and Davey have a good time with this.

Ok it’s time to make dinner.  It really feels like fall today,  I should have made some chili or soup or something.  Instead it’s a meatloaf night!

It’s nice to blog in the morning again.  Davey’s eating breakfast and watching a show.  We are off to story hour in a little while.  Then we are going to go find the UPS pick up station place.  I ordered 2 books for Davey over a month ago, and they were lost.  I reported that they were never delivered, and then a UPS guy came by.  Now, the books have been found.  I am curious to know where they were!

I knitted on my sock for awhile yesterday.  Davey likes to play on the balcony while I knit.  He works on “fixing” the sliding glass door.  Any object is a satisfactory tool.  Even a toothbrush.  Then he wanted to do a magic show, so he went off on a hunt for a magic wand.  A large cardboard red block did just fine for him.

We had a clementine picnic too.  They are incredible right now.

So back to today.  It’s a nice quiet morning.

Davey is asking so many questions.  Tonight, when he was in the bath, he wanted to know where the water goes when it runs down the drain.   In detail.  Details that I am not knowledgeable enough of to provide.  His questions are varied.  This morning, he asked me why sea lions have “fairy wings”.

He also likes to ask us about when we were little.  So tonight it went like this:

“Daddy, what were you like when you were little?  Did you crawl?  Did you wear big underpants or little underpants?”

Then David told him about crawling and being little.

After a question about being little, Davey always says, “was I there too?”

We say no, he wasn’t born yet.

This always makes him kind of sad, and he says, “I miss-ed you then.”  It is sad sweet to hear him say that.  We tell him that we missed  him too.

This morning we went out to Bear Creek Lake Park.  It was beautiful.  We went to watch a friend run a trail race.  Davey had lots and lots and lots of fun playing.  There was dirt, rocks, leaves, a big stick and the edge of a lake.  He loved it.   A German Shepherd came along to swim.  She wanted his stick.  He thought that was pretty fun too.

We also went back to Cider Days!  Just think of all the photos from yesterday and take them times 2!  More donkey riding, barrel trains and bounce houses.

Knitting?  Nope not much, but we had a great weekend!

Cider Days!  It’s an annual festival held in Lakewood.  We had apple cider.  At least I did.   Davey tried a few sips.  David refused.  He has issues with opaque liquids.   It was really good.  But there was much more than cider.  Davey had a big big time.

It all began with a little “two-steppin'” in the bounce house.

There was also an obstacle course bounce house.  I am not sure how we finally lured him away from that.  He loved moving through there.   It must have been the promise of a donkey ride.

The ride required that he put on a helmet.  Daddy got him all set.

Then here came Nestor.  (Nestor is the donkey.)  I should have asked the really nice man what his name was as well.

This was great fun for Davey.  As I walked along beside them,  I asked Davey if Nestor had mentioned if he was having fun or not.  Davey whispered to me, “Mommy, animals do not talk.” (He whispered probably so I would not be embarrassed by my ignorance.)

Afterwards, we gave Nestor a little pat.  He was not too interested.  He was ready for lunch and a nice break.

There was a petting zoo right next door.  Davey and I looked at the baby goats, sheep, rabbits, and llamas.  There was an ornery goose too.  We kept our distance.  He was feeling snippy.

Then it was back to Nestor:

Next Davey headed out onto the prairie on a barrel train.  See him in one of the middle barrels?

It was all quite serious business.  He sat very straight and quiet and just took it all in.

There was bean bag tossing.  He was very determined.  So much so that at first, he was just going to walk right up to the wall and make it a short toss.  But then he stood back and threw some mighty good tosses!  Here the red and green bag is mid-air.

There was fishing for wooden apples.  David and Davey were very focused.

There was a wishing tree.  Davey decorated a heart and hung it on the tree.

We couldn’t resist the fresh kettle corn.  We also had those cinnamon roasted pecans.  They didn’t last long enough to be photographed.

Then it was back to the barrel ride.  Here I give him a kiss as he prepares to depart on his journey.

He’s smiling here at the guy who wanted to give him a high five.  It got him tickled for some reason.

Davey fell asleep in about 5 minutes tonight.   Maybe he’s dreaming about Nestor and barrel rides.

October 1st – the first day of my favorite part of the year.  Autumn, David’s birthday, Halloween, Davey’s birthday, Thanksgiving, and the entire Christmas season.   It will be fun to experience it all here in Colorado for the first time.

This morning, Davey wanted to help me knit.   He likes to measure.

Then he decided that he wanted to knit too!

I did get that hat finished up this morning.  I am hopeful that I can make some serious progress this weekend on my sock.

We went downtown and met a good friend of mine for lunch.  I’d not seen her in a long time.  We used to work together.  We share the same birthday!  Davey had a good old time.  A good old time is any time when he gets both ice cream and a lollipop, although really it’s all about the lollipop.  He really liked meeting Kelly too even though their introduction began with him staying behind my legs.  He’s been doing the bashful thing with new people lately.  We had such a nice time.  We’ll see her again soon.

Yesterday, we took Davey over to the Lakewood Cultural/Heritage Center.   They have restored many old buildings to create an old town.  So there was a diner, a barber shop, etc.  The cultural center had a room devoted to old toys and their history.  Davey and David had a good time with the Slinkies.

They got it going down the steps.

Davey wanted to try it too:

Then they discovered Pacman!

Davey didn’t quite get the hang of the joystick, but he also liked watching Daddy play.

It’s time to get Davey ready for bed.  That is, after we finish watching an episode of Backyardigans!

Last night I took some pictures of our bedtime rituals with Davey.  Every night after we get Davey ready for bed,  we crawl into bed with him for bedtime books.   Last night we were reading a book about a Cookie Baker!  Right up Davey’s alley especially since we’d just baked cookies together.

So Daddy was being silly as he read, and he was making Davey laugh.

Then they pretended to eat all the cookies on the page, and Daddy ate too many so… (I may get in trouble for including this photo)

Davey found that hilarious and made Daddy repeat his fake vomiting about 10 times.

We all love story time.

Once story time is over, we turn the lights out.  Lately though, Davey doesn’t slow down much.  He keeps talking and talking and talki…. (and he does gradually slow down…) and then he is out mid-sentence.

And I finally got back to work on my second Breakfast sock last night.  I’ve made some progress!

This afternoon Davey and I made cookies.

Seated and ready to mix!

We were working with a mix, so I set out the other two ingredients for him to add.  He couldn’t wait to start stirring.

The butter was melted and still warm so I helped him with that.  I love all his very earnest expressions.

He stirred and stirred and stirred.

He did not want any assistance.  “I want to stir it all by myself!”

Finally it was time to put the cookies on the cookie sheet.  I love his first attempts at cookie formation.

He worked hard to try to form cookies and not little cookie niblets.  Total concentration here!

Ahhh.  Cookie formation success.

Of course there was eating when they were done baking.  He decided that he made some delicious cookies.  David and I agreed.

And tonight, my Sock #2 is coming back out.  I am ready to get back to work on it!  I am already looking forward to the next pair of socks!  It’s just not time to start thinking about them yet though.

I am back to bedtime blogging.   There just was no time to post earlier today.  Davey and I had a good day.  We went to story hour this morning.  He had a great time.  One of the songs they sing ends with hugging someone if they want to.  (Or they can just hug themselves.) They sang the song twice.  The first time, he hugged the little girl  he’d hugged last week.  It was precious to watch.  She stood straight and still, and his hug was more of his arms forming a circle around her.  The second time through the song, he hugged the little boy next to him.  The little boy did not resist, but he was saying “hey what’s going on here?  Hey!”

At story hour, I am happy to sit back and watch.  I even had my knitting with me today.  However, Davey doesn’t like that much.  When it’s time to stand up for a song, he calls to me, “Mommy!  Stand up!  Mommy, you can do that better standing up!”  He wants full active participation.  It’s a great story hour.  The librarian is so energetic and fun.

We also played at the “magic act” tree again.  Then we had a snack at the picnic table.  David got home in time for that.  There’s a concrete basketball court next to the table, and after we saw a squirrel and a big black bird, Davey got the idea that he’d put his cookie out for the animals.  So he ran to the exact center of the court – right at the half court line – and he put down his cookie.  Then he ran as fast as he could back to me.  A few minutes later, he charged back to the court yelling, “ANIMALS!  Where are you?? Come eat this COOKIE!”   Unfortunately no animals responded while we were there.

I am not knitting much.  I am building up a knitting deficit.  I have not gotten to sit down and just knit for several hours since I left my friends at Knit Unto Others.  I am going to have to make some time for uninterrupted knitting this weekend!   I did finish Davey’s hat last night.  He likes it.

I just love this hat pattern:  Boyfriend Hat.

I also have about 30 papers that I need to grade before I should think about knitting.  But I wouldn’t do them justice tonight, so I think I’ll go watch Castle  and knit a little before bed.

Busy Monday that began at 6:15.  Davey woke up early this morning.  I had to get up at 6:30 anyway, but still…early!

Today I wore some of my own socks for the first time.  I’ve made all these wool socks and it is still too warm to wear them.  So I wore my purple cotton bobble socks.

Of course nobody knew it but me:

Who knew that under that black shoe was a fun and comfortable sock?

I want to make more cotton socks.  They fit well.  I’d been afraid that they’d stretch too much, but they didn’t.

This afternoon was warm but still comfortable and beautiful.  David had class, so Davey and I played outside.  His imagination is just going crazy.  I love to listen to him.

First, he was preparing his magic show.  Here he is with his magic wand.

Next, he was searching for the kangaroo.  The kangaroo was apparently a very important part of the magic act.  Here Davey is yelling, “KANGAROO!!!!  Where are you?”

Next, he found a small knothole filled with muddy water, so he began painting.

Then it was time for a drink:

Next, I convinced him to try on the hat that I am knitting for him.  I was knitting while watching him.  I think he looks exactly like David in this photo!

He was very nice about it for a moment.  Then he wanted the hat gone!

And it was back to playing.  Now it was a peek-a-boo around the trees.

And again!

And one more.  I had a lot of fun taking pictures today as you can see.

Finally, he began to wind down.

It was time to come back inside.  Davey, his imaginary purple dog named Lucy, and me.  The kangaroo never did show up.