Halloween!!

This year was Roman's first participation in Halloween. Last year he was too young but we made up for it this year. He went as a bumble bee and received praise as the cutest kid wherever we went. We went to the ward trunk-or-treat on Tuesday night and then went trick-or-treating on Wednesday night with some friends and their kids. It's funny because after awhile, it became clear to me that there was no way Roman was going to eat all that candy so I really he was just building my stash. haha! Actually, we pigged out each night and then left the rest at our friends' house for them to finish off. It was a fun experience had by all!

Home Life

We are finally settled! After driving all over creation picking up things off Craigslist, our house is furnished and we're just doing our thing. One of the best additions to our household is our dining set. Roman loves sitting down and eating together and the autonomy that he has over his own eating area. He's a fast learner so he's learned general table manners except when he's done with his napkine, he crumples it and chucks it across the table. We'll keep working on that part. We love to sit together and watch old "Alias" episodes or Roman's newfound favorite movie, "Toy Story II." When he's more spirited, he's practicing jumping from the coffee table onto the couch and luckily we haven't had to make another trip to the emergency room yet. (We did have to go to the Instacare last week where we found out that Roman had bronchitis.) We have great neighbors who have been helpful and we enjoy getting the kids together to play in the front yard.

Bizarre Bath Rituals

Roman has discovered that Q-tips can also be used as a form of entertainment. Of late, following his bath, he must stick as many Q-tips as possible in as many orifices as possible in his head and then look at himself in the mirror. He thinks he is quite cute and, of course, he is!

First Kansas Camping Trip

Roman is a born camper! He had plenty of room to roam and explore, whether on land or on water. The other family that we were with provided plenty of entertainment with the presence of their weiner-dog, Hildi. Of course, he has a fascination with fire like every other little kid and he enjoyed roasting marshmellows and swinging around big sticks. Though I personally think he is delicious, apparently the bugs did not and he escaped the weekend with only one mosquito bite and apparently no chiggers.

First Trip to the E.R.

Well, we've officially joined the ranks of late night trips to the E.R. Coincidentally, Roman split his upper lip on the right side earlier that day while we were visiting a friend's house and much later that night tripped over my leg and split his lower lip on the left side. Even though I've seen lots of blood in my day, I have to admit I felt a little queasy with the skin flap and all the blood, probably because it was my little man. So, we grabbed the pink blankie and went to Shawnee Mission Medical Center where we were told that there was apparently nothing to stitch that hadn't already clotted over and we got that advice for free. So, it was the first trip to the E.R. and probably the cheapest we'll ever take.

Driving across the country

We took three days to get to Kansas and, with a few moment exceptions, Roman and I enjoyed the journey. I was mostly concerned about his ability to sit in his carseat for that long but we stopped at several rest stops and he met a few dogs and a lot of people and did plenty of exploring along the way. I also gave way and bought a portable DVD player and he watched portions of "Toy Story 2" or "Happy Feet" for some of those in between stretches. As always the drive was beautiful and flat so it wasn't so taxing on the truck. We almost stopped and set up shop in Wyoming because of the big sky country there and the cool weather.

Moving with a toddler...

Well, I am getting an early start on packing, etc. so I'm not rushed when we're trying to get out of here. As I suspected, Roman follows me around and unpacks for me and sometimes repacks according to his judgment about what should go in the box. It's mostly entertaining but sometimes irritating. He officially hi-fives people wherever we go and any extremity in temperature, whether hot or cold, is always "hot," spoken in a whisper. We have been swimming pretty frequently lately and he's loving it. He's become very bold about wading in water up to his mouth but he stays cool and sometimes takes a drink, which thrills him!The girls at work are going to miss him because Tuesday is our last day. He will miss all of the exploration in that big house and I'm sure he will miss all the guitars that he loves to touch. He also plays with the amps regularly, along with a definite enjoyment of playing the piano, so he may continue in the tradition of musicianship in the family.