First-time flyer

Making friends with Noah (the doggie)

Opry Mills Mall

Last week we took Stephen with us to Nashville for some noshing, shopping and sightseeing. Here's some of the videos Joe took in Old Navy:





I was especially pleased to find Stephen a winter coat at 50% off, some clearance corduroys and a pair of tennis shoes for $1.97 :-)

Table dancer

Stephen has liked dancing for a while, but a couple weeks ago we finally decided to get it on video. His moves include bouncing up and down, stomping one foot, and bending down to smack the floor.

Stephen and the leaf pile

A quiet morning studying

I was working on a little freelance project this morning and Stephen was awfully quiet in the other room. I say "awfully" because usually when my son becomes quiet it means he's intently working on whatever activity is most likely to get him seriously injured. Awfully quiet moments at our house have included Stephen standing on the step stool in the kitchen to pull dirty knives out of the sink, Stephen removing the outlet protector and holding file cabinet keys poised to go in their place and the ever-fun toliet fairy game in which either the plunger or toilet brush serve as his magic wand.

So you can only imagine my relief when I found that he was innocently studying his flashcards and basking in the light of our sunny picture window.
This kid is crazy about flashcards. Sometimes I hide them just so I don't have to pick them all up again. But this morning he spotted them on the top shelf and pointed and made his little squeaky "uh-uh-uh!" to indicate that he wanted them.

He's pretty good at identifying them too... he knows cake, house, penguin, jelly, apple, monkey, elephant, car, sun, ball, flower, fish... and probably some others that I'm not aware of yet!

Waning days of warmth

It was still sunny and pleasant yesterday, the first day of November. So we took Stephen to the playground at St John United Methodist Church, across the street from us. He loves to pick up wood chips, twigs and sweet gum seeds. He's also fond of swinging, as you all know from the last video I posted, and he's recently learned to enjoy some of the other equipment. Here's a few snaps from our time.