Halloween Prep

For weeks now Jack has been protecting our pumpkins. He has refused to let us make Jack-O-Lanterns for fear of making them sad. Friday, we finally convinced him to let us carve them. YEA! As of this morning we have carved three of them, and Jack painted his little one.

However, we now have a new challenge. He informed me this morning he is "too little for Halloween." I guess that is his way of saying there is no way he is going to put on a costume. (We have told him he must wear a costume if he wants to trick or treat.)

We will try our best this evening. We have plans to do some trick or treating with some of our neighbors, so perhaps the older kids will convince him. I honestly don't know what to expect. I'll post the results later.

Big Sister

We were lucky to get a last minute visit this week from Jack's oldest sister, Heather. She is a busy college student these days, so unfortunately, we do not get to have her home as much as we would like. It's been so long, that Jack called her Karen for most of her visit. (He really misses Karen a LOT.) It's just a very sad reminder of how much Jack misses out on by not having his sisters home with us. It's been difficult getting Jack to go anywhere this week, because he tells me he doesn't want to leave his family.

We are so proud of her, but really wish we could see her more often.

While she was here, she turned 19! Jack was thrilled to celebrate another birthday.

Frustrations

Do you see what I am up against here?!

Attitude

It's hard to discipline your kid when dad is an instigator. I swear, sometimes it feels like I have 2 little boys.

Community Fall Festival

Our community puts on some great events. Yesterday, we went to the annual Fall Festival. Jack had so much fun.

We played Halloween croquet.

Jack got a spider tattoo. Immediately after getting it, he had to go find Olivia to show it to her. She is the older sister to one of the kids in his play group. He has missed her a LOT since school started again.

He got to decorate a pumpkin using stickers. This is good since I am still uncertain as to if he will let us carve any additional pumpkins this year.

He absolutely did the whole thing with no help from us.

I think it turned out pretty good, very detailed.

And there were pony rides. Jack's favorite!

A bounce house is always fun too!

It was a great morning for all of us!

Conversations...

As I mentioned, I love the conversations I have with Jack. It's difficult to hear all of what he is saying in this video, but it was so cute that I had to post it. (Well, I thought it was cute and since it's my blog, that's all that matters.)

Jack Needs His Nap

Jack has always been a good sleeper, but for any of you who have seen him in action, this should be obvious. He is so active, that he really needs his sleep. We get a good 10-11 hours at night and a 2-3 hour nap during the day. Lately, Jack is resisting his nap. No, he isn't outgrowing it...not yet. He just doesn't want to take it. Last week when I told him it was time for his rest, he replied, "I have no time to go to sleep." (I know how he feels.)

Even if he doesn't sleep, he has to stay in his bed for at least 1 hour before he can get up. About once a week he refuses to sleep. The result is a cranky kid in the evening. When he skipped his nap last week, he was such a lunatic that we had dinner early...about 5pm. As I am cleaning up the dinner dishes, I noticed it was too quiet in the house. Stuart and I looked for Jack and found him passed out in the family room at 5:30pm...slept until after 6 the next morning.

Poor baby!