On a particularly nice fall day, we took the boys to the Botanic Gardens for the afternoon. Andrew took off to the kids area, but Noah indulged me and posed for a few photos in the Japanese garden. He's so great :)
Some random weekend fun... Andrew painted a very progressive birdhouse, and we hung it on the front porch. I think our Midtown neighbors approve. No birds have ventured in, however. Might help if we actually put some bird seed in there, I suppose.
Andrew was obsessed with the Lincoln Logs at after school care. So he decided to save up money to buy his own set. We checked out Target (they were around $22) and created a chart so he could see his progress. About the time he made it to $7, Angie found a gigantic box at Goodwill. The price, coincidentally, was $7. Andrew couldn't be more pleased. The lesson we learned - how to save for something you really want. But also, check Goodwill, 'cause you can score a really awesome deal.
We had some fun with DSAM at the corn maze. My amazing sense of direction got us to the half-way point, and then we lost interest. It was also really muddy from days of rain and our shoes were disgusting. Except Noah's, his were fine.
Noah's first turn at the bouncy pillow. I have tried to keep him away from bouncy houses and inflatables until we had his spinal x-ray. Kids with Down syndrome are susceptible to Atlantoaxial Instability - too much separation between vertebrae of the spine, which can be very dangerous if the child is in an accident that jars the neck. If severe, spinal fusion surgery may be necessary to correct it. Thankfully, Noah's x-ray came back normal. He still doesn't have the stability to navigate the bouncy pillow on his own, but he enjoyed it anyway. (On a somewhat related subject, Noah's swallowing has improved - he has moved from honey consistency to nectar. Very exciting, because for the longest time there was no change. We still have to thicken his liquids, but not as much. All around, good news from our doctor's visits this month!)
Halloween Flashback? Same costumes as last year, that's right. Andrew said he wanted to be Batman again this year. I asked if he wanted a new costume, and he said he wanted to wear the one he had. And of course he wanted Noah to be Robin again. Noah is too young to engage in a meaningful debate, so here we go again:
Noah trick-or-treated a few houses and called it quits. He's not a big fan of candy anyway, but he did get some good stuff for me! Andrew did quite well and canvassed several streets. His favorites this year were Pixie Sticks. He ate all of them out of his bag and hasn't touched the rest, except for a random bag of candy corn last night (shout out to Auntie No, fellow candy corn fan!).
Pumpkin carving was an adventure this year. It all started with Andrew creating templates and deciding how his pumpkin should look. About the third slice with the knife, Taylor nearly cut his thumb off and had to go to the emergency room for stitches. Andrew and I rallied and finished the pumpkin anyway. The stitches were around a lot longer than the pumpkin, unfortunately.
The final product. My first pumpkin - I'm pretty proud! And I managed to keep all my digits intact.
