Up until today’s October snow storm, the whole family has been enjoying the fall. Eli and Margot both love picking out and playing with pumpkins (and Eli is a huge fan of toasted pumpkin seeds).

Margot is starting to talk. Her first word a few months ago was “dog,” and she’s able to say “again” (as in “read this book again, now, for the fourth time in a row”), “thank you” (which sounds more like “dang”), along with “No” (accompanied by vigorous head shaking), “done,” “hop,” “up,” “hug,” and “Mommy” & “Daddy.” She has a great sense of humor, loves peek-a-boo, and enjoys taking something from Eli and then running away as fast as she can.

Eli can’t wait until Halloween. He’s gotten dressed up for his school’s Halloween parade and loves his Happy Rainbow Ghost costume. He’s finally warmed up to preschool, and he even spontaneously told me that he made a volcano at school (vs. his usual insistence that he did “nothing” at school).

A typical day begins around 6:30 when Margot wakes up and joins us in bed. On a good day, she’ll sleep for another 45 minutes, but often she’s ready to face the day. Deirdre and I take turns sleeping in, and Deirdre claims that the kids always sleep later on my day. We play together or read until Eli wakes up at 7 something, and then breakfast begins. If we stay home, selections include mush (cream of wheat or oatmeal), waffles, yogurt, cereal, and bacon & eggs. Eli makes his preference known, but also must have everything “cold” and immediately, including mush (which makes a huge mess, but if the guy really wants to eat uncooked oatmeal, who are we to stop him?). Other times we head to Watchung Plaza for breakfast, usually to “see Camille” at Bluestone or to “the crepe place” or “the bagel store.” We primarily travel by wagon, although Eli is starting to take his scooter more places.

Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, Eli goes to school at Union Congregational. On Thursdays, Deirdre, Eli, and Margot go to Music Together.

Margot usually takes a nap at 1.

After dinner, Margot looks forward to a bath. She rushes upstairs and tries to get into the tub on her own. Eli, on the other hand, rarely looks forward to a bath, and never wants to wash his hair. And like his oatmeal and waffles, Eli prefers cold water in the bath, which is always a bummer for Margot, who likes hot water.

We wind down the evening with a video selection that includes Penguins of Madagascar, Mater’s Tall Tales, Dr. Seuss, or something we’ve borrowed from the library. Then we read a lot of books (we’ve started having to read to Eli and Margot separately) and head up to Eli’s room to sing songs (and occasionally read one more story). Then I hold Eli’s hand for a while until he gets sleepy, and Deirdre puts Margot to bed.

At this point, we’ve got 4 inches of snow on the ground, and there are trees down everywhere!

I’ve posted some pictures some of our autumn fun to flickr.

I’ve posted photos from Margot’s first year on flickr.

Margot on her 1st birthday. (Posted belatedly)

He has also decided that we are all going to pretend to be cars, and he has assigned everyone a name from the movie. He drinks oil (milk) and gas (water).

Margot and he are Mia and Tia, Lightning McQueen’s “super fans”. Whenever he is introduced to someone new as Eli, he corrects us and says “I’m Tia”. When I call him Eli, he says “No, just Tia! We’re pretending to be cars!”

I was Doc for a short time, but now I’m “The Sherrif” (including “The”). Deirdre started off as Lightning McQueen, the hero of the story, but is now known only as “Regular Van”, Eli’s made-up name for “Mrs. The King”, a Chrysler Town and Country station wagon. Eli pronounces it “Legger Van”.

This has been going on for about 6 months and shows no signs of stopping. He refers to people by their Cars name no matter what you say:
Us: “We are going to see Daniel at the park today!”
Eli: “We’re going to see Lightning McQueen at the park today?”

In addition to Scooter Bear (“Scoo”), he rarely sleeps without at least one car. Chick Hicks is his favorite, but there are several to choose from: There’s Regular Chick Hicks, Moving Chick Hicks (his eyes move), Cake Chick Hicks (from Daniel’s birthday cake, sadly lost at “sandbox park”), Blue Chick Hicks, and Big Blue Chick Hicks. Each night, we sing a shortened version of several songs from the movie before Eli goes to sleep.

At least once a day, Eli says “Tia just wants to be Tia” as he tries to take off his diaper in order to lounge around the house in his birthday suit. “Can Tia just be Tia?” I forgot to mention that he exclusively refers to himself in the third person.
Eli, asking for water: “Could Tia have some gas?”
Me: “Can you ask nicely?”
Eli: “Could Tia have some gas… please?”

On the bright side, Cars is a good movie. It could be much, much worse (like Thomas or Bob the Builder).

[This was written (but not posted) a month ago. Regular Van and Tia got to see Cars 2, and it wasn't as well received as the original, but at least there's a fresh new source of names for everyone.]

Time is flying by. Margot is almost 11 months old. She started walking at 9 months and she’s a master at it now.

Margot’s lateral incisors (which we call fangs) came in first, and her left top front tooth is also coming in along with some on the bottom. This makes her whole-face smile even more adorable.

She’s babbling a lot. When she’s unhappy, she does a good “mamamamama”, but most of the time she says “dadadada”. She says “dah” when she sees a dog (one of the top three things that excites her the most, the others being flags and balloons).

On a typical day, Margot will get up for good around 6:30 (she’s slept through the night a single-digit number of times). When Eli wakes up, we put Margot into his crib, and they have the time of their lives laughing and wrestling.

Margot is very talented at delivering raspberries. She will, without any prompting, lean into your arm and make a fantastic zrbt sound. After joint baths at the end of the day, Eli and Margot get their pajamas on on our bed. After diapers go on, it’s “crazing time” where they roll around giggling. This is also prime raspberry time for Margot and Eli.

They love seeing each other, and Eli is a very sweet, protective older brother (unless Margot is playing with one of his toys).

Margot sleeps with her pink bunny blanket. She doesn’t sleep through the night most nights. She is certainly capable of it, but she has mostly stopped nursing during the day, so the middle of the night is the only time she nurses well.