Halloween 2010

Here's is this year's set up. A little more subtle than years past....just a little.


My quick Swedish Chef costume...


My little oven roaster!

Oct and Nov Pics

Fall is falling and Halloween has come and gone. There will be more pictures from that once I get them from my neighbor, who is a professional photographer with the AP! But, to tie you over, here are some cute pictures and movies...

Richie sleeping in his bed for his afternoon nap. Lately, they have been running 3+ hours and he is still sleeping through the night!


Here are fall colors from our deck


Richie in his new Elmo hat. No, he still has no idea who Elmo is...but soon. We've been letting him watch some of the seen from Fantasia that you can find on youtube.


Daddy was really busy this Halloween, so there was only one pumpkin.



Richie really loved trick-or-treating! I'll post the full story when I get my hands on the Halloween pictures. Here is his loot!


This is a picture from Federal Hill park. We miss our deck! Our old landlord was never able to sell the house and has re-rented it...bummer.


Snuggled up one cool weekend morning


Super Richie in his Native American Cape!


A cute video of Richie playing around in the park...kinda looks like a video from the 70's, too.


The child labor laws are very lax in Baltimore. Actually, with the background music (which is actually playing from his stroller) this looks like the closing scene for a depressing Italian foreign film.

Cute recovery

The following story has been Momma reviewed and approved for appropriate level of accuracy...

About a month or so ago, all three of us got sick. Richie and Dada got better. Momma did not. After a couple of days of worsening, Dada examined Momma and decided that she had progressed to pneumonia. Momma started antibiotics, but after two days, Momma was doing a little worse. Dada decided it was time for her to go to a real doctor and get a chest x-ray. The x-ray proved Dada right and her pulmonologist added on a second antibiotic. Momma was sick enough that Dada had to stay home for a dad and a half to help. It was like being a single parent with a baby son and a lazy teenage daughter. (All Momma had the strength and energy to do was plop on the couch.) Now Dada has a glimpse at being a single working parent trying to raise and take care of two children. (Wow! Good job Oma! (And Beth and Stacy and all of those other single parents out there.))

I tell you that story to tell you this story: Dada was working one of his moonlighting shifts during this mess. Momma was resting on the couch and Richie was playing in the living room. Richie came over to Momma and quickly swept his hands on either side of her knee and brought his hands into the air. It’s his sign for saying, “Get up.” Momma looked at him and said, “I’m too sleepy, baby.” And she did the sign for sleep which is covering your face with your hand and then drawing your hand away from your face while collapsing your fingers and closing your eyes.

Richie looked at her, did the sign for please (rubbing his tummy) and then commanded her to get up, again. So she did. Richie started walking down the hallway, periodically looking back over his shoulder to make sure she was following, and came to the stairs. Momma said, “I’m too tired to play bunny with you up the stairs.” (That’s a game we play when we take him upstairs. He tells you that he wants to do it by taking his hand and wiggling his nose…like a bunny.) He shook his head, “No.” And repeatedly pointed to himself which is the sign for “I want to do it.” It also means I want it, but you have to take the sign in context.

So, up the stairs he went, periodically looking back to see if Momma was following. He went into Momma bedroom and tapped on the mattress, which is his sign for put him on the bed. Again, Momma staid, “Baby, I’m too tired to play.” Richie shook his head “No.” Pointed to Momma and then tapped on the mattress again. She crawled into bed and the pulled Richie up with her. Then he reached over to the nightstand, grabbed the thermometer and tried to place it in her mouth.