Tell Dada he needs to carve his pumpkin, yo

Happy Halloween from the O'Neals!

A trick-or-treating primer...with marching bands!

We are fortunate enough to live in a town that is the perfect size -- not too small and not too big -- to throw some crazy parades. After experiencing the serious awesomeness of the Halloween parade last year, we decked the boys out in their costumed finery and headed to Main Street again to prime our trick-or-treat engines.



We met up with fellow parade-goers Carlos and Anthony, whose smart parents brought chairs and a wagon. Here, Dread Pirate Anthony, Woody, and Baby Cow have a pre-parade wagonside conference to discuss their candy strategery.




Once again, the parade did not disappoint. Lots of beauty queens and clubs and costumes and candy. This year we had the added spectacle of people running for office, all of whom handed out flyers and stickers. Note to you wishing to be elected: while I appreciate that you are out there pounding the pavement, if you are participating in a Halloween parade to get my vote, BRING SOME STINKIN' CANDY.

There were four marching bands, many of whom parked their drum sections right in front of us for a few minutes at a time so I could shake what the Grandma gave me. Last year Isaac boogied down with me; this year his entire mental efforts were required as he kept a watchful eye for mobile parade-going candy-givers. At first Isaac was really shy of the approaching strangers, not that I'm complaining. It didn't take too much coaching from the Daddy, however, before he realized that there were suckers going in his pumpkin candy-receptacle, and then he got the hang of shoving his pumpkin out as the appropriate people came by.

Isaac's been brandishing the eight pieces of candy he got from the parade like precious jewels all day long, never tiring of hearing me name them piece by piece. I think he was actually sad when I let him eat two pieces after lunch today. I enjoyed it, though, since this is really the first time he's introduced to traditional-kid candy. I made a huge deal of it and in the end felt a little like the sommelier at a wine-tasting class. "This, sir, is a Tootsie Roll. No, it's not exactly chocolate, but I think you'll find the caramelly notes extremely delicious."

Ah, Incisor. We meet again.

After a horribly interrupted night of sleep, what should appear in Jacob's precious pie-hole but his third tooth? The thinnest ridge of his top right incisor poked through today. It appears the top left one is following right behind it, as was the case with his bottom incisors.

As this tooth sprouts more, I'm sure he will be thrilled at his new chomping powers. The child, he refuses to eat traditional baby food. Just like the toy situation, where he won't play with objects that are obviously baby-oriented, Jacob sees Big Brother or Mommy or Daddy eating non-pureed food and either insists on having some of that himself or outrightly grabs it out of our hands. Did I mention he also refuses to wear a bib? We're buying stock in Spray-n-Wash.

This has been one major instance of changes in parenting a second versus a first -- I think Isaac was fed from jars until he was nearly a year. Jacob hasn't eaten jar food in a week. What can you feed an 8-month-old baby? His very favorite foods include Eggos, English muffin pizzas, and chili. It amazes me what he plows through with the very few teeth he has. And unlike his brother, Jacob will eat whatever I'm eating, so I usually feed him off my plate, though sometimes it can be seriously challenging to find things that he will eat, but won't choke on.

He's certainly not starving, but it would be nice to coerce him into eating more vegetables and fruit. I'm thinking a trip to the frozen foods section is probably in order to get precooked stuff without all the salt of canned. If anybody else has ideas to share in this regard, I'm always interested, especially if they might be something his ultra-picky big brother might eat.

Everything but the kitchen sink

The kitchen, she is not quite done yet. What remains to be done:
*Installing the end floor cabinet
*Installing the cabinet over the fridge
*Installing the trim at the bottom of the cabinets
*Installing the panels to cover the side-most cabinets and the side of the fridge
*Wiring the garbage disposal
*Permanently mounting the sink
*Laying the backsplash tile
*Mounting cabinet handles
*Grouting some of the floor tile
*Painting

And there is a huge fancy hood that will go over the stove when Uncle Sam gives us a correspondingly huge refund in the new year.

We are a bit over budget. What is a home improvement project without such a statement? This is mainly because I insisted Dada buy us a new gas stove, not wanting to hear his inevitable whining and moaning about how skanky and mouse-poop-ridden the old stove that came with the place is, and that it looks so horrible with our other appliances.

But 3 weeks into our do-it-yourself remodel, the transformation is quite astounding. After we got off to a great running start, courtesy of the help from Dadaw, Dada is now working on the kitchen himself most weeknights and at least one full day a weekend. It's not as bad as it sounds, really, except for the constant admonitions of "don't touch that!" or "don't let the baby play there!" The worst part is the mess and the disorganization, but with almost all of the cabinets installed, there is less and less of an excuse for that.

Again, we are not done, but the major things are done enough that one can appreciate how insanely beautiful and functional it is now, as opposed to the grody, cracked, and dysfunctional kitchen we knew before.

Before, from the Stairs of Death:

After, from next to the baby-proofable wall that now contains the Stairs of Death:

Dishwasher...fixed underneath a countertop! What a concept! And to use the sink and dishwasher at the same time. It's, like, space-age.

A full-on view of the old kitchen on its wall:


As close to a full-on view of the new kitchen on its new wall, centered around the corner opposite that in which dwelt the old cabinetry:


And, the Dada coup de grace, the luscious marble countertop:

Jacob's Christmas Wish List

Isaac's list was pretty easy to make up. I mean, The Boy, he has opinions and vocalizes them regularly. He is well versed in the language of Toys and Presents and will surely enjoy his first cognizant Christmas this year, perhaps more so than he will enjoy his first cognizant Halloween.

But now for my darling blue-eyed fat baby. What on earth do you get for the boy whose older brother has everything? Obviously Jacob doesn't lack for activity around here. And he seriously hates baby toys. He only plays with things that he has at some point in time observed being handled in a purposeful way by the other occupants of the house (i.e., cars, Buzz Lightyear, empty Coke bottles, junk mail). As far as toys go, then, I can only suggest that he will enjoy things that could possibly attract Big Brother's attention also. That should make for a fun time of present-opening.

He could always use clothes, since his hand-me-down wardrobe from this age is a little sparse; we had to toss a lot from Isaac's blueberry period. Also, his room could do with a little spiffying up. The kid has no toybox nor bookcase nor shelves. Anyway, suggestions follow, and, as with Isaac's list, will be updated as I have time and energy and new ideas. I am particularly interested in receiving comments on poor Jacob's list from those who have better ideas than me.

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Clothes sized 12 mo or 12-18 mo, especially sturdy pants/jeans and long-sleeved shirts

A chair or small table/chair combo
A small toybox or bookshelf/toybox combo
-or for both, an IKEA gift card! How portable and useful!

Books of his own!

A walker, such as
Chomp and Clack Alligator Push Toy
Fisher-Price Stride to Ride Walker
Playskool Step Start Walk n Ride

Neat Toys I've Seen
Peek-a-boo Barn
Roll-Arounds Drop-n-Roll Dinosaur
Fisher-Price Learning Home

Isaac's Christmas wish list

In Christmases past I've set up a separate webpage with Isaac's wish list; this year I realized (wow!) that I should just post it here for all to see. This post will be permalinked on the right side under Wish List --> Isaac, and will be added to (hopefully) as I get more ideas. Of course the intended audience for such information is extremely limited, but I know I wouldn't mind it if other mommy-blogs posted their babies' wish lists online. It would probably help give me better ideas of what is out there. It's amazing, really, how tough it can be to come up with gift ideas for the toddler that strike me as truly excellent and not just yard-sale fodder. Anyway, here's my attempt. Jacob's will come later.

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updated 10/28

Toys he plays with regularly at playgroup
Keep in mind -- the boy LOVES role play. Nobody give me any crap about some of these being traditional girly toys, because he would play with them for hours and hours if he could.
Little Helper’s Complete Kitchen
My First Dollhouse
A trike
A toddler-sized indoor (or outdoor) basketball goal
Pretend cash register
Sit-n-Spin

For art time and working with his hands
**An easel
Art kits, finger paints, and/or playdoh
Giant building blocks
A sand &/or water play table
Lincoln Logs

Role play
Wild animal figurines
Toy Story or Incredibles or Nemo or Monsters, Inc. anything (a Buzz Lightyear costume would be amazing)
Little People playsets, such as but not limited to:
*Time-to-Learn Preschool
*Lil Pirate Ship
Folding Barn with Animals
Folding Castle set
Dinosaur Kingdom

Learning toys & Games
Melissa & Doug toys such as:
*Shape-sorting learning clock
*Magnetic ABC book
Loose 20-40 piece puzzles
Cootie
Ants in my Pants
Hi-Ho Cherry-O
Chutes and Ladders
Honey Bee Tree

Books books books
He is old enough now to enjoy longer books with more words per page, and to not destroy regular paper (i.e. non-board) books (although we like those kind, too). Below are books that we have thoroughly enjoyed from the library but do not own.

Where the Wild Things Are
Harold and the Purple Crayon
Pete’s a Pizza
Knuffle Bunny
How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?
How Do Dinosaurs Count to 10?
No, David!
It Looked Like Spilt Milk
The Little Engine that Could
Richard Scarry books
Good Night, Gorilla
Books with Mickey Mouse or his associates
Books with Toy Story characters
“Books” to go with his LittleTouch LeapPad

On having a third

C: I just thought of an excellent reason why we can't have another child.
M: Because the ones we have are driving us crazy?
C: No, no, besides that. We have a certain trend going with the naming of boys here, right?
M: Yeah...
C: So the next one would have to be Judah. And I can't hang with that.
M: Not even with 'Ben-Hur' as a middle name?
C: Well, when you put it that way... perhaps you could hold off on that vasectomy after all.

Jacob at 8 months

Today my special fat guy turned 8 months old. One of those ho-hum month-days, really. No doctor's visit; no super-special milestones to report. I will, however, take this opportunity to reveal who Jacob is now as he ages slowly but gracefully.




An expert at pulling himself up for ages now, he has in the past two weeks become aware of the equal importance of getting himself down. Right before Mamaw and Dadaw alighted, I was giving him a bath when I noticed he was enamored of the end of the tub far from me, the end with more space. He pulled himself up on the tub walls and remained that way for 2 seconds before consciously looking behind him, as if scoping out a landing spot, and then letting himself fall on his hiney with a big splash. He did this a few more times before I realized that he was practicing. Since then, he's become highly skilled at lowering himself from a standing perch at the coffee table, and can usually do so pretty smoothly while holding on to the tabletop with one hand. This has naturally resulted in a noticeable improvement in the appearance of his cranium. By this I mean that gazing upon it does not create an irrepressible urge to call CPS from the number of contusions parading about his temples.

He spends so much time on his feet holding on to the coffee table that cruising soon was inevitable, but for some reason he hadn't yet. Perhaps there is some bad coffee-table-cruising juju or something, because today at playgroup he cruised right along a high-waist-height stage like a total pro.



The theme of this past month has been Jacob is the Busiest Monkey Ever and Gets Into Everything with the Greatest of Ease and Rapidity. Jacob can now crawl wherever he likes and at warp speed. It is so cute to see him roaming the hallway in the morning looking for Daddy because he hears the sound of Daddy's voice. Cuteness aside, his insane mobility makes him unstoppable. Everyone who sees him comments on how "he's just so busy!", because the kid doesn't stop moving. He wants to explore every nook and cranny of everything just in case there might be something there to put in his mouth. He abhors baby toys and instead prefers Big Brother's toys, shoes, electrical cords, Moses tails, cups, empty bottles, and Matchbox cars. Basically if it isn't something that could potentially bring about his death by choking, poisoning, or electrocution, he isn't interested. Dada believes he has a real future as a stuntman. Alternatively, we can see Isaac, with his natural showmanship, and Jacob teaming up as the next Penn and Teller.





The one thing Jacob will slow down for, at least for a few minutes, is Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. As soon as Jacob hears Mickey calling his flock, he stops whatever he's doing and turns to glue his eyes to the TV. I do my best not to abuse his obsession, but I do use it to help me cut his fingernails.

All in all, he's a handful. A cute handful, but a handful nonetheless. I'll be glad when we're done with the kitchen and there are fewer pointy objects lying around for him to try to eat.

My dream come true

Did you see? Did you see? Now my junior male models really CAN pose for babyGap ads, rewarding Mommy for her horrible and expensive addiction.

Wouldn't you, too, take advantage of your baby and enter them in the babyGap model casting call?

But how to pick from the zillions of cute pictures...

Complex sentences

Isaac's sentence-structuring, just over the past week and a half, has exploded such that he sounds more like a debate-team captain than a toddler. He has always been very verbal, but now it appears that things are just not worth saying unless they come in multi-sentence packages liberally sprinkled with adjectives and qualifiers. Here are a few examples from the past two days.

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At bedtime, after watching Finding Nemo in the big-people bed with Mamaw and Dadaw.

Mamaw: Isaac, do you want to sleep in here with Mamaw and Dadaw?
Isaac: No, I not. I go sleep in my cozy Isaac bed with my truck comforter.

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At Bob Evans, people-watching as we wait for our food. Isaac sees another small person, a boy, wearing a sock cap with a pom-pom on top, being carried out of the restaurant by a daddy-figure.

Isaac: Mommy, see that snowman guy? He's leaving with his Daddy.

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At Bob Evans, as Mommy entertains Isaac by trying to hang a spoon off her nose.

Mommy: Isaac, look! What am I doing?
Isaac: No, Mommy! The spoon doesn't go there! That's where the boogers come out.

Documenting three more days of slavish dedication to the kitchen

When I last checked in, Dada had erected the new wall just prior to the arrival of Mamaw and Dadaw. The next day was when it all started looking so luscious, when Dadaw lent his expert hands and limbs to the installation of top cabinets.




Look! The fridge has a home! And Dadaw installed some pipes for the plumbing in the new wall. While that occurred, Isaac played outside with the babysitter and Jacob succumbed to the mad nap-conjuring skillz of the Mamaw.



There was much going to and fro by the menfolk to procure things, so that was just about that for the day.

Tuesday was lots and lots of work of the invisible kind. Our resident expert Dadaw rerouted the gas lines from one wall to another for our new stove placement, and Dadaw wired the new layout to carry the necessary electric juice. And more procurement, this time to Sears to buy some pipes for the natural gas, accompanied little people:


Later, we learn that Jacob-wrangling is a full-time job...

...as Dada fills in his wall over Dadaw's new plumbing and builds a short wall to complete the fridge's new home:



Dada then pried up over half of the old flooring down to the plywood and laid down some backerboard over which to begin installation of bottom cabinets. Also, with the new wiring, the menfolk installed task lighting under the cabinetry:



Today while we were at the zoo, Dada built frames to support the bottom cabinets and installed those along the wall with the fridge.


Before the day was done, Dada had cut a hole in the cabinet "filler" for the sink and purchased a tile saw. Tomorrow Dadaw will reroute the plumbing to the new sink, the fridge, and the dishwasher, and Dada will begin tiling the countertop.

Are you tired just reading that? These guys are out of control.

Where do you go to see the Moose? At the zoo, of course

Mama Moose and I have been plotting a get-together for ages. Last week she came up with the suggestion that we meet at the Philly Zoo. What fantastic timing she had; with Mamaw and Dadaw in town we were given something fun, new, and touristy to do, and we also had two extra pairs of hands for the inevitable baby rodeo that ensued. Plus, Isaac and Connor (who is two weeks older than Isaac) are now old enough to enjoy a trip to a big zoo, to take delight in spying all the animals in real life that they are used to seeing every day in books. And for the mamas, it was equally neat to spy the characters in real life whom they are used to seeing every day in blogs.

Mamaw and Dadaw had a fabulous time. It was easy to, with Isaac so excited. "There's a rhinoceros! There's a elephant! Mamaw, WHAT'S THAT?!???" Jacob was even easy-going, and let Dadaw hold him for most of our long, winding walk. Mamaw and Dadaw also seriously enjoyed Connor's company. It was like having an extra grandboy along to spoil.


I've read Mama Moose's blog about her Connor for about a year and a half now. It's funny how you instantly feel comfortable encountering these blog-subjects even though you've never really met them before. Mama Moose and I gabbed effortlessly, like we'd known each other for, well, a year and a half. And Connor is everything she says he is and more. He is just a doll, and when he got tired would patiently wait in his stroller for his buddy Isaac as Isaac ran, hummingbird-like, from one exhibit to the next. And man, can he put back some ice cream. Mama Moose, can he share some of his toddler appetite with Isaac?

But why am I still talking? You want to see pictures. You can view all the pictures I took as a slideshow here. For the lazy, here's a parade of highlights.

It's...a...RHINOCEROS!



Isaac and Connor: "The lions take a nap."



Jakey eats Big Brother's hot dog bun for lunch. Check out those toofers and you see why Dada now calls him "Can Opener":


Feeding the ducks. See what I mean about two extra pairs of hands?


Big red tractor = little boy magnet:



Jacob is ecstatic to have a safe place to stretch his lard-limbs:



Isaac was addicted to these face-cutout thingys. He ran to every one he could find and stood in it, or, in this case, insisted Mamaw hoist him up so I could take a picture:


Dadaw and Jacob, just before Jakey hits the hay on Dadaw's shoulder:


Little boy magnet #2 -- climbable statues. As Isaac puts it, "I hanging like a monkey":



Getting as tired as the polar bear after walking practically the whole zoo by himself (no joke! Smart-boy Connor had retired to his stroller looooong before):


Aaaaaand the obligatory group photo:


Thanks to Mama and Connor Moose -- we had a blast! But thanks most of all to Mamaw and Dadaw, whose extreme zeal for walking with, entertaining, and carrying little boys really made it a fantastic time.

Words of wisdom

Today Jakey woke up and decided it was a good day to start babbling. Suddenly, it's "geh-gah-gah-gah-geh-gah" from him all day today. I caught him in the act as he stood at the kitchen gate spying on that Dadaw. Lots of raspberries, too, but that's nothing new.

Dark sarcasm in the kitchen

The boys and I left for the park after lunch so Dada could work on the kitchen. We left after Dada took the ceiling fan down. At the time the room in question looked like this:


What a gorgeous day to be outside. The ground was a little wet, but Jacob didn't care. And I especially didn't care, cause it meant I didn't have to lug his fat tush around the place.






In an interesting side story, Isaac is in the pine tree to poop. I didn't bring any diaper-changing supplies with me, so we had to go home after a little less than an hour at the park because Isaac himself insisted I change his poop diaper. What's more -- he refused to sit in the wagon (on his poop) and walked most of the way. When he got too tired, he got in the wagon, but arranged himself so that he was folded up and "sitting" on his knees such that his butt wouldn't have to sit in his poop.

Suddenly, magically, we have acheived poop consciousness. Dude even sat willingly on his potty this morning as we were getting dressed for the day. I had secretly plotted all along that this would be the month I would start really pushing the potty-training agenda. You can imagine my pleasure that Isaac has himself evolved, naturally, without any added pressure from anyone, to be right there with me.

Anyway, when we got back home from the park, the kitchen looked like this:


Twenty minutes later the kitchen looked like this:


A new wall. In my kitchen. In less than two hours.

And now Dadaw and Mamaw are here, and Dadaw and Dada are ready to kick some kitchen tail tomorrow. It has been suggested that tomorrow at this time all base cabinets will be installed. The spine...she tingles with such glee...