The World Through John's Eyes

So I have spent the last couple of days observing my son. He is now much closer to 2 than 1, and you can really see a difference. He is talking more and more every day. He repeats words constantly. He calls everything with 4 legs a dog - and gets equally excited for all 4 legged creatures. He is following Nettie around everywhere and tries to keep up with her. She of course likes to remind him that she is 4 and he is still little, so he can't always do everything she does. The other morning he spilled milk and when he noticed it (right away) he went to the drawer, got a rag a cleaned it up. While we have been working with him, I am attributing most of this phenomenon to school always making him clean up after himself. He is getting into the order of things and stacking. Here are a couple of picture of his handy work.....

After taking all the hot pads out of the drawer and being asked to put them all away:
This morning after he played with the Tupperware:

IT has been a busy fall for the Wismer family. Ben and I went to Italy for 2 weeks, and thank you to my Mom and Aunt, we were able to go kid free! The kids enjoyed having 2 weeks with Nanna and Aunt Pam, even letting us know that they were more fun sometimes. We spent a week by ourselves in Rome and Venice and then joined the Stein clan for a week in Londa, a small village outside of Florence. The time was very fun and relaxing, we can't thank all those that helped with the kids enough!

October started with Nettie's 4th birthday which was of course a week long - if not a little more celebration. Unfortunately for Nettie, she caught a stomach bug for her birthday, so we had a quiet day, but she was feeling better by the following day. Nettie enjoyed her birthday this year, a little more than other years. She has started to understand that this was all about her! She has turned into a great kid overall. She loves her brother, which is always great to see. She has a great time a school and loves her teacher Ms. Ruth (the feeling is mutual). Nettie is Ms. Ruth's shadow during the day, even during nap time when all the other kids are sleeping. Tiffany's college friends came into town for our 10 year reunion. I wasn't able to go to the game, but it was fun to see everyone for a brunch on Sunday.

We were also able to spend some time with cousins during the month, Paige and Luke, Ollie and Noah. We missed Abbie and Mia!

Right before Halloween we welcomed the newest cousin, Lily Cribari to the world. She is a beautiful little girl who is a great addition to the family. Nettie is VERY excited to have a new baby cousin and I have a feeling will love to watch over Lily in the future.

Halloween was full of parties, 4 nights of events and the finally Nettie was able to wear the Dorothy costume every day. For those people who have had us over with the Dorothy costume, I apologize for all the sparkles all over the house!

John is doing well. He is definitely close to 2. He has started to communicate more, using both words and signs. He loves to read, play with cars and trucks. His favorite time of day is anytime he can play outside, so there are definite times that we bundle up and head out even when it is cold outside. He is still a bit of a Momma's boy, and that is an understatement. We are working on trying to break him of that habit, but that will take time.

So far, November has been a great month. WE spent last weekend jumping in the leaves at Geema's and Geepa's house to celebrate Geepa's birthday. The kids had a blast and can't wait until next year.

We are getting ready for the holidays, it is hard to believe that we have another year almost over.