The absence....the updates!

Yeah, we've been lax. It's football season, and our camera is broken. Booooooo! In the last month, JR has really blossomed at school and is developing quite the clownish personality (in his own words, "I'm funny!") He is loving football season and his new best friend, Elliott. They are so cute together--very boyish and active and copying everything the other one does. It is hysterical.

We went to Hilton Head in late September and had an amazing time, thanks to Jim and Edie Hipp. We played on the beach in beautiful weather, swam in the ocean and at the pool, and enjoyed visiting Harbortown (including the lighthouse!) and seeing boats. The oysters weren't half-bad either!

JR continues to work with his speech therapist, Ms. Kim, and knows his colors, can count to ten, and is working on singing his ABC's. "Fire truck" doesn't come out quite the way it should, but we know what he's saying (even if it sounds like cursing!). He says new words everyday. Today it was "bell" and "trophy". He also started apologizing for naughty things (like spilling or hitting) and woke up today and said (very honestly), "I'm sick Mommy. I want apple jacks." To be fair, he has had a random high fever since yesterday and can be pretty pitiful when feeling yucky.

JR and Remsen love to make up games to play; the games du jour are "Tent" and "Teddy Bear Tackle". Both of these games are played on our King-sized bed (as JR is still in a crib, and therefore too small for such games). Tent consists of being under our blanket (as if it is a tent), usually with a football or teddy bear, where we have an imaginary campfire on which JR cooks imaginary hot dogs and then feeds them to us, first warning that they are hot. Then he goes through a bunch of other foods and non-foods (like pizza and dirt and sand), saying yum or yuck. He has a great imagination and is really funny. The second part to the Tent game is being chased by "bears". Any noise outside the tent (outside traffic, dogs, whatever) triggers the same response from JR: "What's that noise?" "Oh" (makes o with his mouth and his eyes get really big). "Bears." On top of this step, our golden retriever Sadie, will sometimes act as our bear, sticking her nose in the tent, howling, and jumping on the bed to try to get us. It is awesome and makes JR squeal with excitement.

Teddy Bear Tackle involves JR's new BuildABear Workshop Bear (named BA-BALL) and Remsen runs the bear all over the bed and JR tackles him. He loves to tackle and loves football.

Potty training is coming slowly, and we aren't pushing him. He is getting more comfortable sitting on the potty but would rather just run around in a diaper. He does know how to take off his diaper, though, and is working on getting dressed and picks out his clothes and shoes.

Official growth stats (from this week's doctor's visit):

Weight: 35.5 lbs
Height: 36 inches

We are really enjoying our baby before he completely turns into a big boy...hope to post some pictures from Nana's borrowed camera soon.