Quick updates

 A few updates from our house:

• A few weeks ago, we bought a tricycle from friends whose daughter has moved up to a bike. He's been having a great time with it, though it's challenging since we live at the top of a hill and have very little flat space to ride. I have no explanation for the expressions in the second and third pictures!

•We've been working on potty training & Ben is doing pretty well with it. He earned enough stickers on his sticker chart to choose a prize. He asked for a number puzzle and has enjoyed the nice Melissa & Doug one we found. We made the executive decision not to put in any batteries before we gave it to him- why does a puzzle need sound?! He certainly doesn't notice anything missing!

•A few weekends ago, Ben decided that the salad spinner was the Best Toy Ever. He spent the whole weekend playing with it, sometimes with magnets/other detritus in it, sometimes just making imaginary food for us.

• Inspired by his golf lessons with Papa, Ben has been practicing his swing. Golf clubs are usually whatever drum mallet he can find.

•We've decided not to take Ben trick or treating this year. He doesn't really grasp the concept of Halloween and he's in a phase where he's been getting anxious and taking time to warm up in new situations, even if he knows the people we're meeting. We felt that going up to strange houses would be more stress than it's worth. He & I are going to his Halloween party at school tomorrow and he can wear his cute Halloween shirt when we hand out candy to the trick-or-treaters on Monday. He's had fun with the pumpkin crafts we've been doing and the pumpkin he got to pick out yesterday as a reward for being a good helper at Target :)

•Tonight for his extensive crib concert Ben is rewriting "Baa, Baa Black Sheep" to span the rainbow. We've heard baa, baa white sheep, yellow sheep, and orange sheep so far. Also on the program are perennial favorites "Let's go, Royals," "76 Trombones," a rubato mashup of the ABCs with counting, and a Shatner-esque spoken word version of "Take Me Out to the Ballgame." He will occasionally pause and ask his animals (we assume) if they want to listen.

•Ben wanted to spend his pre-bed play time playing the piano. Ben chose the "Mommy Goes 'Round the Sun" song and we repeated it multiple times for different family members and their pets. He played the piano with great gusto on the "Boom!" part at the end of each verse. He is now trying to fit his full name in to the song as he sings in his crib. He still can't quite grasp that the order goes first middle last name; he keeps trying first last middle.

•At daycare, Ben is beginning the transition to the three-year-old room, spending short spurts of time there before returning to the 2's. He had a hard time at first but has been doing better going back and forth. Yesterday kept asking the 2's teacher if he could go to the 3's.

•Last week was the start of my third trimester. Baby girl is kicking up a storm and had a strong heartbeat at our appointment last week. We were kind of shocked when the doctor told us it was already time to start scheduling appointments every two weeks instead of monthly - hard to believe we're at that point already! We will be starting to transition Ben to a twin bed so he's used to that by the time she arrives and needs the crib.