Tor's First Haircut

 Tor's hair was a little scraggly and wild with both his baby hair and new hair coming in, so it was time for a haircut before his family picture.  It was not an easy task as the cord was of great interest and anytime you'd touch his head, he'd jerk around.

 Here is the handsome boy looking good!

Rielee got to come visit during Black Friday, so Jillian was thrilled.  Jillian hasn't played with the Lego for a long time, but with Rielee there it takes on a new perspective.  Bridget felt left out at times so once in awhile they would include her.  She is good about playing with dolls on her own when Jillian isn't insisting she play school with her.

Picker Upper

Tor has gotten very good at picking up Puffs to eat. He also does it very quickly ... a sudden stab with his left hand, a fast cram into his mouth, sometimes with an assist with his right hand to help guide it in.

We've also been working on the "more" sign, but that's still a work in progress. Tor does it sometimes, but usually only when prompted.

Play With Me!

Ty came down to babysit and Jillian kept him busy playing hide and seek, hide the treasure, race, and anything else she could think of, and then Sportscenter's top 10 plays came on and Ty stopped to watch and Jillian was right there bugging him to come play.  She loves it when Ty comes.  He had his friend Jason with him and Jason was so good entertaining Tor.  Tor loved all the attention and things happening that he stayed awake way beyond his afternoon nap time. 

Scooter

Tor has found his own way of getting around.  Today he started over on the rug and soon he had worked himself over to the TV console to get this glass bird.  He kind of reaches out like he's going to crawl and then sits back up closer to where he wants to go.  Now things down low aren't safe.

Pre-Standing

Tor has figured out how to stay standing up (while holding on to something). Just before this, he never kept his legs straight for more than a moment, but now he stays up for many minutes at a time. In this case, he had the toy bins to keep his interest. He's pretty proud of himself, as you can see from his big smile.

By the way, Tor now has his top two front teeth in, so when he bites, it really hurts.

Playtime Pretend

 It's funny how sometimes Bridget wants a picture taken when normally it's the hardest thing to do.  And she wants to see the picture right away.  She did four poses with her Dora checkers set.  She doesn't do checkers yet, but just lines them up in some pattern she invents.

Jillian is ready for playtime after school.   Here she is reading a bedtime story to Bridget who will do this activity for about one minute.  Earlier Jillian was the teacher, but then when Bridget got hit in the eye (pretend) she switches to the nurses roll and treated her in the nurse's office.  She used the magnifying glass to check her eyes and one of Tor's playthings to do an X-ray of her chest.  (Being like her Mommy.)  Then school was out and Jillian becomes the Mom.  Bridget is surprisingly patient as she goes along with most of it but it's comical to see when she rebels.  One time Jillian was on the phone a long time reporting to Bridget's parents about her misdeeds.  It is just so FUN to watch.

Detective Bridget

When Bridget gets the magnifying glass in her hands, she becomes Detective Bridget. Then, her focus becomes finding clues and solving mysteries. We have a lot of mysteries in our house, including "The Case of the Bunny Thief"and "The Case of the Big Ears". Jillian likes to get involved, too, either helping out or coming up with mysteries.

Chilling at the Park

Tor played it cool in the swing at the park, being a serious boy and watching everything that was going on around him. Jillian and Bridget ran around the playground and enjoyed the sunny weather. Daddy tried to get a nice Fall photo of the girls in the leaves, but it was getting close to nap time and they were both delirious, so no picture this time.

Pre-Crawling

It probably won't be too long before Tor is crawling, since he's already aggressively reaching for everything that is even remotely close to him. He's had a few faceplants, which make him pretty mad, but that hasn't stopped him.

Finally a Picture

Finally got them to take a picture with their leaf turkeys which turned out very cute.  Jillian also wanted to hold the pictures of ladies in uniform she had colored for Veteran's Day.  Papa Ken got to attend the Veteran's Day Celebration in Jillian's room which made Jillian very happy.  Bridget held one of Jillian's pictures.

Clapping Boy

Tor is so easy to take pictures of as he smiles right at you, as opposed to Bridget and previously Jillian, who would look at the camera for 1 second.  Tor here is clapping-his newest feat.  If we say "Clap, clap" he will clap enthusiastically.  The Patty-cake rhyme works too.  I tried to get a picture of Jillian's and Bridget's turkey they made with the leaves but they were too busy playing.

Busy Playing

 Tor likes to sit in front of the bins with toys in them.  He always goes for the musical instruments bin and shakes them.  I've noticed lately that most of his shaking of instruments is with his left hand.  It's too early to tell yet but maybe?  Also lately he is grabbing the second shelf and trying to get up.  He was on one knee today so it won't be long.

The girls decided today to get out the Lego that they haven't played with forever.  They made all sorts of clever creations.  Both of them picked colorful fall leaves today to press to use in making a turkey tomorrow. 

Soccer Trophy

Jillian had her end-of-year soccer party at Mr. Bill's Espresso with her teammates and coaches. She was so excited to get her first-ever trophy. Here's a photo of her with her teammate Brooke.

Doggie Fun

Now that Torion is sitting up, Sophie likes to play with him.  He will grab Sophie so she comes from behind to try to lick Tor.  If Sophie licks his ear he will turn and try to grab her and she will run to the other side.  Once Tor got hold of her name tag and after that whenever Tor reached, Sophie would dart just out of reach.  They had a good time for quite awhile. 

Halloween Fun

 Tor was a farmer for Halloween.  His hat was too big so he didn't have it on for long.

 This bin of candy was won by Jillian at her school Harvest party.  She had to guess the number of candies. 

Bridget went trick or treating as Tinker Bell and Jillian went as Sleeping Beauty.  They made the rounds of everybody in Longview and then headed to Castle Rock.  They have so much candy!  They were tired kids at the end of the day.