Boo at the Zoo, Cookies and Pumpkin Carving

Pumpkin carving, costumes, candy, games, cookies and animals! All things that made our weekend last week. With Gigi in town, we did some Halloween activities to include taking Nico to Boo at the Zoo at the Fort Worth Zoo. The little man was all dressed up in his Gnome costume and I have to say that he got more smiles and cute comments than I expected. A mother's hearts certainly swells when hearing how wonderfully adorable her child is! Nico had a blast see all the animals just like on a regular zoo trip, but the Boo at the Zoo area had trick or treating, games to play, shows and face/body painting.











The three of us worked hard making our Halloween sugar cookies! Nico loved trying to decorate and of course eat the icing for the cookies. We made lack-o-lanterns, bats, black cats and ghosts to eat.



And then of course there was pumpkin carving. Last year Nico was completely disgusted, would not touch the innards of the pumpkin, and Daddy chased him around the house with handfuls of seeds. However this year he got a little more brave. Nico reached in the pumpkin pulled some slime and seeds out....and then threw up all over the table! At least he tried! Nico did help as much as could with the pumpkin carving and at end he was very proud of what we had accomplished.

ABCs

Nico singing his ABC's; Harvard here we come! He is so precious and I am such a proud Momma.

Pumpkin Patch

Today we had took our annual family outing to the pumpkin farm. Nico had been looking forward to picking our B-I-I-I-G pumpkins all week. The minute this morning when he work up, all Nico could do was talk about going to pick out pumpkins. Nico had a great time taking a hay ride through the farm, jumping on the bounce houses, and finding each of us our own pumpkin. Halloween is getting closer, and our little guy is very excited about it!








As you can see from this last picture, Nico had had enough of me taking his picture! He is too funny!

In the LIfe of Nico

So what's been happening in the life of Nico? I can't believe how big my baby boy is getting. I know all parents say their kids are great, but seriously, Nico is amazing! He surprises us all the time. Nico is now singing his alphabet song, knows all his letter (upper and lower case), most of the letter sounds, and can count to twenty on his own...just to name a few things.

Of course Nico is an almost 3 year old, so we do have our typical tantrums anf fits, but nothing time out does take care of. Nico has a special chair in the corner, which he frquent to when necessary. The great thing about it, is that he understands that his behavior caused the consequence.

One of my new favorite pastimes is to watch Nico socialize at school. One day I went to pick up the little man and I observed him initiating a chase game, aka "I'm gonna getcha game." Then on the way out, he waved at and hugged two friends good bye. On another day, one in which my Mr. Mann was dressed to a tee, he walked into class and received not only many oos and aws, but received hugs from friends who were very excited to see him. This made my mother's heart melt. Nico now talks about his friends and what they do at school when he gets home. For someone who sees 10 year old who don't even have these little social skills, I feel so blessed and do not take these "normal" skills for granted.

Nico has been getting ready to become a big brother. He enjoys listening to the babby's heartbeat with the home doppler we have, and gets even more excited than he did in the past when he sees a baby. Nico also likes to share the big news with people and tell them that there is a baby in Mommy's tummy. About a week ago Nico even felt the baby jump around, and it was so funny to see his big saucer eyes look up at me with such astonishment.

Here are a few recent cute pictures.

Got the Music

Here is a cute clip of our little man "getting down." For those of you who are Toy Story 3 fans, you will recognize the Spanish Buzz music playing in the video. Nico loves this music, and unlike his Mommy seems to really have some rhythm.