It's been a FUNtastic FALL!!!

     The blog is back again!!  I'll fill you in briefly on our happenings this fall, then I'll bombard you with photos of our cutie and his fun fall adventures!!  He is pictured above with his buddy Elmo...who he is absolutely in love with at this point!  He's actually starting to get into watching TV a little (though it only holds his attention for a few minutes), and he either asks for Elmo or Manny.  He even goes as far as to bring me both remotes for the TV while saying, "Elmo...Manny!"  He's growing up way too fast.  He's still pretty small in size for his age, but he is starting to get a big attitude!!  We're probably to blame a bit, because he does get spoiled.  He's really been a daddy's boy lately, and Rikki says it's because I let him do whatever he wants...which isn't true of course...not entirely true at least.  Recently, his favorite activity is trying to climb onto the couch.  We have a little stool (which he calls "sair"-for chair), that he drags over to the couch (which he calls "souch"-seems he has trouble with his C's)...and he uses that to climb up onto the couch.  He's so proud of himself after he does it...and he wants to giggle and run across the couch, which terrifies his mommy! 
     I think it's been 5 or 6 weeks since Darian has had a bottle.  He had only been taking a bottle at night before bed for 4 or 5 months, but the nighttime bottle was a little more difficult to eliminate.  Probably more so for Rikki than Dee, as she loved to hold and rock him to sleep every night.  He's done so well without his bottle though...we think he was ready.  The first few nights he cried himself to sleep, but since then he has hardly cried at all.  We tell him it's time for 'night, night', and he asks for his Elmo and his Blankick (blanket).  He then tells us 'night, night', as we tuck him in, kiss him goodnight, shut off his light, and leave the room.  Sometimes he jibber jabbers a little to his stuffed animals, but most of the time he just falls right asleep!  We have been really surprised, but super pleased at how well he has done!
     He talks all the time.  He can name most of his friends from daycare, he's starting to count (though not always in order), and he is starting to recognize and say letters when he see's them.  He's starting to speak in sentences too.  He says, "I get it"...which he means, "I'll get it"...and "I want more."  He can name most of the the characters on Sesame Street...though he confuses Abby and Zoe sometimes...and he gets so excited when Mr. Noodle is on Elmo's world!  Speaking of Elmo's World, we overheard him trying to sing the theme song quietly to himself the other day.  It was really cute. 
     Darian's hair is getting really long, and we're trying to hold off on a cut till Morgan gets back to Indiana for the Holidays.  We like it long, but he needs a cute cut where we can try to keep it fairly long.  He has most of his teeth now (except for a couple rear molars), and can eat almost anything if he wants to.  Somedays he eats really well, others not so good, but I assume this is pretty normal for an almost 18 month old.  He still loves bananas, and really started liking to eat apples this fall, as his momma bought a lot of apples from Conner Prairie's Apple Store.  He loves Mac N Cheese, ramen noodles, ravioli, hot dogs, chicken nuggets, refried beans, eggs, yogurt, and cookies!!  Vegetables and healthy stuff we have to try to work into his diet when we can!
     We did a ton of fun friend and family activities this fall, which I will share through additional blogs shortly!  Until then...Zach, Rikki, and Darian Lee...signing off!