Standing, clapping, meowing, and rolling balls

Just a quick update on Everett. He can now stand. He's getting more confident in his ability and will let go of whatever he's holding onto and stand for several seconds on his own. Ev man has also figured out how to clap. When we clap for him, he gets all excited and claps while shaking his head and looking at the ceiling. Pretty cute. I really need to work on getting more video clips. One of the times he claps is when he puts a ball into his Drop and Roar Dinosaur. It was so fun to watch him figure it out. I could see the wheels turning in his head as he figured out how to place his hand just right on the ball, put it up to the hole, and get his fingers out of the way to push it through. Just the cutest thing ever. Everett has also said his first word, which is still being debated because it's an onomatopoeia. Ev's mimicked the cats for a long time, copying their pitch whenever they meow near him. But the other day, he clearly said "meow." Yes. My son's first word is apparently "meow." Not "mama," not "daddy," "meow." Silly silly boy. Anyways. It's a work day tomorrow and it's supposed to be rainy, so I'm throwing some diapers in the dryer, taking a shower, and going to bed.

Gentle

Everett has finally figured out how to be gentle with the kitties. Instead of grabbing a fistful of fur, he meows at them, then puts his head down and rubs his face back and forth on their tummies. It is so darn cute, you would probably explode if I managed to get a video clip and post it. He has also started doing this to humans. He will rub his face back and forth on your shoulder - it's kind of like his own way to hug/kiss. Tonight, we were reading books and he saw a picture of a cat in a book, and sure enough, he put his head down on the book and rubbed his face back and forth. SO cute. Love that baby boy.

Pumpkin Patch

Today, we went to the pumpkin patch! Even though they didn't have pick your own pumpkins, it was still a fun time and we came home with 2 carving pumpkins, 2 carnival squash, 2 pie pumpkins, and one really cute pumpkin...err, Everett.

Cheesy face!Just hanging out with the pumpkins
Mama and EverOur familyAt Daddy Pat's birthday partyPlaying at Grammy's

We do lots of exercise with Everett

Guess what we found

We saw an ad in the paper for this:

So Bri and some friends went and got it.

It cost this much: $0

Ev likes it.

First Applefest

We went to Applefest for the first time yesterday (well, the first time for Everett and me, Brian's been plenty of times). It was cool but not unbearable, crowded but not overwhelmingly so, and the parade was slow....unbelievably, upsettingly slow. Good grief, those people need to learn some pacing. After we had been there for an hour or so, I realized I had forgotten the camera. I did manage to get a shot of Everett in his new pumpkin hat on my cell phone but I haven't uploaded the picture yet. This is a hat I had made and Ev had decided was fun to pull off whenever I put it on his head. So on the way up to the fest, I made some ear flaps and sewed them on. Yes, I did.
After the fest, we checked out an orchard quickly, but it was pretty dull. Then we went out to an abandoned orchard and picked a bunch of little apples to make some more yumminess. Ev took a three hour nap this morning and is now onto an hour again this afternoon. Apparently he's tired today. We have also discovered that when Everett is tired, he becomes an enormous mess maker. This is prior to meltdowns or even fussy eye rubbing. He just speed crawls all over the place making as big of messes as he possibly can. It is unbelievable. So now if I notice he's making more messes than normal, I put him in his crib. He was downright pleased this afternoon when I walked toward his crib. He leaned down into it, I laid him down, he grabbed his nuk, snuggled his blanket, made sure seahorse was singing to him and went to sleep. Wow.
Anyway. Tomorrow's back to work again...and riding my bike is starting to get a little chilly. Lame.