We're back!

We had a good time visiting Cathy's parents in Florida this week. Cathy's Dad picked up on part of our reason for going right away. FREE DALTY SITTING! For some reason, our immediate logging on to the computer or reading books as soon as we arrived (while letting Dalty run amok) was a tip off. Go figure.

I goofed around too much on the computer, Cathy got some good grading in, and Dalty had a blast with Grandma and Grandpa.

Cathy also got to visit her friend Ligia and her one week old daughter Isabel.

We also established that Dalty is still not ready for all day car rides. We spent two days getting down to Florida and two days coming back. I'm going to have to think about whether we drive or fly next time. That TY got to join us made it worthwhile for this trip. I don't know if I'll feel the same way next time.

The most we drove in one day was about 6.5 hours. That's 6.5 hours of driving. We paid for it with perhaps 50% of that time again on various stops. Dalton has figured out that all he has to do is say "I have to go potty" and he gets a stop. We haven't dared try pushing that one as cleaning the car seat is a Herculean task.

Jack-O-Lantern

We went to the Pumpkin Festival last weekend and picked out a couple of nice ones. When we got home, Dalton and I immediately carved this one and he and Cathy baked the seeds. Dalton was reluctant to pull the guts out because they were "icky". This from the kid who is often coated in a layer of mud when picked up from school. Go figure.

Probably 20 seconds after we finished this one, Dalton started asking to carve the other pumpkin. Cathy and I have been able to hold him at bay so far as we'd like to not have two pumpkins rotting in the house at the same time. We're driving down to Grandma and Grandpa's house this next week so the pictured Jack-O-Lantern is going to need to go in the trash soon (or come with us God forbid).

I've been appeasing Dalton by telling him that Grandma and Grandpa would love to carve a pumpkin with him each day while we visit. I'd love to help, but I'll be grading :)

Hide and Seek

Dalton and I played a little bit of "Hide and Seek" yesterday. It started with one of our more familair games. I guess I'd call it "Dad wins tug-o-war and runs around yelling woo woo." This one works pretty much like the title. Dalton and I play tug-o-war with a birth card of his that has a ribbon attached (you will have to ask him why). He lets me win and then I run around the upstairs with it yelling "Woo! Woo!" while he chases me giggling. Yesterday I decided to get out of eyeshot and hide somewhere. He would come into the room looking for me calling "Daddy! Where are you?" I'd wait until he left the room and then yell "Woo! Woo!" until he came back and eventually found me.

At one point, Dalton decided that he was going to hide. He told me to wait until he was hidden and then count to three. Dalton then went off to hide in Gram's room (the guest bedroom). Cathy was up and following him around to make sure he didn't go anywhere off limits like the bathroom closet. After counting to three, I headed out in the hall towards Gram's room. Cathy was there and said, "Maybe you should try the bedroom (master bedroom)." I assume that she was trying to draw things out for extra suspense. At that point a little voice chirps in from the guest bedroom "Gram's room!" I started laughing and wandered in. Dalton was not in sight so I exclaimed, "Where's Dalton?" My reply came from behind the bed, "Behind the bed!" He's clearly got the counting and hiding part of the game down, but I'm not sure he understands what it is all about.

Today's picture really has nothing to do with "Hide and Seek". I wanted to get a picture of the actual game or of tug-o-war yesterday, but he was having none of it. This is him after his first bath of the day. Surprisingly, I got him to willingly let me wash his hair (on the 2nd bath). I can't remember how I did it. I really need to write things like that down.

Some people watch TV instead...

And of course, you should see the floor.