Happy Halloween!

Tigger made his rounds around town today.  Eric is gone tonight and missed out on the trick-or-treating, so we made a visit to his office, after taking a visit to the park.

 

 

 

"Where's the pumpkin?!"

"I'll fix that..."

Since Brady loves ringing doorbells and knocking on doors, trick-or-treating turned out to be his cup of tea.  He caught on to the concept pretty quickly, but didn't quite grasp the whole walking away after the door shut.  He also invited himself in on a number of occasions. He is a social Tiger.  Luckily for me, he is no idea that what was given to him was actually edible and delicious, so while he loved having candy in his pail, he was content to let it stay there.

It may or may not have gotten redistributed later in the night when my candy supply ran low.

We had quite a few trick-or-treaters, most of them imported in from nearby neighborhoods.  I like trick-or-treaters, but I was quite happy to turn off my light around 8:15 when my candy ran out.  I think there is an inverse correlation between how dark it is and how cute the "kids" are.

One hoard of kids rang our door before Brady went to bed and as I was handing out the candy, Spiderwoman (who was old enough to know better), reached her sticky fingers out and grabbed the bouncy ball out of Brady's hand and put it in her pail.

Brady gave me a face that looked something like this...

 

So I slapped the pail right out of her skinny hands and told her to go spin her web somewhere else.

Ok, I was a little more diplomatic, but a girl can dream.  This is what Halloween does to people.

And finally, I leave you with a video.  Keep in mind this was taken before we hit up the houses, so Brady wasn't quite grasping the role that his pail played in this strange Halloween event.  And it was orange and round...so give him a break.

Coming soon

Losing the locks

I was only able to delay Brady's first haircut for so long, and it finally happened last night.  We bypassed the fancy kid salons and went to Robyn's house, the lady who cuts Eric's hair.  We had the distractions ready. First up, goldfish.

 

 

The success was short lived.  Brady didn't enjoy someone messing with his head.  Next up, Sesame street on Youtube.

 

 

Decent success, but we couldn't make it work quite long enough.  Time for the big guns. 

 
Thanks to Robyn's husband, we had just the distraction Brady needed.

And Brady was kind enough to share the goldfish crumbs with the dog.

 

So here's Brady, looking 6 months older than he was yesterday!  Pay no attention to the sad looking pumpkin.  This was my first attempt at carving a pumpkin ever, and it was a learning experience. I may just stick with the standard happy face next year.

Fun at Frankie's

To round out our week of amusement, Brady and I tagged along with the team to Frankie's Fun Park.  Each year when the team is on Fall Break, Eric is responsible for coordinating the trip. 



 

We took a ride on the bumper boats.  Brady was in my boat, Eric was in another.  Brady really enjoyed holding down the squirter button and aiming it at his dad.  What can I say, the kid has good aim!  Who am I to squelch his fun?



This is what I call Brady's somersault pose (also called "The Full Moon"), done at the most random places and times.  He held this long enough for me to pull out my camera and snap a few shots.  What can I say, I have a weird kid!



And, to be sure I get the mother-of-the-year award that is due to me, I'll show a video of Brady wreaking havoc while his mom takes a video.  This morocco was "bought" with 150 tickets (thanks the generous bball players/managers) about 2 minutes before this video was shot. 

I can't say I was too crushed about this particular toy's fate.

A family affair

 This week, Brady got his 2nd fair experience of the year.  While nothing can compare to the Iowa State Fair, it was only right that he experience one in his own state. 



Ready to go!

We only made let Brady ride one ride, but we had to buy 20 tickets.  I mean, how could you pass up the deal they were offering?

 

Thank you, Fair, for living up to your stereotype.

Brady looks about like I feel after riding most amusement park rides.

For Eric, it's impossible to leave a fair without trying to impress all the fair-goers with his basketball skills.  He had great success in Iowa which led to a large stuffed Scooby Doo (who now lives at Grandma's house) and a big head.

Despite his perfect form, it was a classic brick.  But if at first you don't succeed...





 

Try and try again....until your wife cuts you off.  Despite Hello Kitty and all her friends cheering Eric on, he left empty-handed.  Which only one person was unhappy about.  To Eric's credit, he only wasted $3 on 2 shots, which shows a great deal of self-control.

 

One person who is becoming harder to control....



  

Catch me if you can!

While the fattening food, impossible games, and dizzying rides are fun, the highlight for Brady was certainly the school bus. 

 

 

 

If you put Brady at the wheel of any vehicle (boat, golf cart, car), this is the face you'll get.  Each morning, when Eric is getting ready to leave for work, we have a routine.  Brady leads us down the stairs into the garage where Eric parks his Tahoe.  Brady stands in front of the door, waiting for me to open it.  Brady climbs in to the driver's seat, points to the door to indicate that I'm supposed to shut it.  He's locked himself in before, so it's best to have the keys ready.  Once in, he grins, squeals like a 16-year-old who just got his license, and experiences a few minutes of bliss until Eric takes his place in the driver's seat.  We wave as dad drives away to work and Brady dutifully shuts the garage door.

 

And then we sit at home, twiddle our thumbs, and wait for about 9 (now its more like 11 hours) until the garage opens and daddy is home again!

Newton's finest

That's Newton native, Jake Robinson, NC State legend and national celebrity.  You can see his interview with ESPNU here.

I'm only sad that we didn't see this level of enthusiasm from Jake at our wedding.

Football Saturday at the ER

Every couple weeks I have to write a personal article which relates somehow to Carolina Athletics.  Because I'm lazy and don't want to write the same story two different ways, I'll share the latest.

 

My drive through campus on the first Saturday morning in October was a beautiful one.  Although temperatures would soar into the 80’s later that afternoon, a brisk fall chill was in the air and there wasn’t a cloud in the sky.  Sleepy parking attendants were posted up at parking lots in preparation for afternoon football game against Virginia Tech, although at 8 am, only the most hard-core of tailgaters were making their entrance.

I was not one of those.  And I’d be lying if I said I enjoyed the drive.  I drove past my normal football parking lot and proceeded to the Emergency Room just a few blocks away.  I’ll begin by reassuring you that the patient, my 16-month-old, is doing just fine. 

The Friday night prior we had been enjoying a nice evening outside on the lawn at the Carolina Inn.  A relative, who shall remained unnamed, inadvertently pulled on my son’s arm to break a fall.  There were some tears, but he had suspected he wasn't feeling well and we chalked it up to a fever which we confirmed at home (and which was totally unrelated and coincidental).  We gave Brady some medicine and put him to bed, and all was good until 2 am when we heard cries from his bedroom.  After an hour or two of unrest (for all of us), we realized that he wasn’t upset by his fever, which had passed, but because he could not move his right arm.  Although we’re pretty sure he’s a lefty, he is a right-handed thumb sucker, so it was truly a pitiful night’s sleep (for all of us).

A 3 am Google diagnosis suggested this might be a fairly common injury for toddlers called nursemaid’s elbow.  Once in the emergency room, our diagnosis was confirmed.  Unfortunately, he had to go through the rigmarole of hospital procedure and it wasn’t until he was poked and prodded for a good hour that a swift technique that looked like a quick handshake with a twist popped Brady’s arm back into place.  An expensive handshake, I might add.  If I knew what the ER visit would cost us, I would have videotaped the quick fix for future reference in case of future mishaps.

Of course, money is no object when it comes to the health of your child, and we were thrilled to have our boy back to his old self.  Like a true junkie, that thumb popped back in his mouth before we could blink.  He was off and running and trying to make friends with the other (less eager) ER patients.

Brady was not the only one in Chapel Hill with arm pain on Saturday.  Giovani Bernard’s arm might have been sore after carrying the ball for a career-high 262 rushing yards.  The cheerleader responsible for doing pushups after every Carolina touchdown must have sore arms after the Heels put up 48 points.  Although after enduring the prior week’s game when the Tar Heels scored 66 points, this may have felt like a break for him.  I imagine the referees also needed ice for their sore arms after throwing the flag 15 times against Carolina alone.  And maybe some fans out there were feeling fatigued after shaking the white pom-poms that lined each seat during the successful Carolina “White-out.”

One thing that certainly wasn’t sore was the mood in Kenan after an impressive Carolina victory.

Hospitals are fun!