Week 22

During week 22, Fisher has been getting over his second daycare cold (which has been lingering on for almost 2 weeks---yuck.) We can tell he's feeling better, though, because he has become a lot happier and smiles more easily. His awake times and naps are becoming longer---now, he'll nap for over an hour and sometimes two hours at a time whereas before, he'd routinely nap for only 30-45 minutes. His newest nap buddy is the "Sleep Sheep" you see in his weekly picture above, which makes noises that help induce sleep, like a heartbeat. It was sent to us by our dear friends Kevin and Becky (with whom we are LONG overdue to have a visit!)

Fisher also has become a bit of a chatterbox! He loves to hear himself make any noise, whether it's cooing, croaking, moaning, etc. He often stops eating well before his meal should be done just to chatter away! The video below is one such occasion:

On Saturday, we headed into Hartford to cheer on my awesome assistant, Keyla, as she ran her first ever half-marathon. Here is the sign we made for her with the boys' hand and footprints:

Hayes wanted to help hold the sign as we waited for Keyla to come down the street:

Here she comes!!! Keyla was looking down because she was getting out the bell she had gotten and run with for 11 miles already!

She ran over and gave the bell to Hayes, who was beyond thrilled!

My boys (and Hayes still staring delightedly at the bell):

What's better than a ride on your daddy's shoulders on a beautiful, crisp, fall morning?

There was a playground in the park where we watched the race, so Hayes got to play a lot afterwards:

And Fisher got to swing for the first time ever! Isn't his excitement palpable???

Now for some true excitement---in his swing staring at the mobile:

Anya was hunting the strap that dangled and moved back and forth enticingly from the swing:

Some more bumbo sitting:

Happy times:

The outfit speaks for itself:

Snoozing away:

Something that happened a couple months ago that I've been upset about but haven't mentioned in the blog is that Hayes traumatized one of his front teeth. We don't know when it happened---it's not something he ever complained about. I just noticed one day that it was starting to change colors. He must have bumped it one day. And so, it has turned a horrid shade of brownish-gray. My entire career as a dentist, I've been fearful of this happening. I've seen other kids who have had the dreaded "brown tooth" and hoped it would never happen to any of my children. It just looks so bad, like he has a nasty cavity in his front tooth! He's a dentist's son, for goodness sakes! And there's not much you can do about it but wait until it falls out. Great, we just have to wait another 3-4 years... There is one option of covering the tooth with filling to block out the ugly color. You better believe I'm going to do that as soon as Hayes can sit still in the chair long enough! The tooth doesn't show up all that badly in pictures, but you can see it here as Hayes shows off the mass of stickers he put on his shirt:

Lazy Sunday morning:

Kyle has canned three batches of applesauce and two batches of dutch apple pie jam with the apples we picked. Here is Hayes helping peel, slice, and core an apple using the cool tool my dad recommended: