Strong Man Competitor?

Today, I am thankful that Vivi was born strong and healthy.  I set up a display this afternoon for a charity event benefiting an organization dedicated to babies born too early, babies who fight for life from the moment they arrive.  Our little lady was born four weeks early and was, like Mary Poppins, practically perfect in every way.  Not everyone is so lucky, and I thank God every day for gracing us with such a gorgeous, healthy lady.

Thanks, Lord.

In fact, Vivi is SO strong and healthy that we are considering entering her in the "Strong Baby" competition.  Exhibit A?  Pumpkin hurling!  I'm pretty sure that when I said Halloween is over and we need to "throw out the pumpkins," Vivi only heard "throw the pumpkins."

Step One: Size up your target.  Determine the amount of force you will need to exert.

Step Two: The Lift.  Always with your knees, dahling, never with your back.

And finally, Step Three: The Hurl!  See how far that sucker will fly!

Hm.  Not very far, it would seem.  Well, if all else fails, resort to Step Four: Eat Pumpkin.

Halloween...and the month of Thanks

So, a few years ago, my sister celebrated November, the month of thanks, by blogging every day in November and blogging about things for which she was thankful.  I thought that was awesome, and very inspiring...so I decided to give it a shot, celebrating my own month of thanks by blogging every day.

You might have noticed that it is November 3rd.  

Every being the younger sister, I am behind even in giving thanks.  It was a busy couple of days.

Still.  Onward, Christian soldiers!

Today, I am thankful for my beloved Halloween, and having one sweet baby to dress up in costume.  Vivi was...a gorgeous pink bird!!!

And, surprise, blogger nation...I made her costume!  Grandma Otto oversaw the project and gave me the how-tos that I needed, but I did the legwork myself. One of my favorite things as a little kid was deciding on my costume after agonizing for awhile, and then my mom whipping up something AMAZING that was always perfect and just what I had in mind.  So I REALLY wanted to make Vivi's bird outfit myself.

I am really proud of how it turned out.  :)  

And how did trick-or-treating go?  Well, not as awesome of a first experience.  Our first stop was Aunt Erins.  She went up to the door, and I asked "Are you ready?"  She started banging on the door, saying "Readeee!  Redeeee!"  Then, Erin opened the door.  Viv made a horrified face and ran to hide behind Russ.  Hm.  Next stop--Todd and Michelle!...where she was REALLY EXCITED!  About their dog.  Hm again.  On to Grandmary and Grandpapis, where Vivi found the true delight of Halloween...her new stuffed pumpkin.  (Puh-kin!  Puh-kin!  Ahahahahaha!)  And a BIG GIRL CUP.  Most exciting!

Thank you, Halloween!  Thank you, Grandma Otto, for the assistance!  And thank you, Vivi, for being the cutest little pink bird of all time.

Fall Foilage

No child's fall, in my mind, is complete without a romp in the leaves.  Fortunately, Grandma and Grandpa Otto had just such a pile!  Even though they themselves cut down the giant tree in their front yard to avoid said piles, the leaves still find them...which rather reminded me of Grandpapi's constant battles with the tree in their front yard, but that is another story for another blog...I think it must be a grandparent thing, this struggle with leaves.

At any rate, Vivi enjoyed it.

There were so many leaves that we were able to bury Vivi in the leaf pile!

With a little help from mommy, of course.

But after spending the day with Great-Grandma, and lots of good time with Grandpa and Grandma, it was time to go home...

...and get ready for Halloween.

The Wonders of Grandma's House

Upon waking, Vivi began a careful exploration of Grandma and Grandpa's house, looking to see what she could get into...er, I mean, play with.  And she discovered one of the things her dad loved to play with when HE was little...

The oven drawer.

She played in there for a good half hour.  It was strangely reminiscent of the day she first climbed into her toy box...she just didn't want to climb out!

She hid under the towel (which, to her dismay, she could not remove from the handle), she hung out and chatted with Jack-Dog, and she played A LOT of peek-a-boo.

But clearly, there was still time for quiet reflection, her thoughts turned toward the fact that she was doing the same thing daddy used to do, 30 years prior.   Heavy stuff!

Architect of Destruction

So, this past weekend, we went to visit Grandma and Grandpa Otto!  It was great!  With, perhaps, the exception of the last hour of our drive.  Vivi apparently did not feel like sleeping at that point, and as it was too dark to entertain herself, she was not the happiest camper.  As we did not arrive until 10 PM, one would think that she would have staggered into Grandma and Grandpa's, exhausted, and sat calmly in my lap while Russ ran her bedtime accessories upstairs.

One would think.

Instead, she was bright eyed and ready to play with Grandma!  She LOVED "helping" build a tower of blocks...

...only to dash them to the ground, cackling like a maniac. (Btw, doesn't she look freakishly tall in these photos?  Bizarre, as she is only in the 52nd percentile for height)

However, when she started blatantly attempting to devour the blocks before Grandma could stack them, we decided it was time for bed.

More Durant news to follow!

Pumpkin Day, part 2

So, the pumpkin patch was a little unsettling for Vivi Otto.  She just didn't warm up to it quite like we expected her to...

Until we reached the petting zoo.  Vivi apparently LOVES the petting zoo.

If there were audio to this, it would be "chee-kee.  Chee-kee.  Mama.  Dada.  Chee-kee."

So there we were.  Having a great time, watching the chickens and goats, getting our first big smiles of the pumpkin patch.  And then, Daddy brightly suggested we go inside.

Now folks, here's the thing.  I don't really like petting zoos.  The kinda freak me out.  I blame it on the sheep who tried to eat my totally rad purple shoelaces at the zoo when I was four.  I've been a little leery of them ever since.  And by a little, I mean A LOT.  Goats and sheep run at you.  They knock over little kids.  They try to eat your shoelaces. 

But Vivi was having a great time, and how do you turn down your sweet baby?  So here we are.

See that look on my face?  That's me thinking "Look here, goat.  Move one muscle in the direction of my kid and I will clothes-line you."  Vivi, on the other hand, was having a great time.  She was totally convinced the goats were dogs.  But the horns?  Really weirded her out.  She kept patting them and then saying, "Doggie?  Doggie." (pat pat)  "Woah."  She chased one baby goat around saying "ARF!  ARF!  ARF!" as I ran after her, fearful that it would try to eat the flowers on her shoes (sorry, interweb--I still can't make videos play on this damn thing.  Come over some time.  The video's really cute).

Pumpkin patch petting zoo...I love you for making my little girl smile this big.

And for having polite goats.

PUMPKIN DAY!!!

Yesterday was a very, very special day in the Otto home.  Yesterday was the long awaited, much anticipated PUMPKIN DAY!  Every year, I anxiously await Pumpkin Day.  We go to the pumpkin patch.  We hang out and have a great time.  We pick THE BEST PUMPKINS.  And then we carve them.  Russ and I have been tagging along with my siblings who already have children for quite some time now (except for the carving part.  At that point, we hang out with our adult friends and drink beer).  But now, WE HAVE A KID OF OUR OWN.  It was time to bring our own little family into the tradition.  So, yesterday we went to the pumpkin patch as a family!  Well, actually, we went together for the first time last year, and Vivi slept through the whole thing.  This year, we hoped for better success.

Still...she was a little freaked out by it at first.  It took a bit for her to get settled.  "Where in the name of Pete have you brought me, parents?  It is very...outdoorsy. 

See our "lovely" family photo for an example of unsettledness at the pumpkin patch.  Sigh.  You could call it unsettledness.  Or abject fear.  Whatever.

But after a bit, she began to enjoy herself much more.  Now tell me honestly.  Have you ever seen anything so adorable?  Sweet little baby playing in the straw.

We'll show you more of our adventures tomorrow.  It was a full day of pumpkin related amazement!