November Pictures

Ryan has had a busy and exciting November. He is now walking; has seen snow for the first time; and is starting to understand lots of words. He has also demonstrated great ambition in talking -- the first word he attempted to say was "cockadoodledoo" (he loves the rooster in the farm animal picture book he used to make us read to him about 10 times a day) -- which comes out as "ca-ca-ca" when we reach that page. He also, of course, had his first Thanksgiving, which turned out to be quite eventful. We spent the holiday at my sister's, where there was a windstorm which caused a county-wide, several-hours-long power outage in the middle of cooking dinner. (Ryan didn't mind, since he is going through a picky phase where he will eat nothing but yogurt, Cheerios, and crackers.) Luckily, the turkey was already done, but several of the side dishes weren't. It was a good reminder that Thanksgiving is really about family, and not just food -- but it did give us an excuse to prepare a second feast the following day!

Here are some pictures from the past month. As you can see, Ryan now looks like a little boy instead of a baby, which makes us a little sad, but we're thankful that we were able to experience a few months of his babyhood.





Ryan's first real snowfall, while we were visiting his grandparents (not counting the very light dusting we had at home a few days earlier):





All bundled up (except for the mittens he refuses to keep on):



Like every curious toddler, his favorite "toys" are anything that was not designed as a toy (the dog dish holder, which he pushes around like a walker...soda bottles and packaging tape...Grandma's silk sunflowers...)







He did like his cousins' play kitchen though. Maybe he'll do all the cooking next Thanksgiving, when it's our turn to host.



Playing with Grandpa, in his favorite position -- upside-down:



Showing off his Thanksgiving outfit:




(Don't the blue elephant slippers coordinate so nicely with the argyle!)



Hamming it up for the camera:









The smile that has "trouble" written all over it!





A tired little guy (with his tired mommy):



The three of us:



And, finally, another of our favorite recent pictures :-)

Ryan's First Halloween

Earlier in the evening, we took a series of pictures outside under the changing-color tree. Ryan was fascinated with the leaves and decided to help move the fall season along by pulling them off.











"Hey -- where did my pumpkin go????"



Time to get dressed!



Our little Taiwanese tiger!





"There's my pumpkin!"







Ryan spent the evening greeting trick-or-treaters (while pulling more leaves off the tree).







The cheeks are 100% natural...


...but the belly got a little enhancement from the costume!



Being a tiger is exhausting...





"OK, get me out of this thing!"