Dov doesn't get enough "play"

So having two kids back to back was hard. And remembering that you need to "spread the wealth" between 3 kids is even harder! When we go shopping and get little goodies, I often don't even think about buying something for Dov. And lately, I have noticed that I don't take nearly as many pictures or videos of him as I do the other two kids.

Here he is, he is already 7 months old (the size of an 18 month old) and time is really flying. So my goal moving forward is to be better about filming my 3rd kiddo. Afterall, he was certainly a miracle.

Halloween was a pleasant surprise

So for 2 years now, it has been impossible to get Eliott to wear a costume or go up to a house and trick or treat on his own...

Not 2009.

This year, Eliott stayed positive and actually had fun with a holiday! He was excited to wear his costume (and wore it to 2 separate events). On halloween, we went to a family-oriented party and trick or treated with friends. Eliott went off with his friends and we didn't see him the rest of the night! Alan and Dov had to chase after him with the wagon.

This made it easy for me to spend some time with Shia. Every always worries about the middle child! Shia LOVED halloween. We held hands and slowly walked from house to house, pointing out pumpkins and say Boo for every ghost or Bet for every bat we saw. At each house he said "treat" and "thank you and ba-bye".

Battling the need to eat the candy was easy too (with a little help from Yo Gabba Gabba's "Too much candy's gonna make you sick, too much candy's going to make you so sick"). We have been able limit Eliott's in-take to one per day (when he remembers).

Eliott's Harem

On Saturday morning, Eliott and I had a very interesting conversation.

**He was very upset** Here is how the conversation went:
Eliott: "Mom, you have to tell me who to marry?"
Jaime: "Elie you have plenty of time to figure that out. You can decide when you are much much older. Mommy didn't meet Daddy until she was 20, so you have plenty of time"
Eliott: "But mom, there are so many girls to choose from and then all want to marry me. I cannot decide which one to marry"
Jaime: "Eliott, that's ok, you will decide much later, you don't have to decide now"
Eliott: "But mom, I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings"

Shia - future rockstar

So how does a 19 month old with 2 parents that have ZERO musical talent know what a guitar is, how to say the word guitar, and understand the concept of a microphone?

I am baffled

Picture Day

Today was picture day for the Stickler 3. Our expectations going in were very low. We have done pictures every late Summer/early Fall since Eliott was little.

Two years ago, Eliott - age 22 months - would not put down Doggie (his lovey) and when he did, you could so of still see Doggie hiding behind him in the pictures.

Last year, Shia was 7 months (and relatively cooperative), but almost 3 year old Eliott REFUSED to smile.

So this being the first studio shots of all three, we weren't expecting much...we were pleasantly surprised.

Eliott did smile - followed directions - and even wanted to go first. He did put his foot down when asked to hold Dov up or allow Dov to lie on his back, but Dov is heavy so we understood.

Shia, who is never camera-shy basically stared into space and refused to smile... never thought he would be the difficult one.

Dov was happy Dov and cooperated probably better than Shia did last year.

It ended up being a relatively pleasant experience.

So maybe we will continue the tradition of passing down the "picture dress up" shirts each year if it is going to go this well.

Dovie can clap?

I am just not used to the speed of this child! First, the combat crawling started this week and now all of the sudden he has gone from sitting up for 10 seconds to sitting up for minutes at a time. They were not lying when they said that with each child, time moves much much faster. I thought things were fast this time last year with Shia, but Dov is just moving TOO fast. Did I just say that?

This video is proof that Dov and Shia are going to be great friends, but also proof that Dov is becoming the "runty" twin instead of the "irish" twin he actually is!

He somehow just today discovered his hands, that they clap and open and shut. So cool!

Shia as Spider-man

This week Shia has learned two new actions:
1. Dancing - If you ask him to dance, he sways from side to side. He also has decided that it is fun to stand up in the bathtub and dance while repeatedly saying Dan' Dan' Dan' (dan = dance)
2. He has learned to "fly". See attached video...