Happy New Year and Halloween

Shana Tova! October has been running by very quickly. Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur brought Uncle Arthur out to Astoria for services and he was able to spend some time with Lyla and Quinn. I actually joined the local synagogue and am looking forward to be coming more active there in the future.

We're all getting very excited for Halloween! Lyla helped Erin put up all of the Halloween decorations and picked out a couple big plastic spiders at the store that are sitting on an end table in the living room. She didn't seem to understand Erin telling her "Daddy is arachnaphobic" and, in fact, likes to chase Daddy around with the spiders in her hands. She named them Dukel and Calladay (or something like that). She has also named two of her dolls Coco and Solange. We don't know where she comes up with this stuff.

Erin has the kids costumes made and we've got an Astoria Halloween Parade to go to on Sunday. But first, Erin and I are heading to a wedding out of town and Mima is coming to babysit the kids for the weekend. Uncle Arthur and cousin Michelle are going to visit part of the time as some backup, 'cause seriously, these two are more than a handful.

Quinn's last doctor's appointment was on 10/14 and he measured 24 3/4" and weighed 14lbs 15.5 oz. That puts him in the 50th Percentile for both. We're working on getting him to sleep longer through the night, but it's rough going. When he does manage to sleep for a long stretch, Lyla decides she needs to wake up in the middle of the night. We're also working on getting that to stop.

Quinn is often happy and cheerful. His laugh is infectious and he absolutely ADORES Lyla. He smiles happily whenever she comes near him and she loves to hug him and kiss him and tell him how much she loves her baby brother. The other night, she read him a bedtime story. It was one of the sweetest things Erin and I have ever seen.

Lyla has been growing up awfully fast. She currently has a potty chart that she puts stars on when she goes potty and has rewards at certain points. Lyla picked her own rewards (with some help from Erin). So far, she has earned ice cream, new shoes, new bows and a new book. For the new book, I took her in to Barnes and Noble in Union Square and we also walked around the farmer's market and bought some produce. Soon she will be able to watch a movie (DVD), eat broccoli and have a day with Mommy. Yes, that's right. For her reward, Lyla wants to eat broccoli. She's a bit odd.

The video below was taken during our trip to Oshkosh in September. Let me know if you can't understand what Lyla says, 'cause it's pretty dang funny. I should start subtitling...