It was warm enough one day this month that I could think of no reason to keep Wes out of the backyard. He bee-lined for the sandbox.

Wes likes to look at books. We cleared off an entire shelf on our bookcase in the living room and devoted it to his books only. But, of course, what do I find him looking at most often? My Harry Potter collection. I think he likes the feel of the pages in his hands and likes to flip through them. However, my HP books are wearing out pretty fast.

Here he is browsing a magazine while eating a snack.

He likes to do this:

He is also getting closer to climbing out of this crib, so we’re trying him again in the big boy bed. As long as we lie right next to him until he falls asleep, and he doesn’t wake up and wander out prematurely, and he doesn’t fall out of bed, it’s fine. We’ve sandwiched the toddler bed between the walls and a higher twin mattress to keep him from rolling out. We tried him in the bed overnight last night. I heard the door open at 4:15 a.m., and out he padded in his Thomas the Tank Engine pajamas. I put him in the crib after that, because I was so tired myself (Carissa didn’t sleep through the night) that I couldn’t handle any more loss of sleep.

Carissa usually does sleep through the night, and has been since about the four-month mark (she’s five months now). But lately she has woken now and again at night needing attention. I assume it’s because she’s growing and needing more nutrition.

I took her to the doctor for her well-child check last week. She’s about a foot long and weighs 12 lbs 15 oz. She’s growing, but the doctor expressed concern about her weight. She’s never been a giant, but she’s not gaining weight at a steady rate. At two weeks she was in the 41st percentile for weight, at two months she was in the 30’s somewhere, and now she’s 11th percentile. He suggested starting solid foods.

So I stocked up on some rice cereal and basic baby foods. Oh boy, it’s time to start that all over again.

When Wes saw Carissa wearing a bib, he led me to the pantry where the bibs are and gestured that he wanted one too. So they were matchy matchy during lunchtime.

It’ll be good for her to get some meat on her bones. Here she is in pants size 3-6 months. She’s five months, so you’d think they’d fit. But they look like mom pants.

She looked a little better once I added the jacket.

She is strong holding her head up now, and likes to sit in this chair we borrowed from my sister. I like it, too, because it keeps her entertained.

I saw her roll from her back onto her tummy today for the first time. I’m not sure if it was on purpose or not, but it was the first time she’s done it, regardless!

She sometimes gets super giggly when she’s tired. Like she’s really happy and loving to laugh and then suddenly she’ll turn the corner and she’s totally cranky and ready for a nap. It’s fun to make her laugh.

I just discovered she likes peek-a-boo.

Here we are at snack time.

She’s not super keen on eating real food, yet.

We’ve had gifts stashed under our tree for a few days now. Wes hasn’t seemed to notice. Yesterday, when we were playing near the tree, he suddenly noticed the presents and started removing them and stacking them nearby. I helped him put them back.

This morning I emerged from making breakfast in the kitchen to find him in the living room with a pile of presents around him. I helped him put them back.

Later this morning we were playing up in his room. More like, I was reading a book and holding Carissa while Wes dumped his dirty laundry from the basket and put it back in, over and over again. One of his favorite things to do.

After about a half hour of that I went in the other room for a few minutes. When I came out, Wes was no longer in his room. His laundry was gone (although the basket–empty–was in his closet where it belongs).

I went to the end of the hall and peered over the banister to the living room below.

A new look for our tree. Plus, he opened a gift from my folks. At least it was addressed to him AND John and me.

Wes is 3, Carissa nearly 4 months.

What’s better than a swaddled baby?

Last night we went out for Halloween dinner with my sister and brother-in-law and a couple of friends at a buffet themed with pirates of the seven seas.

We made a new friend. (That’s a real person in there.) He was very scary.

And saw honest-to-goodness swash-buckling sword fighting.

And had some decent food with good friends.

They had lots of prizes to give away, but not a great turnout, so we all came away with something (a Ghirardelli chocolate gift box, in our case). We made s’mores by a fire on the deck, which was a nice break from the chilly mountain air. We had a good time.

On a completely different note, Wes is getting better all the time at repeating words and sounds. Here he is working on some animal names and sounds with one of his toys.