Happy Halloween!

Happy Halloween from the Edwards Family!!

Trey started off the day like a typical Saturday - sleeping in and then heading to music class with Mommy (where he knows his teacher is Ms. "Anna," whom, according to Trey, says "la la la."). Later that afternoon, Trey watched Daddy carve the pumpkins we picked up at Dewberry Farms. And shortly after that, it was time for Trey to put on his monkey costume.

Even though Trey had been excitedly saying "monkey" all day, when we put on the costume, something snapped. Trey just was not happy at all. I guess he wasn't really wild about the idea of dressing up as a monkey, although he didn't seem to realize that the costume was what was bothering him; he never tugged or pulled at his costume, but rather was just plain unhappy.

Posing for "official" Halloween pictures was a challenge.

Nevertheless, we tried the official trick-or-treating routine and visited a few houses. Trey was incredibly shy and insisted on Daddy holding him to walk in between houses. Usually Mr. Social, Trey would not talk to tell the neighbors what his costume was, to attempt saying "trick or treat," or even to say hi (he did occasionally say "bye bye"). Oh well, we tried.

Trey had a much better time after we ditched the monkey costume and sat outside our house to greet trick-or-treaters. We even broke down and gave Trey a piece or two of candy - probably the first candy he has ever had! Trey loved our frequent visitors and was such a good helper handing out the candy to the other boys and girls. He is going to be such a precious little Santa at Christmas this year!

We hope everyone had a very happy and safe Halloween!!!

Fall Fest

Today was Trey's second Fall Fest at school. It's a fun little event on the last Friday afternoon before Halloween. The kids dress up and put on a costume parade for the parents, and then there is a toddler-sized carnival in the courtyard afterward.

Trey in the parade with his class.

Mommy's favorite costume of the day.

Last year, Trey was too little, of course, to enjoy the carnival. So we were looking forward to this year. Trey dressed up in his monkey costume! There were at least 4 other monkeys there, and at least 2 others had the exact same costume as Trey. Apparently we aren't so original.

Nevertheless, he looked cute. And while he enjoyed the school's playground more than the actual carnival, we still had a good time.

**Potty training note: While we were enjoying the festival, Trey came up to Mommy and said "pee pee!" Mommy scrambled to find an available restroom, rip Trey out of his monkey costume, and put him on the potty before it was too late. Alas, Trey did not actually use the potty, and his diaper was warm, so we aren't sure if he was just telling Mommy he had gone pee pee or if we just didn't make it to the potty in time, but we were still proud of him for verbalizing this! (Later that night, at home, Trey went #1 and #2 in the potty! Sorry if this is TMI.)

The Wonder of Television

When Trey was a little bitty baby, about 4 months old or so, he loved the TV. Maybe it was the bright lights and noises, or maybe it was the constant movement, but something about it captured his attention like nothing else. We had always vowed not to let Trey become addicted to television, so we made a conscious effort at that point to keep him away from the TV.

Fast forward about a year or so, and Trey would not sit and watch the television if we tried. The few times we put Baby Einstein on the TV, and the one time we tried to play the Curious George movie one of his friends gave him for his birthday, Trey showed absolutely no interest at all. Until now, Trey's only entertainment derived from the television is learning how to turn it "off" and "on" and demonstrating the ability to do so at the most inconvenient moments (in the middle of a football play, for example).

But tonight, that changed. Tonight, while Mommy and Daddy had the World Series game on in the background, Trey noticed a doggie on a television commercial and squealed with delight. Then, when the doggie went away, Trey was so perplexed, asking "where did the doggie go?" in his own little way. We captured some of it in video:



After we put our DVR to good use by pausing the commercial on the furry friend, Trey went crazy, squealing, barking, kissing and petting his virtual friend, as you will see here:

Are we mean parents, you ask, for not getting Trey a "real" dog of his own? Maybe so. But virtual pets are so much easier to take care of.

Happy Birthday Aunt Kacie!

Happy Birthday Aunt Kacie! We had so much fun at your birthday dinner!!!

Thank you for letting me eat ice cream, too. Mommy never lets me!!


And happy day-late birthday to Uncle Ryan, too. We'll see you soon in Austin!!

Ready for Halloween!

Trey is officially ready for Halloween! We won't spoil the surprise by telling you what Trey's costume will be . . . but I will give you a hint: it is one of his favorite things, and he can say the word himself. We've been teaching him what to say when people ask him what he will be for Halloween, and we're trying to get him to say "trick or treat." Right now, he will say "trick" or "treat," but not the entire phrase. I doubt we'll get the whole thing down by Saturday, but we're working on it!

Trey now knows the word for "pumpkin" and says "pumpkin" whenever he sees the ones on our front steps that we bought at Dewberry Farms.

At the Edwards house, however, we are not the best at preparing for Halloween. Our first year in the house, Mommy bought some fall decorations that she proudly displayed outside. After Thanksgiving, they were packed away in the attic and have never made their way out since. Mommy just absolutely hates going into our attic, and pulling out some simple fall/Halloween decorations is just not reason enough to brave the unknown that is above Trey's room . . . so each year since, we've settled on some simple pumpkins as decorations, which we carve in advance of October 31st.

This year, Trey's grandparents were nice enough to send some Halloween goodies from Virginia. We were happy to see that they sent Trey an official Halloween T-shirt; now he will have something proper to wear to school on Friday, since the kids are not allowed to wear costumes in advance of the Fall Festival held at the school Friday afternoon. They also sent a cute little jack-o-lantern that lights up on battery power. Trey really got a kick out of it, as shown in the video below. (What? Did you say VIDEO? Yes, I have finally gotten with it and downloaded some things from my camera. Hopefully this is a turning point for me.)



PS - Trey went poo poo in the potty tonight!!! He was sitting on the potty, and we asked him to try going, which he promptly did! Yay for Trey!!!

Dewberry Farms

We had a great time at Dewberry Farms this weekend! Aunt Kacie joined us for the fun. We saw lots of farm animals, went on a hayride, and visited the pumpkin patch. Unfortunately, Trey pooped out before we could ride any rides. Oh well - we have to save something for next year!

Trey checking out the baby chics:

Up close and personal with the ducks:

Trying not to cooperate for a picture (and yes, that is actual dirt on his face):

Finally got to ride a REAL tractor!

Taking a hayride with Daddy (and getting tired!!):

Now that's a real pumpkin patch!

Lots and lots of words... but no phrases yet

Just a short post to say that Trey is really, really talking, and despite my good faith attempt to keep a list of his vocabulary, there is just no way that I can keep up anymore. For example, he said "baby" weeks ago, but I just now realized it wasn't on the list, so I added it.

Nevertheless, Trey is still not saying phrases! We are wondering when he will start telling us things that happened at school, who he plays with the most, and what he did all day. For now, however, we are perfectly content with his cute words. He just gets more and more adorable every day!

Great Weekend

We just returned from a weekend in Virginia. Mommy and Daddy had a wedding there for a law school friend, and Trey enjoyed spending time with his Edwards grandparents and other family. We are exhausted, but we had a great time!

All last week, in preparation for our trip, Trey was learning the names of his Edwards relatives. He had already learned the name for Uncle "P" (thanks to a visit from the man himself the week before), but he tried really hard to learn the other names as well. He learned "Papa" (for Papa John) pretty easily, and now loves saying it, and even says "Papa" when we ask him who is his best friend.

We also tried to warm Trey up to the concept that his Aunt Dabney is pregnant by teaching him that Aunt Dabney ("D" - sometimes) has a baby in her belly! We highly doubted that Trey would understand this concept; after all, his is only 20 months, and most of our pregnant-with-their-second friends say that their nearly-2-year-olds really have no understanding that there is a baby in Mommy's expanding belly. But by the time we got home last night, we would ask Trey what Aunt Dabney has in her belly, he would think for a minute, and then respond "baby!" Again, we aren't sure if Trey really understands that there is a baby inside there, but at least he has some association. I'm now confident that Trey will fully understand the concept of a sibling-to-be if he is ever blessed with one (hint hint, Daddy!!).

Trey also saw snow this weekend!! Trey stayed in Wintergreen with his grandparents, and on Sunday morning woke up to snow stuck on the cars. He learned the word for "snow," but otherwise we aren't sure he thought anything of it. Everyone kept asking us if this was the first time Trey had seen snow, but believe it or not, he saw a good amount of snow in Houston last year!

Another little anecdote from the weekend is that Trey went pee pee in the potty TWICE on Friday morning!! He woke up to a bone dry diaper, so Mommy decided to try. Sure enough, he went! And then he went again later that morning after declaring "potty!" We are still not "officially" potty training, but I'm convinced more and more that Trey is ready. When he moves to Toddler 1 at school in the next couple of months, we will really start the training process.

Poo poo in the potty!!

We thought this day would never come! Our sweet little boy went poo poo in the potty! And it was all his idea!!

Mommy was cooking dinner last night, and Trey was playing/watching football with Daddy, when Trey went up to Daddy and said "potty!" Trey doesn't always mean this when he says it, but Daddy decided to take Trey to the potty anyway. Immediately after putting Trey on the seat, Daddy heard a couple "plops" in the toilet! Trey went poo poo!!

We were so proud. Of course, an hour and a half later, Trey had a monstrous poopy diaper that Aunt Kacie had the pleasure of changing. Baby steps...

Picture-less

I am not particularly good about loading pictures onto this blog. This is because I often blog on my work computer - whether during breaks during the day or in the evening - but I keep all of my pictures on my home computer. Sometimes I go back in time and add pictures or videos to old posts just for the sake of prosperity (which is really the primary reason for this blog), but I've been told on more than one occasion that I need to be better about putting pictures on here.

So I write to apologize for this. The truth is, I haven't even turned on my home computer if weeks, if not months, at this point. But yesterday, Aunt Kacie decided to turn on my computer to surf the web, and it wouldn't boot up. Sure enough, after several tries, my computer won't start - there seems to be something wrong with Windows.

I'm trying not to be too anxious about this. After all, I need a new computer anyway, and most if not all of my data was backed up. And there's still the chance that it can be fixed (I've already sent a desperate plea to my office computer tech). But until then, I can't promise to be any better about uploading pictures onto the blog. You'll just have to believe me that Trey gets cuter and cuter every day. :)

Go Go Goooooo Rice!!

Trey enjoyed his first Rice football game today! Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Kacie took Trey to enjoy the Division 1 game happening just steps from our home. Of course, Rice games are nothing compared to the only other game Trey has attended (go Wahoos!), but it was fun nonetheless.

Never mind that when we arrived in the second quarter Rice was already down 21-0. Never mind that the final score was something like 63-14. Never mind that Trey spent more time climbing up and down the bleachers and running around the stadium than he did actually watching the game. We still had a fun time.

Trey loved watching Sammy the Owl dance, as well as opening and shutting the gate that leads from the bleachers to the field (yes, at any other school, this gate surely would have been locked). Trey also enjoyed making friends with some of the bigger kids at the game. And Trey most definitely burned up some energy running around everywhere. As one Rice fan commented, "we need to put him on the field!"

All in all, Trey's first Rice game was a fun experience. He did say the word "football" once or twice and was able to point it out on the field. I'd say that's pretty much all we can ask of a 20-month-old.

Happy Birthday Daddy and Mama C!

Yesterday, Trey celebrated with Daddy and Mama C for their birthdays. Daddy and Mama C happen to share a birthday, which is convenient for Mommy, even if neither one gets her complete and undivided attention on October 4th. Fortunately, we all like each other, and they both happen to have the same favorite restaurant.

So, in celebration of our October 4th birthdays, the family headed to lunch after church yesterday for a fabulous meal. The food was wonderful, as usual, even if Trey was a little bit of a handful. We've decided he has officially reached the point where he is difficult to take out to dinner. But we still had a nice time.

After lunch, Mama C and Mommy shopped while Trey slept, and then we spent the rest of the afternoon playing with Trey. Trey decided that it would be a lot of fun to play a game with Aunt Kacie's keys: he would walk over to Aunt Kacie, grab her keys, take them over to Mama C, sit down in Mama C's lap for half a second, and then get up and take Aunt Kacie's keys back to her. He repeated this over and over again for probably half an hour. Who needs toys when there are games like this to play?

We also tried to teach Trey to say "Happy Birthday" to Daddy. He got the "happy" part pretty quickly and basically walked around the house saying "happy," "happy," "happy," all day long. He didn't quite get the "birthday" part, though; the closest he got was "Happy Bir." Oh well; we'll work on it, and maybe he'll be able to wish Mommy a happy birthday next month!

Power of Prayer

Last week, I asked those reading this blog to pray for Baby Sam, the son of a friend who was expected to be born with heart defects and in need of surgery following birth. Today, I write to share the news of what can only be described as a miracle. Baby Sam - whom hundreds if not thousands of people were praying for - was born completely healthy and without any heart problems whatsoever!

I could try to relay the story myself, but I would not do it justice. Instead, I encourage all of you to read Erica's blog - www.ajourneywithfaith.com - which chronicles the story of Sam's miraculous life. It truly is amazing testimony and a beautiful example of God's amazing work.