Boo (boo)

And it was going so well...

But let's start from the beginning.

Mom and Dad had different ideas about what would be proper attire for a Miss Viola Swamp costume. So Mom got some stuff, including "an ugly black dress," and then Dad got his own idea of "an ugly black dress." Levynn wore Dad's version to school in the morning and wore Mom's version, pictured above, to the library and to trick-or-treat in the evening.

For the uninitiated, Viola Swamp is the mean substitute teacher in the Miss Nelson children's books (and actually is just Miss Nelson in disguise). Levynn and her classmates were asked to wear their Halloween costumes to school today, and our cool little gal was the only one dressed as a storybook character and the only girl not all dolled up. There were two Spidermans, a knight, a Little Mermaid, a Cinderella, a Princess Fiona (from the "Shrek" movies) and a generic "pink princess." Mom and Dad were very proud.

Louisville's main library branch had a big Halloween program for kids early this evening, and we went there to get some treats and see a little storytime. Oh, and we wanted to see this, too:


Yes, Levynn's famous "Library Champion" photo is hanging in the library's main hallway with similar pictures from around town. We've been told several times that it was there, but we hadn't been downtown to see it until now. And it was amazing how many library staffers recognized her as she passed through. For instance, as we walked slowly down the hall, looking for Levynn's picture, a woman asked, "Do you know where hers is?" And she pointed to it immediately, without even looking for it herself. Then, as we got ready to take this picture, the library's photographer approached us and asked if we knew Levynn's original photo had been the first one put on the library's Web site. Well, of course we knew. But how did he know? Then he proceeded to take more shots of Levynn!

Once we were in the car, Levynn announced that she was all done with Halloween. But after eating some candy on the ride home and eating some Cheerios out of a cup while handing out goodies to the kids who came to our door for a little while, Lev was ready to hit the streets. She went out with Mom while Dad manned the door. Then Mom and Dad switched places, and Dad took her to see the neighbors. On the way home, we got a little carried away in the dark - and we both tripped on an uneven spot in the sidewalk that we knew was there but couldn't see. Poor Lev tore a hole in her pants and earned her truest badge of childhood honor yet.

As Viola Swamp would say, "I am not amused."

And that takes you back to the top.

In motion

This video is from this afternoon, but Linc actually rolled over for the first time sometime after he went to bed on Thursday night. Mom went to check on him Friday morning and found him on his tummy. Not sure if Mom or Linc was more surprised that morning!

Then today she left him on his back in the middle of the red and black mat and came back a few minutes later to find him rolled off of it, probably two rolls. so then she got out the camera to see if he'd do it as proof to Dad and everyone else.

There you have it!

He plays!

Linc found a very exciting toy today!

Oh, and the latest "overheard" by Lev consists of a round and round conversation she and Mom had about tennis shoes and Tennessee. She knew she was wearing her Tennessee shirt, so when we put her shoes on, (Mom sometimes calls them tennis shoes instead of sneakers) Lev said they were her Tennessee shoes. But then she switched it around and said she was wearing her tennisshirt. The words sounded so much alike to her that she was having a hard time figuring out what word went with what. It was a lot like "Who's on first" between she and Mom.

And then today she inquired, "what's that? why do you have two of those?" she was pointing to somewhere between mom's mouth and nose. Mom first thought she was talking about her nostrils but Lev said, "no, here. tell me about this part," and she touched that kind of below the nose area, where the indent is. It was kind of a challenge to explain, Mom telling something about it just being part of the way it was made there. But Lev did not realize that she also had one, and so did Dad and Linc. It was very interesting to see hers for herself in the mirror.

What letter is that?

Earlier this week, Levynn posed that urgent question after she noticed two punctuation marks in her bedroom, one in a book and one in a poster. Mom explained that when it's round - as in on the "Got Milk?" poster - it means, "I have a question," and when it's straight, it means, "I'm excited." She was very interested to learn these new characters. She's been practicing saying "question mark" and "exclamation point" for days now.

It was just the beginning of a week full of figuring stuff out.

During dinner one evening, Levynn started looking in the general direction of Dad's head with a curious expression on her face. When Dad realized this, he was a little creeped out, to be honest, because she wasn't making eye contact with him. She seemed to be looking at ... something, as if there was a spider sitting on the side of his head.

"What are you looking at, Lev?" Dad asked, bewildered.

"To and I'll show you," it sounded like she said.

"What?"

"To and I'll show you."

"What? To?"

"TO and I'll show you."

Dad looked at Mom, still bewildered, seeking help, as he chewed his food.

"That right there! What's that, by your hair?" Lev asked.

Oh! CHEW and I'll show you, she was saying. She'd noticed the movement of Dad's temple, when his jaw moved up and down. A very interesting discovery for her.

Levynn also was very concerned about Mom's "boo boos" after several moles were removed on Tuesday. She pulled out her doctor's kit and listened to Mom's heart with her stethoscope. And when it came time to take off the Band-Aids, Lev offered Pink Bear for comfort and patted on Mom's hand.

And somwhere along the way she's started using the word "dawn," like when the sun dawns. Except she uses it to mean when it's getting dark, at night time. So tonight we talked about that and also the difference in wrists and ankles. These things can be very confusing, you know.

As Grandy would say, these all are examples of why "3 year olds are God's greatest gift."

West Kentucky weekend

We had a really good weekend with the family during a quick trip west. Mom and Pap got to do the Veteran's History Project interviews with a professor from Western Kentucky University. We're told that we'll be added to the collections at the Library of Congress (http://www.loc.gov/vets/)

Lev and Clark had the best time playing. Hard to believe this time last year that Clark was about Linc's age. What about this time next year, when Linc is up and running with his cousins!??!

Hot-tober

Yes, we're more than a week into October and it was 93 degrees here today, another record high. So we were hanging out in T-shirts (and no shirts), swinging and feeling the breeze. (Honestly, Linc was shirtless after spitting up, but he looked so cute!).

The weather people say the temperatures should be more like normal the rest of the week, so we can finally give the AC a break! Now if we could just get some color on the leaves!

Our little (neck) muscle man

One day this week, seemingly out of the blue since the last episode, Lincoln decided to lift his head during tummy time on the Boppy.

Even better, he held it steady long enough for Dad to jump to his feet, run to the desk, grab the camera out of the drawer, run back to the Boppy, find a good angle, and shoot seven good photos of the moment.

"Good job, baby brother!"

Siblings 2004 and 2007

All shots taken at about 3 months old. Would you know which sibling is which? See any resemblance? What about their size?

It's funny when we catch Linc doing something that we know we have a picture of Lev doing three years ago. She likes to see the older pictures of herself, too.