Whew! It's been a while since I have been able to update this thang, huh? We went on a trip to Florida for Thanksgiving and after that I was knitting my way out of a black hole of holiday orders. I am ALMOST caught up and it is looking like all is getting back to normal. At least for the two weeks before we ahve to start getting ready for our Christmas trip to CT. Peanut butter balls and shnetkin here we come!

Florida was awesome. The drivedown was uneventful and Henry proved to be a good little traveller. Kyle wanted to drive all the way there since Henry was sound asleep in the car seat, but since we'd have to stay in a hotel anyway (the ferry doesn't run from 10pm to 7am) I made him stop at 11 to give my back a fighting chance of someday regaining its natural shape. Of course, Henry sprung to life immediately upon contact with the gorgeous diamond patterned comforter and proceeded to work up all 10 hours' worth of energy he'd built up in the car. We got to sleep somewhere in the neighborhood of 3am. And worse? Kyle was right. We should have kept driving.

The visit was great. The weather was absolutely gorgeous-85 and sunny every day. Henry had to be routinely dragged out of the ocean and made to warm up in the sun before making a break for it immediately upon release. He loved the water, the sand, the shells, you name it. In the pool in front of the house he learned how to blow bubbles in the water and do froggy kicks while riding around on Kyle's back. Many card games were played and much sugar was eaten.

The ride home took a few hours longer because of holiday traffic, but Henry was amazing and that made the 14.5 hours bearable.

Speaking of the Amazing Bean, he has some new fun tricks. Not only does he know all of his letters, but he also knows the alphabet song, which is impossibly cute. He can also count to 20, which is pretty impressive, he knows all of his colors and a handful of shapes: circle, square, triangle and rectangle. His current favorite activity is running around the house roaring and calling himself a "big yellow tiger". He is so impressed with himself that I don't have the heaert to tell him that tigers are, in fact, orange. He is also WAY into please, thank you, you're welcome and bless you. If he brings me something and I don't say thanks you he looks up at me and says "thank you, mama" hoping that I will feel guilty enough for my transgression to give him ice cream.

We were at the play area at the mall the other day and a little kid (about 3 years old) came right up to Henry's face and roared a fiersome roar while sporting a magnificently scrunched up face. At first, Henry held his ground, going into defensive mode by pasting on a cute little smile, folding his arms into wings and quacking at the boy. But the little beast would not be swayed and roared in Henry's face once more. Henry ran away. Henry was chased by the evil little monster boy, who kept up with the roaring and the horrible face until Henry burst into tears. Big meanie.

Scroll down a little for some Florida pictures. I have some really cute nekkid baby ones too, but I feel weird about putting them online. Pervy old men and such. Why yes, I am turning into my mother, why do you ask? Next stop-weirdos in the woods.