For starters, learned a costly but valuable lesson at the end of September. Curious Liam reached up and touched the hot stove while Mommy & Daddy weren't paying attention. He wanted to help make dinner, and of course he thinks he's big enough to figure it out now. He pushed his chair over to the stove, and the next we heard was screaming and crying. Luckily the burns to two fingers weren't terrible. And while painful, they healed without scarring.
October was also challenging, because we took Liam out of daycare. He asked to stay with our friend Erica while Mommy taught classes. The idea was that he would take a nap in the afternoon, so Mom could get some work done. That rarely happened. However, we made it through, and at the end of the month, Mommy started a non-teaching session. It was an easy decision to keep Liam home for the rest of the year once we learned Granny and Grand dad will visit in November.
Of course, October a the month children look forward to, with Halloween parties, trick-or-treating and hayrides on the agenda. This year, Liam dressed up as a Dragon. He and Mom went out on Halloween night, collected candy, and saw the neighbors in costumes.
We went to the neighborhood Halloween Party. All was fun, but then afterward, there was news that some of the kids at the party had come down with the H1N1 Swine Flu Virus. I didn't get Liam vaccinated specifically for this virus because I thought the virus itself would mutate, or Liam would get the infection before we could get 2 doses in. I worried for a few days that he might get sick... but all was ok. We were still on the heels of the hand/foot/mouth
As we reach the end of the month though, everyone is still fairly healthy.
So as mentioned, a trip to anywhere was out of the question in the early month. As the weekends in October became darker, wetter and colder, we realized the need to get to the pumpkin farm, if only to ride the tractor around in a circle. Liam, keenly phobic of anything that might hurt him, didn't want to carve a pumpkin (knives too pointy and dangerous).
Our first try was a Saturday afternoon. Perfect weather, plenty of time... and Liam fell asleep hard five minutes from the farm. On the second try, he forced himself to stay awake... but this time the weather didn't cooperate. The pumpkin farm was a cold, rainy, muddy mess. We had fun anyway.
Liam adopted a small pumpkin and we drew a face on him. He suggested that the pumpkin's mouth should be missing two teeth, just like his!
