Captain America, the Skeleton, and Friends

The month of October brought the Vogt boys lots of fun.  After the Red Barn Farm party, we came home to decorate the house for Halloween.  This year's theme was spiders.  We hung spiders from the portico and stretched fake cobwebs all over the front of the house. The whole thing was topped off by spider lights (and webbing) on the iron railings above the portico. Ghouls hung from each column and the birch tree. We carved pumpkins but they rotted quickly in the unseasonable heat.

The costumes (Captain America and Lightning McQueen Skeleton) were donned for an early party at pre-school.  There was a bouncy house, pumpkin patch, haunted house, bobbing duck game, photo booth, and food!  Best pals Amelia (Gill) and William) were there too, and they came back to our house for more merriment.

Jonas decorates a picture frame

Batman & Best Friend William

Gill finds a pumpkin just his size!

Halloween night was spent going up and down the block on tricycles. Treats ranged from pixie sticks to fortune cookies.  There was even a bloody finger among the Twix and Snickers. The boys were exhausted. We lit the fire pit and roasted marshmallows for s'mores. Noni and Scooter were in town for their fall visit, and we had a blast.

Yes, they prefer the garage sale and thrift store rides instead of the new expensive ones we bought them!

Have we mentioned how cute the girls next door are?

Jonas is progressing well in pre-school.  He can now write his name, but won't always do so on command.  He stunned us with this revelation.  He went from no letters to a full name, in one day.  And he started drawing pictures of stick people, and objects.  All drawings before now had been purely abstract.  He is still less interested in art and more into constructing things with gears, tinker toys, and marble runs.

We had Jonas tested by a school psychologist for possible speech therapy.  He passed a hearing test with flying colors and shares a weekly speech session with a little girl named Samantha.  Though she is much bigger than Jonas, her speech impediments make me feel guilty for sharing her time with the speech therapist.  Jonas has trouble with "th" and "s" sounds, among others.  I'm told that these issues will be quickly resolved with a little attention. I enjoy our Monday morning speech appointments at Borderstar. I don't often get to spend time with just one child, and Jonas especially basks in the individual attention. Every day when I pick up Jonas from school, he has something to show me that he's saved all day; it's usually something he's constructed though once in a while it's a drawing.  I think I am more excited to have him start Kindergarten than he is.  It will be nice to work in his building a few days a week.

As Jonas matures, he gets better and better at listening, picking up his toys, and showing affection.  He tells us that he loves us, gives spontaneous kisses and even wiped my tears the other day when Noni left after a week-long visit. When she leaves, he pulls her photo down from the mantle and puts it on a table where he can see it daily. He calls her on the phone (by himself) and on Facetime.  They have a relationship independent of me or Ed; he loves to talk with her about his day. On the other hand, I have to ask a million questions to find out what went on at school.

Gill has been singing his ABCs quite regularly, and can count past ten. He is always happy unless you take away a toy or one of his beloved paci's.  Though he no longer bites (still holding our breath on that one), he will often get into a bout of hair pulling with Jonas. It always seems that Jonas is the one left crying and hurt. He is almost fully potty trained at school, though he seems to regress at home, telling us "no" every time we try to make him go potty. He's wearing Lighting McQueen pull-ups and feels like quite the big boy. He communicates well when he remembers to remove the paci from his mouth before speaking. He doesn't have it with him all day at school, and I think we might finally be at a point where we can start phasing it out at home, except at bed time.  He is eager to learn about teeth brushing, and has mastered spitting much more quickly than Jonas did.  He still prefers to eat his toothpaste, though, and likes to lick powder as well. (gross!)

Both boys have become finicky eaters, though I suspect that Gill is simply copying Jonas, as he does with everything.  Corndogs are universally popular, and we've found a restaurant that will serve them for breakfast (Niece's on Troost). Yes, I'm a little ashamed to admit that. Another popular snack are the little waxed wheels of Gouda cheese. I suppose it's slightly healthier than string cheese.  We have to watch Gill, though, as he will help himself to 3 or more at a time.

Whenever Papa is out in the garage organizing or working, Jonas likes to come out and build 'robots'.  He collects miscellaneous tools and parts and arranges them in a specific way to make a robot.  He then explains what his robot does as he continues to add more parts.....

At school they have different roles that need to be filled everyday.  The problem is that there are more kids than roles, so they have each child's name written on a construction paper paper doll attached to a popsicle stick.  Every morning the teachers pull out eight of the paper dolls, and the kids get to pick a role.  Jonas checks quickly every morning.  When his paper doll is out he usually picks line leader, or lunch helper.

Gill was outside with Papa Saturday when Papa was working on the garage.  Of all the bikes that Gill could have picked, he picked the strider bike.  The strider bike challenged his ability.  Heck, Gill even fell off a couple of times.  Finally Gill asked Papa why the strider bike didn't have pedals as though pedals would make the bike more stable.

 Over the summer when Jaclyn was staying here, she introduced the family to the 'Tickle Man'.  "Here comes the Tickle Man walkin' down the street, he's gonna tickle everyone he meets.  He loves to Tickle."  The kids have come to love and hate the Tickle Man.  Sometimes they ask for the Tickle Man, but Papa introduced 'Hug Man' when they don't want to see the Tickle Man! Jaclyn lived in our basement for two months and we don't have a single photo of her! We had to steal this from her FB page. She's a really cool gal. We will miss her!

The beautiful Ms. Jaclyn and the man she left Kansas City for (her husband, Jason)

We've been to church the last three Sundays in a row.  Every week it seems there's been something that has resulted in a cake after church.  This past Sunday they both had two pieces of cake.  Of course they eat the frosting first and then attack the cake.  Gill went into a bit of a frenzy shoving the cake into his mouth and eating right off the plate sans hands.  After a while he had a distinct sugar  rush and spent a few minutes spinning in a circle.

During children's time in the service, Jonas and Gill now sit on the alter quietly; we don't have to sit with them, just within vision. Our new minister, Pastor Chase, challenged the children to yell "Hey You!" to the people sitting in the balcony, which included Ed and Noni. Jonas boldly pointed out that his Noni and Papa were up there. The next week, he spoke up to answer a question about communion and when Pastor Chase praised "Gill" Jonas spoke up to correct him that he was "Jonas Vogt"  It's funny how he always refers to himself by his first and last name.