Happy Birthdaysgiving!

The title above is code for Thanksgiving. Joaquin likes all things possible to be birthday-related. Where do I start after a month? I'll try to organize by themes.

Soccer
Soccer season consisted of attending three times: the first time was chaos, JCG couldn't distinguish between soccer fields much less figure out some kind of organized activity was going on. Who knew so many people would go the park at the same time with the same ball wearing the same shirt? The second time he learned the boundaries of the field, and the concept of kicking a ball into a net. He was rewarded with gummy bears every time he kicked the ball in the goal: that was easy enough. The third time he went straight for the goal during warm-ups, and after we ran out of gummy bears he layed down and used the ball as a headrest the rest of the day. Who could ask for a more successful first season?

Halloween
I have never had so much fun on Halloween! I am truly getting to have a second childhood with the little bugger. We went to Ann & Stephen's house, and The Roodman's came too. We wheeled them around in wagons and they thoroughly enjoyed every second. JCG understood the concept this year. Last year he'd only been home about 6 weeks, his legs were still really weak and we used the stroller most of the time. This year he ran around like his life depended on it, at first stopping after every house to show me the loot, then finally realizing he was losing valuable time at which point he just ran from house to house. At the end we went back to The Davis' to hand out candy, which the kids seemed to enjoy more than their own trick-or-treating. It was a crisp fall night and I think the grownups enjoyed it as much as the kids!

Language
October seemed to be the month he really took off in a more obvious way with language. He is initiating speaking a lot more. Receptive language is totally there. Expressive is coming right along. "Mommy, no more talking today!" (This is what I'm told when I'm talking to other grownups and not directly to Joaquin).

Mommy, watch this!
Be quiet
May I have _____ please
My turn
You pick shirt
I want _______ please (o.k. the please is optional but encouraged)
It's too cold - coat on!
It's too hot (food) - wait a minute (to eat)
Don't touch it
You're crazy
Let me see it

He Hit Me - this one is interesting, he uses it whenever he is upset with someone, so for example when he's mad at me he just says "you hit me." Groovy. Can't wait for social services to come knocking on my door.

Vaccinations
We went in yesterday for the end of a string of "catch up" vaccinations that we started about a year ago. He's almost caught up to other kids and I look forward to minimal Dr. visits from this point on. Now he is 3ft 3 inches and 34 pounds!! How could he grow 2 inches in 6 weeks? Seems a little off but then he is growing like a weed and eating like crazy. Sometimes he will eat almost as much as I do for dinner. No joke. So, I freaked out and lost sleep over the potential possiblility of H1N1 Flu during the month of October. Meanwhile he got into the health dept. clinic 11.11.09 for his first injection, and we'll follow up with his second next week. I'm calming down about the whole thing. He got the regular flu shot in September too, so he should be all set. He has a tendency toward respiratory issues, at least he did all through last spring, so I was concerned about the potential for pneumonia secondary to getting H1N1. If it's not one thing it's another as far as worry goes. I'm really practicing letting go of what I can't control but I gotta say it is a big learning curve for me as far as he is concerned. Deep breath.