Deaners got his two top front teeth this past week! Within hours he had discoverd how to grind them with his bottom teeth. UGHH! It really grates on my nerves when he does it but I have no idea how to get him to stop! Hopefully he will outgrow that soon. I know he is going to look so different once they start showing really well!

John's birthday was also our Fall Festival at church. Dean got all dressed up like Toby Slough. He has the perfect hair-do for it! He had a cotton ball goatee and a head mic (and he promptly ripped both off in record time!). Everyone loved his costume though, including Toby who laughed and laughed.

How do you think he looks? (ok, in this next picture, I must admit the answer to this question is, "miserable", but I was referring to the comparison shot!).

Yep, John turned the big 3-0 today! He pretty much had to work all day so that was kind of a bummer, but I took a cake to the church so his band could celebrate with him. His parents also came to town and we had a fun time eating out and shopping with them!

The person who really raked it in this weekend was Dean, who got a whole new winter wardrobe from Granny and PawPaw! We don't have any pics of the birthday boy from that day (pitiful, I know), but here are some of Dean going on a walk with his PawPaw.

Due to a minor gas leak, we are temporarily without heat so these kids were COLD and wanted to snuggle when they woke up!

But we couldn't keep them still for long and so it was off to the Pumpkin Express! Jacob had been waiting for this train ride all year! Don't you just love the look on his face?!

This dancing boy gets his moves from his dad. You may recall the video below from an earlier post!

Ice Dancing

Last night a shadowy black figure crept up behind Dean. Did Dean cry in fear? Jump up and run away? Grab the nearest toy and teach that character a lesson? NO! He laughed at him. Yes, apparently our little guy isn't very combative! Kill them with kindness, right!

He had the best time laughing at Spiderman (aka Carson Hackney). Carson spent the night with us last night and then woke up and gave Dean another Spidey show (complete with net spraying moves!). Dean loved it! They were so funny just making each other laugh.

Here are a few pics of the show!

Dean had his first pumpkin patch experience today. He also had his first train ride! He started to panic when the engine started (luckily we were in the back where it wasn't too loud!). By the end of the ride, he was squealing and smiling! Our photographer friend, Julie, went with us and took lots of CUTE pictures. You can see some of them on her blog http://www.birdseyephotography.blogspot.com/. She is also going to use one of the family pics in her ad for the Denton Connection magazine.

Dean started his 9 month birthday off with a bang...actually a shot (or two) at the doctors office. He just took it like a man when they pricked his finger and didn't even cry! John went with us to the doctor this time and we had a good laugh watching Dean try to figure out the bandaid on his finger. First of all, his finger is so tiny that the bandaid wrapped around about 5 times! He kept shaking his hand and then opening and closing his fingers to try to get it off. It was like watching a cat with tape on its paw! After a while, he tried putting it in his mouth to see if that would help. He finally grabbed it with his other hand and with one good tug, he was free!

The dr said we could start feeding him table food and to start giving him bigger pieces instead of just pureed stuff. So for lunch, he sat in his big high chair with the tray for the first time. He chomped on some whole green beans, munched some banana and to top it all off, choked on a peach. Yes, choked. I was trying to let him bite off some and make use of his new teeth and he took this HUGE bite and swallowed immediately! I yanked him out of his seat...or at least tried to but because he was strapped in with a tray over his lap, it wasn't an easy process. So I am yanking on him and the poor child is gagging it up and then swallowing again (yank yank) and then gagging (yank yank, smack smack) and then swallowing (smack smack). Somehow this process worked and about the time I finally got him out of the seat, he had fully recovered. His eyes were red and watery and he was a bit pale...not sure if that was from the peach or from me beating the tar out of his back and almost chopping off his legs trying to get him out of the highchair! Anyway, he survived his first table food experience...I hope dinner is a little less exciting!

We finally got some weather that feels like Fall! Poor Dean had nothing warm to wear, so we were excited when a friend passed on some little boy clothes in his size to us. This jacket was part of the loot and so Dean was sporting it today...isn't he cute?!

This is the best part of my day...just loving on my little guy and getting big smiles in return!