Curious George & the Banana

The boys were being completely adorable with each other this afternoon, taking turns tickling each other. I thought, this might be a great time to put the kids in their Halloween costumes to snap a few pictures and get them used to wearing them before tomorrow's big night.

Somehow this mood...

(cute, cute, cute)...

turned to this...

and this ... wailing, sobbing, blubbering... you'd think I was asking them to sit still for a shot or something.

Then I sank to my lowest when I actually bribed Wyatt, telling him I would give him candy if he would smile for Mommy. The result... :)



Sam also dried up long enough for me to snap these...

Let's hope tomorrow night goes a little smoother. At least I know I'll have access to candy if I get desperate.

Side note: Sammy's banana costume was actually too small (that's what I get for buying a 3-9 month sized outfit when he was 1 month old and was oblivious to how super sized he'd be) so he may end up going as Yoda tomorrow, which was Wyatt's costume last year. Curious George and Yoda don't go nearly as well together as Curious George and a banana but what can I do? I guess I could cut off the bottom of the banana and turn it into a vest/dress... tune in to find out what we decide.

A Night At The Tucci's

Here is a glimps of a typical night at the Tucci house...

A little reading... Curious George of course!


A game of chase or some wrestling ... even some vacuuming...

Lots of tickling...


Some peek-a-boo...

And then crashing with a penguin, giraffe and Elmo on your head...

... and your butt in the air.

Fire Station Visit

Ross' firehouse had a family party last weekend so we headed out to Auburn for our first visit to his fire station. We had a great time meeting the other families and Wyatt had fun playing with the 6 other kids under the age of 3 years old.

The visit was really our first where Wyatt has been old to appreciate the fire trucks and he had a blast climbing everything in sight and pretending to drive each aid car and fire truck. He loved wearing his very own fire helmet, head phones and turning on the aid car lights. He even gave everyone a start when he went "beep, beep, beep" with the horn.

The kids also got to climb around the back of the aid car and try out the stethoscopes and sit on the gurney with their dads.

Sam was considerably less impressed with all of the hubbub but played along with my picture taking.

He enjoyed the time in Ross' arms much more for sure and was fast asleep in them by the end of the night.

All of the kids got to ride in the back of the fire truck as it pulled out of the ap bay and into the parking lot. Everyone piled out and watched the ladder get raised and see a firefighter climb to the top. The kids loved it. They even let Wyatt talk to the firefighter at the top of the ladder using the intercom system.



Here is a picture of the Tucci and Nylund boys. They would just love their boys to follow in their footsteps and become firefighters.

Here are future Firefighter Tucci (Wyatt) and Firefighter Nylund (Cody) in the back of the ladder truck.

Chasing, Climbing & Clapping

It finally stopped raining today so we bundled up and headed outside for some work and some play. Ross got up on the roof and cleaned out our over flowing gutters while Wyatt and I chased each other around trees.



We then headed into the backyard where Wyatt climbed up the rhododendrons at least six feet off the ground and tried to shake every loose leaf to the ground as if he was assisting Mother Nature in her autumn duties.



Sam meanwhile took a long nap before being awakened by Ross' heavy footsteps overhead and then joined us outside for some fresh air. Even our neighbors came by to visit and play and Wyatt and Elia spent the next two hours running around, jumping and climbing.

Sam had a breakthrough on Saturday when he clapped for the very first time. As hard as it is to believe it was during the Washington football game... trust me, there were few things to cheer about that night but Sam clapped along with Wyatt who kept yelling "More tac(kle)!"

Wyatt's language continues to impress me and he called Sam "Buddy" and "Brother" for the first time today. Very cute...

We took Wyatt to Bellevue Sqaure Mall yesterday to buy him his first baseball cap at the Mariner's Team Store and he hasn't taken it off since. I mean it. He even has tried to talk us into letting him wear it to bed! Despite being a toddler sized hat, it is still way too big on him but he doesn't seem to mind. We also picked up his very first real leather baseball glove, soft ball (Sammy, you can thank us later) and beenie. This boy is set with his Mariner's garb. Now the team just needs to get better over the winter so he doesn't get laughed at come next spring.

Vacuum Boy

We finally broke Wyatt of his fear of the Dust Buster this morning and he has been vacuuming around the house all day. I got to him to hold it while it was off and then Ross and I made fake, loud vacuum noises. Then we got him to turn it on and he was off with it sucking up every crumb and pine needle he could find.

You may notice he has no shirt on. This is because his new thing is stripping all of his clothes off and then celebrating by yelling "I did it," while clapping for himself. Now if only he would show that kind of enthusiasm about getting dressed.

Laughing Sam

Wyatt's crib has become a fun hangout for Sam and one of the last safe places I can leave him unattened. Last night, I caught this video footage of him having a great time in it. I just love his little laugh!

Wyatt's Growing Up

Wyatt is really beginning to chat it up these days and is making big strides in his ability to form sentences. These are some new ones from the last couple of weeks...

"It's okay Sammy (Nammy)," when Sam is crying. It comes with a hug or pat on the head and sounds so sincere.

"Bless you," when someone sneezes.

"Good morning Mommy," as he climbs into my bed and gets under the covers each morning.

"Let's go Mommy," as he pulls on my pinkie finger so hard that I will follow him ANYWHERE.

"Look at this."

"Can't reach," usually at something I've purposefully put out of reach like cookies or steak knives.

"More lunch, please," which I don't hear too often (the more lunch part, not the please). He would rather be playing than eating at any given moment and can't understand why he can't eat waffles with syrup in the playroom.

"Daddy blow nose. Booger," as he hears his dad in the bathroom. With a small house and just one bathroom there is NO privacy around here.

On the flip side, Wyatt occasionally has begun to say "Oo-ee-ah-ah" like Curious George. I'm not quite sure if he is doing this to be funny or because he thinks he's actually saying something like pass the potatoes. It's weird but we get a good laugh every time he does it.

Wyatt has also started to join in on saying his own prayers. I lead in with God bless... and he says "Us!". When asked who "us" is, he names off all of the people he loves like "Daddy, Wyatt, Mommy, Sammy, Grandpa, Nana, Tee-Tee, Alec (Alex) and Grandma."

He cracked me up the other day when we were leaving a store and the sales lady was saying goodbye to him. I said "Say bye, Wyatt" and he said "Bye Wyatt."

He also continues to love helping around the house and likes to put dirty clothes in the washer, wet clothes in the dryer and carrying folded clothes down the hall. He will say "Help?" when helping with the laundry and say "Away?" when he starts to collect my folded piles.

Wyatt has, however, become afraid of the vacuum and covers his ears and runs away when I use it. We went out and bought a Dust Buster and I was convinced he would love to use it to vacuum around the fireplace and under his high chair but so far he hates the noise it makes too. I've pulled out the ear protection headphones Ross uses when he runs the chainsaw and am trying to see if those will cut down on the scariness of the vacuum.

In general he hates to get dressed, or maybe he just loves to run away EVERY TIME so I chase him and wrestle him into his clothes. He does like to put on his own socks and shoes and is really trying hard to figure out how the darn zipper works on his jacket.

Wyatt drew "something" for the first time this week. Usually he just scribbles and doesn't appear to be trying to do anything other than experiment with colors but the other day he scribbled and then pointed to it and said "Tree." Nicely done Wyatt.

Big Boy Sam

I took Samuel in to the doctor yesterday for his 8 month check up and he passed with flying colors. Turns out he is gigantic, especially compared to his big brother. He measured in at 18 lbs, 11 oz. and 29.5 inches tall, which puts him in the 40% percentile for weight and the 95% percentile for height. WOW! Poor Wyatt spent nearly his first year of life in the <3% percentile and was soooo skinny. Won't be long until they are wearing the same sized clothing and people mistake them for twins.

I had to pull the 12 month sized clothing out for Sam a couple of days ago because all of his nine month clothes were too short and it is getting too cold around here for Capri pants. Now that I see he is measuring in so tall I guess we can stop saying Wyatt's hand-me-downs must have REALLY shrunk. Nope, Sammy is just crazy big! And to think he is a really bad eater too... maybe that's a blessing right now.

Picking Pumpkins

We went on our annual pumpkin patch trip today with our extended family to "The Farm" in Snohomish County and had a great time. The kids loved being with their cousins and spent 2.5 hours running around the farm picking out pumpkins and visiting the petting zoo.

The boys were in their matching Carhart coveralls/overalls and were too cute dressed alike. It was very cold when we first arrived on the farm but the sun was shinning bright and we were able to shed our layers by the end of the trip.

Wyatt had a wonderful time exploring the patch, especially with his oldest cousin "No" (Noah) who was celebrating his 12th birthday. I captured this video of Wyatt going from pumpkin to pumpkin trying to lift them and saying "Too heavy" at each attempt. It was quite cute.



Sam meanwhile was completely content riding around in the kiddie backpack with Ross, being held by grandma and hanging out in the wheelbarrow full of pumpkins.



We took lot of cute family picture like this one of Julie and the kids...

And this one of the cousins...

And Sam all bundled up with those beautiful blue eyes...

And both boys sitting in the wheelbarrow with the pumpkins...

And Sam & I...

And Sam & Grandma...

And Grandma & the grandkids...

After pumpkin picking, we headed over to the petting zoo where Wyatt got to see and touch pigs, goats, sheep and rabbits. Wyatt ran from pen to pen saying "More animals? More animals?" and I think would have stayed in that part of the farm all day if we had let him.

Happy Birthday Noah

After spending the afternoon at the pumpkin patch we headed over Julie's house for a birthday party for Noah. We had birthday soup (black bean & clam chowder), Noah opened presents and we had dessert.

Julie had gone to a lot of trouble to have multiple single serving desserts for us to choose from and during the gift opening someone said that it looked like one of the chocolate volcano cakes appeared to have been half eaten.

Then Noah's friend said "That kid ate it" and pointed straight at Wyatt who had his back to the table. Wyatt turned and glanced at us, which resulted in gasps at his chocolaty face and he took off running, dropping chunks of lava cake in his wake. Luckily, no one was upset by Wyatt's cake snatching and it resulted in a lot of laughs.

I don't think Wyatt was purposefully trying to sneak the cake. I had told him earlier that day that it was Noah's birthday and that we would be singing the Happy Birthday song and having cake so I guess he was just ready for his slice at that moment.

Sammy was a good little boy and was happy to play in his playpen during much of the festivities. He also liked sitting at the table for lunch and playing with all of the birthday decorations.

I think Noah had a great time opening gifts and got some good ones, including a new iPod, jacket, beanie, snow socks and ski pants. It's hard to believe Noah is going to be a TEENAGER next year!! This fact was made easier to believe when he blew out his candles with his nose... good call on those single serving desserts Jul!