Boy.

All boy.

'Scuse the flash making the letters hard to read.

He loves "the typing laptop" and asks to use it often. It's B's old work laptop so it's a clunker and stands up fairly well to, shall we say, inexperienced hands.

Dad is now in NY and planning to Amtrak it back West at some point. Having an extra pair of hands to change diapers (yes, he did! lots!), wash dishes etc was a big help! Fortunately E wasn't too traumatized by his departure and now often says "Granddad schleeping" to explain away the mysterious lack of grandfatherly presence.

B brought home a pumpkin from the local farmer's market today. I don't think they really "do" pumpkin patches here in the UK. Certainly not like they do Stateside. There isn't much of a buildup to Halloween here, which I find is refreshing yet disappointing. I don't mind the lack of emphasis on trick-or-treating, but some people are such GROUCHES about it, going so far as to put up signs on their doors warning people off. Given that there's no Thanksgiving here, as an American I always feel a little bit bereft in the autumn months... Halloween is kinda skimmed over by the majority of people, there's no late-November feast, so Christmas is a long, hyped-up wait.

Regardless, we'll be baking pumpkin pie this season (probably quite soon, with that fresh pumpkin) and I'll introduce B and E to toasted pumpkin seeds. Nom. Speaking of E and expat living, he was watching a signing show on TV (Makaton signs designed for toddlers and special-needs kids). "Giraffe" popped up. E turned to me, pointed, said "GirAffe." Turned back to the TV, said "GirAHffe." Great! Just great. At 2 and a quarter, dude already recognizes his mama talks different. Won't be long till he quits humoring me and starts correcting me. (And at that time I'll probably be tempted to suggest B takes a year-long sabbatical from work so that we can go back to MV to live for a year, for re-education, if you will.)

Speaking of the young gentleman, his quotes have been getting more convoluted, though no less funny. "OHH! Stubbed my tickles!" was a recent one. He calls the bottom of his feet his "tickles." Which tickles us. Obviously.

Another one - Dadden: "That toy has to stay in the bath for now...it's probably sleeping!" E turns, shakes his head and says "It probably wake up now!"

And he has taken to teasing me by mimicking a high-pitched yelp whenever he sees a speck-that-might-be-a-spider. Oh, the shame.

Well, we're all off to a baby event tomorrow in London since B got a free ticket through a friend. I expect it will mostly be overpriced and overhyped, but there will be deals and freebies and, apparently, play-spots with lots of toddler toys. Plus, I'm 33 weeks along now (that's technically 4 weeks until I'm considered "term") so it's probably time to look at buying a few things. Like, you know, diapers and a Moses basket. Cotton wool for wipes. Yadda yadda. And with that, swollen-ankled me is off to bed.