Swords and Boo at the Zoo

Pearce just LOVES Halloween!!  He totally still remembers Halloween from last year and all the spooky things.  He loves anything spooky :)  He loves to go to Target or Walmart and look at the Halloween aisles.  We have several houses in our neighborhood that are all decorated for Halloween, so we have fun going to look at those.  We also got our house all decorated!  Pearce loves the skeleton in our yard...it looks like he's coming out of the ground.  When I first put him in, Pearce went up to him and said "Hi skelton, my name Pearce, what your name?"  He's also gotten on a sword kick.  Loves swords!  On one of our trips to look at the Halloween stuff, Pearce found a sword that he just loved....so Mommy got it for him :) 

Tonight, I took Pearce to Boo at the Zoo at the Austin Zoo.  When I first saw it advertised, I knew Pearce would love it!  Halloween decorations, Halloween lights, a spooky train ride, a haunted house, and animals.....all of his favorite things!  Our zoo is not a big fancy zoo...the animals are rescue animals so the "zoo" is more of an animal sanctuary, but still so fun.  We got there right when it opened at 6:30.  The kids could wear their Halloween costumes, but because the walkways are more like dirt paths, and we were going to be there at night, and he still falls a lot, I knew I didn't want him to wear his white Buzz Lightyear costume.  Then I remembered that Mama and Papa had gotten him a zookeeper's outfit from the San Diego Zoo last year.  I put it on him and it fit perfectly!!  He could not have looked any cuter!!!  We packed a picnic and off we went!  When we got there, Pearce loved all of the Halloween decorations and lights.  We walked around the zoo and looked at the animals for the first hour.  Then we ate our dinner and then it was time for the SPOOKY train ride.  By this time it was dark out and the zoo was all lit up.  I brought Pearce's flashlight, so he loved that.  The train ride had lots of fun Halloween decorations all along the tracks.  A couple of times, spooky people and monsters wold jump out at us.  Pearce loved it!  Then the train stopped and all of the monsters came over to the train and handed out bags of candy to the kids.  Pearce said "Oh that monster so nice.  He gabe me candy!"  After the train ride, we did the haunted house.  The lady said it's spooky and did I think Pearce would be ok.  I told her I thought so because he loves looking at all the spooky things in the stores.  We walked through slowly and all of a sudden Pearce kept saying "You can't eat me, I a boy!"  So funny!  At the end, there was lots of fog and that kind of scared him, so he wanted me to hold him.  When we got out, he said, "Yay, we made it!"  I asked Pearce if he wanted to go again and he said "Ummmm.....nope thank you."  We left around 8:00 and Pearce just talked and talked all the way home about the spooky things.  During the train ride, he had his little hand on my leg, just looking and looking at all the Halloween decorations and lights.  He was having the best time and because he was having so much fun, I was having so much fun.  I just love experiencing new things with Pearce.  I love going on little adventures with Pearce.  He makes everything so much fun!!!

Update on BB's

So, after our dentist visit, I knew I had to get Pearce to stop sucking on his BB's...especially at night and nap time.  Last weekend, I decided to just do it.  Friday, I talked all day about how he could go to sleep with BB's, but that I was going to take them during the night and they will be waiting for him in the morning.  So, after he went to sleep, I went in and took them.  About an hour later, he woke up crying for them.  I went in and told him he could have them in the morning.  He cried and cried.  I just rocked him and sung to him and he finally calmed down after about 30 mins.  I put him back to bed.  About an hour later, he woke up again.  I decided I would not go back in because I did not want Pearce to get in the habit of wanting me to rock him in the middle of the night.  He needed to learn how to go to sleep on his own.  This time, he cried for about 15 minutes and then slept the rest of the night just fine.  In the morning, he was so excited to have BB's back!  I kept reminding him not to suck on them, though.  At nap time, I decided we could rock with BB's, but then he would have to put them up until he woke up. He was totally fine with this!  We rocked and then he went and put them on his chair and then came back to his room to be tucked in.  He did wake up once crying for them.  I went in once and told him his nap wasn't over yet and he had to go back to sleep.  He did!  So, that has been our routine now.  We rock with BB's, but then he puts them in his chair until he wakes up from nap or nighttime.  I would say nap time is still a little hard.  Some days he wakes up crying for them.  I just don't go in there and he always goes back to sleep.  At nighttime, he never wakes up crying for them.  This is such a relief to me!!!  I thought it was going to be WAY harder!  Although I would love for him to be able to keep sleeping with BB's, there's just no way I wanted to be the least bit responsible for him having an overbite or it getting worse.  He does still want to take them in the car, which I let him, for now.  Eventually, I'll have him just leave them at home, but I didn't want to make too many changes all at once.  Sometimes he will say "Mommy, I suck on BB just a yittle bit."  I think a little sucking on BB's is fine for now....definitely better than sucking on them for 15 hours a day!  I am so proud of Pearce...and Mommy!!!