A couple big things Ed has started doing....saying Mama which comes out as "Baba" (but makes Mommy oh so happy anyway) and he has also started saying "Dada" more clearly where it used to be just "da". He has such a huge vocabulary, so it's about time he starts calling his parents by name! :-) He also now gives kisses...love it!

Here are some pictures from the last couple weeks.

Running around at the park

Notice the leaves in the hands.

Climing on the stairs at Hamilton Park

Watching the boats

Playing peek-a-boo behind a bench

Two cuties sitting at the big kid table eating dinner (Ed didn't sit for long)

Sporting his new hat that he actually doesn't rip off right away, surprisingly. He also has mittens...ha! We'll see how long those stay on when he starts to wear them.

Fall Fun!

I know it has been a long time since we have blogged. We have been busy around here! We went "hiking" in northwestern NJ (which is beautiful despite the bad rap that NJ gets) a couple weeks ago. I put hiking in quotes because we didn't do much of it. We went out to the trails, but didn't get very far. All Ed wanted to do was play in the dirt and sticks. So, we ended up sitting at a picnic area and letting him play. Hailey was a little upset we didn't get to go squirrel hunting, but she was just happy being in her element. Oh, and we also saw some bears...yep, those were scary.

Today, we went out to the farm to do some pumpkin and apple picking! Ed LOVED it! Of course his favorite part was watching the tractors come and go with the hayrides. We did get to ride the hayride out to the pumpkin patch and apple farm. It was so nice to get out of the city and those parts of NJ are really beautiful.

On another note, Ed has been saying lots of words. A lot of his words sound like one another, but if you are around him long enough you can figure out what each means.
"duck" = truck, duck, sometimes sounds like dog, and tractor.
"dat" = cat
"deet"= eat (he uses his sign for this)
"bilk"= milk (also signs this)
"boat"= boat
"bow" = ball
"moo" = moon, or moo of a cow
"doot" = dude
"dos" = cheerios
"cr" = cracker
"bas"= bath (signs this as well)
"dick" = stick, chicken (we are working on this one) :-)
signs banana
He knows a lot of animal sounds too. chicken, tiger, bear, lion, sheep, bee, dog, cat. And if he doesn't know the sound of an animal he just growls.
I'm sure there are more words he says, but these are the main ones. No mama or dada yet. We are working hard on those but he just doesn't want to say them. Not sure why. That may be his independent personality coming out.

Here are lots of pictures since we haven't posted in a while. Enjoy our sweet 16 month old!

He loves to get in boxes and play. Why do we even have toys?

Hiking! 

Yes, Hailey is just laying down in the water.

We love sticks!

Ed loves to give Hailey sticks to chew up. He just cracks up.

I just had to take this precious picture of him sleeping.

He's learning how to use a fork! He doesn't have it down yet, but calls it a "doc."

Just playing with his trucks.

At the Farm 

Watching the tractor come in

Going to pick some pumpkins

playing hide and seek in the grape vines (It is also a winery).

peek a boo!

sweet smile

watching the tractor, again.

riding on Daddy's shoulders

Picking our mini pumpkins

Here Mommy, take these rotten apples!

just precious

I love this little boy so much.

and of course we can't go anywhere without playing with sticks

Family picture by the tractor.