Daddy’s View

Before I give you all the details of Halloween, let me back up a few days and tell you about “the box”.

Last weekend, Grandma and Grandpa D. visited for the weekend.  Grandpa had a new pair of shoes.  So, of course, he brought the empty box for Eric.  On past visits, Grandma and Grandpa had brought toys and such for Eric, and they used old shoe boxes because they were a convenient size.  Eric enjoyed the boxes at least as much as the gifts that were inside.  Eric played a game with Grandma and Grandpa by putting a toy inside the box and asking, “What’s in the box?”  He then opened the box to reveal the toy.  This caused much laughter and entertainment for Eric and his grandparents.  On this particular visit, Grandpa brought his empty shoe box for Eric.  Eric loved the box.  He played with it for hours.  Even after Grandma and Grandpa left to go home, Eric kept playing with the box.  At one point that evening, he was determined to get in the box.  He layed the box flat and sat in it, but he could not close the lid.  He stood the box up on end and crawled in, but again, he could not close the lid.  Eventually he gave up closing the box and just enjoyed sitting in it.

Tonight, Eric went trick-or-treat-ing for the very first time.  Time had crept away from us today, so I was still in the middle of a household project when 5 O’clock arrived.  I hurried to finish, at least enough to stop, and started getting Eric into his costume.  Mommy was in the kitchen fixing dinner.  Eric had just been up from his nap for a short while, and so he was a little cranky.  It takes him a while to wake up from his naps.  When I asked him if he wanted to put on his costume and go trick-or-treat-ing, he said “no”.  So, we started by changing his clothes to wear his black sweat pants and his black sweatshirt.  It was cold outside, so we needed to be sure he was warm while walking the neighborhood.  After he was dressed, he still was fussing and crying.  He did not want to put on his costume.  Mommy and I were sure that he would enjoy trick-or-treat-ing and getting all the candy, so we dressed him in his costume anyway.  This did not make him happy.

With all the crying and carrying on, I felt guilty making him wear the costume.  I asked Mommy, “Is this child abuse?”  She could not answer for sure.  We went with our instincts and put on our coats to leave the house.  Eric continued with his fits.  He walked and cried all the way to our neighbor’s house.  We rang the bell, and Eric seemed to calm down a little while we waited.  When they did not answer (not home), he got upset when we started to leave their driveway.  I distracted him by asking if he wanted to go across the street.  Two women were sitting in their driveway with a row of Jack-O-Lanterns and some candy bowls.  I pointed to them and asked Eric if he wanted to see the Jack-O-Lanterns.  He cried, “ye-e-es!”  So, we walked over.  They were very nice and complimented Eric on his costume.  He had stopped crying, but continued pouting.  They offered him some candy, and I prompted him to say “trick or treat!”  He hesitated, but finally said it.  He also thanked her for the candy afterward.  By the time we left this first house, Eric had stopped crying and was anxious to “get more candy!”

Eric soon was walking happily from house to house and saying, “trick or treat!” to everyone who answered the door.  He always said “thank you” after receiving the candy.  He repeatedly told Mommy and I to go to the next house for more candy.  At one particular house, the man who answered the door said, “Happy Halloween!” as we were leaving, and Eric replied enthusiastically with the same, “Happy Halloween!”  After a few houses, he started saying “we have to go back to work!” as we left each house.  This had become serious business for Eric.  He was having so much fun!

Mommy and I are glad that we forced him to get started.  He really did have fun.  His costume was very popular.  Everyone made many good comments about it.  People were impressed with its originality and of course how cute he was in it!  Grandma D. had made this costume about 20 years ago for my niece, who was about Eric’s age at the time.  It is a perfect fit for Eric.  Many compliments were given to Eric for his costume.

Eric was in a much better mood after trick-or-treat-ing!  We can hardly wait for next year!

Here is a picture of our Jack-O-Lanterns sitting across our front porch.

Thursday night, we watched the classic Peanuts Halloween special.  Eric watched some of it and ignored some of it.  But yesterday, when Mommy mentioned the “Great Pumpkin”, Eric recognized it and kept repeating, “It’s the Great Pumpkin!”.  He ran into the office where I was on the computer, and he told me all about the “Great Pumpkin”.

This afternoon, we went shopping at Costco.  On our way home, we stopped at another store to pick up some vitamins.  When we pulled into the parking lot, we saw a big setup for Halloween.  They had a big bouncing castle, a basketball hoop, and some other games for kids to play.  Mommy ran into the vitamin store while Eric and I parked the car.  Of course, Eric immediately noticed the bouncing castle and wanted to go.  I got in the back seat to help him out, and we waited for Mommy to get back.  Mommy asked on the way back to the car how much it cost, and she was told that it was all free.  The karate school in the strip mall was providing all of the activities for the kids.  We went inside the school to get a ticket for the castle.  It was free, but we needed to get a ticket.  When we went in, we were greeted by a very friendly young girl who was painting faces.  Eric initially said “no.”  but after I explained to him what it was and pointed out another boy with his face painted, he agreed to get his face done.  Now he had to decide what to have painted.  We finally settled on a red star.  After his face was decorated with the star, we went outside to play in the castle.  We waited for another kid to get out, so Eric could go in.  They were limiting the number of kids inside the castle.  Eric climbed in and immediately wanted to get out.  The other kids in the castle were much older than him, and they were running and jumping wildly.  So, Eric climbed out and immediately wanted to go back in.  Mommy and I helped him climb in again.  This time, Mommy stayed just inside the entrance and held onto him while he stood up.  I went around to the side and waved at him.  He let go of Mommy and started to walk toward me.  He was having a great time.  He bounced up and down.  Then the other boys ran past him, and he wanted to get out again.  Eric really enjoyed himself, despite the bigger kids.

Tonight, we carved our pumpkins.  This is Eric’s first time.  He will also go trick-or-treat-ing for the first time tomorrow evening.  Eric and I picked out 3 pumpkins at the store a couple of weeks ago.  They have been sitting on our front porch, just waiting to be carved.

We started with Eric’s pumpkin.  I cut out the top, and Eric and I scooped out the seeds and other “gooey” stuff.  Eric thought this was really cool!  Even though he did not really touch the “gooey” stuff.  He did use his spoon to “scoop” out some of the innards.  He also helped to draw the face and other designs on the pumpkin.  I did all of the actual carving.  Eric’s pumpkin turned out very nice…and scary! (insert evil laugh here)

Next we carved Mommy’s pumpkin.  Eric helped with drawing the face and other designs on the pumpkin.  Mommy drew a really frightening face on her pumpkin.  I did my best to carve the curved lines that she so artfully drew.  Mommy did not draw the mouth, but gave some very vague directions as to how she wanted it to look.  I improvised, and Mommy liked it!  Eric again helped with scooping out the “gooey” stuff…without actually touching the “gooey” stuff.

Time for bed, so I will have to carve my pumpkin without Eric’s help.  I wonder if it will be scary…or funny…or just ordinary?  We will have to wait and see.

Be sure to check again after tomorrow night for a full report on Eric’s first trick-or-treat-ing experience.  Mommy and Daddy are very excited!  Eric is also looking forward to it.  He has been watching all of the Halloween episodes of his favorite cartoons.

Check Eric’s website for the video of his pumpkin carving.  It is a must see video!

It has been so long since I posted that I almost forgot to include this event.  (See my earlier post from this evening.)

Aunt Deborah and Uncle Jeff had their annual party last month.  Mommy did not feel good with her allergies really acting up, so Eric and I went by ourselves.  We had a lot of fun.  Eric played with the bean bag toss after the adults were finished with the serious games.  He enjoyed tossing the bags into the hole.  Even more, he enjoyed rolling a ball into the hole.  The ball belonged to Lady.

Lady is Aunt Bev’s and Uncle Mike’s new puppy.  She is adorable!  Eric loved playing with her!  He tossed her ball to her and played with her toy bone.  Eric also made a “tunnel” for Lady to crawl through by standing with his legs spread apart.  Eric loves tunnels.  Mommy and Daddy are constantly making tunnels with our legs while standing, sitting, or crawling.  Eric and Lady played for a long while.  They both had lots of fun!

Eric has started playing computer games.  Mommy convinced me to let him play some games by himself on the computer.  Up until now, I just let him watch and point to things on the screen as we browsed some of the kid sites.  We browsed to the NickJr website for kids, and Eric played the Max and Ruby hide and seek game.  He has a little trouble with the mouse, since it is so much bigger than his little hand.  Every time he tries to click the mouse button, the mouse moves.  He is also clicking the right button frequently when trying to click the left button.  This just confuses him when strange menus and other things pop up on the screen.  Mommy and I are looking for a smaller kid-friendly mouse for him to use.  Eric is having so much fun and feeling very independent with his new entertainment.  Daddy supervises closely, especially since he still needs some guidance on how to use the mouse and when or where to click.

Mommy and Daddy went out of town this past weekend.  I took a 4 day weekend from work to spend some time with Mommy and Eric.  Eric spent Friday and Saturday night at Aunt Carol’s house with Uncle Rob and Tyler.  He had so much fun.  He was very happy to see us when we went to pick him up on Sunday afternoon, but he did not want to leave.  He was stuck between a pillow and a soft place 🙂  Mommy and I bought Eric a new toy train while we were travelling.  It is one of the wooden tracks with the magnetic-coupled cars.  We bought it at an IKEA store.  I opened it for Eric this afternoon, and he loves it!  He played with it for hours until bed time.  I had to nearly drag him kicking and screaming to take a bath.  Eric normally loves to take a bath and rarely resists.  He usually will drop whatever toy he is playing with and run to the bathroom at the first mention of a bath.  But tonight, he really did not want to take a bath.  Of course once in the bath, he settled down and had fun.  After his bath was finished, straight to the train again!  Chugga Chugga Choo Chooo!

This morning, I took Eric to the doctor to get his flu shot.  Mommy had her own doctor appointment, so I took Eric.  When I woke up this morning, it occurred to me that we had a conflict with transportation.  Mommy’s car has a dead battery.  We discovered this last Thursday night, but we had not been home to do anything about it.  We left Friday morning and returned yesterday evening.  The problem:  Mommy needs to drive the Lincoln, but I also need to take Eric.  Mommy can only drive an automatic transmission, so she could not take my Camaro.  But the Lincoln has the car seat for Eric.  I woke up this morning and immediately put the charger on Mommy’s car, but a couple hours later it was not showing any sign of taking a charge.  So, I asked Eric if he wanted to ride in Daddy’s purple car.  He said, “Yes!”, and he jumped up to go for the door.  Okay, so this plan was going to work.  I went outside and moved the car seat from the Lincoln into the Camaro.  The cars were ready.  We had just finished breakfast (Daddy made pancakes, of course!), so we started getting Eric dressed to go.  He is getting very excited about riding in Daddy’s purple car.  This is the first time he will get to ride in it.  He talks about Daddy’s cars all the time!  “Daddy’s purple car” (the Camaro),  “Daddy’s orange car” (older Camaro), and “Daddy’s brown car!” (the Lincoln).  The car seat fit nicely in the back seat on the passenger side.  I moved the front passenger seat all the way forward to give him plenty of “kick room”.  Eric talked about the purple car the whole time we were at the doctor’s office.  He was really excited!

When we got back from the doctor, we took another look at Mommy’s car.  The charger appeared to be working now.  Apparently the battery needed to warm up a little before taking a charge.  It had sat for almost 2 weeks with the headlight switch in the ON position.  I had been driving the Camaro to work for some time, so Mommy had been driving the Lincoln, instead of her little Mazda.  Anyway, Eric was eager to help, so I explained to him that we were fixing Mommy’s car, and we needed to see the green light on the charger.  He said, “It is only yellow!”  I agreed and explained that we needed to wait, and we could check it again later.  So, we checked it frequently, and each time Eric would say, “It’s not green yet!” or “It’s only yellow!”  After we checked a few times, he started reminding me to check it.  “Let’s check Mommy’s car!”, he would say very enthusiastically, and we would both go over to check the charger lights.  Most times I did not check them myself, I just asked him if it was fixed yet.  “No, not yet.  It’s not green!  It’s yellow!”  He is such a good helper!

Today we went to the park.  It was Mommy’s idea for us to get out of the house.  We packed up some chairs and a cooler with drinks, and we stopped off at White Castle for some picnic food.  We had not decided where we were going until after we had our food.  We decided to go to West Park in Carmel.  We had not been there before, but it looked like it would be fun.

Eric waited patiently while we ate our lunch.  He did not want to eat.  I suspect that he was too distracted by the playground waiting for him.  Finally, we were finished eating our lunch, and we headed over to the playground.  Eric went straight for the large tractor play set.  He climbed in and played with another boy already playing on the tractor.  He went down the slide, too.

After he was finished with the tractor, he ventured over to the silo play set.  It was set atop a steep hill.  Of course, Eric had no trouble climbing to the top.  The silo had stairs and a ladder to get to the top.  From the top, he had a choice of two slides: one with curves and turns, and one with a straight steep slope.  Both were enclosed tubes.  Eric soon became very adept at climbing the ladder to the top.  He went down the curvy slide several times.  I climbed up to the top with him, and he went down the steep slide.  He really liked it!  He could not wait to get back to the top and slide down again.  It was a very fast slide.  FUN!

http://www.radeakin.net/blog-photos/2010-09/Eric_slide2.wmv

Labor Day Weekend! I took Friday off work, so I have a 4-day weekend. This is the weekend that Aunt Cindy and I celebrate our birthday.

Eric and I went shopping on Friday for a tricycle. Mommy and I talked and agreed that Eric is beyond ready for a tricycle. He needs something with pedals to ride around under his own power. We went to Wal-Mart first. We had looked at Meijer earlier in the week. Wal-Mart has the same model that we saw at Meijer, except that it was pink and lavender, instead of red and blue. I had hoped for more selection than this. It seems every store is selling the same tricycle. We walked from Wal-Mart over to Once Upon A Child, a secondhand store for infants and children. They had only one tricycle, and it was very old and in poor condition. It was time to pull all the stops and bring on the big guns. We headed for Toys-R-Us! They had a great selection of different tricycles. Unfortunately, Eric had had enough of shopping, and he was ready for a nap. Eric was too distracted by all of the other toys and gimmicks on the tricycles. He did not want to sit and ride on them. We went home. We will buy a tricycle another day.

When we got home, Eric took a nap, and then we played outside until dinner time. We played Eric’s new favorite game of croquet. Earlier in the week, we were playing outside when Eric said, “let’s play croquet!” I was caught a little off guard, since we had never talked about this game. Where did he learn about croquet? Mommy and I think that he must have seen it on one of his cartoons. He continued to ask to play croquet, so I finally went in the garage and dug out our croquet set. We hit the balls around the front yard for a while. I found a short handle from one of our paint rollers, and I replaced the handle on one of the mallets. Now, it is just the right size for Eric. And it is safer for Mommy and Daddy, since Eric does not always look before swinging the mallet. This shortens his reach to a safe distance.

We went shopping again on Saturday for a tricycle. This time, we went to Target, hoping to find a different selection of tricycles. No luck. Target has the same tricycle that we saw at Meijer, but for more money. We did find a reasonably priced helmet and bought it. Hmmm…what to do about a tricycle? Let’s try Toys-R-Us again. Eric is in a better mood today and not so close to nap time. First, we stop across the street from Target to drop off some old toys and clothes at the Goodwill store. As I am driving into the parking lot, I realize that Goodwill would be a good place to look for a tricycle. So, after we drop off the stuff in back, we parked out front and went into the store. We did not find any tricycles in the Goodwill store, but we did find a small bicycle with training wheels for $8! Eric liked it! He got on and rode back and forth in the store aisle while I helped him balance. I bought it, and we took it home. The horn on the handlebars was broken, so we stopped at Meijer on the way home to buy a new horn. The bike accessories are all the way in the back of the store. I found a bell and a horn. Eric decided that he liked the horn better, so I put the bell back, and we headed for the registers. Eric squeezed the horn all the way through the store. He had so much fun!

When we got home, we put Eric’s helmet on his head, and I adjusted the straps. I installed the new horn on the handlebars and adjusted the height of the bicycle seat. The height adjustment took several trials with Eric on and off the bicycle each time. When we finally had it adjusted just right, Eric was no longer interested in riding his new bike. So, we took off the helmet and played with his other toys outside for a while.

Later, while we were playing inside, Aunt Cindy and Uncle Rob arrived. Eric played with Aunt Cindy and Uncle Rob for a while, and then we went outside to play. Eric showed them his new bike and horn, but he was still not interested in riding it. Aunt Cindy drew on the sidewalk with chalks. Eric loves drawing with chalks on the sidewalk. Aunt Cindy and Uncle Rob both helped draw all over the sidewalk and driveway.

Aunt Carol, another Uncle Rob, Tyler, Grandma G, and Grandpa G all arrived in time for dinner. We are celebrating my birthday and Aunt Cindy’s birthday. Eric absolutely loves having so much family over to visit. He loves parties, and he loves his family! We had a lot of fun.

On Sunday, we went to downtown Indianapolis for the annual Rib Fest. We walked around, sampled some good food, and got free ice cream. Before we left, Aunt Cindy bought a tattoo for Eric. They looked over all the possible tattoos and decided on a baseball and bat with stars. Eric looked so cool, and he knew it!

We came home, Eric took a nap, we ate dinner, and then we went outside to play. Croquet, chalks, balls, etc. Eric decided that he wanted to try his bike. I put his helmet on, and he wanted to take it off. I convinced him that it was cool and Daddy has a helmet, too. He insisted on seeing my helmet, so I went back to the shed and dug out my bike helmet. When I came back around front, Eric was very excited to see my helmet. Now, he wanted to ride bikes with me. “Where is your bike, Daddy? Go get your bike, Daddy!” So, I went around to the shed again and got my bike out of the shed. I had to bring it out front and air up the tires. Soon, we were both riding our bikes up and down the driveway. Aunt Cindy helped Eric by pushing his bike and helping him work the pedals with his feet. Eric had a blast! He thought it was so cool to ride his bike “just like Daddy”. We continued to play until it started getting dark, and we had to come inside.

This morning (Monday) after breakfast, Aunt Cindy gave Eric a haircut. So cute!

Today is my birthday.  Mommy and Eric came to my office to take me out for lunch.  I was stuck in a conference call until 12:10.  When I finally made it out the door, I found Mommy and Eric walking around the corner.  They were headed toward the pond, so Eric could see the fountain up close.  the three of us walked over and watched the fountain for a few minutes.  Eric really liked it!

We went to Penn Station for a sandwich and french fries.  I rode in the back seat with Eric, and Mommy drove us to the restaurant.  Eric showed me a picture that he drew for me.  It was very nice.  He had scribbled all over an entire page.  He told me that it was a “beautiful princess”.  He has such an imagination.  Eric ate some french fries, but not many.  He was not very hungry.  We finished lunch and drove back to my office.

I had a really great birthday lunch!

When I got home from work, Mommy and Eric met me on the front porch.  Both said, “Happy Birthday, Daddy!”  Mommy baked some pizzas for dinner.  Eric and I both love pizza!  Mommy also bought some cupcakes for dessert.  There was a candle on top of mine.  The candle had the shape of a star on top, and Eric said, “It’s my cupcake!  It has my favorite: a star!”  Mommy and Eric sang Happy Birthday to me, I made a wish, and I blew out the candle.  I decided to split the cupcake, and we all shared it.  After dinner, we went for a walk around the block.  A cold front was moving in, and the temperature dropped quite a bit – no more hot and humid.  When we got back from our walk, Eric and I played on the front sidewalk for a while until it was getting dark.  Eric loves to play with his chalk on the sidewalk.  Mostly, he watches Mommy and Daddy draw.  Eric makes his own drawings occasionally.  He also likes to dig in the rocks with his shovel.  He has a pail and shovel that he plays with almost every day outside.  Eventually, we went inside and colored in one of his books with the crayons until bed time.  It was a wonderful evening!

Eric got a new slide!  Grandpa D was able to get a slide for Eric.  Grandpa built a ladder and platform to support the slide.  It is really a lot taller than his old slide.  Eric loves it!  Grandpa delivered it on the weekend of our annual cookout.  It required some assembly, so Grandpa and I worked until dark Friday night setting it up.  Of course we had help from Eric.  He was our test pilot.  We observed some of his difficulty climbing the ladder, so we made modifications to increase the angle and added handrails.  He now climbs it easily and with confidence.  But most importantly, he loves to slide down!  Thank you Grandpa!

Earlier this week, Mommy called me at work to tell me about something that Eric had done.  Eric was running around the house, following Mommy as she did some household chores, laundry and such.  Mommy was in our bedroom, when Eric went into his own room.  Mommy soon heard Eric ask for help.  “Help” he said very calmly, but Mommy could tell that he really needed help, not just playing for attention.  So Mommy went into his room and found him half way over the side of his crib.  He needed help, because after climbing up, he was not sure how to get down.  He was too high to jump back down to the floor.  If he jumped into the crib, he would not be able to get back out.  He was experiencing a dilemma.  He was not panicked.  He had himself securely on top of the crib rail.  He simply did not know how to get down.  Mommy calmly walked over and helped him down, surprising herself that she did not panick.  She set Eric back on the floor and explained to him that he cannot climb on the crib.  It turns out, he wanted his star pillow out of the crib.  Of course after all this, when Mommy retrieved the star pillow, he promptly tossed it back into the crib and moved on to other toys.

The next day, Mommy went into Eric’s room to wake him up.  She found him with one leg up trying to climb out of the crib.  From the inside, there are no footholds for climbing, so he was not making much progress…yet.  Eric is a very good climber and surely would have figured it out soon.

Tonight, Eric is sleeping in a big boy bed.  I converted his crib to a regular bed that he can climb into and out of by himself.  Eric was very interested in the process, since it involved his bed.  When I had it finished, he was so excited to have a big boy bed.  He climbed in and out several times.  He was practically begging to go to bed early.  He could hardly wait for bed time!  It was still too early, so we managed to distract him with other toys and activities until bed time.  This was a very significant milestone for him.  He was not carried to his bedroom at bed time.  He gave Mommy a kiss.  He gave Daddy a kiss.  Then we both walked down the hallway to his room, and he climbed into bed.  He climbed in, picked up his blanket, and laid down pulling the blanket over himself.  I straightened the blanket and tucked him in.  I kissed him on the forehead and said “good night!”  He seemed very happy to be in his new bed.

Sweet Dreams!

I haven’t written for a couple weeks.  Sorry for the hiatus…just been busy.

One day, Mommy called me into the bathroom to see something.  I did not know what to expect, since Mommy was also running to find the camera.  Follow this link to see the video.  Eric figured this out all by himself.  When Mommy took away the first cap (from a water bottle), he found this cap from the toothpaste instead.  Mommy was so impressed with his skills, she had to get it on video.

This weekend, we went to visit our cousin Jennifer.  It turns out most of the family was also there.  An impromptu last minute party occurred.  Everyone was there: Uncle Geof, Aunt Eileen, Chris, Jennifer, Jim, Mario, Anthony, Aunt Bev, Uncle Mike, Michelle, Michael, Uncle Joe, Aunt Traci, Josh, Jake, Aunt Deborah, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Cindy, Uncle Rob, Briana.  We hung out at the beach all afternoon and sat around a bon fire after dark.  Eric had so much fun!  Not only did he get to see all of his family…which he loves!  but he got to play at the beach all afternoon!

Today, we went to Illinois for another family reunion.  Eric played with some of his cousins and really enjoyed the playground.  He won several prizes while playing the kid’s games.  So much fun this weekend!

We went camping last weekend.  Eric loves camping!  The whole family was there: Grandma D, Grandpa D, Aunt Bev, Uncle Mike, Michelle, Michael, Uncle Joe, Aunt Traci, Josh, Jake, Aunt Deborah, Uncle Jeff, Aunt Cindy, Brianna.

We loaded up the car on Friday morning and hit the road around 1:00pm.  It is a 1h 45m drive.  Eric slept the entire drive.  Whew!  Mommy and I were worried that he would not get enough sleep this weekend.  We arrived just before 3:00pm.   We skipped our usual stop at Dairy Queen for lunch, since we did not want to interrupt Eric’s nap.  Instead, we stopped at the gas station just outside the campground and  stocked up on lunch meat and bread for sandwiches.  Grandma and Grandpa were at the camp site when we got there.  Eric was happy to see them.  Several more returned from boating on the lake after a short while as we began setting up our tent.  We had just finished with the tent when it started to rain.  The rain only lasted a short while and did not get anything terribly wet.  We huddled under the canopies until it stopped.

Eric ran around playing with everyone and having a good time.  Uncle Mike had bought a life jacket just for Eric, so he could go out on the lake in the boat.  He tried it on and ran around with it for a little while.

Grandma brought a toy car for Eric.  He loved it!  He played with it all weekend, driving it up and down the picnic table benches, up and down Grandma’s leg, up and down Aunt Deborah’s leg, on the ground, everywhere!

Aunt Bev brought a book for Eric.  He really liked it!  Aunt Bev and I read it several times for him.  Eric sat for Grandma and Aunt Cindy to read books, too.  We brought some of his favorite books with us.

We had a great weekend.  Eric had so much fun!  He loves being around family!