When I Don't Take Photos

I have a terrible photographic addiction. To the point of returning from a marvelous, perfect, dreamy family/friend holiday campout and feeling sad that I didn't take enough pictures. That I woke up from nap just at the golden hour and that it was time to cook dinner. That Chris waded all the way across the river and I could see beauitful naked Bowie skipping rocks with his Papa, but that I was too far away to get a shot. That my gorgeous little 7 week old nephew bravely took his first camping trip with grace and I didn't get a single, not ONE!, photo of him.

Photos are how I reflect on my life and the people I share it with. When I don't have these images as proof of my love and joy, I feel sad for awhile.

Baby Teeth

Bowie is getting his last baby tooth. His upper right 2-year molar. It poked through the gun a smidge while we were camping. He's having a hard time staying asleep at night the past few days, which is unusal. HOW did it finally get here that he USUALLY sleeps through the night? Amazing how fast the phases pass. Amazing that my babe who was once toothless and soft gummed quite nearly has a mouth full of teeth. Sharp, long teeth according to Bowie.

Happy Thanksgiving

We have just returned from Garner State Park. Chris and I have camped out 7 of the past 8 Thanksgivings. The last 3 with Bowie. Our familes almost always join us and now we are camping with friends as well. It is a dream come true. I may have written here before how much I love camping, how I grew up camping, how I feel it is a precious gift that I give to Bowie that he have these freeing and frequent trips out of our daily city life. And that we can share this with our parents, my sister and her family, and now the families we are raising our son with makes it all the more precious.

Homebodies

Bowie and I have been spending a lot of time at home recently. And taking spontaneous trips to the children's museum. library, skating ramp which means we've been loners. It's totally his wish right now. This seems to be part of a cycle for him. There simply times when he wants to be home and just family if we do go on outtings. Seems to be during times when he is working through social lessons. And he learns so much during these times, socially and academiically since we are one on one and creative with our activities at home, and because we read the smae books over and over again.

Skeleton Family

BOO! We had a great Halloween. Bowie went trick or treating for the first time. The first house gave him one little bag of m&ms and he sat down in their lawn and ate it, piece by piece there! He loved it. We had prepped him for trading his halloween candy with the halloween fairy (had even found a little book about it at Halp Price Books). When we got in the car to come home, he started crying out of the blue saying he didn't want the fairy to take his candy away. We said he'd only trade if he wanted to. He did end up putting two babe ruths (out of about a total of a dozen candies) out on the porch for the fairy without any coaxing.

I am really impressed that he wasn't afraid. Last weekend we went to a Dia de los Luertos festival and he wasn't frightened there either. He watched me put my makeup on from start to finish. But he didn't want any on, which I'm sure was just as well since we literally crashed a church's fall festival when Bowie got into their bouncy house. (I was trying to hide the beer I was drinking during our trick or treating, hee hee!)