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Elliot said, “What’s three plus three?”
Trav replied, “Two threes glued together is an 8.”

Trav showed us his favorite works at school today. This one is a bell.

Pink tower.

Bean and crystal sensory bin. He has fun at his school!

After school we finished our snow globes. I expect to see glitter on the floor before bedtime!

The kids had a four day weekend so we prepped for the holidays. We made salt dough Christmas shapes and let them dry overnight. (Elliot was so excited about the craft that he woke me up at 6am asking if we could make another craft!) Today the kids painted their ornaments with thoughtful consideration of giving them as gifts.

They started out with selected colors on their palettes.

And that quickly devolved into smears of paint.

And that’s what they used for the ornaments. Trav announced that his color was rainbow. Elliot was happy that his was black.

So if you find these treasures in your stocking you might think they are lumps of coal. But they are really the result of two days’ work and a lot of paint stirring.

Fletch is Walter White, Elliot is not smiling because he says his pumpkin is smiling for him. Trav shows off his ninja moves! After Elliot took off his costume he said “Now I’m a man again.”

Other Elliot quotes:
While we were at Fletch’s office Halloween party, Elliot pointed to an object and shouted “a dodecahedron!!”
Later when we were trick or treating in our neighborhood, Elliot said “I just made that skeleton pick his nose.” Ha!

Trav didn’t have any funny quotes but he did balance a kit kat on the broad side of his sword! That’s Talent!

I found this gem in Elliot’s backpack.

We’ve had a deer family hanging out in our neighborhood this week. The dad didn’t stop eating while I took a pic.

Here are three pumpkinheads.

We grew pumpkins in our garden this year, but only one turned orange. This garden gnome helped pick them and has since stabbed them silly with pumpkin carving tools.

I love finding these little forts all over the house. Some kind of engineering is happening here.

Two little monkeys in a tree!

Know it all: Trav told us yesterday, “In fact, I know everything.” Just in case you had a question.

Swing:
This is our latest attempt to keep the boys entertained and active when we can’t go outside to play. The photos are all motion shots so they are fuzzy.

It’s hard to take a pregnancy selfie, but some folks have requested it so here I am at 27 weeks. Next week starts the third trimester. I’ve gained about 15 lbs now which is the most I ever gained before. I feel like a whale but it’s still not very evident to others. The baby kicks and moves all the time. Elliot and Trav talk about his arrival with excitement these days. Trav says he’s not going to be the middle brother, he’s going to be the *medium* brother.

One month later we finally received the results of the sleep study for Elliot. He does not have sleep apnea, but the study supports restless leg syndrome/periodic limb movement disorder and overactive brain. I wish I had an overactive brain when I am awake! They recommend he take a Slow Fe pill (we will soon see if he can swallow it) since he’s not so much on the iron-rich foods these days. Maybe I’ll give him a choice between a hamburger and swallowing the pill whole. Which will he choose? The iron helps with restless legs.

As for the overactive brain (or busy brain) while he’s asleep, it is yet another sign of something children have who also have ADHD. Elliot has never been officially diagnosed as having ADHD but all reports so far have indicated that. (We are not looking to medicate him for ADHD until it interferes with school and we have exhausted every other avenue.) The overactive brain is also called “excessive beta sleep” because it’s not the restful deep sleep you are supposed to get at night. To counter the brain activity while sleeping, they recommend Elliot continue his sensory therapy and to try and let him sleep longer. Unfortunately, the boys share a bedroom and Trav has a habit of waking Elliot up when he wakes up at 6am.

Now you know everything that we know.

Tooth fairy is coming to our house again tonight! Elliot just pulled out #4!