Marty Rakes!

Gotta love a kid who pitches in. We spent a lovely fall day outside and Marty was eager to help control the leaf problem. He does something similar with a broom, but I have no idea where he learned that from.



We had a great weekend, which included a visit from our friends Pam and Eric and their two girls, Haley and Ashlynn. I spent last night with friends in the neighborhood for a Desperate Housewives party. No, it's not a sad-sounding mom's club. Just a get-together to consume wine, eat popcorn, and watch the show.

Happy Monday!

Doell Family Happenings

Marty has been really interested in his letters lately. When we look at books, he is pointing at the letters on the page rather than the bunnies, cars, etc. I really thought he was too young for letters, but he has (again) proven me wrong. He loves letters and is constantly trying to learn them all. If we have a pile of letters in front of us and I ask him which one is A, he can find it. Same for much of the alphabet. He can also say many letters, including A, B, G, H, M, O, W, and Y. That's not super amazing, it's just cool. My friend's 2-year old can recite the alphabet. What is amazing, and what got us lots of oohs and aahs from the moms at playgroup yesterday, is that Marty wrote a letter. HE WROTE A LETTER! We were drawing with crayons, during which I often draw letters and shapes for him to pick out of line ups. I guess he decided it was his turn to do so, because he wrote the letter M, then pointed and said, "MMMMMMMMMMMM." Sorry for gushing, but I am so impressed!

Marty also initiated a game of hide and seek with Rob last night while I was at knitting. Rob was looking for him, heard some noise on the stairs, thought it was the basement but couldn't find Marty. Went upstairs and there he was, hiding and waiting for Rob and being as silent as he could with a big smile on his face. How fun. My knitting nights are good for me and wonderful for Rob and Marty.

Finally, I leave you with this photo to demonstrate what can happen in the short time it takes me to iron a child-size pillowcase (no, I don't typically iron bed linens, but I make an exception for anything of Marty's - I have ironed his t-shirts but never my own - and this particular pillow case is new and has his initials embroidered). Enjoy!

Happy Halloween!

Here's Marty on his first trick-or-treating expedition. He did try to go into several neighbors' homes. He loved walking around in the dark and carried his own flash light around. We had a great time while Mike passed out candy (and scared children in his gorilla costume!) at our place. Here's Marty at the Fogg-Liedel house, taken before he fully dismantled their decorations: