Yesterday little man and I went to the zoo with my mom, brother, and sister.  We had a blast looking at all the animals.  Little man especially enjoyed looking at the gorillas and the giraffes.  There was even a baby giraffe! 

Little man didn't just love the animals though.  He also enjoyed:

a random vent

the water globe

dirt

and the "gucks" in the construction zone.

Who knew the zoo could provide so much entertainment beyond the animals?!

I found a fun way that little man and I could decorate for Halloween.  I traced his foot (not an easy feat!) and we made ghosts.  Little man decorated them.  :)

I think they are by far the cutest ghosts in the world.  My mom told me to keep them forever, and I just might.  They will be a sweet reminder of my little man when he's not so little anymore.

I made little man a hat last winter.

He was very happy to find, and be reunited with, that hat last week.

Little man has found there is a better way to get around the grocery store than in a shopping cart:

This weekend our family watched the LDS General Conference.  I received the spiritual strength that I needed by listening to my church leaders.  But 6 hours of meetings over two days is a lot for a baby.  I did what I could to prepare him.  I got out fun toys and snacks and let him have free reign over the house.

He did pretty well up until I tried to encourage him to model a new hat I had made.

Don't worry, I didn't make him wear it after that!

One thing I really love about my little guy is how good he is about helping me clean up (as long as it doesn't involve the vacuum...he hates that thing!)

Every night, as part of our bedtime routine, we pick up all his toys and put them away.  He knows just what to do.  I say, "it's time to put your toys away" and he literally goes around the room, picking up every toy and putting it in his toy box.  He knows we are done playing and he puts things away.  I know I'm very blessed to have a child that will do this, rather than pulling everything back out of the toy box.

He understands the concept so well that....one day while I was in the bathroom doing my hair, little man started pulling things out of the cupboard.  When I left the room, I called for him to follow me.  He didn't come immediately and I went back in to find him putting away everything he'd pulled out!  It was darling.

Little man is obsessed with two things:  Balls and Trucks. 

One day his daddy made him a car while I was cooking dinner.  It is top of the line with both seat belt and steering wheel.  My hubby is creative.  And my son?  He loves it.

Then at a thrift store the other day hubby and I found him a bag of toddler appropriate cars and bought them for our little guy.

It's so fun watching him play with them.

He's been calling both cars and trucks "gucks" and when I correct him, he argues with me.  Typical conversation?

Little man: It's a guck.

Me:  No, that one is actually a car. 

Little man:  No, it's a guck.

Me: No, it's a car.

Little man:  No, it's a guck.

Me:  Fine,  you're smarter than me.  It's a truck.

I can't believe I've been pulled into an argument with my 17 month old.  And now I'm having to work hard to correct the idea that there are trucks and no-cars.  Yes, he now points to things and says "it's a no car."  Ooops.

(And no, I don't know why little man felt the need to play with his car while wearing his daddy's shirt on his head...it's just one of his quirks I guess!)

Yesterday we had lovely weather, and since we've hit October I know it won't last forever so I decided little man and I had better take advantage of it.  There is a fun park near where hubby works and I thought it would be fun if we could play there and have hubby meet us after work.

Little man's favorite part?  Playing on this swinging bridge thing, walking back and forth and back and forth.

Then when his daddy showed up?  They played a male form of peek-a-boo.  It involved lots of roaring. :)

We make lots of messes at our house....

(It may be kind of hard to see but we've got toilet paper in some of the pictures and cereal all over the floor in the others.  My favorite is little man laying with the cereal!)

This weekend we drove up the mountain to take in all the beautiful fall colors.

It's hard to say whether or not little man enjoyed it because he spent most of the drive like this: