Halloween greetings from Marco Phelps.

He ate 25 pancakes for breakfast. He's in training.

Happy Halloween!

Another Saturday night and I ain't got nobody.

Well, looks like we counted our pink eye chickens before they hatched. We thought Marco avoided catching pink eye at daycare, but looks like it was of the late onset variety. Friday afternoon found us calling the advice nurse. She immediately called him in a prescription but branded him with a scarlett P. Contagious for the next 24 hours, we were quarantined at home unable to attend our Halloween parties. Marco ate Daddy's pizza - with homemade dough and sauce of course. A first!

We dressed up like sharks even though we didn't go to the party. Bite! House arrest makes you a little punchy.

Marco! Behind you!! A real shark!!

Slacker news.

In a shocking turn of events, Grandma Linda and Papa John were able to post pics of our adventures before I could charge my camera and take some shots of our WEEK of entertaining.

Sunday, check it out. Monday, we welcomed the D'Angelos for fettucine carbonara since their bathroom is being redone. (No pics.) Tuesday, Grochol came over to convince us to kill each other/life insurance. Jeff made carnitas. (No pics.) Wednesday, Jackson came over and offered this gift. And this I took a pic of.

Well... I wasn't ENTIRELY sure what it was, so I guessed "pen holder" and 6-year old Jackson not so enthusiastically exclaimed, "Sure." So, here it is on my desk. I love my new pen holder!Kinda resembles a heart or something here. Note: New pen holder, not for the squeamish.

Bite!

Marco’s two-day fever ended by Thursday night, just in time to go to East Bay Happy Hour ON LOCATION in SF. My camera has been dead for a week, but Marco made an appearance on the Farrell blog, so check it out. Marco hung in with his slightly older friends enjoying their big kid dinners of mac and cheese. He hung in with his much older friends by staying up way too late. 9:30? Oops! Saturday found us a little worse for wear and an extra nap for cranky Marco.

The raging fever brought with it two new friends. More teeth! Two more on top rounds out Marco’s mouth at a whopping six chompers. Sorry Siena!

In the absence of photos, we also got a photo shout out on cousin Tommy's blog, so check it. Maybe I don't even need a camera?

Parent show and tell:
Trip tip #1: We hit the carousel up at Tilden Park for a birthday party. A must do. Bring a picnic, or they have a full snack bar (think grilled cheese, pink popcorn and espresso).

Trip tip #2: Papa John and Grandma Linda made a last minute appearance so we headed up to Viansa winery to indulge Jeff and Linda’s obsession… the pizza oven. There was live music, pizza and kids running around kicking soccer balls. And did I mention wine tasting?

My new talent.

I called this post "My new talent." because I thought it would be inappropriate to call it "Oh crap."

Marco was crawling around chasing his golf ball. When we looked, he was up on the landing of our stairs. Uh... that's three steps on his own. I took a pic and he broke out crying.

He didn't tell me why he was crying but here are my guesses, 1) I startled him when I panicked seeing him atop of Mount Everest/three stairs, 2) The 'down' view was much scarier than the 'up' view, or 3) Something to do with the raging fever he's been nursing for two days.

Here's the proof:

Let Heather eat cake.

Heather brought this cake over post-ultrasound. Get it? Get it?

Live Action Short

By request for Grandma Linda and Papa John... a video of Marco eating puffs or cheerios or kix or something like that. Uh... Marco, you got a little something on your face. Yeah, right there... and there. Kid, you're a mess. Hit the showers.

In other eating news... you wouldn't think that a baby would be able to crawl into the bathroom, stand up, reach the soap and eat it. But you would be wrong, wrong, wrong. To Marco's discerning palate, soap must taste the same as steamed carrots and strawberry frozen yogurt because he made the same face.

And because I'm a good mother (ignore windburnt face pics) I ate some soap too just to make sure it wasn't burning his mouth or anything. As you probably expected, it was gross. But we both survived. So far.

Go Red!

Niko, Brayden and Marco are in serious training for California Cup 2009. Team Red really need Nikos and Marco for the extra manpower. I have a cuter one of Niko, but it came at a price... Taki's head was cut off. Oops! It's hard to take the shot and make goober faces.

Cookie monster face, muscle shirt. Happy for the cookie, happy for Dad's win, unhappy for the team's loss. We'll get'em next year kid.

Check out Heather's blog for more shots including one of Nikos and Marco holding hands in the car.

Eating and eating and no don't touch that!

It's all happening at the Cecchin house. Marco's started on number three foods (aka with chunks) with causes a much greater mess. Jeff only dislikes one thing more than too many trees and that's babies with messy faces, so we're in trouble.

We're finding all the spots that need babyproofing. And we're finding that dirt is delicious.

We also tried a little bit of pasta (che brava!) and very steamed carrots. Marco's pink cheeks and chin are attributable to his bad mother. Note: Bigger hat and more sunscreen.

Here's a great shot of the two lower teeth. The two uppers remain photographically elusive.

Ball... Pallina...

Big weekend folks. Bring Marco to work day... playdates... visiting with Granny and Grammy... Bocce with cousin Thomas Parker... really, it wiped us out (note proof of napping photos).

Oh, and twice Marco and I were caught in stopped traffic for over an hour. That's right, you're hearin' it. Caldocott Tunnel? CLOSED. 580 in both directions? CLOSED. Here goes my official statement to keeping Marco happy: thank you Cheerios.

Oh! And Marco got another tooth! Count 'em... 4.At Granny's koi pond. At Granny's dining room...

Witness the look of betrayal when I gave him strawberry frozen yogurt. In Granny's arms...

Bocce with cousin Thomas Parker. Standing among the vines...