Happy Halloween '08!

Last year: Dinosaur and monkey.
This year: Dinosaur and froggy.


The dino was another great costume effort from Grandma Eileen (froggy was store-bought). Henry loved his gigantosaurus getup, and play-acted the part with gusto. Dexter also got a kick out of being in costume. He definitely knew he was wearing something funny and hammed it up a bit. I took both boys out for trick or treating around the 'hood. Dexter quickly caught on to the whole concept, and would grab a big handful of treats whenever a bowl was offered to him. I'm proud to report that Henry was very polite everywhere we stopped, leaving every doorstep with "Thank you! Happy Halloween!" Tom took Henry out for a second round of door-knocking after I came home. All told, he probably hit 5 blocks, along which about half of the houses were giving out treats. But those 5 little blocks yielded a truly astounding amount of candy. Check it out:



That bag is FULL Of candy and chips. Combine that haul with the fact that we didn't get many trick-or-treaters at our place (we didn't see too many kids beyond the ones who live on our block), and we have enough mini chocolate bars onhand to see us through the new year.

Strangest item in Henry's loot bag:

Nothing says "trick-or-treat fun times" to a kid like a piece of decorative dried corn, right?

It's possible that some of our neighbours are hippies. . .

I'm walking here!

Weekends to be thankful for

We've been enjoying a beautiful fall. After our horrific winter, non-existent spring and drab, rainy summer, we were due for some sunshine and (relative) warmth. Thanksgiving weekend (that's Canadian Thanksgiving, if you don't know) was exceptionally nice--temperatures around 20/70, sunny, and full of fun. Saturday featured a petting zoo at our local farmer's market, which Dexter loved. He's fascinated with animals right now, so he loved getting up close to the goats and chickens. On Sunday we went for a nature walk through a local conservation area with two families from our neighborhood. We spent several hours wandering about, admiring crimson leaves and chasing garter snakes through the underbrush. This outing led to an impromptu turkey dinner together, complete with a kiddie table that let the grownups have some peace. Just another great day in our friendly neighborhood. On Monday we cooked a modest Thanksgiving dinner just for ourselves. Dexter loved the sweet potatoes. Henry burst into tears when I told him I'd like him to try just one bite of mashed potatoes before I'd give him dessert. That's the way things go around here. . .

Henry studies a snake snagged by our neighbor, Tim

Yesterday was another fun day in the sun, albeit much cooler. Perfect day for a leaf party! Over the summer a small, underused park near our house was transformed into a Children's Garden by our neighborhood association. It's the kind of low-cost, community building enhancement that makes me lreally appreciate this area. The park needed more leaves for mulch, so a party was organized: bring a bag of leaves from your yard and hang out in the park. As you can see below, much fun was had by many, many small children. I'm still picking leaves out of my hoodie.

Today the clouds were back, and we're definitely feeling the crisp air of mid-autumn now. The water level in the canal is down below a foot, which can only mean one thing: winter is coming. We've got to relish these sunny days while we still can!

Giant steps

I'm officially calling today the day that Dexter moved from crawling to walking. He's taken his sweet time getting to this point, but finally he has his legs under him. Now he's walking across the room as often as he crawls. He's very proud of himself. Maybe now some of his pants will make it through the fall before the knees wear away.

(Sniff) My baby's all growed up. (Sniff sniff)

I guess I should get used to this

Tonight I tried to engage Henry in a conversation about kindergarten. It went like this:

"Henry, what song did you sing at circle time today?"

"I don't remember."

"Oh. Maybe you should pay more attention at school so you can tell me what you did."

"I'm not interested in talking to you about school."

Never mind, then. I did hear something about a giraffe on the wall, though.