Happy Halloween!

Shawn's Eggs

Abby's Muffins

We started our Halloween morning with a little fun with our breakfast.

Since we don't have any scheduled activities today, we ran to Meijer to pick  up a few last minute things for our costumes.  Back at home, we played with play-dough and did a mini-art project  (thanks to Jennifer for forwarding the idea!).  I traced the kids’ feet and hands onto white paper, cut them out, and then decorated the upside down shapes as ghosts.  So easy!  Abby loved being traced, so we made a few sheets of ghosts for her.  (Bill’s birthday is on Friday, so we’ll make a birthday card for him using her ghosts.)  Shawn liked having his hands traced, but I think his feet were too ticklish to keep from wiggling while I was mid-trace.  I got a couple, but I’ll have to be creative when cutting them out to get the wiggled lines to resemble his feet!


I finished my costume last night.  With black pants, a gray sweatshirt, a bunch of scrap fabrics, and a glue gun, I’ve ‘built’ a building ablaze.  (I hate to admit that I burned myself more than once in the process!  …I guess that’s appropriate…)  I altered a red night shirt (also with a glue gun), added stripes with electrical tape,  and Raj added Chief Baron for our Fire Chief’s costume.  Shawn’s dog was store bought (from our Mothers & More Resale) and I’ve been working on his fire truck for the past few days.  It started as an apple box from Costco, but with the magic of paint, the glue gun, and some random materials, a fire truck has been manufactured.  I put some finishing touches on fire truck during naptime (the hose, drivers, lights, and siren).  DONE!

 

When Bill picked up Abby, I thought I had a little time to wake up Shawn, get him changed into his costume and truck, put my costume on, and then get Baron ready to go, but I didn’t have nearly as much time as I had hoped.  It seemed like only a few minutes later, Abby (Lady Bug), Bill, Viola (Olivia the Pig), and Heidi were at our front door ready to go.  I had my outfit on, but hadn’t done the flaming make-up or false lashes that I had planned.  I quickly tossed Shawn into his suit and then belted him into his truck and we left Chief Baron behind.  I almost forgot to grab Shawn’s Trick-or-Treat bucket as we rushed out the door!


Shawn loved being able to put on his fire truck, though I wasn’t sure he’d ‘wear’ it for long.  It didn’t make walking very easy, bumping into his legs with each step.  In fact, as we were rushing out the door to join the gang for Trick-or-Treating, Shawn took a massive tumble over the step at our front door.  I think the fire truck got caught up on either the step or the door frame, which threw off Shawn’s center of gravity, tipping him forward, over (and off) the front stoop, into the void where there should be bushes (luckily, there aren’t any right now!) where he landed on top of the fire truck completely shocked, disoriented, and scared by the mid-flight somersault he had just made.  Though the fire truck caused the accident, I think wearing the cardboard box actually prevented Shawn from getting hurt at all!  Thank goodness!  But, what a way to start the adventure of Trick-or-Treating !  It can only get better from here…

And, it did.  I was able to adjust the length of the arm straps to lift the box out of the way of his legs a little, but then Shawn said they were too tight.  So, we just walked slowly and I helped him up and down the front steps at the houses we visited.  Surprisingly, Shawn wore the fire truck the whole time we were out with Abby and Viola.  He even insisted on holding onto the fire hose, rather than tucking it into his arm straps, and preferred that I carry his treats bag.  (So, just to get this straight, you want to carry a pretend hose, while I carry candy?  OOOOOOKAAAY!)  We stopped at a handful of houses of people that Bill knew, but then Abby and Viola were ready to go home.  Shawn and I decided to go back out and visit some more houses.


As we past a group of other trick-or-treaters, one little boy stopped us and, with total exuberance, asked, "Did you make that?!" pointing to Shawn's costume.  Needless to say, he was in an entirely store-bought, plastic, one-of-a-million-just-like-it costume.  In fact, I hate to admit it, but I don't even remember what it was!  Maybe seeing us will inspire him (or his parents) to be a little more creative next year... maybe...  I can hope...


We tried finding our dog park friend, Ms. Katie, who would have really appreciated Shawn’s Dalmatian costume, but I only had a vague idea of which building she lived in within the neighboring townhome association.  It was really difficult to tell which residents were welcoming Trick-or-Treaters in her neighborhood, since some buildings had communal front doors.  Though we didn’t find Ms. Katie, we did stop at a plenty of other houses before heading home (well past dark).


I wasn't overly surprised, but still a little disappointed, that I only saw one other parent dressed up (a very elaborate witch) with the kids.  It's a fun excuse to do something silly with your child and there are only so many years that they'll let you get away with it before they're too old to tolerate having that kind of fun with Mom and/or Dad!  I say take advantage of the time while we have it!


Shawn did great and I had fun going out with him in costume, too.  He managed to find a just-loud-enough voice to say some combination of “Trick or Treat!” “Happy Halloween!” and “Thank You!” at each house.  He wore his fire truck a lot longer than I had ever anticipated and even when he was tired of wearing it, he still held on to the hose! The fire truck’s lights and siren were fading just about the same time that Shawn and I were.   It was time to go home.


Raj had been home for a short time handing out candy and his customary (and now requested!) toothbrushes.  He dressed as a crazed dentist… hmmm…


After Shawn changed out of his Dalmatian suit and into little boy pajamas, he continued to play with the fire truck and hose.  He was frustrated that the lights and siren wouldn’t work anymore, but at least the hose still stretched!

He and Raj greeted the last of the trick-or-treaters while I made dinner.  Our menu for the evening consisted of crocodiles’ eyes, lizards’ skins, owls’ tongues, rats’ hearts, frogs’ toes, and vampires’ teeth stirred in a cauldron of orange monster blood and topped with spiders and webs.  And, we nibbled on witches’ hats and severed fingers.

 

 In other words, we had carrot, cashew, and ginger soup (orange monster blood), to which I added meat stuffed tortellini (crocodiles’ eyes), diced onions (lizards’ skin), corn (owls’ tongues), diced red peppers (rats’ hearts), diced green peppers (frogs’ toes), and pine nuts (vampires’ teeth). Then, I garnished it with swirls of plain yogurt (webs) and cheese cut-outs (spiders). On the side, we had baby corn (severed witches’ fingers) and garlic dusted crescent rolls (witches’ hats). (Raj helped me come up with a couple of the Halloween-y names for the ingredients.) We had fun eating the ghoulish concoction and Shawn has now renamed baby corn as "witches’ fingers"!


We put the fire truck in the basement, since it’s still being played with, but I don’t want it to be run into the ground!  Raj thinks we might be able to use it for something next year, but I have a feeling Shawn will be ready for something different a year from now.  (It was a relief to see it last longer than a walk around the block.  Still, I kind of wish we could’ve used it at the Gymboree Pumpkin Patch Party, the Mothers & More Fall Family Party, or the wear-your-costume-but-no-accessories-please Language Stars class next week.  Oh, well.  It served its purpose.  I’ll totally admit I had fun making it, and I’m just glad it was worth all the effort and time!)


However, now that the festivities are over, I’m ready for another weekend!

Party 'Till We Drop!

Shawn completely lacked confidence during his swimming lesson today. He clung to me, the wall, or any floating device he could reach – practically white-knuckled. I’m not sure why. Ms. Becca and I agreed, since there’s only one class left in this session, Shawn needs another round of practice at this level, then we could revisit moving him up. Even though there are kids at the Pike level who can’t do some of the things that he can do already, because he’s so young, the director has higher expectations of him in order to move up. Oh, well. I’m disappointed, but I understand, especially after his ‘off’ day today. Another session of Pike with Parent certainly won’t hurt!
After class, we dropped Baron off for grooming. I made beer bread and spinach and artichoke dip (both from Tastefully Simple boxes) for a Mothers & More party this evening. While Shawn finished lunch with Raj, I picked up Baron from grooming. (They got out lots of his shedding fur out of his coat – phew! The fur balls he’s been leaving on the floor were big enough to sprout their own legs!)

I quickly showered and got ready for the Gymboree Pumpkin Patch Party, the first festivity of the evening. Shawn wore the Dalmatian costume that he picked out from the Mothers & More resale. (He’s been reminding us that he didn’t want the lion costume that I showed him that day because he liked the ‘Dalmatian Dog’ better – how does he remember this stuff?!)

At the Pumpkin Patch Party, we saw our friends Andrew (the cow), Alex (the pirate), and a few other faces that we recognized from various classes, but most of the attendees were pretty young in comparison to Shawn. (Probably because the party took place in the late afternoon, so little ones with early bed-times could come to this one.) There were a lot of really cute costumes, including three Tiggers, a Pooh Bear, a dragon, a catepillar, a fire fighter, a lion... the list goes on and on!  Not surprisingly, a few parents (and even a teacher) asked where Abby was and how odd it was to see us without her. We sang songs modified for the Halloween season. Even though the equipment was still set up in the same configuration as the ‘Animals in the Zoo’ theme from last week, they re-named each station to be associated with the holiday and season. We visited an arts and crafts table where Shawn decorated a foam pumpkin and Raj decorated a real one. A little later, we came back to the same room for Halloween cookies and water. On the way out, we said our thank-yous and good-byes to the teachers, who then gave us the rest of the party balloons to take to our next shin-dig!

Then, we headed out to Naperville to the DuPage Children’s Museum for a Mothers & More Fall Family party. We got there an hour early, so we visited a park around the corner to kill the time. It was a little odd having our little Dalmatian running around the playground, but it was a nice day to be outside and his costume kept him warm.

Once the party started, we had the whole place to ourselves. Shawn remembered being at the museum with Oma and with his friend Anna before. (Again, his memory amazes me!) It was fun to show Raj around to the different exhibits, since he’d never been there before. Shawn had no trouble jumping right in to all of the hands-on play-learning. Since it was a private event and we didn’t have to battle the crowds of kids who are normally there, we got to play in the bubbles area and work in the carpentry/handyman room, which we’ve never had a chance to do before. (Raj commented how fun it would be to host Shawn's next birthday there, but was disappointed when I told him that it wouldn't be a totally private event like this was.  We may still look into what a party would entail and if it's even possible, private or not.)  The kids lined up for a costume parade, which zig-zagged around the main floor. (Yet again, we never made it to the other floors, but I heard that there’s not much there and what is there is more directed towards older kids.)

It was a lot of fun. Even without a nap, Shawn did amazingly well. While we were refueling in the snack room, Shawn finally hit the wall. Raj and I joked about him falling asleep before we would get out of the parking lot, but Shawn even beat us to that! He fell asleep before we got out of the museum (~8:00 pm)!

Like last weekend, I wasn’t able to transfer Shawn to bed as smoothly as I had hoped, but since he woke up, I was able to change him from a Dalmatian back into a boy (wearing pajamas). He had a hard time settling down for the night and woke up a few times upset and screaming, but each time, he was later able to tell me, “I’m okay now, Momma.” When he was finally able to fall asleep for the night, it was still just about 9:30 pm.

I’m starting to wonder if we should cut out naps in order to get the early bedtime… 8:00 pm is much more reasonable than 11:00 pm!

Car Seats, Costco, and Party Hostess - Phew! What a Day!

There was no Spanish class this morning.  Language Stars is on Spring Break.  Instead, we took a fieldtrip to Costco.

As we were getting in the car, both kids climbed right in to their car seats!  Surprise!  Shawn can do it now, too!  Just like Abby’s first time by herself, he got in as if he had been doing it easily for months.  The give away that it was a new conquest was his immense squeal of delight, gleaming smile from ear to ear, and contagious giggle that followed.  Now, for their next goal:  buckling themselves in!

At Costco, we found a new dog bed for Baron.  However, just like everything else sold there, it was economy sized!  Since we had already been filling the cart, there was no room inside for the gigantic cushion, so I balanced it on top of the other groceries.  It actually worked very well because when it was positioned just right, Shawn and Abby could lean way back and rest their heads on the super plush, fuzzy bed.  They had the softest shopping cart seats of any other kids in the warehouse! 

A few aisles later, I was looking for a barrel of mini pretzel squares.  (I think they’re called Snaps, but I’m not sure.)  When I couldn’t find them, Shawn caught on to my disappointment and echoed, “Bubber, bubber, bubber!” (Bummer, bummer, bummer!)  Abby giggled each time she heard us protest.  (I think we even got a couple of smiles from other shoppers walking by!)  We did find pretzel rods instead, so it wasn’t a total failure.  Shawn actually would rather have the big sticks or full sized pretzels anyway, but I still like the size of the mini shapes.  I had to distract him from seeing the new barrel in the cart, because he wanted to dive right in!

Naptime brought on more freckle kisses from Shawn.  I just wanted to give him a huge hug and not let go. 

This evening I hosted my first (and probably only) Tastefully Simple party.  Thanks to everyone who came.  Abby, Anna, Veer, and Shawn played with Raj and Veer’s Dad (Shrenik) in the basement, while the ladies sampled the goods in the living room and dining room.  I will admit that, while hosting these parties isn’t my ‘thing’, I did have fun having everyone over – to socialize if nothing else. 

When the house finally emptied and quieted down and I finished cleaning up the dishes and leftovers.  It was well past bedtime (for all of us).  Shawn had a tough time going to sleep and I had a tough time staying asleep!

Shawn Von Leonberger

Shawn peed in toilet this morning!! This is getting exciting! I still think it’s more about timing than Shawn’s actual effort - but who cares?! This is great!

It’s a gloomy, rainy day. Good thing there’s a Pet Expo going on at Arlington Race Track today! Luckily, it’s indoors and not actually out on the race track. There were mostly dogs, a couple of cats, and one booth with reptiles. We watched a team of Frisbee catching dogs do some pretty incredible jumps and tricks. Lots of vendors came to sell their pet supplies, food, etc. There were many rescue organizations showing off their breeds and Shawn and I pet dozens of them. (If we had gotten there earlier, we probably would have pet all them at least once!) Shawn showed absolutely no interest in any of the dogs smaller than him - it was as if he looked right past them, looking for something more interesting. BUT, whenever we walked by a big breed dog, there was a magnetic pull that he/I/we couldn't resist! (He is his mother's son!) One of those magnetic breeds was a breed I'd never heard of before: the Leonberger. We met one that was just 8 months old who could easily have used Shawn as a chin rest. When Shawn walked up to him, he laid down as if to say, "I'll lay here for as long as you are willing to pet me!" So, Shawn nestled between his front and back legs and played in his fur. A few minutes later, another Leonberger came over to join the party and laid down on the other side of Shawn, who was now the middle of a great big Leo-sandwich! I think Shawn had the most comfortable (and the warmest) seat in the house! He was thrilled and, with one hand gently on each bear-like animal, grinned from ear to ear. I really wish I had taken a picture, but I was too busy enjoying the scene to even think about it until it was too late.

Could there be a Leo (or some other large breed dog) in our future? Shawn and I may have some work to do before Raj is comfortable with that idea!