Halloween, part 1 (and Tiny)

Oooh, guts. This was our largest homegrown pumpkin.

Halloween is over. Whew. we had the neighborhood costume parade and potluck snacks (including meeting a new neighbor who happens to be a 'famous' person. Okay, someone from our local NPR station), then some quick fondue, and then some hyperactive trick-or-treating. And someone insisted on saying the smell-my-feet version, which apparently annoyed the other mothers who were out with their kids (I was at home manning the candy-give-away), which also then led to a great debate on how to discpline the child and whether it was my fault for teaching him this saying. Anyways, hardly any trick-or-treaters came to our house this year. That was sad. Does it have something to do with the swat-police-action a few blocks away all yesterday afternoon and evening? Or with the growing popularity of trunk-and-treats (which should be OUTLAWED! All they do is promote an unhealthy fear of others)? Or the fact that several neighbors were not participating? (How hard is it to buy some candy and pass it out? Pitiful. I am still upset, but perhaps that is just because it is past midnight and I am still up working on my lecture and study guide and ate too much chocolate.

I'll stop now and move on.

This year's graveyard cake (made for a pumpkin carving party last weekend) - JT chose to have gummy brains on it!



And what you have all been waiting for! A Tiny Update: He is nearly 17 months old, over 22 pounds, pretty tall, and starting a couple weeks ago, a great conversationalist. He will go on and on, telling you something about google and bagadada, and attempt to converse with you. If you respond in gobbledy-gook, however, he just stares at you like you are crazy. Ah, language acquisition is so fun!

In the mornings he likes to go into JT's room and tell him "Aufstehen" (get up).
Tiny also has quite a few signs - elephant, bird, help and more he has done for a while, "please" is relatively new (he raises his arm ands says "ba" - he made that up himself), all done, eat, water, airplane, owie, walk (moves his pointer finger on the palm of the other hand), and I don't know. And he says a-car, a-ball, up-a, gotcha, 'nanja' (thank-you), Erdbeer (for berries), airplane, kitty, something approximately Diego (the cat's name), choo-choo, no-no-no-no-no, puff, cheese (for the food and for the camera) and once in a while he will say papa and gogol, instead of calling us all mama. (He also uses the word ama, and I think he means Angie, his care provider.)

He goes to Angie's 5 mornings a week, and he really seems to enjoy it. He walks right in and starts playing, hardly pausing to say bye, and he always gives everyone there a high five before he leaves. He is the only child there consistently, so sometimes Angie and her husband (who has a varying work schedule) take him on errands, etc. The other day he went to Coco's, where he apparently loved the crepes. They said that someone asked if he was adopted.

His favorite book is "Big Road Machines" - it was also JT's favorite at this age. He likes to read it again and again. At the Halloween parade, his favorite entry was a flat bed trailer with a large catepillar excavator on it.

 JT and I liked the marching bands the best!




Hopefully I can get some more pictures posted soon. I want to write my exam for next week before Thursday, however, and still need to go over my lecture for my Tuesday afternoon class and read a book for book club at our house Wednesday evening. Phew. Maybe I need more candy.