We went to see Jack and Kate's school's Halloween Parade today. We had to park half a mile away, so we walked up the sidewalk and saw his class already lining up. There was Jack, in his Black Costume Spider-Man costume, holding hands with a little girl dressed as Supergirl (I guess; it was no Supergirl costume I've ever seen, although it did have the S logo on the front), wearing some sort of gold Mardi Gras type of beaded necklace. Lots of kids had them, I'm not really sure what was going on there.
He pointed at us, and we waved and took pictures. Kate's class was further back in the parade. She was wearing her monkey suit -- literally a monkey suit -- and holding hands with Miss Dionne. Very cute.
We walked down the street, trick or treating at stores, me asking Jack every two minutes if he could see, him saying yes, then walking uncertainly along and pulling at his mask, me stopping him and adjusting it, then continuing on.
On the way back to the school he asked me if he could take off the mask. I said sure. Then he wanted to take off the costume. I said, let's wait until we get back to school.
Tomorrow comes actual Halloween, and I'm thinking maybe he should have gone as a Mummy. Granted, I would have looked extra silly in my Spider-Man costume if he wasn't the black costume Spider-Man, but....
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Random stuff
- We carved our pumpkins on Sunday. I only cut my thumb a little. When they were happily glowing -- well, happily and scarily, we did one of each, so they look kind of like the theatre happy/sad faces image sitting next to each other -- the kids just admired them for a while. Kate put her face up close to one of them. "Hi, punkin! Hi.......punkin!"
- Picture day today. Naturally both kids woke up too early and Kate had a runny nose. Getting them dressed was horrendous, and I was certain somebody would trip in the driveway and end up with a bloody nose. Nope. I'm sure they'll be great.
- Jack and Emily decorated Halloween cookies on Sunday. (I did a couple, but I also had to watch football.) Jack made Brett Favre and Mark Sanchez cookies. OK, they weren't all Halloween cookies. He also made bats, a really cool ghost, and a haunted house. I made a Frankenstein monster.
- I sang various songs to Kate at bedtime tonight. Rock a bye baby, Mr. Sun, Eensy Weensy Spider. She seemed rapt with attention and happy, which I don't always get. She just had a little sweet smile on her face throughout.
- Picture day today. Naturally both kids woke up too early and Kate had a runny nose. Getting them dressed was horrendous, and I was certain somebody would trip in the driveway and end up with a bloody nose. Nope. I'm sure they'll be great.
- Jack and Emily decorated Halloween cookies on Sunday. (I did a couple, but I also had to watch football.) Jack made Brett Favre and Mark Sanchez cookies. OK, they weren't all Halloween cookies. He also made bats, a really cool ghost, and a haunted house. I made a Frankenstein monster.
- I sang various songs to Kate at bedtime tonight. Rock a bye baby, Mr. Sun, Eensy Weensy Spider. She seemed rapt with attention and happy, which I don't always get. She just had a little sweet smile on her face throughout.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
I love Halloween, etc.
I love Halloween, for so many reasons. I love all the decorations, I love the themes, I love the costumes, I love the colors. And fortunately, my kids do too.
-Every day after school we go to look at the neighbors' decorations (on both sides). They touch and/or hug the big inflatable pumpkin snowman, wave at the big scary-looking bat (I think Kate is a little afraid of it, but she gamely approaches it anyway), say "Hi, ghost!" to the ghost.
-Jack is drawing ghosts, skeleton, bats, haunted houses. I'm attaching a picture; he drew all the pieces himself, cut them out, pasted them on his wall. I took them off today to scan them.
-I got him the Ed Emberly book of Halloween. We had lots of Ed Emberly books when I was a kid. We drew things from it last night. And this morning. And probably for the next week or more.
-I got Frankenberry and Booberry cereal at the store today. I never had it as a kid (and didn't care, I don't think). But the box looks so awesome I had to get it. (It was $1.88 -- are these 1970s prices? Or is it because it's so bad for you they're apologizing by at least not making it expensive?)
-We got Mr. Potato Head Pirate pieces (Emily found them somewhere), and decorated a pumpkin with them. The pumpkin has an eyepatch and the actual pumpkin has kind of a scar on it -- perfectly fitting. It's currently rotting in our living room, 'cause we poked holes in it and stuff, so we'll put it out on the steps soon.
-This weekend we carve the pumpkins, and I'll re-create the same goofy looking pumpkin I've done for the last, I dunno, 10 years or so.
-Jack and I have been to the party stores for Halloween decorations and kitschy things. Three or four times. "AGAIN, Dad?" "C'MON, JACK!"
- I got Kate an adaptation of the Backyardigans Halloween special. We gave it to her last night. She's been home and awake about 4 hours since then....I think we've read it 27 times. Kate loves the Backyardigans these days. She carries around all five stuffed toys, which used to be Jack's but he's moved on. And I say "carries around," to mean that they accompany her into the crib...out of the crib...into the living room....into the kitchen....she walks along slowly, with all of them clutched in her arms. "Pabool....Tawon....Sasha....Awtin...Unkwa" (Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, Austin, Uniqua).
____________________________________________________________
Other stuff, because I haven't blogged in a while.
-Kate's a little afraid of the stone gargoyle in our garage. She ran away from it the other day. Jack and I explained it wasn't real ...just a toy. "OH!" she said. "Toy!" And laughed. But she still keeps her distance.
-When I pick up Jack in the school playground, Kate immediately runs to this one bouncy thing and bounces up and down happily as I'm getting the details on Jack's day. "Did he nap? Did he eat? Was he too annoying with that Halloween book that has an evil laugh when you turn to the last page?" (Which he loves.)
-Kate got her first real haircut the other day. She looks beautiful.
Saturday, October 10, 2009
Halloween Pumpkins
Nothing gets kids out of the house on a Friday morning like a trip to get Halloween pumpkins. Here's how it went....
9:45. Kids have had their second breakfast, I've gotten them both dressed, and Jack went to the bathroom. I get on Kate's shoes and jacket and get coffee for me and water for them while Jack gets his shoes on. It's important to get an early start so Kate doesn't fall asleep on the way there, forcing me to wake her up and thereby ruining her nap and everyone's day.
10:00. We're on the road and as we pass the Y I decide I really should stop and look for Jack's swimsuit, which he somehow managed to lose after swimming the previous day. How does a child lose a bathing suit? Anyway, there was nowhere to park, except deep in the parking garage, so I drove in and drove out. We have to get our pumpkins!!!!
10:15. We pull into the pumpkin patch parking lot. Kate is still awake, fortunately. I get her out and Jack eagerly piles out too. He sees the gift shop first. No! Pumpkin patch!
10:17. I've discovered wagons. It's a bit of a walk to the pumpkin patch, so I pile them in. Jack wants to sit facing Kate, which clearly doesn't work in a wagon with no walls on it. I sit him in it and plop her down with him. That works (see pic).
10:20. I haul them down to the pumpkin patch, resisting the urge to go too fast. Most of the time. They enjoy fast though, there is much laughing and giggling as wind whips in hair. On the way, we see all kinds of Halloween decorations...pumpkins stacked on each other to look like people, clothing filled with leaves to be people and dogs, fake eyes on trees, ghosts, witches, all that kind of stuff.
10:25. We're there! There's a big old tractor which immediately they want to climb on. They do. Jack climbs up, which is fine, as does Kate, which is mildly worrisome, but she's kind of a thrill-seeker. They sit in the seat and I take pictures. Jack looks like he wants the thing to move. Kate just enjoys herself.
10:30. I get them down to go find a pumpkin. After a few minutes I find the perfect one. Jack agrees. Kate is walking around trying to pick one up. They're all bigger than she is, essentially -- certainly heavier -- so it doesn't happen. Then she goes and gets her own wagon, seriously, and starts pulling it around.
10:40. I've found two pumpkins and am ready to go. I let them pick two small ones for themselves. Jack grabs his immediately, then backs away with it because there's a huge Daddy Longlegs spider. I reassure Jack calmly, all the while backing away myself because I've always been scared to death of those things myself. They're creepy. Kate picks out a little reddish pumpkin, a fine and unique choice.
10:41. It looks like rain.
10:42. We head back, me pulling the pumpkins and Jack pulling Kate. We say hi to the leaf people and such.
10:50. Back at the store to pay for our pumpkins. The two big ones are 30 and 20 pounds, which works out to about 34 dollars. No, really! Then I spy this awesome Halloween ghost made out of metal on a spring, that bounces up and down. Jack spots it too. "Can we get it?" he asks, as I'm looking at it, wondering if we can get it. I say, well, we'll have to put one of the pumpkins back. He runs outside to tip the wagon over. OK, not really, but he easily parts with his smaller pumpkin (Kate keeps hers) and I set aside Pumpkin No. 2, and we buy the ghost. And the big pumpkin, and Kate's.
11:00. Everyone is happy. It only rains after we're back in the car. We go back to the Y and search high and low for his suit, with no success. Going back to the car, we get rained on.
11:30. The ghost smiles at us from atop an end table.
9:45. Kids have had their second breakfast, I've gotten them both dressed, and Jack went to the bathroom. I get on Kate's shoes and jacket and get coffee for me and water for them while Jack gets his shoes on. It's important to get an early start so Kate doesn't fall asleep on the way there, forcing me to wake her up and thereby ruining her nap and everyone's day.
10:00. We're on the road and as we pass the Y I decide I really should stop and look for Jack's swimsuit, which he somehow managed to lose after swimming the previous day. How does a child lose a bathing suit? Anyway, there was nowhere to park, except deep in the parking garage, so I drove in and drove out. We have to get our pumpkins!!!!
10:15. We pull into the pumpkin patch parking lot. Kate is still awake, fortunately. I get her out and Jack eagerly piles out too. He sees the gift shop first. No! Pumpkin patch!
10:17. I've discovered wagons. It's a bit of a walk to the pumpkin patch, so I pile them in. Jack wants to sit facing Kate, which clearly doesn't work in a wagon with no walls on it. I sit him in it and plop her down with him. That works (see pic).
10:20. I haul them down to the pumpkin patch, resisting the urge to go too fast. Most of the time. They enjoy fast though, there is much laughing and giggling as wind whips in hair. On the way, we see all kinds of Halloween decorations...pumpkins stacked on each other to look like people, clothing filled with leaves to be people and dogs, fake eyes on trees, ghosts, witches, all that kind of stuff.
10:25. We're there! There's a big old tractor which immediately they want to climb on. They do. Jack climbs up, which is fine, as does Kate, which is mildly worrisome, but she's kind of a thrill-seeker. They sit in the seat and I take pictures. Jack looks like he wants the thing to move. Kate just enjoys herself.
10:30. I get them down to go find a pumpkin. After a few minutes I find the perfect one. Jack agrees. Kate is walking around trying to pick one up. They're all bigger than she is, essentially -- certainly heavier -- so it doesn't happen. Then she goes and gets her own wagon, seriously, and starts pulling it around.
10:40. I've found two pumpkins and am ready to go. I let them pick two small ones for themselves. Jack grabs his immediately, then backs away with it because there's a huge Daddy Longlegs spider. I reassure Jack calmly, all the while backing away myself because I've always been scared to death of those things myself. They're creepy. Kate picks out a little reddish pumpkin, a fine and unique choice.
10:41. It looks like rain.
10:42. We head back, me pulling the pumpkins and Jack pulling Kate. We say hi to the leaf people and such.
10:50. Back at the store to pay for our pumpkins. The two big ones are 30 and 20 pounds, which works out to about 34 dollars. No, really! Then I spy this awesome Halloween ghost made out of metal on a spring, that bounces up and down. Jack spots it too. "Can we get it?" he asks, as I'm looking at it, wondering if we can get it. I say, well, we'll have to put one of the pumpkins back. He runs outside to tip the wagon over. OK, not really, but he easily parts with his smaller pumpkin (Kate keeps hers) and I set aside Pumpkin No. 2, and we buy the ghost. And the big pumpkin, and Kate's.
11:00. Everyone is happy. It only rains after we're back in the car. We go back to the Y and search high and low for his suit, with no success. Going back to the car, we get rained on.
11:30. The ghost smiles at us from atop an end table.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Halloween decorations, siblings, etc.
Our neighbor has some pretty wild lawn decorations around the holidays, with Halloween particularly impressive. At the moment he has a huge black vampire bat with glowing red eyes on his fence, a huge carful of ghosts on his lawn, and a glowing orange pumpkin snowman, among many other decorations.
So when I get home after picking the kids up every day, we of course have to go see them. Every day. We walk over and walk around and around them, and Kate touches the ghost car, and Jack touches the pumpkin snowman, and they say hi to everything. I have to admit the bat thing is kind of scary, but not to them as near as I can tell.
Kate, in fact, says "Hi!" and "Bye" to it as we arrive and leave. And to the stone bunny figure on the guy's lawn (which is not, incidentally, a Halloween decoration; it's just a stone bunny).
The other night, Jack had gone upstairs for some such reason, while Kate was looking at the decorations out the kitchen window. And talking to them.
"Hi, Bat!" she said happily. A pause, as though waiting for it to answer. And then: "Hi, Bat!" Then laughter. "He funny!" she said. "He funny....." More laughter, from her and from me. Not, one presumes, the bat.
__________________________________________________
The other day after dinner Kate was talking to herself. Her reflection, that is. In her spoon.
Normally she uses plastic spoons, but I had given her a real spoon. And there she was, sitting at the table, holding it, looking at herself.
"Hi, Kate!" she said. "Hi!" Pause. "Hi, Kate!" Then she went off on a little monologue, something about Mommy, I believe. She seemed quite happy to be having this conversation with herself.
_________________________________
There are times when Jack doesn't want to be bothered with Kate. And other times when he's the sweetest big brother in the world.
Yesterday it was at the end of dinner, and Jack wanted mixed fruit or somesuch, and of course once he mentioned it, she did too. And I wanted Kate to eat more of her dinner, and wasn't having any of her "No!" stuff. And then she wanted more Orange Juice, and I wanted her to say Please. And it wasn't going well and she was getting upset and I was getting frustrated.
Jack, who was sitting in his spot at the table, leaned over to her and grabbed her hand, trying to get her attention. "Kate," he said gently. Then, plaintively, to get her to look at him, "Kate!" She looked at him through her little mini-tantrum. "You have to say 'Please,' Kate. Kate! Say 'Please,' to get more orange juice. 'Please.'"
Kate quieted down. She said please. She got more orange juice.
Today she found an Elmo coloring book in the car. She held it on the way home. Jack said, "Kate, do you want to color in that together when we get home?" She said, "Yes." And so they did.
So when I get home after picking the kids up every day, we of course have to go see them. Every day. We walk over and walk around and around them, and Kate touches the ghost car, and Jack touches the pumpkin snowman, and they say hi to everything. I have to admit the bat thing is kind of scary, but not to them as near as I can tell.
Kate, in fact, says "Hi!" and "Bye" to it as we arrive and leave. And to the stone bunny figure on the guy's lawn (which is not, incidentally, a Halloween decoration; it's just a stone bunny).
The other night, Jack had gone upstairs for some such reason, while Kate was looking at the decorations out the kitchen window. And talking to them.
"Hi, Bat!" she said happily. A pause, as though waiting for it to answer. And then: "Hi, Bat!" Then laughter. "He funny!" she said. "He funny....." More laughter, from her and from me. Not, one presumes, the bat.
__________________________________________________
The other day after dinner Kate was talking to herself. Her reflection, that is. In her spoon.
Normally she uses plastic spoons, but I had given her a real spoon. And there she was, sitting at the table, holding it, looking at herself.
"Hi, Kate!" she said. "Hi!" Pause. "Hi, Kate!" Then she went off on a little monologue, something about Mommy, I believe. She seemed quite happy to be having this conversation with herself.
_________________________________
There are times when Jack doesn't want to be bothered with Kate. And other times when he's the sweetest big brother in the world.
Yesterday it was at the end of dinner, and Jack wanted mixed fruit or somesuch, and of course once he mentioned it, she did too. And I wanted Kate to eat more of her dinner, and wasn't having any of her "No!" stuff. And then she wanted more Orange Juice, and I wanted her to say Please. And it wasn't going well and she was getting upset and I was getting frustrated.
Jack, who was sitting in his spot at the table, leaned over to her and grabbed her hand, trying to get her attention. "Kate," he said gently. Then, plaintively, to get her to look at him, "Kate!" She looked at him through her little mini-tantrum. "You have to say 'Please,' Kate. Kate! Say 'Please,' to get more orange juice. 'Please.'"
Kate quieted down. She said please. She got more orange juice.
Today she found an Elmo coloring book in the car. She held it on the way home. Jack said, "Kate, do you want to color in that together when we get home?" She said, "Yes." And so they did.
Monday, October 05, 2009
Talky Kate
Kate's very talky these days. It's sort of like she didn't do it for so long, and she absorbed all these words, and now she really wants to use them.
Sometimes it's like she's reading a list of all the people she knows. "Nana Baba Jack Mommy Grandma Grandpa? Aunt Caffee? Daddy Mommy Jack."
I get her up in the morning and head downstairs so Emily and Jack can sleep a little bit more. As we leave the room, in the dark, she says "Mommy Jack?" Mommy and Jack are sleeping, I say. She says, "Ohhhhh. Mommy Jack sleep-ing."
She likes saying "Ohhhhh" these days. I hear her say it a lot to Jack. Jack's explaining how to throw a ball, or make something with Play-dough, or do a puzzle. "No, Kate, it goes like this." "Ohhhhhhh." It's awesome.
Another current favorite is her concerned, "Okay?" She does it when I cough. "Okay?" she asks. Sometimes concerned, sometimes it seems like it's a game to her. "Okay?" Like she's making a joke.
When really, she's just making me laugh, a lot.
Sometimes it's like she's reading a list of all the people she knows. "Nana Baba Jack Mommy Grandma Grandpa? Aunt Caffee? Daddy Mommy Jack."
I get her up in the morning and head downstairs so Emily and Jack can sleep a little bit more. As we leave the room, in the dark, she says "Mommy Jack?" Mommy and Jack are sleeping, I say. She says, "Ohhhhh. Mommy Jack sleep-ing."
She likes saying "Ohhhhh" these days. I hear her say it a lot to Jack. Jack's explaining how to throw a ball, or make something with Play-dough, or do a puzzle. "No, Kate, it goes like this." "Ohhhhhhh." It's awesome.
Another current favorite is her concerned, "Okay?" She does it when I cough. "Okay?" she asks. Sometimes concerned, sometimes it seems like it's a game to her. "Okay?" Like she's making a joke.
When really, she's just making me laugh, a lot.
Friday, October 02, 2009
birthday cake
Jack to Daddy, as Daddy finishes painstakingly icing the first cake he's ever made, for Mommy's birthday:
"Daddy, you know what would be REALLY special?"
What, Jack. "If we made a Pumpkin Pie AND a cake for Mommy!"
OK, Jack. Sounds good. Why don't you do that. "OK."
Pause. "But I don't know how to make a Pumpkin Pie!" I don't either, Jack.
Jack sighs. "Maybe we should just make a cake." Yes, Jack, maybe we should.
"Daddy, you know what would be REALLY special?"
What, Jack. "If we made a Pumpkin Pie AND a cake for Mommy!"
OK, Jack. Sounds good. Why don't you do that. "OK."
Pause. "But I don't know how to make a Pumpkin Pie!" I don't either, Jack.
Jack sighs. "Maybe we should just make a cake." Yes, Jack, maybe we should.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
