Happy Halloween!

At dusk, we took the girls out for a brief trick-or-treating adventure. Audrey caught onto the idea immediately and grinned every time she stood on someone's doorstep and held out her pumpkin for candy. She kept reaching in for a handful and putting candy in her mouth, wrapper and all. Maggie, the seasoned pro, rang doorbells and said all the right things to collect her share. After a dozen houses we headed home to trick-or-treat one last time at our own door, where my dad was handing out candy and keeping our annual statistics.

Now the girls are in bed and I'm (wo)manning the door. I'm not sure if we'll hit last year's record of 200 trick-or-treaters, but there has been a steady stream and we've just about run out of candy. I'll be posting the official stats tomorrow morning. 

Preschool party

Robert and I went to Maggie's school this morning for the Halloween party. It started with the Funny Hat Parade, for which Maggie chose to wear her Disneyland hat. All the stimulation and departure from routine was hard on Maggie, so I ended up marching at the back of the parade with her. Sadly, I had no hat.


After the parade, everyone went inside to do the Monster Mash. Behind Maggie is her best friend Shayna, wearing a crown.


After the dance we had a potluck lunch. I brought little sandwiches cut into cats (spooky strawberry jam with cream cheese) and pumpkins (creepy cucumber with cream cheese). Everyone seemed to like them; the other moms especially liked the cucumber sandwiches.

Then the kids went outside to play. Maggie put on an athletic hopscotch demonstration for us.


Now, both girls are napping (hallelujah!) and we're planning an early dinner followed by trick-or treating and handing out candy. 

My fairy butterflies

Maggie decided she wanted to be a butterfly for Halloween. I had a short burst of creative energy that made me think I could make her a spectacular costume, but I quickly suppressed it and bought something instead. Audrey is wearing Maggie's costume from two years ago--perfect. Less creative than last year, perhaps, but a whole lot easier!

Come on, Park Place

I admit I haven't been playing the Monopoly game with the same fervor as last year. Maybe it's because I'm eating less junk food lately, or maybe it's because of the lingering bitterness of not winning anything last year. Nevertheless, with the help of friends who are nice enough to share their game pieces with me, and with a few drive-through runs for large fries and medium diet cokes, I have been filling up my game board. I also have a few Best Buy bucks stacking up, and so far I've won a free small fries, breakfast sandwich and McFlurry. Hey! That's a meal!!

Playground

I took the girls to the playground today at Maggie's request. It was almost too hot--80 degrees--but we managed to stay for an hour and a half and had a lot of fun. Maggie did something new--she made friends with some other kids and played with them for quite a while. These are new skills she has acquired at preschool. She walked right up to a little girl and said "My name is Maggie, what's your name?" (The girl answered Gracie, but Maggie proceeded to call her Goosy, which luckily didn't seem to bother her.) They started playing hide and seek and were soon joined by two more kids. Hide and seek morphed into a wild running game where they all ran around yelling (at which point Audrey joined in), and finally the girls started making food out of woodchips while the boy pretended to be a lion. After a while Maggie came back to playing with Audrey and me, but it was really something to see her be so outgoing and have fun with new kids.

Audrey is 16 months old

Dancing queens

 

No pigtails, no ribbons

When I found out I was having a baby girl the first time, one of the things I looked forward to was playing with her hair. Ponytails, pigtails, braids, ribbons, clips...all the pretty girly things. But then, first, I had a girl whose hair grew stubbornly slowly. I couldn't justify even a clip until well after her second birthday.

And now, I have a girl who refuses to have anything in her hair most of the time. She also doesn't want haircuts, and doesn't even really like to have her hair brushed. So, she runs around most of the time with crazy flyaway hair that flops in her eyes and looks like it's related to a careless mother.

The only exception she makes is for ballet class. I told her that the studio has a rule that the girls put their hair back (this is true, although it's not like they enforce it in the 3-year-old class), and she consents to having her hair put back with clips or pigtails each week. But that's it. Every morning when we brush her teeth and I get out the hairbrush, she frantically cries "No clips! No pigtails!" and shakes her head to ward off any attempts.

Sigh. Fine. Maybe Audrey will let me...her hair is growing a little faster than Maggie's did anyway...

Maggie's Halloween song

It's fun witnessing Maggie become interested in Halloween and dabble in the pleasure of being (just a little) scared. She loves the Halloween-themed episodes of Little Bear and has started telling a dramatic goblin story she borrowed from a show. She also made up this song the other day:

Three little pumpkins sitting on a log,
One says let's run, let's run,
The goblins will get you if you don't watch out,
The goblins will get you if you don't...watch...out!

Better

I'm better today, just tired and still babying my sensitive stomach. The girls are great, and Maggie has been having a wonderful time at preschool in the mornings. She comes home with stories and names and activities pouring out of her, a bundle of happy energy ready to perform and be admired. Audrey has been enjoying a lot of attention from her Papa, aka my dad, who has been coming over to keep her company while I rest.

Alive (barely)

The girls and I (and my mom) have been taking turns with the stomach flu. As usual, it hit me hardest and I've been incapacitated for the past 48 hours. I'm over the worst of it, but still so weak and shaky that I can barely walk across the room. Luckily Maggie is all better and went to preschool today, and Audrey is mostly better and has been hanging out with my parents. Yesterday the girls were with my inlaws all day. I couldn't have gotten through this without all the help from our parents! Ordinarily a couple days by myself in a quiet house would sound delightful, but this isn't exactly how I would have wanted it. Right now all I can do is watch a little TV with the volume turned low and sip chicken broth.

Costumes

For the past couple weeks we've been conducting serious talks on what the girls should wear for Halloween. Maggie has offered up some fantastic ideas, always in pairs for herself and Audrey.

M: Pirate
A: Ship

M: Cupcake
A: Ice cream donut

M: Cow
A: Tree

M: Butterfly
A: Lion

M: Bear
A: Flower

M: Pluto
A: Goofy

M: Hot air balloon
A: Passenger

It's been hard for her to commit to a single idea, but I think she's finally made up her mind. Hopefully we can make the purchases today and be ready for Halloween.

Jackpot! (and a prize for you)

I just hit the stay-at-home-parent jackpot: simultaneous naps! It's a rare occurence anymore with Maggie only napping once or twice a week and Audrey only napping once a day most days, usually in the morning. But today, I picked up Maggie at preschool and took them to our favorite indoor playground for a little over an hour. After Maggie burst into tears over nothing for the third time in a row, I packed them up. By the time we got home both girls were asleep, and here I am!

What do you think Deborah will do with her free time?

A. Do the dishes
B. Get rid of the ants partying on the kitchen counter
C. Fill out her absentee voter registration card
D. Have a snack and watch Ellen

Whoever answers correctly first...wins a prize!

Moment of gratitude

The other day, Audrey and I went shopping for new clothes for her. The cooler weather snuck up on us and suddenly she didn't have anything warm to wear. I don't know why, but I only ended up with three or four things left over from Maggie in 12-18 month size. Maybe she was really hard on her clothes that season!

Anyway, as Audrey and I shopped at a few stores we kept encountering a 3-year-old girl with her nanny, who was shopping for clothes for the girl. This made me sad--how busy are her parents that they can't even shop for clothes for their child? It also made me all the more happy and relieved to be a stay-at-home parent. Robert's hard work and our shared goal have made it possible, and I am truly grateful.

Moment of truth

Maggie: Let's make the popcorn. Pour in the seeds, Mommy!

Me: Those aren't seeds. Those are the dried kernels of corn.

Maggie: Popcorn is...corn?!

I dread the day we have this conversation about chicken...

Monday

Last week Maggie only made it to preschool one day because she had a cold. She missed it (especially her new best friend Shayna), so we're planning to send her four days this week. It will be helpful for me too, since my babysitters are visiting one of their other granddaughters this week.

Here's Maggie, ready for school this morning. She is still very proud of her lunchbag.


And here's Audrey, taking advantage of the cool autumn morning to wear a sweater her Grandma Montgomery made for her.

 

Dinosaurs

Maggie is into dinosaurs lately. She has a big dinosaur puzzle, a handful of books and a stuffed apotosaurus (her favorite dino), and it is a favorite topic to explore at the library. I don't remember ever feeling much affinity for dinosaurs myself, although I did write a fifth grade research paper on them. At the time I remember thinking, I guess this is the sort of thing a kid should write about. Is it weird that I thought of it that way? Anyway, I'm actually enjoying Maggie's interest. It's fun trying to pronounce the names and remember which one is which.

Yesterday after the pumpkin patch we went the the Natural History Museum and saw some great dinosaur bones. Maggie even got to sit on apotosaurus's femur bone.

First pumpkin patch of the season

 

Hard at work

This morning we stopped by Robert's office so he could check something on the computer. After thoroughly investigating the soda machine, the girls immediately got down to work coloring pictures and playing with toys.


A couple weeks ago, Maggie was counting the coins in her Minnie Mouse wallet and wondered if she had enough to buy donuts for everyone. I told her she needed one more dollar and asked if she had any ideas how to earn it. She said she could go to work with Daddy and be in a "team slot" with him (she calls offices and cubicles "slots"). So I took her to his office and she worked for 10 minutes drawing pictures and throwing away some garbage. She earned her dollar and that weekend she treated us all to donuts at Krispy Kreme. She was so proud. She is hard-working and goal-oriented, just like her Daddy!

Mommy and Audrey Day

When Maggie was a baby, I used to sing a song that went:

It's Mommy and Margaret Day.
Cause every day
Is Mommy and Margaret Day.
Every day
Is Mommy and Margaret Day...

Et cetera. On a bright sunny morning with happy plans and a good mood, it's sung cheerfully. At less ideal moments, it's sung in a minor key with heavy emphasis on every day.

Now I sing it for Audrey on days when Maggie goes to preschool. When her big sister isn't around, Audrey revels in her freedom. She's already trashed Maggie's room, emptied a couple drawers in her own, and has been playing independently with the toys in the family room for an entire hour.

Meanwhile, I'm starting to sort through the girls' old clothes and fill up bags for donation. I'm also keeping a box for each girl of favorite and sentimental outfits. It's hard not to keep dozens of things, but I'm trying to keep only a couple items from each size.

And Audrey

The McDonalds Monopoly game is back!

Lunch with Maggie

Photos from Virginia

It's good to be home. Maggie and I had a very smooth return trip and a happy reunion with Robert and Audrey. I already miss Dave, Maili and Mandy, and Gina and Ryan and family, as well as Virginia's tall green trees and cool, damp weather.

You can view all the photos here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/deborahgraff/VirginiaInSeptember2006

 

Into the woods

My brother's home in Virginia borders a beautiful woods full of walking paths. Maggie and I have gone on several walks with a basket that she fills with her favorite leaves, sticks, pinecones and acorns. It's so green, lush, cool, damp and filled with the sounds of birds chirping and bugs whirring. Very different from home. I love it.