Compare and Contrast

Here's Newton, in the same costume five years ago:



Assuming Cindy Lou cooperates, we'll have a third picture to add in two years.

No Tricks Here

We had a wonderful Halloween. It rained earlier in the day, but at trick-or-treat time it was dry and about 60 degrees--warm enough that fingers didn't get chilled, and cool enough to not completely sweat out the warm costumes. Cindy Lou was a bee, the Wizard a bunny, and Newton was Draco Malfoy. In the afternoon, we caught the very end of Newton's school festivities (I had fresh donuts to pass out to his teachers), and Cindy Lou wore her costume. The PTA president said, "Oh, my daughter (now in second grade) had a costume just like that when she was a baby!" No, not "just like"--we frequent the same resale shop, and it was indeed the very costume! Newton was the only Draco Malfoy, though his class had a Harry and two Hermiones.

Ready to head to the garage potluck around the corner:




The rear view, so you can see her antennae and stinger:


The Wizard only just fit into his costume, a hand-me-down from his brother. He's been having a growth spurt lately. The other night when I was washing him in the tub, it seemed to me that his hands were noticeably bigger. The next morning we measured him, and he's grown 1 1/4" in just three months! At this rate he'll grow out of his 3T clothes before he has a chance to wear them all. The sleeves on his long-sleeved shirts are already barely hitting his wrist bones, and I had to loosen the waistbands on all his pants. He wanted to be sure his tail was captured in the picture:


For the actual trick-or-treating, Newton ditched us to go with a mob of boys from the neighborhood. Mavis and Cindy Lou went home after a few houses, and the Wizard and I headed off on our own. We took a different route than Newton and his cohort. Even when we had been out quite a while, the Wizard kept saying, "Mom, I'm still having fun!" When we finally made it home, Newton had been home for a good half-hour, and I think the Wizard had more candy! After all that tromping around the neighborhood, I think everyone slept great.

Here is Newton with his spoils, and slightly sweaty head from (literally) running around with so many layers.

Boo!

We carved pumpkins this week, for the first time in several years. I'm not even sure Newton would remember having done it before. I bought small pumpkins so there would be less goop to deal with, but that meant small (and harder-to-carve) designs. Newton was excited to use some of the designs from Yes We Carve, so I printed out a couple I thought might fit on our pumpkins. Then of course both boys wanted the same design. Of course! Cindy Lou didn't participate, so we gave her pumpkin a classic jack o'lantern face.

I wish I'd gotten pictures of the process, but Mavis was wrangling Cindy Lou and my hands were covered in pumpkin goo. I wish I wish with all my heart (bonus if you get that reference) I had a picture of the Wizard carefully scooping seeds out of his pumpkin with a soup spoon. He toiled assiduously for a good 20 minutes, and while he didn't remove any of the stringy pulp, he did remove a good share of the seeds from his pumpkin.

Newton helped with transferring the designs from the stencils, and then I did the actual carving. It went LOADS easier (those pumpkin-carving-kit knives are dull dull dull) once I figured out that I should thin the target wall from the inside with a melon baller before carving. Taking it down to 3/4" or so made a world of difference. Even then, the stripes on the Obama-logo Os were beastly hard, and each of the two Obama pumpkins has a goof on it.

Bendin' It

I got to go watch Newton's soccer game the other Saturday, and got what I thought were some pretty good action shots. Thanks to his hair, he's always easy to spot. He wants to give up soccer, although he's not at all bad at it. I've tried telling him that it's a great way to stay in shape during a season when he can't play basketball or baseball, but so far he's not buying it. Any suggestions?

Hmmming and Harrumphing

When did "di-vye-sive" become "di-viss-sive"?

ETA: Apparently only recently, and apparently there's also been quite a bit of discussion around the Interwebs on the topic (just Google "obama divisive pronunciation" and you'll come up with a bunch.

Yes, it was Obama's pronunciation of the word, in his racism speech and a few times since, that got me hmmmming. But he's not alone. This article in the Boston Globe (scroll down) gives a little history.

One of my favorite law school professors also had some quirky pronunciations, like EE-pock for epoch. He was a smart guy, too. Is it just a matter of vogue (mis-)pronunciations?

PS I still voted for him. Obama, not my law school prof. :)

Chocolate Babies

For the sake of comparison (I know, I know, you're not supposed to compare your children. Really, who doesn't?):




Yes, even in cake-eating, Newton sets a high standard for his siblings to follow.

One Year Old.

Yup. It's been a whole year. Amazing how quickly it's gone, when the pregnancy seemed absolutely interminable. The day after her birthday, she woke up saying, "No, no, no!" and I said, "What--did you think you turned 2?" I tell people she's one going on 25, and she definitely has strong opinions that she's not afraid to express.

Here she is a couple of weeks before her birthday, enjoying some pasta:


For her birthday, I made two cakes: one for her and one for the rest of us. They were the same kind--chocolate layer cake with chocolate buttercream frosting. In hindsight (you'll see below), the frosting wasn't quite as dark as would have been ideal for the messy pictures. But it was quite tasty! I used lavender (her signature color!) for the decorations:



We tried to rush dinner (salmon--her favorite!) and festivities between her naps, but unfortunately she was more than a little tired by the time we got around to cake. At first she seemed excited by the attention, but the actual cake didn't thrill her.




Of course she stuck her finger in the flame (not captured with the camera), we scared her with our yelling and quick grabbing of her hand and blowing of the candle, and then I had the nerve to stick her hand in a glass of cold water. Not her favorite moment of the evening.


Eventually, though, she started trying the cake:



In the end she utterly demolished it, but I don't think she consumed more than a couple of bites. We'll have to try again later--surely it was that she was too tired, and not that she didn't care for chocolate!


After cake and a quick bath, it was time for presents. She was still soooooo tired, but managed to muster some excitement about a couple of her new books,


(oops! Missed a spot in the bath!)


and the card from Grandma & Grandpa,



(don't take it away, Dad!)


and her new fancy Mongolian outfit from Grandpa Artsy-Fartsy and the Rev. Running Nut.


A few days after her birthday, she went in for her one-year checkup. She's 30 1/2" long (85%), 20# 5oz (32%), and her head is 47 cm (91%). Way to go, Cindy Lou!