All Hallows' Eve

As most of you know, Sadie was a cat for Halloween. Or, as she calls it, Halloween Cat.
Not only did we go to a party with her friends earlier this week, but tonight we went to a party thrown by a recreation center in town.
There was candy and music and it was right by the river where there are tons of ducks. What more could you ask for, I ask you?

Here we are on our way to the party:


Our Halloween Cat:

Watching the ducks. Notice the 3 Musketeers bar she is eating:

Dancing to the band. There was fiddle and a banjo. Have you ever seen kids dance when they bring out the fiddle and the banjo? You should. It's great. Oh, notice the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup:

Trick or Treating. She loved it! She'd say Tickiteat! and then Thankoo!

Here she is when we told her she could not eat the other Reese's Peanut Butter Cup she had just received. Tomorrow, we said. You can see how much she liked that idea:

I guess she likes peanut butter cups.

And, at the mall, where we stopped for pizza. Tasting a lollipop. I am far too overprotective to allow too much of that, though, since it is a choking hazard. It's the last lollipop she'll taste for a while.


Imagine how pleased she was when we took it away. I bet you can.
And before you ask why I gave it to her n the first place, I didn't. It was put in her trick or treat pumpkin and she took it out and bit through (and choked on) the wrapper to taste it.
She really wanted some lolly.

All in all, a fun day. We learned Sadie loves Trickitreat, chocolate (oh man, does she love chocolate), and lollipops. Oh, and whiskers. You should have seen this kid admiring herself in the mirror after I drew on her whiskers.

Oh, and we also learned that having a child with not a lot of teeth works out in our favor when trick or treating. We've got a bunch of Snickers and Twix that need taking care of.

Happy Samhain!

Cat O'Lantern

We carved our pumpkin yesterday. I cut it open and showed Sadie how to scoop out the seeds. I guess all kids love to put their hands into mushy, slimy fun goo, and Sadie was no exception.





When I asked what we should do she said Halloween cat. Yes, she was probably talking about her costume but hey, I figured why not make a cat pumpkin?

Here they are together. She loved it when it was lit up!

The Bus

Sadie and I took the bus the other day. We had to go downtown and Will needed the car. So we took the bus. Let me just say it was a major hit.
Not only did Sadie say things like Wheee! and Moin (More) ride bus! but she yelled Close door, close door! every time we stopped at a stop.
Try explaining bus stops to a 22 month-old. Sheesh!

But it was fun. I think we will ride the bus one day when we're bored.
However, riding the bus 'round these parts can be interesting. I have only ridden the bus 5-6 times and every time, without fail, I meet a crazy/strange person.
This time, amongst a few other strange people, there was the short, deaf-mute (is that even politically correct these days?), Asian, sunglass-wearing at night, 60-something year-old lady who picked Sadie up while we were waiting for the bus and pretended she was stealing her.

Go read that last sentence again, please.

Yes, she put her bags down, picked up Sadie, mimed that she was stealing her and hid behind the bus stop sign. She kept peeking out at me and grinning. Then she would hug Sadie again.
She turned out to be a lovely lady and we "signed" a conversation the rest of the way on the bus. But, seriously, how crazy is that?

Anyway, today was a balmy 70 degrees and sunny. We went to the Mushroom Festival. We had to take a shuttle bus(!) to the festival. A yellow bus. Guess who enjoyed that?

Here she and Dada are doing an art project.

Look at that crazy paint-covered kid! Trying to put the lens cap on.

Hey, stop taking pictures of me and take a picture of my new spider.

This squishy spider that she won did not leave her hand. You should have seen when Dada tried to hold it for a minute. Not a good idea.


Look at the paint on her face. Here she is watching git-taaar playing. She loves to watch guitars, or any music:

I love that monkey!

I love these glasses

The Finger of Death

The ahnnies are back. And our exterminator has flaked out on us. So I am calling around for a new one. But in the meantime we are seeing random ants everywhere.
And at this point I have become completely inured to squishing them with a finger.
What I call The Finger of Death.
Squish, squish, squish. They are so little they just sort of disappear. Are you grossed out yet?

So the other day Sadie is crouching and looking at the floor. Ahnnie! she yells. And I watched her sweet little finger hit the floor. All gone!
The Miniature Finger of Death.

But here's from today. She picked the ant up off the floor and was really enjoying it crawling on her arm:

Ahnnie! On arm!

Can you see it on her sleeve? She was laughing and having a great time.

Ahnnie! Ahnnie on thumb!!!


Hmmm, where ahnnie? Mommy take ahnnie:

Mommy had taken the ahnnie off and squished it. I thought for a minute maybe I'd scarred her for life. But she didn't care, it seemed, once she realized it was gone for good.
At dinner she told Dada:

Have ahnnie on arm. Ahnnie on thumb. Ahnnie tickle. Mommy squish ahnnie! All gone!
Squish, squish. All gone ahnnie!

With a big smile.

What have I done?

At the Playground

I've told you before about my playground issue, no?
They all have these 10 foot drops with no rail. You climb up the steps and end up on a platform with a slide on one side and a portal to death on the other three. Sadie makes her way up and then I have a heart attack and get her back down. Again and again.
But there's news. We have found a park that doesn't strike fear into my heart!
Finally!

Watch how much fun she has without me hovering over her and dragging her away from 20 foot tall fireman poles and holes that go to nowhere.

Aaaarrrrrr!

Look at that face! Fun!

Hanging out:

After the (soft and short) fall into the wood chips:

More climbing:

OK, so I also let her go on the big slide at the other side of the playground where the bigger park is. That slide is cool, it's made of rollers:

Wheeeee!:

She makes this face all the time. Often right before she admits that what you just did was, in fact, amusing. We love it:

Dressed for Success

I don't deny that often Sadie looks like she's dressed herself, as many toddlers do. However, she hasn't dressed herself. I've dressed her.
I get these cockamamie ideas that she MUST wear a certain shirt, but then realize there are no clean pants that match really well. But I'm all hung up on the shirt.
So we end up with a strange outfit.

Then there are the outfits that were fine but as we add accessories throughout the day they get progressively weirder. See below:

Well, the pants and shirt were OK. And Sadie HAD to wear her pink flowered thermal because I was wearing my pink flowered thermal. You understand, no?
But then we needed cat boots while outside.
And a hat- the closest hat was this bonnet.
Look. She can't even bear to look:

Actually, she's so very tired of me harassing her with the camera.

But, if we didn't have the bonnet none of these next pictures would have been possible.

Sweetie!

What!?

Thoughtful:
Berries:


The next shot (that I missed) is of her spitting out the berry because they are sour again. Black boway season has ended.

Now, aren't you glad I'm allowed to dress her?

Hiya

Sorry we've been MIA. I don't even have a good excuse.
Here's a picture from the park the other day. More to follow soon. Promise!

Monsieur Bird

As you know, P.R. Rudy the cat is Ruby. Laddie is, well, Laddie.

Mr. Bird used to be Bird (or bead- say it like you're from Boston).
But now he is Mr. Bead, or Monsieur Bead.
It really entertains us:

Sleeping Beauty

The after nap booboo coma. Not to be confused with the before nap booboos. Have I mentioned this kid loves to nurse?
Look at her, how could you not snuggle an extra 20 minutes?

Push!

We turned Sadie's car seat around last week. So now she's facing forward. She was turning into a real crankpot about the car and now she seems to like riding in the car a lot better. There are just two problems:

One is that she doesn't fall asleep as easily and has not napped a couple of times. This is not good. I might lose my mind if she doesn't nap.
I'm not kidding.

Number two is that she doesn't like when we are stopped. Especially if there is a car in front of us. So all of a sudden I'll hear Push. Push! Push! Mommy push. Push Mommy! and she's got her feet pressing into the back of the passenger seat and she's trying to push us forward.

She's really not happy and wants the car pushed out of the way. I'm working on trying to explain the whole red light/green light concept to her. I think she's getting it.
And although sometimes the New York City driver in me wants to Push! thankfully I am not a toddler and can control the urge.


But really, it's the loony bin for me if she stops napping. The loony bin, I say.