Fairy Costume

Naomi also got a Fairy costume from Poh-Poh and Gung-Gung, which certainly makes for lovely photos. She wore it to a Hallowe'en party on the 28th. At that point, she'd been carrying random things around with her in the jack'o'lantern bucket for over a week. Things like Playdough, a toothbrush, a flashlight, a toy baby bottle. 'Cuz you just never know when you're going to need that stuff. Luckily, putting the bucket to its rightful use, i.e., trick-or-treating, broke that habit. Not that she isn't dragging random stuff around with her any more, just that there's less stuff, especially less small stuff, since she is limitted to what she can tuck under her arms and clutch in her hands.

Hallowe'en 2011

Adam wanted to be a bear again. Easily done, happy to oblige.

And since Adam was going to be a bear, Naomi also wanted to be a bear. So, we borrowed this costume from Clare, which she wore last year and had once upon a time been used by her Uncle Mac. Why, you ask, is Naomi holding a tiara? It's a mystery.

my third little devil

The kids were great - polite, cooperative, and enthusiastic. Other than that - not much to tell, though that doesn't stop Naomi from recounting over and over again: "I don't like that house. The man in a scary, scary costume. Mommy get the candy for Naomi." Adam was also too afraid to approach the werewolf.

And word to the world: I know many people figure that the mini-chocolate bars will be the crowd-pleasers but little kids really just want the "filler" - bellypops*, Rockets .... Nibs and anything fruity and chewy like Swedish berries were also popular around here. Naomi will even suck Smarties until the candy is gone and spit out the chocolate. Guess who's eating all the chocolate? Oops. At least I don't have to steal it. They just hand it over.

*What? You've never heard of bellypops? That would be Naomi-speak for lollipops.

Hallowe'en Story

I guess this is as good a time as any to record this story for posterity. It is not a good story by any objective measure but it is useful. Sometimes when Adam has completely lost it but he's receptive to a little help for collecting himself, I tell him this story to soothe, comfort, or pacify him. It has worked for months now. Only occasionally do I need to repeat it or pull out "The Montreal Story" for the effect to be complete.

"When I was a girl, my favourite holiday was .. Hallowe'en. There were three things that I reeeeeally liked about Hallowe'en. The first thing I really liked about Hallowe'en was making a costume. One year, I had a Queen costume. The same year I had a Queen constume, Uncle Ian had a Mummy costume - the type of Mummy with bandages from head to toe. Another thing that I really liked about Hallowe'en was trick-or-treating. I would always trick-or-treat with Uncle Ian. We'd go from door to door and knock on the door. And when someone answered the door, we'd say, "Trick or Treat!" Then usually, the person who answered the door would give us CANDY. We'd always say thank you for the candy. The third thing that I reeeeally liked about Hallowe'en was ... Eating All The Candy! The End."

Sometimes, if you ask Adam to tell you a story, he'll make a variation on this one, which is pretty darn cute, I think. That or he'll tell a story based loosely on Dion's story of visiting Chihung Szeto.

Another result of this story was that Adam got it in his head that (or rather just like saying that) he and Clare were going to go trick-or-treating by themselves and the Rob, Becky, Dion, and I were going to stay home to hand out candy. And what was Naomi going to do? Uhmm. Sleep. Naomi was going to be sleeping. He wasn't serious about this plan - he doesn't even like to go down the hall from our apartment to greet people at the elevator by himself - but he did enjoy sharing his plan.

If you're starting with this post, keep scrolling down, I've posted several more times tonight.

Enjoying the Spoils, Day 2 - Adam

I think Rockets and Smarties are Adam's favourites, so far,

because they're great for making such things as ...

uhmmmm ...

diamonds

and uhmmmm ...

hexagons!

Or y'know. just EATING!

Enjoying the Spoils, Day 2 - Naomi

Yummy!
Cutie-Pie!

But harder work than I bargained for.

Washing it down with milk from the Hallowe'en themed cup.
Nice Mullet, kid.

LOL

Halloween Pics Part I

L - R: Giraffe (thx, Hos), Norwegian Olympic Curler (thx, D), Winnie the Pooh (thx, Pohpoh & Gungung). Photo credit Dion.

I took lots of photos today and yesterday. But I'm getting tired, so this might be it for the night.

Best Hallowe'en EVER!

I've never had so much fun trick-or-treating. Or maybe I did when I was a kid and I just can't remember it but tonight was AWESOME. I'm still a little giddy 5 hours later. Adam has been really excited about Hallowe'en all week and the night did not disappoint. All day, he was like a kid at Christmas, so to speak, starting from the moment he got out of bed and saw his costume, which I'd laid out for him.

I had been a little nervous about how the night was going to go because Adam was being unco-operative and unpleasant when it was time to eat dinner and it looked like everything was going to be NO all night long. This despite a four-hour nap. We let him settle into playing with trains for a few minutes, which helped. I think he was just nervous. While he was distracted with the trains, I whipped his costume onto him and all of a sudden he was excited again.

For the rest of the night, Adam was at his most charming, delightful, and polite best. Which is saying something because, really, despite being 2 years old and having developed his mother's stubbornness (yes, I take full credit, er, blame) he really is a great little kid. Not only was Adam well-behaved but he was just so sweetly wide-eyed about everything. He was just as eager to talk about the jack'o'lanterns at every house as he was to collect the goodies. Perhaps the jack'o'lanterns were even better than the candy harvest. He liked to interpret the expression on each face. The vast majority were supposedly "happy," but a few were funny, and even fewer were scary. Luckily, he never caught on to any of the spookiness of Hallowe'en other than some minor trepidation when people's faces were hidden behind any kind of mask.

Naomi was her usual doll-like self. Only toward the very end of trick-or-treating did she get a little squirmy because it was time to eat. Adam was happy to call it a night because we finished at Rob and Becky's house, where he got to hang out with Clare, play with her fabulous toy collection, and munch on candy, of course.

Unfortunately, we never got a shot with the full effect. This snap is missing the conductor's hat, the orange pumpkin bucket, and the green rainboots. Ah well. Needless to say, Adam was a HUGE hit with the neighbours. His manner was adorable and OMG the JOY that spread across everyone's face upon seeing this costume. I had deliberately been avoiding any gender-connotated language but we did get a lot of compliments on the Princess Thomas costume. I had been sticking to "your costume is wonderful," and avoiding princess, beautiful, and pretty.

My theory for why Adam wanted the pink dress is sibling rivalry. I don't think Adam has even clued into pink for girls/blue for boys. But he does think that all pink clothes (even mine) belong to Naomi. And he had been asking why Naomi's shirts were called dresses. So, I speculate that he thinks she's been getting special treatment with the dresses and all manner of pink clothing. But really, who knows what's going on inside the head of a two-year-old, even if said two-year-old almost never stops talking.

Kudos to Dion for being a good sport. Thanks to Rob and Becky for hosting. Thanks to Po-Po and Gung-Gung for the Thomas costume. Thanks to Katie for lending her dress and thanks to Shana for delivering it. Thanks Naomi and Adam for the Best Hallowe'en EVER!

Pumpkin Patch

How cute are Adam and Clare? Don't you love her sweater?

Rob tells me that Adam was actually able to move the wheelbarrow a little bit. Also: thanks to Rob and Becky for bringing their camera and posting these photos on their picasaweb album.

I started explaining Hallowe'en and trick-or-treating to Adam. He's pretty psyched, always hoping that the next time he wakes up it's going to be Hallowe'en. I'm trying to play down the scary part and play up the fun parts. I tried to explain costumes: "You wear FUNNY clothes - a funny hat, a funny shirt, maybe marker on your face. What type of costume would you like to wear, Adam?"

Without hesitation, Adam replied: "A pink dress." I guess he'd think that would be "funny." This answer has remained consistent in future discussions, even after the arrival of the Thomas the Tank Engine costume from PoPo and GungGung and some Google image searches of trick-or-treating and Hallowe'en costumes.

I guess I'll ask around to borrow a pink dress to go under the train costume. The sleeves and skirt would still show. Or maybe I'll look for the size 4T pink princess costume that Naomi is bound to request in a few years and buy it now.