Happy Halloween

Yesterday was Halloween, and in case you didn't know, it was only something like 3 hours long.  How else do you explain how quickly the day disappeared?  It was dark, it was light, it was dark again in the flap of a bat's wing.  Gideon and I started the day with Gramma at storytime.  If kids wore their costumes to the library they got a free book so storytime was packed with miniature ghouls, fairies, and robots, as well as a robust assortment of Disney characters.  Gideon wore his skeleton pajamas and got down Dance Macabre style (take that gangnam style)

Once we were home I made a mad dash to A. clean my house and B. put up the Halloween decorations that have been sitting in my study for 3 weeks.  Don't get me wrong, we totally decorated outside, but inside we had been slacking.  I hung up some bats, strategically placed a skull and even filled up the old spooky hand cauldron with candy before it was time to start getting ready for people to come over.

yep, I decorated Chloe

Mac and I totally dorked it up this year in true Trekkie style

Of course Gideon is the captain, since he runs the show around here

 

For the last few years our BFFs the Norris's have come over for Halloween which has allowed us to get dressed up and trick-or-treat even before we had a child of our own to harass and embarrass.

Can you believe that this child,

is now this child?

(BTW this child is amazing, she said please and thank you, and had an abundance of patience for slow adults and even slower toddlers; such a joy to be around!  And she CRACKED ME UP with her excited and periodic exclamations of "Meow!"  She is very method.)

The last couple of years my mom, sister, and niece have also joined us.  This year they brought Grampa Rock with them too!

This child,

has suddenly become this child,

Or rather this child,

 I mean this child,

She is one on-the-go little girl, which makes her  my favorite little wiggle but a little hard to photograph

This year Mac's parents also joined in on the fun of walking long distances in the dark and all of us old folks did our best to keep up with the kiddos.  It's funny because initially we laughed a little at ourselves for having a 3:1 child/adult ratio but we were pretty grateful for it once we got out there.

It was a night filled with pizza, candy, costumes and maybe even a little magic (but don't tell Justin) and it was over before I knew it.

That is one exhausted starship captain

At the end of the night Mac and I sat in the quiet house and had a hard time going to bed.  Next year the child will actually say "trick-or-treat" for candy (instead of just inside our house while practising) and he may even run off ahead of us instead of being carried around all snuggly and sweet.

He is no longer this baby,

and he won't be this toddler,

he will be our little boy.  I can't believe it, I can't wait, and I kind of want it all to slow down.
   

Super Gideon

Super Gideon is feeling much better today and has therefore been super busy

It was a loooooong night

Gideon is no longer taking Bethanechol.  We tried it for three days in hopes that it would help his reflux but the third night may have been one of the longest of my life.  His tummy was bloated from gas and he cried for hours, only stopping for a few minutes after a toot or burp.

Hello 4am, you suck.

Of course right around 3am Gideon's runny nose turned into croup.  Did I mention it was a long night?

This morning I called the on call pediatrician and he suggested I go to urgent care for the croup and recommended Acute Kids.  I will not be using any other urgent care if I can help it, this place was awesome!  Hand painted murals of knights, dragons, castles, and princesses covered every wall and the staff was kind, helpful, and polite.  The doc gave Gideon a dose of steroids and we were on our way, having only spent maybe 20 mins total from walking in to walking out.  Epic.

Right before we left for the doctor a delirious Gideon treated us to a song and dance show:





Later Gideon was feeling a million times better so we went out front to play a little.  Then he remembered he was sick and quickly became exhausted.  Poor kiddo really wanted to play but his little legs were giving out so we went back inside.

Spooky Halloween baby

Gideon was too sick for Gramma's Halloween party which was extremely disappointing and which means none of us have gotten to wear our costumes yet!  Finger crossed that Giddy will be well enough for trick or treating Wednesday.

(Lucky for us Gramma and Grampa surprised us the next day with chilli, cookies, cupcakes, and party favors.  It was almost like we were actually there!)

Fine art

I got pretty ambitious today and decided we were going to paint for real.  FOR REAL.

I prepared the table very carefully with plastic, tape, wipes, paper towels, and extra paper.

Then I got together a variety of paint supplies including apples and potatoes for stamping, cut up sponges, yarn, and leaves.

I let Giddy explore the bowl

He wanted to explore the apple further

Then he got down to the business of painting

Apple fail

yep, he took a bite

I think the objects were too much so we moved on to straight up hand to paper painting

Then he was DONE

Bathtime!

All clean!

Final works of art

Storytime revisited

Gideon has become a storytime rock star.  True story, this kid loves to dance and sing along with the group. What a difference several weeks makes!  Today Gramma went to storytime with us so now we have a witness as proof that he is no longer a runner.

Getting in a little pre-storytime reading with gramma

Eh, I'm dancin' here!

These boots are made for walkin'

Gramma CC bought Gideon some rainboots a few weeks ago that will be perfect next spring but are a bit too big right now.  Gideon does not care.  He slides his little feet in and then drags his heavy feet across the floor at a snails pace just so he can experience the pleasure of wearing his "boos".




Today I decided it was time for some boos that fit.  I am extremely disappointed by the selection of boots at Target. There is a wide variety of styles and colors for infants, toddlers, children, tweens, teens and adults...as long as you are a girl. Guess I will have to keep looking for cowboy boots for Gideon.  In the meantime we picked up a pair of galoshes that Gideon is in love with.

We also picked up a few pumpkins while we were out which lead to Gideon's favorite moment of the week: the creation of Pumpkin Elmo!

Step 1:

Get a pumpkin

Step 2:

Point at it

Step 3:

Stand in front of it

Step 4:

Get some Elmo parts

 Step 5:
Play with the Elmo parts

Step 6:
Insert parts in pumpkin (may require adult intervention)

Step 7: 

Remove Elmo parts

Step 8:

Pout because you got in trouble for step 7

 Step 9:
Move Elmo to table

Step 10:
Repeat step 7

 Step 11:
Put Elmo Pumpkin in center of table and go inside