Happy Halloween!

The kids celebrated Halloween twice this year. First on Saturday night at our church's Trunk or Treat.

One of the tables at Trunk or Treat had Rochester's balloon guy. I forget his name, but we see him 2-3 times a year at different functions. He's a doctor at Mayo (orthopedic surgeon I think?) but his hobby is making balloon animals and other fun balloon shapes for children at local functions. Norrie didn't get one (his insurance doesn't allow him to give balloons to children under 2 years old) but lucky for her Conrad allowed her to play with his. (note: the too big jeans are Conrad's - she pulled them on over her pajama pants and really didn't want them taken off, so I rolled up the cuffs instead and let her have her way. Conrad didn't seem to mind either.)

Carving pumpkins.

what she wore to church the day before Halloween, just for fun.

The kids went trick or treating on Halloween too, with Tim and their cousins. I have no pictures since I opted to work and save PTO for upcoming travels. I did go out for yummy Indian food with a friend though, so I had some good eats that night too.

I did find this picture which shows what CW wore Halloween night. Picture wasn't taken on Halloween, just playing at home.

October - more pictures

"I do it" is a commonly heard phrase these days.

Norrie - October

What a fun age! She's cute, she's funny, she's snuggly.

Conrad - October

"Backpacking" was his pretend game of the month. He would hike around and stop at my 'restaurant' for breakfast and then we would venture out together. Here he is warming up on the trail with a cup of cocoa.

Some days were breezy enough to fly kites :)

One of his favorite parks is still the Low Monkey Bars park (name by Conrad)

More monkey bars, closer to home.

Conrad leading a parade - Norrie and Connor following.

A broken toy, and a note to daddy. Can you see his message? Translation - Can you fix it and make it (then the drawing to illustrate how he wants it to look) .

This fall I begun to expect the unexpected from Conrad. He consistently gets up earlier than I do now and for the most part makes fairly good and responsible decisions on what he can (should) and can't (shouldn't) do. Our general rule is unless he's bleeding or there's a fire, he is not to wake me up before the clock says seven. (later changed to 7:30, and soon after a magical clock was purchased that turns green at set time to further support this practice).

So during this morning time when he's awake, and mommy and sister are sleeping, he's become pretty creative and self sufficient. For example, he now serves himself breakfast. His first breakfast of the day, to be clear. He can reach or has figured out how to reach bowl, spoon, and cereal. He can get the milk out and pour it himself. This has been a good exercise for him, as he has experienced spilling the milk (and subsequently cleaning it up since no one else was awake to do it for him) and he has opted to eat dry cereal some mornings judging the full gallon jug would be too heavy for him to pour and not wanting to make a mess.

I've woken up to discover entire "books" created by Conrad (several pages of drawings and/or writings bound together by material of his choice - tape, hole punches and ribbon, or staples to name a few). One morning I found what he declared was his Thanksgiving basket - the yellow IKEA bowl filled with sticks, leaves, rocks and pine cone and a handle constructed with pipe cleaner and taped on. We of course had to save this for four weeks to be used on the table at Thanksgiving.

And of course there's been plenty of drawings and other crafty type creations, usually involving scissors, tape, and on occasion little metal brad fasteners (he made an awesome, almost 3D helicopter one morning).

Although I try to remember only the positives, there have been a few challengs with Conrad this fall. He at times can be quite pouty, sassy, and angry to sum it up. In trying to figure out how best to deal with this, I've reached for a few of my favorite parenting books. While nothing I've tried has been an easy fix, at least I am reassured that nearly every child goes through these stages and with time and maturity some of these frustrations will pass. In the meantime, close the eyes, deep breath, and sometimes walk away. Unfortunately, he doesn't have a bedroom to be sent to. Yet.