Tricks and treats!

Yesterday Elise celebrated two firsts: her first trip to church and her first Halloween. We'll discuss the weekend chronologically:

On Saturday, we carved pumpkins. Although this project can constitute a lot of work, it was entirely worth it just to hear Kalina say "goop," emphasis on the "oo." Precious.

The goop, of course, came from the inside of the pumpkin. Kalina delicately helped scoop some of it with a spoon, and then declined to have anything to do with it the rest of the time. Just like her Mommy! Good thing Daddy was around or the project would've come to an abrupt halt: "No you scoop the goop," "No you scoop the goop!" Kalina and I would've fired back and forth at each other.

We carved Kalina's pumpkin first. Kalina chose circle eyes, a circle nose and a happy mouth. And then onto Elise's pumpkin, which Kalina also chose circle eyes, a circle nose and a happy mouth for, except then Daddy persuaded her that what she really wanted was a cat pumpkin. Elise, by the way, watched from her carseat and Mommy's arms, as it was one of her myriad naptimes of the day.

Later, we took a nighttime walk and lit candles inside our pumpkins. Kalina thought it was all pretty magical, especially since she got to carry a flashlight.


Today, the whole house was up by 6:30, and yet we still barely had enough time to make it to 9:30 church. In our defense, we all managed to take our requisite baths/showers, and everyone had at least 1 breakfast (Elise had several).

Last weekend, I'd had the good fortune to find matching dresses for my girls. I was elated, and was quoted as saying, "Matching dresses is why you even have two girls!" Matt declined to comment on that.

I knew I'd have my work cut out of me to get both girls in their dresses at the same time, and also get a picture (which is why the picture in this post of the girls isn't really all that great). Elise was the easy one--Kalina needed more convincing.

Problem being that Kalina hates dresses and hates tights (she also has hated jeans and any pants that aren't cotton knit lately). I sometimes indulge her sensitivities, having hated tights, too, in my day, but this time I wasn't backing down. I tried everything, from a weak "Don't you want to match your sister?" to "When you're in your dress you can have a marshmallow." Guess which one she finally responded to.

With a bit more "convincing" (me cornering the girl and pulling the dress over her head), we finally managed. One marshmallow down the hatch.

Somehow Daddy managed to get tights on Kalina (a few more marshmallows to the rescue), as well as a new pair of shoes, and we were finally off to church!

Forty-five minutes later I discovered Elise's horrid disposable diaper had leaked onto her outfit. As I changed her out of her dress, that no one had even seen her in yet, to put on her ugly bottom-of-the-diaper-bag sleeper, anger welled up within me. What's the point of even going to church if the girls aren't going to be adorably matched in their dresses? We might as well go home now!

Okay, I wasn't quite that shallow, but we all have our dark moments. I got over it. Back at home, Kalina indulged me by posing by the pumpkins so I could immortalize her cute outfit, which I probably will never have the energy to convince her to wear again. *sigh*

Speaking of convincing my daughter to wear an outfit, the time soon came for Kalina to don her cow costume. Acquiring a costume for a toddler is tricky business--you want to do it soon enough that ebay will still have plenty of options (plus time enough for a redo if need be), but not so soon that she'll change her mind before Halloween.

Kalina decided in early October that she wanted to be a cow for Halloween. And I have to admit, she does a pretty amazing "moo." So I ordered the costume, carefully told Kalina that it was on its way, and helped her open the package when it arrived. She was ecstatic, and would occasionally come pet her cow costume, which was biding its time in Mommy and Daddy's room.

I did not offer to let her try it on early: either she'd get tired of it before Halloween, or become afraid of it before Halloween, and would not wear it on the big day, no matter how much candy we bribed her with.

One preliminary "are you ready to put on your cow costume?" yielded poor results ("No."), but when the final moment of truth arrived the girl was willing. Even more amazing: she allowed me to put up the cow-head hood for pictures!

Yes, by the way, I would've taken her trick-or-treating even without a costume.

And then we were off, along with Cousin Poky in her squirrel costume, Aunt Nancy, Uncle Tom and Grandpa. Elise and Daddy were taking a giant, much-needed nap at home.

We'd practiced trick-or-treating at home, so Kalina was ready. Out of habit, I found myself saying trick-or-treat before Kalina did a little too often, but she'd usually chime in eventually in a microscopic shy voice. I had to assure our neighbors that she had, in fact, said the words.

We proceeded around the neighborhood, Kalina wide-eyed with awe at the fact that people would hand her candy (a word she just learned a few days ago), simply at the turn of a phrase. She was so wide-eyed, in fact, that we wondered if she were having a good time:

"Kalina, are you having fun, or would you like to go back home?" I asked her.
"Fun," she replied with a smile. "More treats." The girl caught on remarkably fast.
And so we kept going, with samples for everyone along the way.

Eventually, we woke Daddy up and hauled him out as well. We all had a lovely time and I'm pretty sure she'll be asking to do it again sometime. Will our neighbors oblige the girl?

I'm also happy to say that Kalina seems to have forgotten her plastic pumpkin full of treats as of this morning. I will not remind her.