Tricks and treats

I can't believe they stood
still for this picture.

It's Halloween! Here's our holiday in review:

Two months ago: Kalina decided it'd be fun if we all randomly startled each other, and especially at mealtimes. We've kept the game going, and even Elise joins in with the cutest little "Boo!" you ever heard.

One month ago: We chose costumes. When we first asked her, Kalina wanted to be a sign that says, "Don't touch any signs." Since then, she changed her mind to "A duck!" and stuck with it. Ebay brought it home. Kalina then decided that Elise should be a dog, Mommy should be a bunny and Daddy should be a balloon. Unfortunately, she was overruled and Elise received a fluffy bunny costume in the mail (the baby loves bunnies, as well as ducks, but ducks were taken. She does, however, adore Kalina's costume and often tries to hug her when she wears it.). The three-year-old was disappointed and a bit surprised when she learned Mommy and Daddy wouldn't be dressing up, but got over it.

Two weeks ago: We headed to the local farmer's market for pumpkins and other fall goodies! See previous post.

Kalina helped frost these.
And then I helped re-frost
these. Yum!

Kalina and I scooped and carved each
of these little "snack-o-lanterns."

One week ago: We began preparing for the costume playdate we'd (I'd) decided to hold for our friends. It took us all week, but we managed to make two snacks and two crafts, clean one story of the house and be almost into our costumes when the doorbell rang, three days ago.

Twins! And no, they did not
call each other (neither did
their mommies).

Nine children attended, and Kalina the Duck welcomed them happily, although Elise the Bunny was more likely to join in their play. This, by the way, was when Halloween began in earnest, as we'd never tried to put Elise into a costume before (she slept through the holiday last year). But she wore it willingly enough, and did not even seem to mind sitting on her poofy, yet rather solid, tail.


Two days ago: In fact, the young toddler must have really enjoyed being a bunny, as the next day she carried the costume over to Daddy and lifted up her arms as though she were asking him to dress her in it. And how could he refuse this request? Theorizing that she'd enjoyed its warmth, he pulled it over her fleece sleeper, put up the hood and put the paw thingies over her hands and sent her in to "see Mommy" so I could get a good laugh. Which I did, and then removed the paw thingies, and so the baby happily played in it for a good hour before we had to remove it for naptime. Except her costume wasn't quite complete, apparently--Elise later insisted on wearing sunglasses with it. And so we entered the "hilariously cute" stage of child-rearing.


We also carved pumpkins at this time. I hadn't counted on Elise doing much more than watching, however, she became a very active participant. She enjoyed "carving" and "scooping" every bit as much as Kalina did, although Kalina's help was a bit more concrete. Elise did show a natural aptitude for lid-fitting, while Kalina excelled at pumpkin-goop-removal-with-spoon. Daddy, for his part, carved cute, unique faces in each pumpkin in record time, while Mommy proved her worth by stopping Elise from tumbling down the deck stairs, and keeping her from falling on a pumpkin carver. All in a day's work.

A trick: Kalina trying to put pumpkin
goop onto Elise

Today: We prepared Kalina and her friends for Halloween. The kittens eventually decided to dress up as dogs for Halloween (or was it flowers? Or balls?), while Lamby decided to be a cat. Kalina relayed her plan for them to go door-to-door saying trick-or-treat and accepting candy, but they did not actually do this: the only friend who went along with Kalina was, appropriately, Little Duck.

To foster a festive spirit, we doled out a few treats during the day, and made some pumpkin crafts. Even without these, Kalina was pure sunshine and rainbows--I'm not sure I've ever seen her in a better mood. I let her get away with only 20 minutes of downtime, seeing as we'd started sewing a dress for Lamby together and I was as excited to finish it as she was.

However, Elise had other plans, and celebrated the day by skipping her afternoon nap (maybe she was jealous that her only treat so far had been watermelon? "I'll make my own treat!" she decided.). I counter-celebrated by loading both girls into the car to spend a gloriously beautiful afternoon at a surprisingly empty park. Lamby's dress will have to wait until tomorrow.

After a rushed dinner and a flurry of costumes, we were ready to head out into the neighborhood, along with our friend Lucy (age 1 1/2) and her dad. Kalina took charge: our shy little girl became bold indeed when faced with candy. Elise was content to chew on a candy wrapper (with the candy safely sealed inside), and Kalina, for her part, happily quacked and flapped at the smallest request, at times using Daddy's crow call for a more realistic "quack."

Soon the dads took the "bigger" girls farther up the road while Elise toddled around the yard and I chatted with neighbors and manned the candy, which had been severely depleted. Elise found her gourd to roll around and was as content as a little bunny could be.

Kalina and Daddy returned and the three-year-old, who shows remarkable restraint for a three-year-old (and even for some thirty-year-olds), looked up at me with hope in her eyes that I couldn't let down. Right before bedtime, I allowed her her choice of candy.

The girl chose a grape Tootsie Pop:

Her: Can I chew it?
Me: Not yet, it's a sucker. But eventually it'll get soft and you can. That might not be until tomorrow, though (I didn't know how long it'd take for her to make her way through a lollipop).
Her: Now is it soft enough?
Me: Not yet.
Her: Now is it soft enough?
Me: Not yet.
Etc.

Just how many licks does it take to get to the middle of a Tootsie Pop? Eventually, after lots of dedicated effort, she made it. Crunch.

I also let Elise enjoy a bowl of Cheerios on the floor. She was super excited.

Happy Halloween!