They're all in bed. Hannah went down early. She peeked out until mama came to tuck her in and delivered water. I didn't read a story tonight. I did read one last night - I need to more. I'd like to more. It's just that I'm usually trying to put Ben to sleep, and he tends to perk up if he hears exciting voices like Sister. Ben took a while to go down, dada had to take over. He kept waking and listening for sounds of mama, hoping I'd come. I had already done my part, he's tired, he's fed, just go to sleep.
He isn't the miracle all-night baby any more. He gets up in the dark. He gets up just before light. He's still darling, but he doesn't sleep all night. And I just have to go to bed earlier to deal with that.
And he eats. Oh does he ever eat!
Tonight was salmon, steamed broccoli, and rice. He's much like Hannah, though I don't think she was such an eater by 8 months as he has been. Both are great self-feeders. Just lay it out and baby stays busy grabbing and munching. Ben is pretty intense though. I pause between bites of my own dinner to plop three decent sized chunks of butternut squash, sweet potato, and chicken onto his tray. As I take my next bite, he reaches down, grabs all three chunks in his mitt and mashes them right into his maw. Little monster.
I've been sorting through his clothes today, preparing boxes to give away. I realize my sewing room is just filling with my old clothes, Hannah's, and Ben's. I don't know if we'll ever have a third child, yet I'm saving some baby clothes just in case. It's just a matter of how much I should even bother saving. There are some Ben never wore, some Hannah barely wore, those all just have to go. And with cloth diapers, many small pants never fit in the first place.
The cloth diapers. I ordered some new ones, I should've ordered a couple more. About a dozen of my original BumGenius are to be retired. It's time. Those diapers have been absolute tanks. 28 months of work in my house, they've served me well.
Hannah called up her crazy cousins yesterday. They love talking on the phone together. I was hoping they'd just compare their Hallowe'ens and enjoy chatting, like they had the day before (when 5 minutes in, Hannah declared a "party bum bum" and they spent the next 45 minutes squealing and chatting, Hannah sitting naked in the mirror talking to her own face but her cousin's ear through the phone), but no.
"Wanna come to my house?" her cousin asks.
Instead of being naked and having a phone party, as I had been hoping for, the kids organize a playdate. My 3 year old and her 5 year old cousin had it all set up. So despite my cold, my drippy nose and hoarse throat, I pack up both kids, take them to the grocery store, pick up supplies for lunch, then we had over to see the cousins. They had a great time, as always.
Hannah's cousins are crazy about the holidays. They particularly love Hallowe'en, and have bought a few 'scary guy' decorations. This year's new scary guy was a life size zombie with scary voice and flashing eyes. The girls wouldn't even enter the room with that thing. Hannah also wouldn't walk in the driveway alone, because of the zombie with maggots crawling out of his face.
The 5 year old thought it was funny how scared the girls were of the flashing-eye zombie guy, and kept moving him closer to them and laughing. Both girls hid under the table and when asked to come out, kept saying the zombie guy was there. Now, I figured because he was so into this new zombie guy, the 5 year old wasn't afraid of it. So I took it off the stand, and chased him around the house, croaking out "huuuug me" in my sick, hoarse voice.
Apparently he is afraid of it.
Oops.
Speaking of Hallowe'en:
The kids did an absolute marathon day. We did Mom's group, the natural foods market, the pumpkin patch, and THEN we did a full grocery shop at the regular store too. I can't even remember what we did for lunch, did I pass my daughter a granola bar and an apple or something? And I have this photo of them in the cart:
BOTH smiling and playing racing-car, at 4pm, after being out since 9am. Troopers.
They aren't always like this. I'm just posting it here as evidence that they CAN be like this. Sometimes.
Part of it is probably the 8'o'clock bedtimes we had earlier last week. It started off good. I really do like that cutoff. The baby doesn't always go down, but life is easier if the big girl is asleep. We can tidy and not have someone following behind dumping crayons or tossing the cushions off the couch. Baby dumps crayons too, but somehow it's cuter when he does it. Sorry, sweetie.
So the pumpkin patch was a big hike. We went to the very farthest corner of the patch, and back again, Hannah on foot and Ben asleep in the Ergo. Ow, my back. We picked a few green pumpkins, and it was tough just to narrow it down to 5 pumpkins for the family. One for each of us, one for good luck. Hannah thought we needed more than one for good luck, but we put those ones back.
I did some furious carving in the 24 hours leading up to trick-or-treating. My masterpiece this year:
The circles are eyes, the lines above are eyebrows. I took some artistic liberty in carving the chin. I just love the way little people draw.
Today I was trying to write down a recipe. Hannah commandeered the pen, "Is it okay if I write it in up and downs?" she asks. "Sure," I say, knowing I won't get the pen back, "2 cups flour." Hannah begins to write, /\/\/\/\/\/\/, "Okay, what next?" and I read out the recipe, and she scribbles. The last item, 2 eggs, I tell her she should write it out proper. E--G-G-S. I find the paper later, and there it is. A big E and some squiggly G's.
I'm proud of her. Maybe too much. She does a really decent job with letters. She clearly wrote her name in a colouring book the other day, HANNHA. Love!
Hallowe'en was really non-eventful. We barely got pumpkins out in time. There were maybe 30 trick-or-treaters. Hannah and Ben went out with their dada for about 45 minutes and made it all the way to our realtor's house and back, just like last year but faster. No rain. Hannah wore her Anna costume, and met a big Elsa (the real Elsa, she said), and a little Elsa.
Ben wore his kitty-cat pajamas. I couldn't even locate my eyeliner for whiskers. It's okay. Not every holiday is a pinterest miracle.
Poor little guy. He just wants his mama.
He did join us for fireworks. He sat with dada and was just sorta shocked. Hannah and I sat together, and BOY was she thrilled by them. The first few minutes she was giving standing ovations, "WOW!!!", eyes to the sky, mouth open and smiling with uncontrolled glee, hands clapping. The other kids, toddlers especially, were equally charmed. Our neighbours are fantastic, spending what might amount to a ticket to Hawaii, instead on fireworks for Hallowe'en. We do look forward to the little neighbourhood gathering every year.
Afterward, Hannah's grandparents dropped by to see her costume. I'm glad they did, she was excited to show everyone. Ben even sat for a while with his Bubby, smiling and watching his face.
We definitely needed the day of rest on November 1st. Oh wait, we had a playdate instead..., yeah, and afterward the kids came home and napped until 8pm then stayed up another few hours til 10:30, 11. Daylight savings time change makes me feel a bit better about that one.
8pm this week, 8pm.
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