The Angler fish (Not to be Confused with the Angel fish)

This year we went with a sea theme with an Angler Fish, Fisherman, Diver, Jelly and Sushi Roll in our entourage.

Matilda chose an angler fish for her costume this year, her favorite terrifying friend from the depths of the sea. CHOMP.

Fishy butt and awesome shiny legs.

I had a super fun time making her costume and hopefully we'll get lots more dress up time from it.

Grammy got tons of great compliments on her jelly costume with people even honking and yelling out of cars at her ( in the nice way).

Porter learned (with Pavlovian candy reinforcement) that if he marched up on the porches shaking his fishing pole at folks they would hand over precious snacks. "Snack Snack!"

Pumpkin Autopsy Party

Today was the Herrman's Annual Pumpkin Carving Party.

This year was the first time Matilda chose her own pumpkin and did the design all on her own. It was a very stabby affair. I felt lucky to walk away un-injured with so many kids and pumpkin carving tools involved. Tim got M to try a bite of raw pumpkin. She was not convinced.Showing off her glittery Halloween tattoo/sticker. She was inexplicably between costumes here. In the 2.5 hours we were at the party, she wore no less than 6 costumes between the few we brought and her pillaging of Gigi's princess bin.
We ran into some other cute costumes too!
Porter used the event as a chance to build some muscle.
Striking a pose.
The results
Matilda explained that her pumpkin is a little afraid and is saying "oh."

Flashback

Halloween circa 1982 with Uncle Brian; Smurfette and a warlock.

Dance Class

Matilda has been going to a super fun dance class the past few weeks. Today was the first day it occurred to her to wear one of her dress up leotards, which was spectacular to witness. You can tell how much she likes the class by how she runs there from the car.

She danced her little butt off and had so much fun.

Assistants

Matilda helped me along towards toasted pumpkin seeds (which she's in love with) and pumpkin pie. Yum.

During my late-night costume-creating binge Tim thought I needed some help and left me with chicken here when he disappeared off to bed!

Ladybug Week

Porter seems to have developed a soft spot for ladybugs this week. Yesterday he wore Matilda's old ladybug dress and got held up by the green laser fairy. Today he found a fun ladybug bouncer at a new-to-us park. It looks like he's about to climb out but really he was just busy trying to convince me to sit on the grasshopper next to him. Maybe we will find tomorrow's ladybug at LAX when we go get Grammy.

Good Clean Fun

Here's just one fun thing from today:

Tim claims he's never heard of eating donuts from a string. I think that is a sign he's actually an alien. Watching Matilda try to get a bite off this donut had me in stitches. It was probably 3 minutes or more before she got her teeth on it. By far the longest amount of time she's ever spent with one single Krispy Kreme goodie. So, so funny. The rest of the Halloween fair was fun, but the donut eating might have been the favorite part for at least 3 out of the 4 of us.

The Art of the Tantrum

As he turned 18 months this week, Porter decided to perfect his tantrum technique. He has it down now.

This tantrum today was because I took away a pencil. Yesterday he threw a 15 minute long fit because I took off his (peanut butter saturated) clothes and put some new ones on. He pulled at the clean clothes yelling, "Off! Off!"

Almost nothing will distract him from his tantrums.....we mostly try to avoid them (with magical skills of predicting toddler logic) If that fails, we just ride it out.

Scooter Boy, Not Scooting

Porter mastered using Matilda's scooter this week (inside since it has been rainy rainy). I would have video to show you, except that these days Porter is preoccupied with looking at the resulting photo you just took on the camera. If you try to capture a picture or video, he immediately stops what he is doing to race over and get behind the camera.

At the end he's doing his "cheese" face to the camera.

Stolen Quality Time

For about a month now, Porter has settled into a solid one-nap pattern in the early afternoon. He will go down for a nap right after lunch generally and sleep for 2+ hours. His night time sleeping is still such a disaster lately that I am astounded everyday how soundly he sleeps during his nap. If we are home I can crash & bang and yet not disturb him at all. If he falls asleep when we are out, he'll sleep through endless transfers from car seat to Ergo to bed while I run errands. I am cherishing these 2 hours more than I could have imagined.

On non-school days I have been making an effort to use Porter's napping time to really actively play with Matilda, which I get to do so rarely it seems with all the distractions and tasks of day to day life.

It is a total no-brainer, but Matilda loves the time together and is so much better behaved, nicer with her brother, more helpful around the house, more everything when we do this.

I took this one just to show Matilda the big inkspots on her.

In response I got a super laugh and bigger smile.

Articulate

Matilda just yelled at me, "You are really mean today." Be warned.

Edited to add: I love that Matilda is so clearly able to speak her mind these days. Not only does she yell that she's frustrated with me or that nobody appreciates her (direct quotes) but it goes the other way too. This week she told Porter he is the best brother a girl could have. I know she took the wording directly from her beloved Wizard of Oz ending, but still, she adapted it for her situation and how could that not just melt your heart.

Future Runner

As you walk along with him, Porter really likes you to say "On your mark, get set, go!" He pumps his arms so high and fast, it is too funny and cute. Here he is, racing with Daddy. Usually he'll run about 2 feet before he stops and asks you to start the race over.

Run Around

Porter is getting chatty, but can you understand him?

Sick Day at the Zoo

Matilda's school field trip to the pumpkin patch was Friday but she was too sick (fever & cough) to go. To ease her terrible disappointment, I took her and Porter for a quick zoo trip keeping her quarantined from other kids and "resting" in the stroller for the outing. The adventure really helped us all since keeping Porter entertained while cooped up in the apartment all day is quite a challenge. He needs to run and burn some energy and I need a break from telling him, "stop that!" It was cool and misty and the perfect morning for a zoo visit.

The wallabies had a ball, they were actually playing with it, and they wouldn't include Porter despite his repeated requests. He almost lost his mind.

Then P tried to climb in with the gorillas.

The bird show, while rarer now, still did not disappoint.

Sleeping/Not Sleeping

Apparently Porter can sleep anywhere except the new toddler bed we got 5 days ago.

Sleeping during the noisy beverage service on a plane.

Sleeping through getting licked by pugs.

Sleeping through the night while camping on the rocky ground with no pads.

I feel like I haven't slept in 5 days. Pretty soon I am going to resign myself to this battle and just let him sleep in my bed until he moves to college. This too shall pass. This too shall pass.

Recent Cell Phone Weirdness

This box has been sitting outside the new dietitians office at work. I am intrigued.

The poor llama suffered a Porter casualty, easily repairable thankfully.

Ice cream sundaes with Raid. What?

More packaging, please.

Not weird, just cute at the park yesterday.

2 Weeks!

Grammy, Matilda is so excited for you to arrive. Now, we just need to get her settled on ONE Halloween costume idea so we can get you two outfitted.

Now Porter is in on the Joke

Which is fantastic, because it saves me having to participate 24-7, just like 22-7 maybe.

NY round up

I never got to posting as many pics as I planned t, but Tim is slowly getting them up over at Flickr if you want to head over and check them all out. We had LOTS of fun and there are lots of good photos.

What more can a kid ask for?

Porter smiled so much as he got to run these controls.

Turns out barn boots can look stylish.

Mr. Funny Face

I May Already Regret This

I just taught Matilda the chicken butt joke. It has, momentarily, replaced all smoked salmon talk in our household.

Bat Fashionista

Matilda has been wearing her bat girl dress for a long time now! I particularly loved this ensemble she pulled together for school Wednesday.