It's Halloween! This year's costumes of choice were a giraffe for Owen and a cute cowboy outfit for Zachary, mostly composed of items inherited from his uncle Josh at the same age. Of course he had to try out a bunch of different hats along the way, though the cowboy-appropriate one did win out in the end.
To avoid some of the challenges we had in past years (it getting too late for Zachary, yet too early for anyone to answer the door and give him candy), we decided to try doing what one of my distant cousins calls a "truck or treat", where you drive to a central location hosting a Halloween party with a bunch of people giving out candy. In this case, we packed up the car with the boys, mima, and papa, and went to the Bothell Country Village, which turned out to be fairly jam-packed with people. (High percentage costumes this year were Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy.) Still, Zachary did fabulously and even selected candy when offered -- though he remains only interested in eating "piece of chocolate" that conforms to certain dimensions and taste (e.g. those little Dove square chocolates). Owen dutifully conked out just before we arrived, so there was a sleeping little giraffe being carried along behind the cute cowboy. Meh did an impressive job putting together some last minute cowboy-like costumes for us as well, and mima and papa went as "Floridians trying to cope with the cold weather". Zachary had a great time, though he kept having to deal with sagging chaps and his hat falling into his line of sight. Still, he had a great time and finally had a crying-free Halloween -- hooray! Full set of pictures here.
Alas, we're still not into crying-free Halloween yet; Owen continues to fight a cold, and melted down a bit on the way home from an early dinner with mima and papa. Still, a huge milestone for Zachary and he even took our cues (sort of), saying "Hi trick or treat!" (as if trick or treat was a person). Both boys are so cute and good!
Owen continues to love music, and has even started to make some of his own:
Both boys continue to encourage mommy to sing and daddy to bust out with the viola -- Zachary will even say "more music! viola!" when I stop playing between pieces. Sometimes I take requests, which generally fall into the 'Wheels on the Bus' or 'Thomas and Friends' theme song categories.
While Owen continues to try everything in sight (this kid even eats those vegetable medley jarred baby foods), Zachary continues to typically be very selective. We continue to serve up a variety of interesting and tasty foods to him, but he's generally declined, ignored, or actively said 'no!' to foods that fall outside of his comfort zone. So it was huge news in the world of Zachary dining today to see him take one thoughtful bite of my famous challah! The two of us were sitting and having lunch, and he saw me eating a piece. He then picked up the piece I'd given him on his lunch plate, smelled it, touched it to his lips, said "good job!" (I think that's what our nanny has been saying when he eats something), and then ate it. The rest of the challah remained on the plate, but still a huge thing to see him try something new -- good job indeed!
Incidentally, delayed pictures from Zachary's 3rd birthday party have been posted here. I of course had been preoccupied with grilling and watching the birthday boy, and promptly forgot to use the camera. Visiting friends T and S covered it though, and got some great shots!
Mima and Papa had the four of us and our friends J & S over for shabbat dinner last night. I of course brought the homemade challah (seriously, I'd perhaps try to break out into other dishes if I didn't have to confront the downcast faces if I show up somewhere without fresh loaves of bread!), and Meh made this amazing peanut butter and chocolate cake of extra tastiness:
The boys did really well despite dinner rolling well into their bedtime; Owen even sampled his very first matzoh ball! Meanwhile, Zachary was shushing Lola and J & S's dog Max when they barked at each other -- Lola in particular was looking rather ferocious trying to protect her property, though the two did somehow manage to coexist. It was a fabulous multi-course dinner, though the boys did turn into pumpkins as we advanced to the later courses. Still, we managed to finish dinner, get home, the boys bathed, and to sleep without sadness - I'll call that a success!
And speaking of pumpkins, today we went with mima to a local pumpkin patch and corn maze (though this year's maze was about the saddest thing we've seen - there's a whole description on their website about hordes of crows repeatedly digging up and eating their crop). Zachary waded through the "p says pah, pah -- pumpkin!" patch. He didn't exactly pick out a pumpkin, but he was happy to see us take one home. We also ran into some old friends attending a birthday party at the farm; it was great to see them and get to briefly catch up!
It's a Meh work weekend, so I've been getting to enjoy some quality time with the boys. They continue to occasionally play in parallel; Owen definitely watches and often happily screeches at Zachary. Zachary mostly responds when Owen starts playing with one of Zachary's old music toys, at which point he wants to play with it himself. The boys and I had a full day adventure with mima and papa yesterday -- first we checked out what turned out to be an enormous annual festival at a local farm/park. They had pony rides, bunny rabbits that you could pet (Owen smiled as I helped him with his first real-life opportunity to pat the bunny), and a bunch of stands with arts and crafts activities. Unfortunately, the weather didn't follow the forecast and clear up, so we all got pretty wet and weren't really into waiting in long lines. Still, Zachary was happy to see and talk about the chickens, and we were impressed with the staff that were teaching goats to go through something resembling an obstacle course or an equestrian run. From there we decided to get warmed up by grabbing sushi lunch at a local kaiten place, which was super tasty if a bit challenging (Owen was continually trying to reach for rolls, chopsticks, soy sauce holders, and my glass).
And finally we headed to a certain local library to see our favorite Seattle a cappella group perform. Of course, our favorite librarian was staffing the event, so everyone was happy and smiley to get to see mommy on one of her work weekends. As an added bonus, the group that was opening for the Baudboys (an opening act at a library? Fancy!) was warming up, saw Zachary hanging out in the stroller, and decided to serenade him. He wasn't quite sure what to make of it at first, grabbing mommy's hand, but he enjoyed their four-part harmony renditions of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and another kids song. For the concert itself, Owen was smiley in Mima's lap while Zachary preferred to remain in the stroller -- it was a great show, and particularly fun to meet and hear some of the newest members of the Bauds.
Zachary continues to come home from school talking about his activities, his many friends, and singing songs and reciting stories that he hears there. Talk about a kid who gets excited about school, here he's literally clamoring at the door to go outside and wait for the bus:
Tonight we got to connect some of the dots, as his class held an evening pumpkin decorating activity, with parents invited! We met more of his classmates, and talked with his teachers to help decode the names of fellow students he's been singing about. (Example: "Ah-mel-mel" turned out to be "Amelio") He was a little unsure of why we were back at school at 5 pm, but was excited to show us the way to his classroom. Unfortunately, the activity was actually in the cafeteria, so Zachary didn't know what was happening when we took a literal left turn. Eventually he came in and painted a fabulous pumpkin (mostly a Halloween appropriate blood red), and decorated black construction paper with chalk (spiderwebs?) and paper spiders stuck on with a big glue stick.
Meanwhile, it turned out that the teachers themselves were super excited to catch up with the mom behind some of the most impressively creative lunches they'd seen packed for school. Meh makes them in these cute little bento boxes, and always gives Zachary a nice variety of options. She outdid herself today actually, putting together this fun little hard boiled egg, apple, and quesadilla number.
The other morning, Owen was happily playing with his toys and then something made him sad, he mumbled a bit, and then out came "mama!" Meh ran right over to him with smiles and hugs, and was delighted that (even if inadvertent) her name beat out both mine and "cookie" (Zachary's first real word if we remember correctly). And today, Owen in his babbling looked at me and said "dada". Again, it's all likely just random babbling at this point, but still super cute.
Meanwhile, the tiny man is no longer so tiny; the exersaucer indicates that you should adjust the seat up to the next height if the baby's feet can touch the ground flat. Well, Owen's feet can touch flat, and the exersaucer is already in the top position. Looks like another toy that will be forced into an early retirement!
Owen continues to be our family fresser, eagerly at least trying a whole range of tasty well-pureed foods. The other day, Meh got him into his highchair for supper time, and he immediately opened his mouth wide and just sat there, jaws unhinged, waiting for her to finish prepping dinner. He particularly likes oatmeal, mashed fruits, sweet potato (Zachary and his first shared dish), carrots, and yogurt, but he'll occasionally even try a bit of banana yogurt. Oh, and he loves his mum mums, though I dispute the product's claim that it "doesn't leave a mess"; there are generally bits of rice/cabbage/whatever cracker all over his hands, face, seat, and local floorspace by the time he's done. But it's all well worth it to watch him shove a mum mum into his mouth and gum it for a bit, all while smiling at us - super cute!
It's been a very busy month of September, with high holidays, Zachary starting school, the boys' new part-time nanny starting, and Owen continuing to explore his surroundings and develop new skills. I actually went to Los Angeles to spend Yom Kippur with friends, and got the full tour with three different shuls, as well as plenty of tasty kosher food (though not during the fasting day, of course!) Meh and mima took the boys to a local childrens Yom Kippur service. Alas, Zachary slept through (easier to do when they're like 30 minutes long apparently), though Owen apparently enjoyed the singing and people-watching.
While Zachary has mostly settled back in to sleeping through the night, Owen has continued to be up multiple times a night (typically sometime between 10 and midnight, 2 or 2:30, 4 or 4:30, and then roughly every hour after that) for quite some time. There's of course the extra challenge of Zachary sleeping just down the hall, generally with his door cracked open, but luckily he hasn't seemed to be bothered. Finally, last night we decided to try starting 'sleep training'. However, I think he overheard us, and promptly slept until nearly 4 am. Sleep, tiny man, sleep!
We've been gradually receiving clues from Zachary as to the fun times he's been having at school; over the weekend, he was singing both "Wheels on the Bus" and "Row Your Boat". He also was singing the "goodbye" song we'd known from his pre-preschool program to various items around the house:
The goodbye song appears to be used at preschool as well; he eventually got around to singing the names of at least three separate kids besides himself (all nicely pronounced by Zachary) on Saturday and Sunday, and after school today, he'd added two more along with what I'm guessing was his teacher K (he was literally saying the letter "K"). He also came home today with an adorable note:
"Zachary was our song chooser at circle time today! He worked on puzzles with a friend at free choice and helped Teacher [K] make a sand castle at small group! Way to go Zachary!"
Meh and I have speculated that this roughly translates to him jostling with another kid over a puzzle he didn't want to share, and then dumping sand through his fingers (or possibly throwing some). :) But so super cute, and we're so glad his teachers send home little notes and have been so responsive to our curious inquiries!
Owen had his six month checkup this morning. Zachary and I stayed home, but Meh reported that all looked good. The stats:
Weight: 18 lbs 11.5 oz (75th percentile)
Length: 27.5 inches (75th-90th percentile)
OFC: 17.5 inches (50th-75th percentile)
He was sitting up nicely at the appointment (getting compliments from the doctor) and we learned that second children frequently will start to move earlier, wanting to follow around their interesting older siblings. Sure enough, Meh reported that later today he actually pushed up enough to scoot a bit from the sitting position!
Zachary has long held a special fascination for buses; even when he was really young, he saved his biggest laughs and smiles for the shuttle buses we'd take (during his early frequent flying days) from the airport parking lots to the terminal. More recently he's gotten more specific, liking 'yellow buses' (in particular this song/album), then 'school buses'. A few weeks ago we visited mommy at work at lunch, and the multiple city buses going by across the street gained his attention; when I explained that they weren't school buses, he said "Want to go city bus!" We've still got to find some time to try out the light rail, which I think he'll love.
Anyway, today was the first time a bus came specifically for him -- to take him to the first day of preschool! His teacher had indicated that the buses often run 10-15 minutes late on the first day, but he was so excited that we all (mima and papa came over for the momentous occasion) ended up hanging out on our driveway waiting for the bus. Zachary didn't even notice it as it started down the street, but then the lights came on and he was all smiles. The door opened, the friendly driver welcomed him and mommy aboard, and she got to buckle him into his seat. (The modern school bus apparently has seatbelts in all seats, and further, a fold down 5-point-harness seat for the Zachary-sized kids.) He continued to smile and laugh as the door swung shut and the bus pulled away.
Several hours later, the bus pulled up once again. Zachary was completely conked out, and vaguely blue-looking as well -- as we learned later from an e-mail from his fun new teacher, they'd done an art project involving blue stamps, and he'd gotten it on his hands, face, mouth (inside and out!), and when I got him ready for bathtime, even somehow through his shirt and onto his chest. Anyway, he woke up as Meh transferred him inside, and didn't end up taking much of a nap -- but definitely seems to have had a great time in the classroom on his first day. Teacher K even indicated that he said goodbye when he got back on the bus at the end of the day -- such a good big man!
Here's the full photo album of the day from our perspective.
Today was Zachary's open house for preschool! A friend of his from the pre-preschool program he was in is actually going to be in his class, so he already knew one fellow student; we'll ignore the fact that during the open house Zachary was kind of hoarding and grabbing the toys from his friend. We got to meet the staff and they were all wonderful and very nice. Zachary had a great time playing with a wide variety of toys. Tomorrow the bus comes to take him to the first full day (well, 2.5 hours for the first week, and then 7(!) hours starting the following week) away -- yup, alas, school starts on Rosh Hashanah this year. We figured rather than starting off behind, we'd have a nice observance tonight with mima and papa, and ate apples (from our farm trip this past weekend, which mima baked into a tasty cake, and Meh baked into challah) along with a lovely festive meal.
Owen is six months old today! Since we're now at the six month mark and speaking in terms of weeks would draw funny looks, I'll have to update the stat sheet at the right to match Zachary's years/months/days format. Anyway, in the last few days, he's started being able to kind of maintain a seated position if we place him in it. He enjoys some good tummy time (even if he frequently raises his arms and legs off the ground into a Superman pose), grabbing and nomming on his toys, squeaking and screeching happily, jumping in the bouncer, watching his older brother with fascination, splashing ridiculously large waves out of the bathtub, and of course smiling at everyone he sees.
Another significant milestone for Zachary: one of his sensory sensitivities has been biting food -- as in, he wouldn't. Most everything had to be bite sized, or else it would confound him and he'd either reject it or try to shove it in whole (and get upset if that didn't work). We've modelled taking bites of food, and he understood the concept, but just wasn't ready for it himself apparently. But today, we took things all the way back to the source, and had surprising success!
Mima's birthday was last week, so we took mima, papa, and the boys out for brunch this morning at one of our favorite places that we haven't been in ages. Everything was excellent as always, though I'd forgotten about the extensive waits. Still, both boys were extremely patient, and Owen even tried some of the berry coulis that came with our tasty beignets.
After breakfast, we piled back into the car and headed north into Skagit Valley, where Meh had discovered what we believe to be the closest U-Pick farm currently offering apples -- and a huge variety at that. (While we're well into the harvest season in a state well known for its apples, Washington's primary growing spots are apparently many hours away, in the eastern half of the state.) The boys snoozed most of the 90 minute ride, and we arrived in decent time at the farm, greeted by the friendly owner and her friendlier two dogs -- the pooches later assaulted Zachary with multiple kisses, which he giggled through. The family also has a bunch of toys laid out, Zachary had great fun for a while on a big red jeep. We then grabbed a cart and headed into the first row of the apple orchard.
The rules there are simple: eat as many apples as you want, try one before you pick a bunch of a particular type, and have fun. Zachary did all of the above - wandering through the rows, laughing at the tall grass, and talking about all of the apples. I pulled one down and offered it to him, and at first he just smiled at it. Then I cut him a piece, which he liked, and moments later he started chomping on the apple. I found another tasty one, took a first bite, handed it to him, and he devoured that one as well! By the end of the outing, I think he'd eaten like four, including one that he nibbled most of the drive home. We got a good haul as well - a wide variety of apples and some pears too. Despite the occasional threat of rain, it was a great day out!
Today was the day we made our first serious attempt to focus on potty training for Zachary. There's of course plenty of reading material on the subject (my favorite ironic title was "Potty Train Your Child in Just One Day" -- for a book that was nearly 300 pages long), and we took a few cues from friends and family as well. We also had lined up a reward system with one of his favorites (chocolate chips), including an iconic sign on the bathroom door stating "[image of child on potty] = [chocolate chip]". (Really I think the slightly melting chocolate chip in the picture looked more like, um, something that would end up in the potty, but that's just me I guess.)
Alas, it was an exhausting day of staying in the house and near a bathroom, and even then things didn't really go as planned; despite lots of drinking and occasional praised on-potty production by Zachary, Owen needed occasional attention as well, and Zachary took advantage of any lull in toilet time to go find a place to potty that wasn't the potty. The 6+ accidents (several on a carpet, and all requiring wardrobe resets and much towelling) have us thinking we may hold off until after preschool starts. On the plus side, Zachary still doesn't have negative connotations about the toilet; we've continued a tradition for the last few weeks of sitting on the potty before bathtime, which he seems to like as part of the evening routine.
To wrap up a frustrating day, I managed to shatter a glass on the floor in the kitchen, which sent an impossible number of shards and fragments into every possible room; it took multiple sweeps to get them all up, and I'll still feel better if everyone wears socks for the next day or two. Ugh!
In happier news, yesterday Zachary got a large package in the mail -- it was a welcome kit for preschool, which starts next week! Teacher K (apparently "Miss"/"Mrs."/"Ms." doesn't start until elementary school) sent along chalk, a mini-coloring book of one of Zachary's favorite stories, and a super cute series of story cards telling about the adventures Zachary will have at preschool. A sample card: "At preschool, we will have snack, circle time, free play, and recess." We've read it several times, and Zachary is already excited about recess in particular, and also states "I want to go on bus!" There was also an introductory letter for parents, and we're looking forward to open house and the start of classes next week!
For the past few weeks, we've been gradually getting up the courage to start potty training. First and foremost, Meh of course brought home some children's books from the library on the topic. (I'm only mildly concerned with the thoughts of just how sanitary library books on the topic are likely to be -- both before and after we're done with them.) Zachary has really enjoyed them, particularly this one by an author we've got another illustrated book by; impressively, he named the other book the first time he saw the cover of this one. Anyway, all of these potty books have got him talking about the potty when he sees it (and sometimes even when he doesn't). He also continues to call Owen's bath seat a potty -- hey, there's at least a passing resemblance. But when we've asked him if he wants to go, or suggest that we spend some time sitting on it, not so much. So it's definitely a work on progress.
One area where he has gotten a bit more comfortable is interacting with and sitting on the little potty that we'd had sitting unused in a corner of the bathroom. Meh had the brilliant idea to put it in front of his costume trunk and mirror, and he now uses it for one of his dolls to go on, as well as a seat for, um, modelling head wear. There's still always a diaper separating him from the toilet seat, but we'll take things one step at a time; our hope is that he can be at least starting down this route by the time school starts in, yikes, less than three week!
Meh and Owen (along with friend R and her daughter E) drove down to Oregon today to participate in a Balkan music festival. Sounds like the drive actually went pretty well (recall Owen's earlier challenges with car rides), and they're visiting and staying the night with R's in-laws in Vancouver (the Washington one, not British Columbia). So while mima sat for Zachary during the day, in the evening we got to have some solo guys time. Nothing too exciting, though it was definitely different and nice to be able to spend some time with Zachary -- I think I'll steal a friend of mine's strategy to make sure to schedule solo time with each boy as they get older. The two of us had a nice dinner together before bath and bedtime; Zachary asked several times about mommy (though never about Owen - hmm...) and I explained that she was singing at a concert. Speaking of which, he's actually started singing some of her group's repertoire:
Yesterday was Zachary's 3-year wellness checkup! Alas, he seems to have formed a pretty strong opinion about the doctor at this point, bursting into tears as we entered the parking lot with a pleading "want to go upstairs". He calmed down enough to enjoy the fish in the lobby's aquarium, but as soon as we were called back there was more sadness, and the height and weight measurements ended up being estimates at best. (When he later calmed down in the exam room with toys and books present, he and I reconfirmed the height with a tape measure.) That said, here are the stats:
31 lbs (25th-50th percentile)
36" tall (25th percentile)
BMI 16.8 (50th-75th percentile)
Interestingly, the whole head circumference thing is out the window and now they start tracking his BMI. All of the stats looked good, and he eventually even got a bit friendly with the doctor (particularly when she pulled out a Dr. Seuss book). The appointment as always ended with a pair of booster shots that made him sad (ironically not nearly as much as just walking into the building). At least as a reward he did get two purple band-aids on his upper arm that made him look like a tough guy. The little man is looking healthy and ready to tackle his third year!
Happy third birthday to Zachary -- how the heck is he already three?! Since Z has started to have friends of his own, we decided to break things up and have two separate birthday parties this year: a pizza and cupcakes event for kids (and their parents) on Saturday, and a barbecue mostly for grownup friends on Sunday. As an added bonus, grandma flew up for the weekend and got to spend some time with her two favorite grandsons. And college friends friends T, S, and their kids M, R, and A have flown up to visit as well and were able to attend the Sunday event -- we got to have some mildly more sane time with them today and look forward to more activities throughout the week.
Last year Meh had hazzarded a guess that it would be the last birthday party where she could pick the theme. This year his desired theme was pretty obvious -- Zachary's favorite models, games, television program, and summer activity are all one and the same: Thomas. Meh did some incredible planning, compiling party favors for the kids including train whistles (fairly quiet so as to not be too obnoxious), stickers, conductor caps, and goodies. And of course some very tasty blue Thomas-themed cupcakes. She even set out to create an incredible Thomas centerpiece cake, but alas, the warm weather this past week was too much for the fondant and Meh had to give up. I caught a few pictures of Thomas in progress, and the results were really impressive and super cute - Meh is the most amazing!
The weather didn't entirely cooperate, so while we'd planned to let the kids have outdoor fun with Zachary's little house, his new balance bike, toys, and a new bubble machine, the morning and afternoon rained away. Still, everyone had great fun playing in the living room and enjoying pizza and cake. We had a few parallels to last year: Zachary again managed to sleep his way through much of the party, emerging in time to decline a cupcake and instead enjoy goldfish crackers. And he still doesn't really like other people singing happy birthday, so we skipped over that bit at the party. That apparently didn't stop him from singing it himself though the next morning, on his actual birthday:
On day two of the birthday festivities (Zachary's birthday proper), the weather improved for the barbecue, allowing for some al fresco dining. Again, somehow Zachary's nap intersected with the party, though this time around his appearance was a bit earlier on. He was a big fan of the bubble machine and enjoyed trying out his new balance bike. Happy third birthday, little man!
He's not even three years old yet, but Zachary is already a graduate! He'd been in a fabulous pre-preschool program for the last few months, and they have break in August and only work with kids under the age of 3, so Zachary got to "participate" (and I'll use the term loosely) in their graduation event. He wasn't actually interested in standing around, so he and mommy took a little stroll. Then mima, papa, and I watched from a distance as another toddler -- who we're all pretty sure didn't actually know him -- ran over and gave him a big hug. Both kids went down in a (thankfully smiling) tumble, which was super cute.
Participation in the graduation exercises really just involved some group sing alongs and then the kids got to walk under a balloon arch to the reason they were happy to attend: a giant party, complete with food and cake (Zachary passed on the latter, though he did enjoy some goldfish crackers), arts and crafts, play toys, and yes, a giant inflated bounce room -- which Zachary seemed to primarily enjoy by sitting down in the middle and laughing as other kids bounced around him. It was also great getting to talk once more with his teachers, all of whom clearly seemed to adore him.
It's still hard to believe our little boy is already almost three years old, and will be starting preschool (with a bus, backpack, sack lunch, and the rest) at the local elementary school next month! Congratulations little man!
The time has really flown and my wonderful month of paternity leave wrapped up yesterday; today was my first day back in the office. It will definitely take some time to get back into sync at work, though I'll be the first to admit that taking care of two boys (and solo at that when Meh was at work) is very challenging and exhausting work. Not to suggest that won't be happening again; Meh works every other weekend, so we'll get plenty of fun all boys time!
To wrap up my leave, I got to take the two boys to an excellent dinosaur-themed third birthday party for one of Zachary's friends that we met way back in an infant support group. Owen was in the wrap and Zachary alternated between enjoying some of the party snacks and playing on the playground equipment and running around the park's water spraying features. It was hilarious watching him always try to keep an inch (or less) away from getting totally soaked by the fountains, but somehow he managed!
No pun in the post title this time around; it's an actual event put on by the local zoo each summer, where a bunch of great bands are brought in to perform on the zoo's broad grassy lawn. Apparently this isn't particularly unique to Seattle, as last night's performers mentioned they'd played another zoo the night before. Anyway, when the schedule had come out a few months ago, Meh saw that a fun-sounding group of Newfoundlanders was performing Celtic music, so she'd grabbed tickets for us, mima, and papa. We successfully fought our way through evening rush hour traffic as a car caravan, and the parking karma was decent when we reached the zoo shortly before the concert. We parked our chairs (and Zachary's stroller) in what we thought was the back of the field to enjoy a lovely picnic put together by mima before the music started.
There wasn't an opening band or anything; after a brief intro by a local DJ, Great Big Sea came out and started playing -- and while it wasn't deafening, it was a pretty loud and amplified opening. Alas, both Owen and Zachary got immediately unhappy with this, and Zachary and I had to take a walk around the perimeter of the field to get adjusted to the (very fun!) music. I'd forgotten that the zoo's carousel is right there as well, so Zachary was insistingly saying "I want to go ah horse!" and nearly laid himself out when I suggested we just watch for a bit. But all's well that ends well -- after our walk, we returned to the rest of the family and both boys seemed to do better as the set progressed; Zachary chilled out eating his dinner and then snuggled on my lap while Owen smiled at everyone.
The only remaining hitch was that we apparently weren't quite far enough back; a police officer asked us to scoot back (instigated by folks who had arrived even later than us, and had sat even closer to the garbage cans). But it was all good; we switched spots with them and enjoyed the rest of the set, wrapping up our evening with a nice walk back to the car and abbreviated baffy time back at home.
It's Halloween! This year's costumes of choice were a giraffe for Owen and a cute cowboy outfit for Zachary, mostly composed of items inherited from his uncle Josh at the same age. Of course he had to try out a bunch of different hats along the way, though the cowboy-appropriate one did win out in the end.
To avoid some of the challenges we had in past years (it getting too late for Zachary, yet too early for anyone to answer the door and give him candy), we decided to try doing what one of my distant cousins calls a "truck or treat", where you drive to a central location hosting a Halloween party with a bunch of people giving out candy. In this case, we packed up the car with the boys, mima, and papa, and went to the Bothell Country Village, which turned out to be fairly jam-packed with people. (High percentage costumes this year were Alice in Wonderland and Dorothy.) Still, Zachary did fabulously and even selected candy when offered -- though he remains only interested in eating "piece of chocolate" that conforms to certain dimensions and taste (e.g. those little Dove square chocolates). Owen dutifully conked out just before we arrived, so there was a sleeping little giraffe being carried along behind the cute cowboy. Meh did an impressive job putting together some last minute cowboy-like costumes for us as well, and mima and papa went as "Floridians trying to cope with the cold weather". Zachary had a great time, though he kept having to deal with sagging chaps and his hat falling into his line of sight. Still, he had a great time and finally had a crying-free Halloween -- hooray! Full set of pictures here.
Alas, we're still not into crying-free Halloween yet; Owen continues to fight a cold, and melted down a bit on the way home from an early dinner with mima and papa. Still, a huge milestone for Zachary and he even took our cues (sort of), saying "Hi trick or treat!" (as if trick or treat was a person). Both boys are so cute and good!
