A happy(ish) Halloween

With the exception of Jacob, Halloween went pretty much exactly the way I thought it would this year.

Abby finally committed to a costume and went door-to-door with her usual exuberance dressed as a cowgirl princess in her brother's plaid shirt, a sparkly tutu and a few accessories from the Lone Star State, courtesy of Uncle Matt.

I squeezed Levi into his horse costume, all the while debating the other children over whether or not it was a cow. (It's not.) Even Jacob got in on the argument, mooing up a storm to back up his older siblings. Abby finally conceded that Levi was a baby horse, even though it made perfect sense to her that a cowgirl should have a cow for a sidekick, not a foal.

Jacob was, for the most part, perfectly content to simply run around with his little plastic pumpkin stuffing it full of cars and blankets and whatever else he could find. That is, until his big brother came out dressed as a shark. Suddenly the game changed. "Duh duh!" he shouted, echoing the Jaws theme that our kids are convinced is the sound a shark makes. He made a mad dash for the dress-up box where he retrieved Caleb's old shark costume and proceeded to put it on. When he scored a Reese's cup and a big smile from a favorite neighbor at our first house, Jacob was hooked. And the kid I thought would be in bed by 7 ended up trick-or-treating with his big sister and his dad until almost 9 p.m. He loved every minute of it, and came home heavy laden with candy. Because seriously, who's going to tell the cute little shark with the big brown eyes to stop dipping his hand in the candy dish?

Caleb, dressed as a shark for Halloween for the second time in his life thanks to a fellow mom who knows him all too well, really, really wanted to go trick-or-treating. I told him he could stay home and help me hand out candy, but he wanted to give it a try. We got an early start while it was still light out, and made it to exactly two houses with him. And the fact that he only got four pieces of candy didn't bother him in the least. What did bother him was the dark, the smoke machine in the neighbor's yard, the pumpkins in a neighbor's window, and a kid in a wolf mask. We weren't the least bit surprised by his reaction. He's our sensitive little guy, always very in tune with his own feelings and the feelings of others. So when he said he wanted to go home, that's just what we did. He was more than happy to sit inside with Mommy and ignore the doorbell when it rang so he wouldn't have to see anyone dressed up in costumes. We put Levi to bed and listened to uplifting music and played games and ate his four pieces of candy while we waited on the rest of the family to come home. And before bed, he asked us to pray with him that he would forget about the scary wolf. I think next year, Caleb and I are skipping Halloween and going out for ice cream.

International affairs

Abby's a little obsessed with geography and crafts, so when she found out that each country has its very own flag, she set out to make some for us to put on our big map in the living room. She went to work armed with her children's encyclopedia, some construction paper, crayons, a glue stick, and her pink scissors.

I asked if she wanted help finding a specific country.

"I don't need your help, Mommy," she informed me. "I've got this."

She began with Slovakia, since that's where her friend Mazzy lives. She's considering mailing this one to her friend "so she'll know what it looks like so she can find the library and the post office." Apparently, the only reason we fly flags is to help us locate government buildings.

Next she worked on Sweden, but only because Caleb asked her to do a blue one. She finished up her self-imposed geography assignment with Grenada, not because of any particular affinity for islands in the Caribbean, but most likely because it has a star on it, and she likes stars.

If she sticks with this project, I'm going to need a much bigger map.

Four good reasons

I think I'm over the whole homemade Halloween costume thing.

It was cute when eight-week-old Abby wore the Dorothy costume I whipped up in all the free time I had with only one kid.

It was cute when we went as a family of M&M's, even though the dye wouldn't wash out of Abby's hair or mine for a few days and I had to sew Caleb into his blue peanut M&M because he put on so much weight during the weeks it took me to make it.

And it was adorable when all three sported handmade costumes last year and showed up at the fall festival as the most adorable frog princess, Tow Mater and Starbucks latte the world had ever seen.

But this year, I'm throwing in the towel, and I have four good reasons:

1. Levi does not care. Mimi found him a $2 horse outfit at the thrift store, so a horse he will be. 
2. Jacob does not care. He'll be first in line for handfuls of candy, but a costume? Forget it. The kid won't let me layer his clothing when it's chilly outside. I'm not wasting time on a costume.
3. Caleb does not want to participate. If you press him for an answer, he'll insist he wants to be a shark (again). But when push comes to shove, he's not going to dress up. From Santa to the Chick-fil-a cow, he hates costumed characters. Halloween is not his holiday.
4. Abby does not know what she wants. With Levi dressed as a horse, she's convinced she wants to be a cowgirl. But only if I'll be a cowgirl too. And she could just as easily change her mind and decide she's going to be a frog again. Or a princess. Or a ballerina. You get the idea.

So with Levi in his equine ensemble, I threw plaid shirts on the majority of the family, divvied up the cowboy accessories from the dress up box, and begged Caleb to at least wear his hat for the picture. On the way out the door, Abby grabbed the tutu she wore for her fancy third birthday party. She wanted to be a cowgirl princess, she said.

Happy Halloween. This year, this is as good as it gets.

A job well done

"Mommy, come see this!" Abby yelled from her room. "I did a really great job making my bed!"

I started up the stairs to praise her for a job well done.

"Bring your camera Mommy," she called. "You're gonna want to get a picture of this!"

I did as I was told, and arrived in her room to find her bed neatly made, pillows perfectly placed, animals arranged in a neat row, blankets folded and put away, and my five-year-old, who apparently knows me all too well, posed beneath it all, chin resting comfortably in her hands, a proud grin on her face.

We should all enjoy the finished work of our morning responsibilities this much.

Shoot for the moon

Their goal is to reach the lintel and work their way across, monkey-bar style, to the other side. They are not allowed to use props, and they are forbidden from giving one another a boost.

They're about halfway there.

My kids like to dream big. I expect to see them hanging from the top of the door frame any day now.

Life coach

Levi's going to do just fine. He's got a big brother to show him the ropes. Jacob was a baby once, so he knows a thing or two. And he's very eager to impart his knowledge to his little brother. He's a man of few words, but he's excellent at leading by example.

Lesson one: bumbo sitting.

Looks like Levi's ready to check that off his milestone list. I wish one of my kids would teach him how to stay little, but seeing as how they're all failing miserably at that one, I have a feeling it's not going to happen.

A mom can dream.

Checking it twice

Someone got a hold of my grocery list.

The culprit loves olives, grapes, and still mixes upper- and lowercase letters. Seeing as how Abby is the only kid in our house who knows how to write, I think I'm going to have to pin this one on her.

(And for the record, I totally bought her the olives and the grapes after she went to all that trouble.)

Busted

photo courtesy of Abby

I'm not sure what Abby was planning to do with this photo evidence she had on her little pink camera. I'm wondering if she was going to take it to her dad and point out how exhausting it obviously is for one person to keep up with four little people all morning long, and ask him if she could use the money in her piggy bank to buy me a Starbucks gift card for Christmas.

I bet that's exactly why she took this picture.

Whatever the reason, I'm thankful for three things.

1. That the kids actually let me get away with a mid-morning snooze and didn't do anything horrendous to themselves or the house during my 5 minute power nap.
2. That she woke me up right after she took the picture to ask me when I was going to get up.
3. That she was thoughtful enough to tuck me in. 

I'll try to restrict my catnaps to naptime from now on.

Mister Congeniality

Levi's put one-quarter of his first year of life behind him, and judging from his very pleasant demeanor, I'd say it's been a good three months for him.

He finally hit the official Family of Fish sleep goal of 12 hours a night, and rounded out his sleep awesomeness by settling in to a great thrice-daily naptime routine. His 1.5 hour morning nap coincides perfectly with the start of our school day, his 2.5 hour afternoon nap overlaps with that of his older siblings, and his evening siesta usually hits just after dinner. This schedule alone could earn him best baby status in my book, but pair it with his great eating habits (a predictable five meals a day) and his generally happy disposition, and I'd say he clinched the title, easy.

He's still just as easy going as we thought he was from the beginning. And the novelty of his new-babyness has not worn off yet. Abby adores him, and loves to tell him about the world and what's going on around him. (And when she tires of explaining the world, she moves on to the solar system. Levi will know all the planets by the time he can talk.) The amount of time she's invested in talking and singing to him pays off big time, as hers is the voice that typically elicits the biggest grins from her littlest brother.

Jacob is completely obsessed with the little guy, and has to be watched very, very carefully to ensure that his exuberance for his "baby Wuhvi" doesn't end in injury. He shares his blanket with Levi, rocks him in his swing, and makes sure the toys hanging from his little jungle stay in a state of perpetual motion. I can see these two becoming great friends one day.

Justin and I are learning more about his little personality every day. He loves to be held, and he loves to be around people. Unless he's tired, in which case he only wants to be put down and left alone. In this regard, he is just like his big sister. And perhaps because he likes looking around, or perhaps because he likes his personal space, Levi is turning out to be an anti-snuggler like Abby, as well. He's a challenge to hold, as all he does is arch his back and lean his head as far as possible from the the person doing the holding. There will be no sweet pictures of little Levi with his head resting gently on my shoulder. He's just not into that.

Only Caleb seems to be ambivalent toward the newest member of our family. He loves Levi, and insists on giving him hugs and kisses, but he doesn't need to hold him all the time, like Abby, and he doesn't miss him when he's out of the room, like Jacob. But something tells me it's totally normal for a three-year-old boy to be more interested in his trucks than in the adorable coos of a baby.

Hopefully our next big milestone will be moving Levi into his own room. He's not complaining about being camped out in my closet, but it would be nice to put my clothes away one of these days. Unfortunately, Levi moving into a room of his own is contingent on Jacob and Caleb moving into a room together. And the thought of that still makes me shudder. Maybe Levi won't mind hanging out in my closet for a few more years.

Fins to the left

Mater Pillow and Husky are a critical part of the bedtime entourage. Caleb would hate to fall asleep without them.

But only Sharky gets tucked under his arm and snuggled all night long. 

Best friends have to stick together, you know.

Sparkling squash

In theory, the glittery pumpkin craft seemed like a really good idea.

In reality, no craft involving glitter and glue and children is ever a good idea. It's been a really long time since we've done a glitter craft, and I'd forgotten just how bad it can get.

At least I had the foresight to do our glittering outside. I made some effort to keep the mess out of my home. But for reasons I do not understand, the glitter that sticks so readily to my children's clothes, hair and fingers when they're outside falls off of them and is shed like a second skin once they come inside.

So for the next few months, I'll continue to sweep, mop, dust, wipe and wash glitter from my floors, walls, rugs and children. And I'll remember why we stopped doing glitter crafts. 

Then one of my children will look up at me with those big saucer eyes and ask me if we can make something sparkly. And I'll think to myself, "It's just a little glitter. It won't be that bad." And I'll be wrong. Very, very wrong.

But at least I'll have something sparkly to show for it. Nothing says Autumn quite like a glittery orange driveway.

Amateur photography

I have no idea where she gets this from.

Portrait courtesy of Abby

For the love of science

Some wise mom told me recently that because we're just doing kindergarten this year (which isn't even required in our state) we could take it easy and skip science.

But here's the problem: my kids love science.

Because, as someone else has recently pointed out, kids play the way scientists work. Observing, wondering, theory testing and discovering pretty much make up the bulk of their day. My kids are no different. So we can't just skip science. We're doing science all the time. Sometimes our science is just a little more focused (like when it comes out of my lesson plan) than other times (like when we're bug-hunting in the backyard).

And science is particularly fun when it involves building after-dinner volcanoes in my paella pan with Mimi. Abby, our resident volcano expert, was thrilled to see "real" lava in action. Caleb built a Mars rover out of blocks because, as he pointed out "there are lots of volcanoes on Mars, and this Mars rover wants to take pictures of them." And Jacob, who couldn't care less about volcanoes, was just excited that I let him wander all over the kitchen with that ball of dough in his hand.

And as for skipping science? My kids would never put up with that.