"I don't know that there are real ghosts and goblins,
but there are always more trick-or-treaters than neighborhood kids."
-Robert Brault
Halloween was once again upon us this week. We let Ashlyn pick out her own costume this year and she went with her favorite animal: the giraffe. James also got dressed up for the occasion and went as a bear/mouse/monkey thing. It was cute, that’s all I really know. Each of them prepared for Halloween in their own way, Ashlyn tried to get a head start on the candy gathering and James took a nap.
We were glad that Heidi joined us again and everyone seemed to have a good time. It took Ashlyn awhile to get into the spirit of things (see what I did there?) but once she got more comfortable she was up at the doors holding out her bucket. She didn’t say “trick or treat” very often, but it was funny to hear a giraffe say “thank youuuuu” after getting a piece of chocolate.
James continues his basic development and is now big enough for the activity center. It didn’t take him very long to figure out how to operate some of the buttons but I think it’s still half luck when he hits them. It’s nice for us that he enjoys it because it gives us an easy 10 minutes of distraction when we need to clean up or cook.
And he also continues to smile. A lot. Even when he’s crying he will sometimes smile in between wails. I’ve seen him smile in the middle of a coughing fit when he had a cold. The kid just smiles. Not to be melodramatic, but it’s good to know that that we come into this world with the instinctive ability to smile. Smiling is not, as you may believe, a learned behavior. And that gives me hope.
The highlight of the weekend was our trip too see baby Benjamin. Ashlyn was so overwhelmed by the experience of meeting her new cousin that she wanted to spend the entire time outside on the play house. James just looked around and smiled at things. But I got to hold my nephew for the first time, and that was pretty cool. And the family just keeps getting bigger!
