Halloween and Oatmeal

Anja had a great Halloween. She remembered what to do from last year, but was still a little shy about walking up to houses. We started downtown where all the merchants hand out candy, and then walked through the historic neighborhoods nearby. Homeowners go a little nuts around here for Halloween - Anja thought some of the decorations were a little scary, but not so scary that she didn't go up to them for candy. Both Maija and I were sick last week and Maija was still recovering a little, so we didn't dress her up but instead let her sleep in the carrier. Anja had just as much fun looking at all the costumes as she did getting candy. My favorite costume(s) was the family with the mom and dad dressed up as Thing 1 and Thing 2, plus the toddler as Thing 3 and the mom's belly as Thing 4.

We also didn't drag Anja's Goldbug car around with us. It was a nice idea to make it, but just too much for a 2.5 year old to deal with.

One restaurant gave out ice cream cones to the kids! Anja ate about 10% of this before Jay had to finish it for her, but it was still a big hit with Anja.

Maija is laughing more, although we can't get her to laugh as well as Anja can.

Anja has been expanding her menu back to fruits and vegetables again (although not really away from the favorites: toast, butter, and honey roasted peanuts). She really likes broccoli again, and eats zucchini cooked or raw. But EVERYTHING must be either peeled, or eaten around the peel. Here is how she eats zucchini:

She peels apples, grapes, and now recently: peas. Did you even know you could peel a pea? It takes a really long time but you can.

We started giving Maija a little solid food yesterday and she loves it. This morning she ate about 1/2 cup of oatmeal for me. It's a nice change since Anja was not into breastfeeding, formula, or early foods at that age. Maija still wants to nurse all the time, though, so I don't think solid foods will be the break I was hoping for.

This month Anja will be in daycare two days a week (one of those days is when I'm at work), as we ease her back into the daycare routine and give her more stimulation than she gets at home. Next month we will start bringing Maija to daycare one day a week too.

Anja's games with her toys are increasingly more complex. She loves to set up scenarios with her characters. She is generally very inclusive with all of her toys - everyone is friendly with everyone else and none of the carnivores eat each other. They either eat "other dinosaurs" or they just eat grass. And a bunny can be a mommy to a dinosaur. At lunch she hugged a spinach leaf and a piece of banana. At the coffee shop we took out their box of mixed chess pieces and the "horsies" played games like ring around the rosie. At night she is choosing more and more toys to take to bed: she always has to have Huckle, Flopsy and purple taggie, but then usually also has a few plastic dinosaurs, a construction truck, and a few other stuffed animals. Then in the morning when she walks into our room she brings them all along. She looks like a toybox with two tiny legs sticking out the bottom.

Words from Anja:

Anja: I'm a spinosaurus and you can be this dimetrodon.

Me: Okay. I eat plants. Do you eat plants?

Anja: No, I eat dinosaurs.

Me: Oh no, are you going to eat me?

Anja: No... I eat OTHER dinosaurs.

Me: Okay good. I have a spine on my back. And you do too.

Anja: Yeah! It's very nice. It's a very pretty spine.

Anja: (after listening to me sing nursery rhymes) Mommy! Sing the rainbow song!

Me: I don't know that one. How does it go?

Anja: Raaaaainbow. Rainbow. Raaaiiiaaaaiiiin-boooooooww.

Me: What are the other words in the song?

Anja: Rainbow, rainbow.

Me: And what is the name of the song?

Anja: Rainbow.

Me: Anja, you dropped some more cereal. Here you go (picking it up).

Anja: How come so messy around here? How come so many messes around here?

Jay: Look, my name is Daddy Mr. Napkin Head.

Anja: NOO! Your name is Jay!

Jay: But I'm making funny jokes.

Anja: No! But they're not funny. People think they're not funny!

Me: Look Anja, Maija likes oatmeal.

Anja: Yeah, she has dreams about it.

Jay: Do you know what M-O-V-I-E spells?

Anja: Um, I don't know, what? Some kind of movie.