All Hallows' Eve 2009

Saturday afternoon we attended our parish fall carnival, which happened to be held this year on the eve of All Saints' Day. John was extremely excited as we loaded into the van and told him we were going to a carnival. Then I asked him, "What is a carnival?" He said, "I not know!"

While we were standing in line to buy tickets, John began dancing to the music. Dancing--it's serious business.


We started out by decorating John's own construction worker's hard hat and visiting the bake sale, which were big hits.

John was determined to play in an inflatable slide: it was inflatable like those "jump houses" so popular these days. First the children walked or crawled through an inflatable tube at least 10 feet long, then they ascended an enclosed, inflatable ladder up to a slide. I strongly suspected John would freak out inside the tunnel and didn't want to pay four tickets for that experience, but he convinced me. The tube had clear plastic windows along it so I would run along to each window and wave at him but, alas, John freaked out as I suspected and ended up running out the entrance.


John stared longingly at this carnival ride and swore to me that he wanted to ride it. After the tube incident, I almost wanted to call his bluff just to be able to say, "I told you so," but I decided that was too petulant of me considering John isn't even yet three.

The rest of the "carvinal" (as John calls it) was more fun. John played carnival games: basketball, Plinko, a smash-the-hammer-and-knock-the-frog-into-the-bucket game, and the bean bag toss.


John was the smartest kid at that last game: he just walked right up to the hole and dropped the bean bags inside.

I sewed costumes for the children: St. Benedict and St. Scholastica! For those of you who know how little of a seamstress I am, you'll be as amazed as I am that I navigated a McCall's pattern for a tunic (with hood for John, without for Mary) and created my own scapulars and veil. Sometimes I'd come to a sentence in the pattern that was like Greek to me and I'd decide that it probably didn't matter that much, so I'd skip it! Yet the costumes turned out well enough. For once in my life, perfection was not the enemy of good.

I made John's in a size 4, so he fits it now but it is big with room to grow.

I made Mary's in a size 2, which turned out to be a very big size 2, so then I basted the hem and cuffs four inches. This one should fit her for a couple of years!

On Saturday evening, we went to a local parish's All Saints' Day eve party. I was aware throughout that some people (including me, in my earlier life) would have found this party to be incredibly square and ridiculous--but Chris and I and all the kids loved it! The evening began with all the kids sitting down, with the priests in attendance, and praying one decade of the Rosary.

A happy nun!

Then we played the Guess-the-Saint game! The kids broke into two groups, with our group being for children six years and under. That included at least two children old enough to be self-conscious but young enough to start weeping as soon as it was their turn to be looked at. Thankfully, John is still so young that he is clueless about such things, so he and Mary stood up for their turn without incident. Despite Chris thinking that I chose esoteric saints, the kids guessed immediately when they heard the clues that these saints were siblings, maybe twins, and the man founded a religious order.

St. Benedict loving on his sister

The party provided at least a dozen fantastic, Catholic-themed carnival games. I wish I had taken notes on all of them because they were so unusual and neat. Above John rolled a pumpkin through a maze.

Yes, you are reading that bean bag toss correctly!

At each game, the kids won a piece of candy as a prize, which I quickly learned that I had to confiscate from John. This was our first year doing any kind of "trick or treating" and possibly John's first exposure to typical manufactured candies (although he's no stranger to sugar), and I was naively unprepared as a parent. I didn't even think to bring a bag to hold all the candy! Of course, a two-year-old wants to eat every piece of candy immediately and does not understand that he will be receiving more, more than he could possibly eat, and that there is no scarcity. At first I was letting him eat candy after candy until I realized I would have to say 'no more.' (See, seriously naive.) John ended up eating something like two small cookies and the smallest size of Tootsie Roll at the afternoon carnival and half a Reese's peanut butter cup, the smallest size of Tootsie Roll, half a fun size KitKat bar, and a few M&Ms at the evening party. While that is a lot of junk for a 30-pound child, it was an otherwise excellent eating day (for John), in that he actually ate proper (again, by the standards we hold for him) breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Yet I wonder if the candy really upset him somehow because his overnight was horrible. He woke all night long, weeping inconsolably for extended periods and unable to articulate why. Have any other moms seen this reaction in their kids?

McDowell Nature Preserve

Today the kids and I were at the end of our ropes following a week of a cold, very little sleep each night, really whiny kids all day, a sick mom who doesn't have extra patience to deal well with said whiny children, and mama now in full laryngitis. On a spur this morning, I decided we had to get out of the house, or bad things were going to happen. I threw together a backpack and dashed out the door, intending to visit some botanical gardens where we have never been, but I figured we would not expose many people to our cold. On the drive, about 20 minutes from the house, I saw a sign for McDowell nature preserve, so I decided to turn in to the preserve to check it out.

What a fun place to visit! And free--our tax dollars at work!

The visitors' center was designed beautifully for children. It had fish, turtles, and snakes on display. I did not take a photo of this but there was a beautiful display of backpack kits to borrow, so neat and clean it looked like a display at a camping store. Each backpack contained a kit, such as one used to explore a creek: a little net to fish for minnows, a tiny plastic container to put the minnows in to study them, and so forth.

This determined little turtle kept trying to climb up the walls, only to crash down into the water bowl, which greatly concerned John until I explained that turtles like water. (Alongside his current developing sense of justice, he is continually assembling "rules" of "how things are" in his head. He asks many questions, such as, "Do foxes bite?" "Do turtles like peanut butter?" Then he informs me of the way things are, by telling me, "Bunnies don't bite. Bunnies are okay." And, "Wolves bite. Every day! Wolves are very scary." And, "It's okay, turtles like water.")

There was a craft table with crayons and colored pencils (all perfectly sharpened) and pictures to color.

There was a delightful puppet show area. The children crawl through a tube to get into the darkened area, lit by black lights and filled with puppets. There was also a bookshelf filled with books and games, a rock climbing wall, and various displays with buttons to push that caused animal noises to emit.

Mary joined right in with the big kids, repeatedly climbing up with ease onto this bench to view the terrariums.

We took a quarter-mile hike, which thrilled John. He was in charge of the map and learned all about being careful when running not to trip on tree roots. After doing it a few times, he became his increasingly familiar role--the expert--and would call over his shoulder, "Be careful here, Mama."

Despite his somber expression, John was fascinated that there were tiny little benches along the path, just his size. He informed me that I was too big for them.

"Let me just check the map, Mama."

John enjoyed learning about the numbers on the trail markers. "What number is this, Mama?" and then he'd trace it.

Then, the highlight of our four-hour visit! As we were preparing to leave, we heard the staff and some visitors talking about how Animal Control had been called. I inquired about the problem and learned that there was a sick possum in the parking lot, but I was told it was safe to go out to my van. As I walked out there, I ran into a staff member who told me the story: This injured possum had been hiding under my very own van for a long time, going in endless circles, bumping into things. Finally the staff had lured it into a cage using a jar of peanut butter. (John: "It's okay. Possums like peanut butter. Possums are awake when the sun is down. Do bugs like peanut butter?") By the time I got there, the cage was right next to my van, waiting for Animal Control to arrive, and there was already a crowd of kids huddled around it, watching the hungry animal. John was thrilled, especially when I found an old chicken nugget (from last night) on the floor of my van (see, I was well-prepared, not slovenly!) and we gave that to the possum too.

What a relief that we got out of the house. Four glorious hours without shouting (even "laryngitis shouting," which is really pathetic). Four hours without John asking to watch TV even once. Just happiness and fun! I look forward to going back many times.

Mary Walks a Lot!

Layers: John slept in a white undershirt, then woke up and put on his fire engine pajama bottoms and race car pajama top. Then later int he morning, he put on his train overalls and his hand-me-down tuxedo shoes to complete the ensemble.

John was the first to come down with a cold last Saturday and we've each been succumbing since. We're running on very little sleep and are getting crabbier by the day. Today was gorgeous weather--probably nearly 70 degrees--so I took us outside, with the kids' runny noses and my near-laryngitis. You can see in the photos that Mary is in her pajamas and I just stuck shoes and a sweater on her.

Mary is walking so competently! She can even walk up the two steps from our sunken den into the kitchen, but she can't yet walk down steps. She took her first step five weeks ago and you can see in this photo that she walked for two-and-a-half minutes before I finally quit filming because she wasn't falling down. She walked for several more minutes before stumbling again. And later she got her first fat lip when trying to walk down the step from our upper deck to our lower deck--see, I said she couldn't do stairs yet!

Time Is a Tricky Thing

John is very interested in concepts of time these days, but he really doesn't understand. He is far from understanding that time is immutable, so if I say that something is happening at eight o'clock, he tells me that it is eight o'clock right now. He thinks the timer we set is the same as a clock, so he'll show me that the timer hand is at the top, so it must be "time" right now.

What is most humorous is that he is trying to use "time" language often--to try it on for size, to figure it out--but he is using it almost at random because he has so little understanding. A typical example was from this morning when he saw a commercial for a particular television show and he remarked enthusiastically, "Remember when we watched that show two years ago?" We had watched it yesterday.

Partners in Crime

The below series of photos shows the kids starting to be "partners in crime," not that there was any crime in stacking paper towels, but it's only a matter of time. They're really playing together these days. They chase each other, including Mary chasing John. They play ridiculous games. (As I type, John is running up to her and shouting, "Oh cheesey cheese!" to which Mary laughs wildly and John runs away. Repeat ad nauseum.) Also John has begun talking to Mary instead of just about Mary. Often he instructs her with an air of fraternal importance, such as informing her, "I am growing into a big man. If you are a big boy, you know how to run."

La Leche League Leadership

Yes, it's true! Today I became an official La Leche League leader! This has followed a year-long process of studies. I have wanted to become a leader since John was only a few months old, but the first requirement for leadership is to have nursed a baby for nine months. By the time John was about nine months old, Chris had changed employers and we knew we'd be moving to another state soon. It's very difficult to begin leadership accreditation in one state and switch midway, so I waited until we knew where we were moving. Then when we arrived in Charlotte I had to find a new LLL chapter I liked, then let those leaders get to know me before I could begin the accreditation. Last November 3 I officially filed to begin the process and nine days later gave birth to Mary, thus another half year of delay. But for the last six months I have worked very hard through various reading, writing, and practical exercises and now I am certified!

Happy Birthday, Chris!

Happy Birthday to Chris!

I knew I would be at a one-day conference today (and Chris was sweet enough not to mind my absence), so yesterday I cooked (besides the chili) pork stir fry for Chris' birthday dinner tonight and a birthday cake. You cannot tell from the above photo but the cake was not fully cooked in the middle (even despite baking 45 minutes instead of the called-for 30). I decided not to fall into my typical black despair but just to frost the darned thing and we'd eat a couple slices before I throw away the rest. It really is quite a mystery to me why I have a nemesis in the oven. In our three-year marriage, we've had three ovens and I've had terrible troubles with all of them, so I'm starting to think that the common denominator is me, not the appliances.

Climbing

Mary doesn't seem to be a daredevil, but she is way more of a climber than John ever was at this age. For example, she's been happily climbing stairs for months, when John was still refusing to do it at 18 months. I couldn't teach John to come down off a bed safely (sliding on his tummy, feet first) I think until he was closer to a year and a half, but Mary is already a pro at that. This week Mary learned how to climb onto the children's chairs, on which she delights to sit and swing her legs or to stand.

Balmy Fall Day

Mary was simultaneously thrilled and alarmed at grass and dry leaves on her feet.

This second-time mom let John play in the back yard in his pajamas just because they were new and he loved them and why not?

Vegan Chili

What did I do this morning? Oh, just cooked a little chili . . .

I am attending a one-day La Leche League workshop with about 50 attendees tomorrow, which my chapter is hosting, so I volunteered to cook the vegan chili (it was specified to be vegan, and the other chilis being cooked are meat).

Having a Cuisinart made all the difference in chopping so many vegetables.

Having a super gigantic pot, given to us by my dad for Christmas some years back, also was critical! And I don't have a picture of it, but the third important piece of equipment was my Ergo because Mary rode on my back during my hour and a half of cooking!

I'm taking the three 14-cup containers to the workshop tomorrow, along with my slow cooker for warming. One small container will be our dinner tonight, and the other three small containers I'll freeze for future dinners.

I give this Rachel Ray chili recipe top marks! My husband loves his meat and once won a chili contest at a local bar, so he was skeptical that a vegan chili could taste at all appealing. When I told him I was making extra to freeze for our future meals, I just know that he was wishing I would not! But even he said it was great and ate it for lunch even though I told him that I'm serving it for dinner. (Note that I did not put any hot sauce in my recipe because we were out of it, and Chris and I think the chili is plenty zingy. Also, if you do include the hot sauce called for, I think the recipe might have a typo calling for an entire tablespoon. I think it might be calling for just a few drops.)