"It Scare You!"

We enjoyed our first "real" Halloween this year. The first year Jude was alive he was a baby during Halloween, and people dont Trick-or-Treat in Bolivia, so this was our first real Halloween experience and boy, was it fun! Jude dressed up as whatever was on sale at the secondhand kid's store, which happened to be a monkey. Ada was a hand-me-down lobster costume from Jude's first Halloween. Jude caught on quickly! He loved saying "Trick-or-Treat" and choosing his own candy, and looking at the other kids' costumes. Our neighborhood is AWESOME during Halloween, by the way! Almost everyone on our street was home (yay), gave out the good candy, and decorated. There were so many kids out that we had to stand in line at some places! There are some really cool old homes a block south of us that were very spooky and Halloween-y, with lots of ivy and black iron fences, and Ted and I kept commenting to each other how perfect everything was:) There were a few scary masks and Jude started getting freaked out toward the end, when it was dark and some of the older kids with scarier costumes came out. Jude would look at me and shout, "Mama, it scare you!" (which really means "Mama, I'm scared"). When we came home, we had to talk about how there were just regular kids under those scary masks. And that they were home now taking off their costumes and masks, taking baths, and going to bed. I heard him convincing himself of this several times throughout the night and every day since...he says to himself while he's playing, "Take OFF a mask, take OFF a shoe, take OFF a bath, go night-night, all done."
We also participated in some non-scary Halloween activities: Jude's preschool had a Fall Festival, and we made festive pumpkin cookies with Gramp.




Jude is talking much more coherently now, and its fun getting to know my son and his thoughts:) He's in a phase where he's very attached to things...currently, he has to take his toothbrush and toothpaste everywhere he goes in his pocket. The bad thing about 2 yr old jeans is that the pockets are really small, so his toothbrush is falling out all over town. Onto the car floorboards (ew), onto the driveway (double ew), onto the floor at the grocery store (barf), and the list goes on. He even dropped it into a pumpkin patch once and I had to go back when we realized it was lost and dig through all the pumpkins. He also insists on taking it to school and church, but seems to understand (after many tears) that unless he wants to share his toothbrush with the other kids, it needs to stay hidden. His preschool teacher seems to understand the weirdness, and leads him to his cubby when we come so that he can assemble his beloved items in a safe spot. He also has some strong opinions about which places he likes best when I drop him off. He's got his preschool class, and Mothers Day Out, and Sunday school, and he and Ada stay in childcare at the Y when I do my Friday Bible study. Each is met with varying levels of enthusiasm, largely dependent on the presence of trains/train tracks to play with. He LOVES preschool and talks about it constantly, and runs ahead of me to class without a backward glance. Mothers Day Out is a little trickier, because its in the same church building but a different classroom, so he always gets confused and yells "No, THIS way!" when I try to steer him to the right place. He likes Mothers Day Out but has to be reminded of it several times before he remembers. Sunday school is hit or miss. It helps if some of his friends are there already. And the YMCA is always a major challenge. I need to start getting there 10 minutes early to account for the laps I'll be running around the building before I can catch him and wrangle him into the room. Seriously. I have to drop Ada and her carseat on the floor (she's dead weight in these races) and chase Jude, who is normally running--screaming and crying--toward the front door. I stumble in the Bible study room panting (which by the way, shares a wall with the childcare room, where bloodcurdling screams can be heard off and on). We're in a series on the fruits of the spirit, and last week was on peace. Oh, the irony. And oh, how I needed to hear it that day! (The Bible talks about having "peace like a river," not like a pond...we can find it even while life is rushing around us and not just in the still moments). Jude is always calm and happy when I pick him up, as though nothing happened. When I try to talk about his tantrum with him on the ride home, he looks at me bewildered like he has no clue what I'm talking about, and waves out the window "Ohhh, fun! Bye train tracks!" I've heard from several parents and teachers that the 1/2 years are hard. Jude is 2 and a half, so here we go I guess!

I'll devote some time to blogging about Ada next time. I am almost finished breastfeeding her. I've started giving her formula one feeding at a time and at this point I'm only nursing her first thing in the a.m. and last thing at night, so by the time she hits 6 months she'll be completely switched over to formula...much easier for mom :)

Our friends from Cochabamba will be here tomorrow! Pictures of their precious family to follow!