Two videos

I have just taken some videos off of the video camera, and these are two of my favorites.

First is Natalie's version of "Old McDonald". She also tells some of the things that happened to her today and this weekend.

Of note, we got free tickets at the last minute to go and see a TCU football game. TCU has a nice program for kids called the "bleacher creatures." Any kid who wants to can go down onto the edge of the field before the game, and when the TCU team runs onto the field (accompanied by a train whistle, fireworks, and much other fanfare), the kids also get to run onto the field. Natalie wasn't quite up for running so I carried her, and I was a bit nervous that it would be too much for her. But we hung out on the edge of the field, as far as I could get from the TCU mascot, Superfrog, who Natalie was afraid of (incidentally, Superfrog is played by several different students at different times, including one of my former students). Once we actually got to run onto the field, Natalie laughed hysterically, and when she heard the band playing the TCU fight song, she said "they're playing TCU song, Daddy!" It was GREAT.

Here is Natalie baking with her parents:

The past week, plus

First, I promised a post about our good friends from Seattle who came to visit two weeks ago. I can barely handle hauling the three of us and all our stuff to see our families, I can't really imagine taking a trip just to visit friends, as much as I want to. I'm just daunted (and that's only the part where we have to leave the house, not the part where we actually arrive anywhere else). I'm so, so, so touched that they made the effort - and with two children. Give these people a gold star!

In keeping our expectations low and keeping kids happy, we were able to have a wonderful weekend together. Some of us hit the craft fair while others of us did a playground, followed by nap and a walk around the 'hood. On Sunday, some of us went running on the trail (actually quite lovely and pretty, now that fall has arrived. Or are the trees just finally dying from the drought? Either way: colors!), we then had a late breakfast, strolled around TCU, had some ice cream, and sent our friends off to the airport. So nice to see them, so sad to see them go.

In other news, the baby is still a favored toy.

I'm sort of considering getting her a doll bed for the holidays. I think it would be a nice alternative to finding the doll bedded down on the step-stool, tucked in with washcloths.

On Saturday we went to a football game. TCU was playing Colorado State. Not, perhaps, the match of the century - although the first quarter was quite competitive. Someone in Mike's department was giving away some tickets, and we gladly took them. It turned out to be a perfect day for sitting outside - overcast, cool, and threatening rain (but never actually raining). We got to the stadium fairly early because Mike really wanted to be a "bleacher creature" with Natalie. This meant they got to go down and run across the field just before kick off (I was, somehow, able to give this a miss). We stayed through the halftime show - twice as long as Mike had thought we'd make it.

(the bleacher creatures are gathered just on the other side of the end zone in this picture)

Here's a close-up of our bleacher creature (although she only consented to put the jersey on that evening, not for the actual run).

And, in the purple theme, check out my latest finished object:

 Also, this week was Natalie's big Thanksgiving program at school. This is, like, the big assembly of the year. And it was adorable. We have a video of her class singing their turkey song, but, you know, since it contains other people's children, we'll just show it to you in person, if you're interested. Here are some Nani-only photos, though.

(I think the downward-dog move on the right there is actually "gobble, gobble turkey, falling down", but I'm no expert . . . .)

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Same old, same old

We've had so many special events lately - visits, trips, holidays - that I haven't shared some of the regular, daily life moments. (One more post is coming on this weekend's guests, so stay tuned!)

First, a little food catch-up. But, as a preview, here's the executive chef in action:

Roasted tomato soup with broiled cheese topping:

Pumpkin buttermilk scones (from scratch!)

(This was the before picture. No after picture, since they were too yummy!)

Pumpkin Praline Pie (link is for the recipe; I'm not a reader of this blog, and can't vouch for it, though it seems cool enough)

(This was Mike's birthday pie. Coming off the weekend in Austin and Halloween, we were sort of caked- and treated-out, so Mike requested something a little different. A good birthday was had by all!)

Also, I'm still knitting. This is the season of gift-knitting, but, hey, these projects were a birthday gift (the swirly hat) / an extremely belated baby gift and a just-in-time baby gift (the green elf/pixie hats) / and (gasp!) something I made for myself (the beret). Behold!

As you may have seen or heard, we are pretty much still, uh, doing summer down here. We had a cold snap severe enough to kill half the basil in the garden (don't worry - ample pesto cubes were made in time!), but then it warmed back up again. And I do mean warm - today was nearly 80! Luckily, girlfriend here can rock the sunglasses and the fleece slippers with equal savvy.

We had a rainy day! Okay, actually, it was just kinda, sorta overcast with a slim chance of rain, but preparing for the rain is so! much! fun!

And we are wearing long sleeves here at the park because of the sun and the wind, not because of the cold.

As a further artifact of our warm temps, Natalie has learned my Starbucks order. She'll often call out "Mommy have iced grande. Okay, okay, Mommy have iced grande" whenever I'm drinking coffee - even at home. I can't figure out if this parenting success beyond my wildest dreams or just one more step in the crass commercialization of childhood.

In other news, we take recycling very seriously.

Tigers are also serious business. Actually, this is Natalie readying herself for the long journey to the mailbox. All that junk mail has to get into  the house somehow, you know?

It's good that the tiger is more of a ride-on thing than a car seat thing, since sitting nicely in the car seat while it gets buckled has not, um, been a strength of hers.

You know what is not serious business? Couch cushions! It's like the princess and the 
. . . . sometimes this blog just writes itself . . . . .

It's funny that Natalie is the one on the cushions here - because while we were having a spate of bad sleep on her part, she was actually handling it pretty decently for the most part. Mike and I were wrecked. Wrecked. Forthemoment, though, things seem to have stabilized (The two year molars have made their appearance? We've moved past the bad habits we started in Austin?), and she's giving us more continuous sleep at night.

That doesn't mean she goes to sleep willingly, though. She often provides a topic for her lullaby song - recent prompts have included: her teachers, quesadillas, jeans, garbage trucks, and her crib. The kicker came the other day, though, when she kept demanding "CD song". I tried various CDs, only to finally realize that what she wanted was a song about a CD. And then - just as you are getting ready to leave the room, she'll demand extra kisses ("kiss my elbow") or claim that she can't find her blanket - you know, the blanket that is covering her . . . .

Love to you all! Sleep well!

Trick or Treat!

This was the first year that Natalie actually did any Halloween activities. Before, we'd dressed her up and had fun, but she'd been pretty much indifferent. This year, she definitely knew something was up. Of course, words like "candy" and "party" are certainly comprehensible to her now in a way that they were not before.

Still, she hasn't quite caught on that the kid usually gets to request the costume. I figure she'll have that down by next year. So I took advantage of what I presume to be my last year in full control of costume selection. Natalie was a soccer player. But not just any soccer player. She was Nani, the player from Manchester United. Now, I don't know if Manchester United is, like, the super, ultra-vile team that we are all supposed to hate or something. Quite possibly. But I do know that we saw a lot of Nani jerseys in Europe this summer, and I knew our Nani needed one. I mean, come on. How could I resist? (As an aside, I'm glad this was sort of a one-off licensed gear purchase for our family. That stuff is pricey! And you don't even get a discount if your name is Nani! For shame! On the other hand, I gather spending too much on your kid's costume is some sort of tradition. Dear Global Economy: you're welcome.)

We actually had two Halloween events this year (have costume, will get candy). The first was a dorm trick-or-treating event at Mike's school the Tuesday before Halloween.

As you can see, the line to get in was really long. Luckily, Natalie's good friend Yagi was able to stop by and keep us company for a bit.

When we finally made it in, it was actually really sweet: the north part of the dorm was "scary" and the south part was "nice". Each floor had an elaborate theme (some of the themes in the nice area included Candyland, Under the Sea, and The Wizard of Oz). The students - some dressed up for the occasion - sat in the doors of their dorm rooms and handed out candy as the kids walked up and down the interior hallways. It was super-cute.

Natalie was a big hit, of course. She raked in the candy! We had practiced with her beforehand, but the dialogue went something like this:

Me: What do you say when they open the door?
Natalie: TrickTreat
Me: And what do you say when they give you candy?
Natalie: More!
(she did manage to pull out a hushed thank you or two on the actual day, though)

Adding to the list of Things-That-Probably-Won't-Happen-Next-Year, we were able to never again speak of the candy she collected. She ate one piece that night, and then never asked for it - she seemed much more interested in the empty plastic pumpkin bucket. And, in the spirit of great wrongs done to small children, we actually handed out her candy to our own trick-or-treaters on Halloween night. Win.

The Saturday before Halloween, we were invited to a toddler Halloween party in a local park. The kids' costumes were totally adorable. And the party had a wonderful pace: the kids were able to just run around, play on the playground, and eat snacks without too much forced organization (herding cats or herding toddlers: what's harder? What's the difference?).

You know how I said Natalie definitely knew what candy is? She fell in love with candy corn at the party. It wasn't that she ate a lot of it; she didn't. It was just that she kept clutching the same piece for most of the party - we couldn't pry from her sticky, gummy hands for the life of us. And, at one point, when she realized she didn't have her candy corn or her bucket, she got my dear friend Miso to walk her over to get her bucket, at which point - lightening fast - she snaked another piece of candy corn. That girl has it nailed.

Thus commenceth the love affair.

Here are some pictures of the other babies in attendance.

As I mentioned above, Miso was in town for the weekend. It was so, so, so wonderful to see her. We were able to knit, chat, talk, and just relax. Plus, she watched Natalie while I went for am midweek haircut. Talk about luxurious. There's nothing like a good friend. Miso also brought Natalie a little hedgehog she'd made.

How cute is that? Natalie decided the hedgehog should live in her plastic pumpkin bucket, so that's where it spent the weekend. Now that the pumpkin bucket has been put away until next year, the hedgehog is currently in the microwave of the toy kitchen. Believe it not, this is actually a prized toy storage location.

Pumpkin-wise, I had grand plans for carving an elaborate cat onto my pumpkin. Ha, ha. As if. As it turned out, Natalie ended up having an epic temper tantrum on Halloween afternoon, Jekyll-and-Hyde-style. Everything was fine until the real pumpkin was too heavy for her to carry, despite her best efforts. And then I committed the gross felony of putting the pumpkin in her shopping cart, so she could push it around, and, well, that was pretty much The. Worst. Thing. Ever. She went to bed at 5:30, and we didn't hear from her again until morning.

Post-tantrum, Miso carved the pumpkin. She did an excellent job!

 

Boo! Hope your Halloween was just as cute (minus the tantrum) as ours!