Happy Halloween 2013

This Halloween was SO FUN. Costume parade in the morning, volunteered in V's classroom (with my helper, Daphne) for special Halloween Center Time in the afternoon, fun afternoon playtime with friends... then a fun round of trick-or-treating with very new friends and very old friends! Our ToT crew was our neighbors up the street, Violet's friend Mia from school, our friends the Ameses, and my friend Master--from HIGH SCHOOL--and her darling family. We hadn't seen each other in almost 15 years. What a super fun day. I'm a little bummed that we didn't get more trick-or-treaters, but numbers seemed to be down everywhere this year.

Violet and friends waiting for the costume parade

 Room 2:

 Strawberry Shortcake

 Sorry it's turned the wrong way. I'll probably never fix that. Two teachers dressed up like Starbucks cups, and it was so cute!

 Room 2

 My center at school- everyone made a ghost! Success!

 Violet's class getting ready to go home to trick-or-treat

 Daphne wanted fairy face paint

 Me too!

 We made spider whoopie pies

 Our group L-R: Giacomo, Vittorio, Charlie, Eve, Camilla, Lucy, Bruce, Daphne, Violet 

Not pictured: Mia

 There's Mia!

 Knock knock! Trick or Treat!!

 Yes, those are full sized bars. 

 Daphne gave up early and got in the stroller, hence, less loot.

 Happy Halloween from the Limas :)

Daphne

Daphne is a little over 2 years 5 months. She's said some really cute things lately, so I'm taking two seconds to sit down and type them out. She's such a talker now- there's nothing that she can't communicate with words. She talks about things that are happening now, in the past (last day), and in the future ("fumala" (tomorrow), or other day), she talks about how things make her feel, things she's learned. It's really cute because her grammar and pronunciation are all over the place, but you can totally understand what she means. She also gets causality mixed up. For example, she might say, "I'm cold because I got a blanket!" (meaning that she got a blanket because she's cold), or "Daddy said 'no' because I'm mad!"... Too cute.

Just now:
D: Mommy, please go get my dress for me.
Me: You want to wear your dress-up dress?
D: No, my polka dot dress. The one I wear to the dentist last day when I no listen to you. (HAHAHA! She knows when she's naughty! That was over a week ago!)
Me: Oh, when you didn't listen at the dentist?
D: (nods, smiling)
Me: Your polka dot dress. You like that dress?
D: (nods) Please go get my polka dot dress for me for I can pin (spin)?
Me: Oh, you like it because it spins?
D: Yes! Piiiiiiiiin!
Me: Ok, let's go get cleaned up and find it.

Listening to Pandora, Ernie came on singing a song. Daphne says, "It's Elmo!" I asked, "Is it?" She replied, "No, it's dust OOnie. Not Elmo. Dust Oonie."

Yesterday we were reading books on my bed and Daphne was in a calm mood. I used the chance to ask her about her favorite things. It's been a day now so I don't remember the order, but I'll write down what I remember the best I can:

Favorite...
Food: Breakfast. (What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?) Oatmeal. (So your very favorite food is oatmeal?) Yes.
Movie: Cinderella! (She's never seen it) And May Poppins!
Person: Sissy! And mommy too and daddy too.
Thing to do or place to play: Knott's Fey Farm!
Color: Pink

Some from FB:

Watching clouds on August 20 (Violet's idea!):
Violet had the excellent idea to watch clouds. 
V: That one looks like a lobster! 
D: Yeah, and that one looks like a cloud! 
V: And that big one looker like a clown! 
D: And that little one looks like a little one!
Some of this may be lost on my little one. 

Augst 18:
Me: Daphne's a good girl, aren't you? Are you a good girl or a bad girl Daphne?
Daphne: No! I'm a strong lady!
(Where does my TWO-year-old get this???)

August 14:
Daphne had her first visit to the dentist today, because she's complained a few times that something in her mouth hurt. Oh. My. Word. We've been reading "Dora Goes to the Dentist" every night for a week, practicing, looking at pictures, getting excited for a prize... all to no avail. We have no pictures, because in the end Erik and I had to work together to hold her down and pry her mouth open while she thrashed and screamed. No cavities. So, you know, that's super.

And just for posterity, here's my silly lady (and mommy) playing with the web cam, right at this very moment. Try not to get overwhelmed by the glamour (notice the polka dot dress...):

Violet, Kindergartner

Here she is! I present to you....

Violet the Kindergartner! 

I mean seriously, could I love her any more??? Look at this face!!:

We are almost 1 mile from the school, so we are about the farthest in the boundaries. As we walked to school, we "picked up" many families as they came out of their doors to walk to school, cameras in hand. When we all crossed the one busy street with the crossing guard... well that's when I started crying. I am absolutely overjoyed that we are going to this school. A diverse, high-performing, neighborhood school. 

A little nervous, but ready to go. She was very brave.

A last hug for mama:

Look at how well I'm holding it together!

Daddy is so proud!

Last hug for sissy:

Lined up:

Last wave goodbye:

NO! I don't want sissy to do that in that gate!

I snuck a goodbye picture of the classroom:

And that's it. My baby is in Kindergarten. I will have more pictures of the classroom and her teacher this afternoon. This morning the teacher wanted us to make a quick goodbye so none of the little ones would have a chance to rethink walking into the classroom without crying...

Homemade Paint

...is not as good as store bought! But that's ok. We had fun anyway. And Daphne continues to copy Violet, this time by painting Vs and Ds all over. This activity was started to attempt to keep D from writing on the couch. So: Outside fun, staying cool on a warm summer evening!

Math super star

Violet is a math whiz so far, like daddy. This was a very easy activity for her and she loved it. Bonus: we're getting ready for heavy duty board games!!!

Daphne Update

For the sake of memory- Daphne was stung by a bee for the first time yesterday at a birthday party at Airport Park. I saw it land on her little heel, and I had to pull that big ol' stinger out. Yup, bee stings HURT. She was miserable for awhile, and her heel puffed up all around the stinger.

Also, Daphne is doing really well with potty training. She doesn't have pee pee accidents anymore- she goes to the potty all by herself, pulls down her teeny little undies, sits and pees, then comes and tells me what she's done. Poop is a bit more intimidating for her and I've had some clean-ups recently. All in all she's doing great, and we even went out today on errands with big girl undies on.

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day Honey :)