Halloween!

I know, you've been wondering for days what Eliana was going to be for Halloween! Mystery is revealed here:



That's right, a zebra! The back view is pretty cute too:



We've been busy. Eliana got a chance to try on her costume the weekend before Halloween at her friend Stella's party:



The Under-2 set definitely got into the holiday spirit. Eliana's friend Stella is sitting next to Eliana; her babysitter is friends with our babysitter Carol. Eliana doesn't look so happy in this picture...we just walked in the door and before we could barely get acclimated, our arrival was the occasion for the all-toddler picture! Things calmed down a bit once most of the cameras were put away and Eliana could play with the balloons:



Our neighborhood gets festive for Halloween itself. There was a pumpkin-decorating contest across the street, with food, drinks and prizes. Earlier in the week there had been a stoop-decorating contest, with more food, drinks, and prizes. Plus the highlight: a family parade that started at the end of our block and marched though the neighborhood. Once the parade came by, we were invited to tag on and march with them, which we did. Eliana got to stay up past her 7:15 bedtime which was exciting also. It turned out to be perfect weather for Halloween, not too cold and comfortable to be outside.

The funny thing is, Eliana is too young to understand that it's Halloween. We dressed her up as a zebra and she didn't mind too much, but didn't understand the reasons for all the excitement. Our neighbor (who has some older children) said that next year, she'll know, and then insist on a particular costume...so we should enjoy this time now.



Today was a beautiful sunny day..but the weather is changing and we're getting more bundled up. Here are some pictures...we went to the park to meet our friends Francesca and Nico after swim lessons, and later in the day Eliana walked ALL the way around the block with Shiloh (and Mommy and Abba)...on her own two feet.





Eliana continues to be very concerned with small particles. She likes sweeping, A LOT. Many times a day, she'll say "Shiloh's hair, Shiloh's hair" and then walk over and grab the broom:



It may be difficult to see in the picture above that she's sweeping..but she is! I'm sure that she'll ask to sweep again, so I'll see if I can get the whole broom in the picture next time.

Similarly, Eliana is not happy when she finds small particles in her bath. We're pretty clean, but there is an occasional piece of lint or two. If it's there, she'll find it and tell us to take it away, or possibly get a little upset and even fearful that it might get her. Yes, this is where the irrational fears come in. From what we've read, the WRONG thing to do is tell her not to be afraid of the piece of lint. So we're trying not to tell her not to be afraid of the piece of lint...this is good practice for a lot of other aspects of parenting that feel somewhat unnatural.

Apparently her friend Nico is the same way and does mopping in addition to the sweeping! Not only that, his mom says that the vacuum is his favorite toy. Funny how we think so much about what will entertain them, and then it turns out that the everyday things are the most interesting.

We've noticed that Eliana is improving at sitting and doing one thing. One of her favorite things to do now is to play with the crayons. She'll sit and color for a number of minutes before losing interest. And today we played in the sandbox with Nico for quite a while, maybe 20 minutes or so.

Eliana's new favorite book is "One Fish, Two Fish." She requests that we read it to her many times a day, probably once an hour or so. Sometimes we'll read it and then she immediately wants to read it again.. or she'll say, "Elie's turn" and then "read" it herself. We haven't gotten to the end yet (although Mommy did read ahead to find out what happens), we just read a page further every time we read. We hope to finish it soon!