October 2008

The weather has been uncharacteristically nice for October, but the days are getting shorter and the leaves are changing colors, so autumn is in full swing.

For a while now Kyla has been bugging Becky about wanting to take ballet classes. A new dance studio opened up in our neighborhood and she would point it out whenever they'd drive by. Becky, realizing that this wasn't just a fleeting interest, signed her up for a class that teaches tap dancing and ballet, and Kyla is really enjoying it.

With the holidays just a couple of months away (it sneaks up on me faster each year), we've been receiving catalogs in the mail, and Kyla loves looking through the toy sections. She has circled every item that she wants on her Christmas list, which basically consists of every princess looking thing in it. I tried to encourage interest in more gender-neutral toys, but to no avail.

Blake on the other hand is more interested in the boy toys. I tried to convince Becky that he needed the massive Millennium Falcon we saw at Costco, but she didn't go for it. He will play with Kyla's dolls from time to time (usually when she is), but his current toy-du-jour is trains.

So of course he also likes Thomas and Friends on TV. Yes, Blake has started getting exposed to the evils of television, though we work to keep it to a minimum. Unfortunately his other favorite show is Barney, which for some reason grates on my nerves, though I can see its education value.

Blake has been teething lately, which has led him to chew holes in his pacifiers. Once he punctures one, it no longer sucks quite the same and he rejects it. As a result, we've been making almost daily runs to buy new ones (including one run I did at 2 am). Each pacifier costs about $3, which doesn't sound like much but when he goes through a few a day, it really adds up. I'd estimate that we've spent about $200 on them just this month.

On a more positive note, he has started to learn the names of various body parts. He now knows the words for the parts of his face, his hands, his feet, and of course his butt.

Becky and Cassie ran the Portland Marathon this month. They drove down with Blake and my mother while Kyla and I stayed home. Becky found this run to be much better organized than the ones she's done before and was much happier with her time.

As always October ended with Halloween, which like Christmas has become an event that spans several days. The kids wore their costumes to a birthday party, an autumn fair in the Highlands, Stroller Strides, and of course on Halloween night. Kyla and Blake went trick or treating down our street and up the one behind us with some of their friends and brought home an impressive haul. Blake was a little too shy to walk up to the front doors of strangers' houses, but it's no big loss since he is allergic to most of the candy they were handing out. The Candy Monster arrived again to displace Kyla and Blake's least favorite pieces of candy with toys.

Now we begin the holiday season, which I hope we weather better than we did last year, otherwise it will be a lot scarier than Halloween.