Happy Halloween 2008

Happy Halloween everyone! 

Bridget woke up at 7:30 am, and the Great Pumpkin had left her a bag of Halloween treats near her bedroom door. I heard her open the bag and take a peek, but she didn't take the bag with her when she came into our room to wake us up. I asked Bridget if she got a Halloween treat bag, and she said "yes", so I told her to bring it into our room so that she can open it up. 

She was excited to find a few Halloween books, stickers, Play-Doh, a coloring book, 3 small puzzles and a couple of pieces of candy. Of course, she wanted to read the books first. So we read, then did puzzles, then colored. 

I ended up falling asleep on the couch for an hour and a half, and fortunately, Bridget didn't get into any trouble. She continued to play with her stickers, puzzles and coloring. At some point, Shawn came upstairs to check on us, and saw that I fell asleep, so he took her downstairs. When I woke up, they were playing with Play-Doh, and Shawn was constructing a very elaborate Play-Doh pumpkin. 

Next up, lunch time, then we got ready for the Halloween party at Bridget's school. Bridget was excited to see her friends dressed up in their costumes. Her friends were dressed up as Snow White, Cinderella, Prince Charming (ironically, that was the boy who always bites Bridget), Dorothy, and a monkey. They all looked very cute!

So the parents were directed to the parking lot, where everyone brought in treats to pass out to the kids from their trunks. (Trick-or-Trunk) I guess we missed the memo about decorating your trunk, because almost everyone showed up with elaborately decorated trunks. It took about 45 minutes for all of the kids to do their trick-or-treating, and it was fun to see all the different costumes. Shawn took Bridget around to all the cars, while I passed out the candy. 

After that, we headed back home. At first Bridget did not want to go trick or treating on our block. She hung out with me and neighbor Jeanne as we passed out candy to all the children. Once things got a bit busier, Bridget decided to go trick or treating. So Shawn took her up and down our block. When that was done, she continued to help Jeanne and I pass out candy. She really liked running up to the babies in strollers that stayed back by the sidewalk with their moms. She'd give them a lollypop and Play-doh for a treat. The moms liked that too.  Overall, we really weren't that busy, and having Jeanne around to talk to made the time fly. 

Next, Bridget and I quickly stopped by a co-worker's house two blocks over. Unfortunately, she wasn't home, but I got to talk to her husband whom I've never met. He was very nice, and of course, everyone I meet is just so curious about the triplets. So we talked a bit, Bridget jumped in their big pile of leaves (the main reason we stopped by!) and then headed back home. As soon as trick or treating hours were over, we all headed to Grandpa John and Grandma Kathie's house. 

Bridget fell asleep about 20 minutes before we arrived, which was both good and bad. It was good, because she needed the sleep, but it was bad because it wasn't enough sleep, and she was a big crab most of night. She enjoyed spending time with Grandma and Grandpa and Austin too. I think she had the most fun reading the counting book with Grandma. She showed Grandma how she could count the pictures in the book. Then they spent a lot of time "eating" the candies on the last page of the book. 

When it was time to go, Bridget wanted no part of that. She screamed and shouted all the way to Route 53. Ugh! The funny part of her screaming, was that she'd just scream out one or two words at a time. "My bottle!" cry, cry, cry "Pumpkin!" cry, cry, cry "Candy" scream, scream, scream "Flashlight!" scream, cry, scream "Mama!" cry, cry, cry, "Milk!" over and over, non-stop. Right around Bolingbrook, she finally fell asleep. Whew!

And that was the end of our fun-filled Halloween. Photos posted at My Mobile Me Gallery. The link is on the right. 

A delightful day

Bridget and I have had a delightful day today. Our morning started at the usual time, Bridget and Shawn were up by 7:30 and I waddled out of bed a bit later. We all had some breakfast and Bridget had a popsicle with her breakfast. See, a few days ago, Bridget watched an episode of Sid the Science Kid, and Sid made homemade popsicles out of juice. Last night, Bridget remembered that I said we'd make our own together. So this morning, she wanted to eat her creation. No problem, she had an orange juice popsicle-perfect breakfast food! 

After that, Shawn and Bridget went to the library for Lapsit and to select new books. I used that time to move toys from the toy box to the newly empty living room cabinet. When Bridget came home an hour later, she said she saw Miss Kathy, had lots of fun, picked out new books, and could I read the books to her. 

So we read books. She selected 2 Dr. Seuss books (78 pages each!) and one other shorter book. It took forever to read those books, but Bridget stayed focused on the stories better than I did. After that, she asked if she could watch the Dr. Seuss video she checked out at the library, and I said, "Sure." So she watched The Cat In The Hat. That was just a short video. After the Cat In The Hat, there was some other Dr. Seuss story called "Should I Fly a Jet, Should I Be a Vet" or something along those lines. The whole dialogue was just "should I _____", and various jobs were pronounced. Bridget said she's going to be a teacher, vet, hair brusher, clown, and elephant rider. 

Next was lunch. After lunch we colored some Halloween pictures. Even I colored a picture. It was actually really nice quiet time. Bridget can stay so focused on one task-it's amazing. After coloring, it was mandatory rest time, so I could nap. She stayed in her new room from 1:30-3:30 and was pretty quiet the entire time. She did get out of bed a few times to grab a book or a toy, but most of the time she was resting in her bed. 

Not so surprisingly, at 3:30 she was in pretty good spirits. The rest did her some good. So we finished up more Halloween coloring. Before coloring each picture, she'd say, "This picture is going to be for ___." And she'd then start coloring with that person in mind. "Grandpa's going to like my purple picture." or "Daddy likes pumpkins. I'll color him a pumpkin." She can be so sweet! I must say, her pictures are starting to look pretty good too. She is coloring different objects different colors, and doesn't stop until all the white spaces are colored. Grandpa John got a very special picture...Bridget attempted to write her own name at the bottom of the picture. Most people wouldn't recognize a single letter, but since I saw her as she was writing, I can make out all the letters, except G. She still struggles with G. And her E had about 10 horizontal lines instead of 3. 

Next up, Bridget wanted another juice popsicle. Ok, great, it was past afternoon snack time anyway. This time she had an apple juice popsicle. After that, but before dinner, Bridget played on her own. She spent a long time playing Connect Four by herself. She would just put the checkers in the slots and make designs. Then dump them out and start all over. She accidentally made the letter "L" with the checkers, and she thought that was really cool. Then she played a game where she put a little snack bowl on the floor, and tried to drop checkers into the bowl while standing over the bowl. Then she made up a game where she shot the checkers out from between her fingers by pinching her fingers together. They'd go flying across the living room and she was so proud that she could do that. 

Finally, dinnertime. After dinner, Bridget cleaned up her toys in the living room, then Bridget and I watched It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Shawn finally made an appearance to read a bedtime story and tuck her into bed for the night.  It's 8:30, and I think I'm going to bed for the night too. I'm exhausted. 

Here's a short video of Bridget's focus while coloring.

The end result. 

More photos from today are in My Mobile Me Gallery.