Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get more candy, of course! Today we journeyed to Hoboken to be part of the Hoboken Ragamuffin Parade along with several of our friends from church. Unfortunately, Kaia fell asleep about 2 minutes before we met up with all of our friends, so she missed the pre-parade trick-or-treating.

Allow me to digress for a moment to give context to one of my favorite things about the day. Kaia began calling Asher "our baby walrus" recently. I have no idea where this originated. Then the rest of us were assigned an animal as well - Kaia's a penguin, I'm a seal, and Peter's a lion. All afternoon before the parade Kaia referred to me as "Seal" - "Thank you for coloring with me, Seal," "Can I have some popcorn to eat, Seal?" etc. She's not much of one for spontaneous affection, but a couple of times while we were coloring she threw her arms around my neck and said, "I love you, Seal!" Every time Peter would call on the phone or when we would talk about him she would ask, "Our lion is calling?" or "Our lion is at work?" Back to the parade...Kaia woke up just in time to catch part of it. I didn't think she was really paying attention because she looked rather dazed. After some insane trick-or-treating (due to the ridiculous crowds on the main street of Hoboken), we headed to the residential side streets for some more enjoyable strolling. True to her style, Kaia wouldn't say a word to anybody she got candy from but then she became a little chatterbox with me in between houses. She kept saying, "There were penguins in the parade, Mommy. They were penguins like me!" She sounded like she was just thrilled she'd found some of her kind. Kaia really cracks me up. She's such a character! Lani made the trip with us in a princess dress again!

Asher caught on very quickly to the concept of getting candy from people. He loved this sucker and kept trying to wiggle out of my arms to go get another one when he finished it.

Lani!

The morning Kaia broke her collarbone, she suddenly became extremely attached to her stuffed animal tiger. She asked me, "Mommy, what's my tiger's name?" I told her she could name it anything she wants. She looked like she was at a loss, and Peter came to her rescue suggesting the name Lani (I've chosen to use the Hawaiian spelling; for pronunciation, think "Lonnie"). Kaia decided that would be a good name. She brought Lani with her to the doctors offices and told me all about the adventures she has planned to take Lani to the playground and the science center! By the end of the day Kaia was repeatedly telling me, "I really like Lani. Mommy, I just really love Lani. I really love Lani's name." These exclamations of adoration are still continuing 2 days later.

Yesterday Lani had some fun adventures with us. She did get to go to the science center with us. And she got to be a princess! Kaia decided she wanted her in princess dresses so she (or I) dressed and undressed her all day long.

Aside: the tough girl who didn't shed a tear over her broken collarbone, cried ever so dramatically in the bath last night about having to get her hair washed. Go figure!

Turquoise Terror!

Kaia celebrated her 3rd birthday on Tuesday. She is so proud to be 3. She started the day with oatmeal and toast, her favorite breakfast. She got to open a present right after breakfast - ballerina dolly clothes from Grandma Vickie. She decided to dress like a ballerina herself for the day (see next post for picture). I decided not to do a party this time - Kaia's already been getting presents for the past couple months; I didn't want to also add in the expectation of birthday parties when she hasn't thought of them before. She was so excited to get mail - a card and Aurora necklace from Sienna & Brandon - in a turquoise envelope, which just so happens to be her favorite color!

Kaia's had a fixation with big bad wolves, foxes, and pigs ever since she saw a little cartoon about the big bad wolf and the 3 little pigs. She originally told me she wanted a big bad wolf cake. Here's what happened in her words as she explained it to Peter on the phone when he asked if she was getting a big bad wolf cake: "We didn't figure it out. We're making a piggy cake instead!" It wasn't until the cake was cut into pig shapes that I realized we were out of red food coloring. I asked Kaia if she wanted a blue or green pig instead. She chose blue. I had already added a couple drops of yellow food coloring and lo, and behold, we had turquoise frosting! Kaia was very pleased to get a turquoise pig cake. I am sort of mortified by this turquoise terror - it looks even worse in pictures than it did in real life!


Kaia and Asher were both EXTREMELY helpful making the cake.


And Asher really dug into this cake. I think he must have remembered his own birthday cake from a couple months ago. He just dug right in!

Banana Peel, Anyone?

Peter and I were awakened by Kaia's cries in the middle of the night last night after she fell out of her bed. She joined us in our bed and we thought nothing more of it until the next morning when she said, "Mommy, my shoulder really hurts," after trying to sit up. We ended up spending the day driving from one doctor to the next. Kaia was very excited to get a "bone picture," aka an X-ray, that would show her bones like the dinosaur bones at the museum. As it turns out, her middle-of-the-night fall broke her collarbone. My poor baby! But this kid is as tough as they come. She hasn't shed a tear about it. Every once in a while she'll just say, "My shoulder still hurts, Mommy."

This morning she ate a banana while she lay on our bed. At one point I peeled the banana; I meant to hand the peeled banana to her, but I accidentally handed her the banana peel instead. She started giggling and said I was "silly." Then this evening, trying to delay bedtime, she kept saying, "Mommy you gave me a banana peel when I hurt my shoulder. That was so silly!" She really is one tough cookie.

I didn't have a picture from our excursions today, so here's one showing how she was dressed for her birthday yesterday:

Aunt Anneke

Anneke visited this last week. The kids both had a wonderful time with her. They spent a lot of time at this table together. Kaia and Anneke colored for hours with markers, crayons, colored pencils. And Anneke has real talent! Asher even got in on the action whenever he could. He LOVED being part of the fun.

We also journeyed in to the American Girl Store in New York City to pick out a birthday present for Kaia on behalf of Grandma Vickie. Both the kids had a blast. Everyone in the store thought Asher was adorable as he walked around the store pointing at dolly ears, eyes, and noses in fascination and calling out, “Bah! Bah!” ("Bah" is his exclamation for anything from “give me that food you’re eating” to “look at that dolly!”)

Halloween Preview

We headed to Old Navy recently to pick out Halloween costumes. Considering what a girlie girl Kaia is, I thought she would want, well, something girlie. But she set her heart on the first costume she saw – a chicken! “Mommy, I want to be a chicken for Halloween!” She tried the costume on right in the store. We’ve already gotten great use out of it – she wears it a number of times each week until she gets “too sweaty.” And Asher will be a most appropriate thing – a monkey. He’s learned all kinds of tricks from having an older sibling and gets into all sorts of trouble.

Grochowicz Farm

We spent the day yesterday at the Grochowicz Farm, where we enjoyed some outdoor fall activities. Following are some of the highlights:

• Asher got his jacket wet playing in a bucket of water, so he got to wear my jacket the rest of the day. Of course, it was huge on him. Not wanting him to feel bad about his fashion faux pas, Kaia told him, “That’s a pretty man dress, Asher!”
• Asher was a little nervous of the animals, but Kaia was surprisingly calm around them. She sat down on the ground right next to a baby cow that she initially thought was a dog. He snuggled right up next to her, which was fine until she realized he was trying to eat her princess dress, which she insisted she must wear to the farm.

• We got to take a hayride around the farm. Kaia’s newest obsession centers on foxes and wolves, ever since we watched a cartoon about the big bad wolf. Throughout the hayride, Kaia told us she was looking for a blue fox – but this was a “nice one that doesn’t have sharp, pointy teeth!” I think she caught a glimpse of him as he ran through the woods. =)
• Kaia got to ride a pony. She’s wanted to ride a horse for a while and we’ve always told her she could when she’s 5. But the opportunity came up yesterday so she rode it in a circle. She said the pony was “fuzzy” and spent almost the entire ride stroking its fur and mane. When Peter asked her how the ride was she answered, “I’m not even 5 yet!”