Happy Halloween!

Lulu and I went to the second annual costume Halloween Party at our friends' house this morning.  It was great to see everyone from playgroup (some folks I hadn't seen since before we went to Europe in May!) and all the kids were dressed up adorably.  To economize, Lulu went as a proper Deutsche Mädchen in her dirndl (before it no longer fits her).

We tried to line up all the kids on the couch like we did last year, but there was less cooperation from the two (and almost-two) year olds.

Lulu and Elliot the Engineer refused to sit down.

The more well-behaved kids of the bunch.

Then, this evening, we got all dressed up in our dirndl again and went trick-or-treating around the neighborhood.  First stop was Auntie Kate's house next door.

Figuring out how all this trick-or-treat stuff works.

Auntie Kate wanted some pictures of Lulu in her first dirndl.

Then, we walked down to Auntie Lissa's house and went trick or treating with Auntie Lissa, J the Astronaut (Cosmonaut?), Farrah, and Lee-Lee the Ladybug.

An action show as we approach a house...

Success!  Candy!

Love this one (and the one beneath it)

I took a few pictures of our Deutsche Mädchen once we got home, too.  I especially liked this one.  (shoes are of her own choosing btw).

And a close-up of the loot!

And what would Halloween be without a chance to sample the sweet stuff??

We let her have two--a Twix and a Nestle Crunch bar.  She was barely mollified when we told her she could have a little more tomorrow....

Temper

There is not enough liquor in our house.  For anyone.



We do wonder if she might be feeling bad (no fever, cough, snot, etc. though).

Auntie Hellen

In reviewing the previous two posts, I feel the need to issue the disclaimer that I *promise* Lulu wears more than red pants and white t-shirts!

We discovered last night that someone enjoyed picking up chunks of chicken breast with her IKEA birthday tongs from Umpapa and Mau-Mau.  I know they make children's chopsticks and am thinking that perhaps we should investigate a pair?

Anyway, so that's a little exposition into the following video in which Lulu clearly says Auntie Hellen's name for the FIRST time (in spite of repeated coaching):

Boooooooooo!

Someone's a scary mummy!

This is what she looked like when I picked her up at Merryhill this afternoon.  

Boo Chips

This picture is from a little while ago (last weekend, I think?), but I thought it was too cute not to share.  Whole Foods only sells "boo chips" during October and they are SO incredibly addictive, so we tend to celebrate their arrival around here in much the same way the French celebrate the arrival of Beaujolais Nouveau.  ;)

Anyway, here is Lulu putting her feet up and enjoying an afternoon snack.  You can see the ubiquitous bread with peanut butter that has become her staple as of late and if you look closely, you'll notice a boo chip in the egg cup on her kitchen thingie.  We were making her carry her pan back and forth over to us to get more boo chips and apparently, she thought it might taste even better if she put one in an egg cup!

I think I've mentioned her peanut butter obsession to most of you.  Bread doesn't not exist purely for its own sake--it merely exists as a peanut butter delivery vehicle.  She LOVES the stuff.  And apparently, it's also great for soothing "owies."  Who knew?

Update.

Today's Merry-gram:

Louisa did a good job being gentle w/friends today.  She even sat in her bed quietly while other friends are sleeping.  Good job, Louisa! 

I should add that her nap time was officially 12:50-1:15pm.  Yup, all of 25 minutes.

Second Verse Same as the First!

Sing along, everybody!  I'm Henry the Eighth, I am.  Henry the Eighth I am, I am....

Today's Merry-gram:

Today we've been reminding Louisa about being gentle with friends.  She's been pulling/pushing friends.  We've also been redirecting her to another activity and encouraging her to play with a different set of friends.  Hope this helps.

Advice, anyone?  Anyone?

Merry-gram

In continuing our tradition of getting special notes from Lulu's teachers called "Merry-grams," I got one yesterday that read:

Today Louisa has been very aggressive with her friends.  At 3:00 she hit two of her friends on their backs. It was unprovoked both times.  We will continue to remind Louisa about being gentle with friends.

Apparently we need to re-think the ballet lessons and start thinking about boxing classes, eh?

On a more serious note, my theory is that she was trying to pat them on the back and doesn't know her own strength.  Unfortunately, I didn't observe it, so I don't know that for sure.  Given how um, sturdy she is, I think that's a very real possibility.

Fall Colors

We took a nice family outing today up into the High Sierras at Walter's suggestion.  We drove up out of Sacramento through Jackson and Highway 88 toward Kirkwood Ski Resort.  Walter thought today was the day to go because we are supposed to get rain (snow in higher elevations) tomorrow which would freeze out the fall colors.  And the aspens were beautiful!

We made a few stops along the way, including at a particularly scenic rest stop:

Enjoying the vista overlook with Daddy:

Stuck between a rock and a hard place??

We drove along a little further and took a hike around Thunder Mountain and saw some great vistas there, too.  Not really much fall color along our hike though...

Someone wasn't that interested in the fall colors.  She was more engrossed in her "First 1000 Words in Italian" picture book.  (Christmas gift hint: picture books with large, complicated pictures are very interesting right now--who knows by Christmas though?)

We did finally see some color though and it was GORGEOUS!!

Augenbraue

Apparently someone has inherited her UmPapa's ability to make his eyebrows go all funkily devilish!

And here's a close-up of the devilish eyebrows (compliments of Aquaphor).

The rash on her face was caused by skin irritation from some paint they were using at daycare and cleared up by the next morning, so no worries!

Dancing

Here's some cute video of Lulu dancing.  She's developing quite the Elaine Bennis-style leg kick (aka Seinfeld-Style).  Perhaps we might need to enroll her in ballet sooner rather than later...?



And Daddy is such a helpful dancing partner by keeping the beat on his breadcrumbs container.  :)

1, 2, 3, 4...

Someone is learning how to count.  It's somewhat unintelligible unless you know what you're listening to, but Lulu is counting (up to two) in German.  We've watched her "count" her "meme's" (pacifiers) by pointing at them and saying "eins, zwei."   Let's hope she doesn't share my love/hate relationship with numbers and math....sad for an economist to admit, but true!

Fun with paper bags...

Dido will be so glad to learn that she's not the only one who's tortured with paper bags...

Oh, don't I look cute??

Cleaning up after her dinner.

My personal favorite.  She'll hate us for this one!

Oktoberfest!

Lulu had a great time at Oktoberfest at the Sacramento Turnverein this weekend.  We were joined by our friends, Stephan and Kristin, and managed to snag a table upstairs in the Kaffee & Kuchen room.  Much beer was consumed, along with a roasted chicken, pretzels, and some goldfish crackers (by Lulu).

Stephan practicing his umlauts??

Dancing with Kristin

Lulu and her daddy enjoyed the traditional folk dancing downstairs and then she got into the swing of things with the "rock" band upstairs (especially the Beatles and Rolling Stones).

shake that booty!

And for your entertainment, I shot a quick video of the action, too: