Halloween Party

The Friday before Halloween was the most fun ever. First the kids at the daycare center had their Halloween parade. There was a whole patch of pumpkin babies, a few Bob the Builders, Thomas the Trains, Batman, Princesses and even Elvis showed up. Hannah, of course, had to get one more year out of her Steelers cheerleader outfit.

Next she spread icing over a pumpkin shaped cookie, topped it with sprinkles and licked the icing and sprinkles back off of the cookie. Of course she made a huge mess in the process, but managed not to get any on her costume.

Then we had some time to kill before Mommy had to work, so we went to the mall for lunch. Of course, when you have time to spare at the Carousel Mall, you have to ride the Carousel. Now that she is a big girl and can hold on pretty good, she decided to ride one of the big horses on the outside row.

Finally, it was back to school for a nap, a snack and of course playing on the playground. What more could a 20 month old ask for?!

Technology Lapse

Well, here is an example of out-dated technology. This picture was taken on a regular film camera before the picture in the previous post; then it had to wait in the camera until the entire roll of film was used.

Using up the film takes longer because every picture costs money, even the ones that don't turn out the way you wanted them to. You've got to wait for a really momentous occasion to even consider pulling out the camera. Then you end up wasting the last 3 pictures... 4 pictures... ("It's still not done yet?! The thing says we've already taken 25 pictures) 5 pictures on the flowers in front of your house.

After finally taking the last picture, you have to find time to take the film to get developed. A few weeks later, after forgetting to take the film with you on the last five shopping trips, you find an ad for 1-day doubles. At your next convenience, you go pick up your pictures to find that half of them are of people with their eyes closed or odd expressions on their faces or too dark because the flash didn't work. Hey, at least you got doubles, right? What am I supposed to do with two blurry pictures of Hannah not sitting still by the scarecrow and not looking at the camera and not smiling?

I could have made the process even longer for most of you by waiting until Thanksgiving to show you the picture; but I decided my point could still be illustrated and scanned it in.

The only fun thing about using regular film is that the longer you forget to get it developed, the more hilarious it is to find pictures from last Christmas on a 12 exposure roll of film that you completely forgot about. Still, I will opt for the high-tech method.

Headless Al

Well, we got our new camera last Friday; but the subject of our pictures still doesn't want to sit still long enough to snap a picture. As you can see, Hannah didn't really like the idea of posing next to a decapitated scarecrow. She watched us stuff him with a pillow and some newspapers, but the more he started to take form, the less she wanted to be around him.

I guess we can't blame her. For the first few days, Headless Al startled the wife and I every time we opened the front door. Now, he's almost part of the family. For the moment, he is the only Halloween decoration, but there may be pumpkins coming this weekend. (No, that pumpkin doesn't count - it's Al's head)

As for Halloween, Hannah may stop at a few houses, but will probably spend most of the night helping us pass out candy. We're going to squeeze her back into that Steelers cheerleader outfit. It was a little big last year and will probably be a little small this year, but she's gotta show off her Pittsburgh spirit. She wants to be a role model for her new cousin, who is apparently already a Steelers fan.

Fearless

Well, that didn't take long. Just 8 short months ago, Hannah was taking her First Steps!!! and now she's a fearless climber. A professional would call it "exceptional large motor skills," but we just call it "exceptionally larger chance of getting hurt skills." Of course she doesn't just practice this at the playground, but also at home by climbing on the couch and the coffee table in the back room, darting up the stairs and scaling her high chair.

Now we have to face the parental struggle of striking a balance between letting her explore and keeping her neck in one piece. Watching her explore and indulge her curiosity is very fulfilling; but watching her start to lose her balance with nothing but the hardwood floor to break her fall if I don't catch her - that can't be good for my mental or physical health.

In any case she is growing up and becoming more independent every day. She even gave up her pacifier cold turkey a few days ago (so far so good). She loves having books read to her and she pays attention to entire TV programs now. She still likes to play with us, but can entertain herself with toys or books if need be; and, of course, she still knows how to show off for a crowd.

We are enjoying it while it lasts, though, as elements of the terrible two's are starting to surface at only one and a half.

This picture was courtesy of our recent guests, the Hreha's, but we ordered a new Canon PowerShot A510 from Amazon.com and it should be here in about a week. This doesn't mean I'll update the blog more often, I just won't have an excuse anymore.