Halloween!

For a month before Halloween, Isaac knew what he wanted to be: a wy-on. I didn't want to spend $30-50 on a costume he would only wear once, so I searched the web for lion hats and tried to come up with something homemade and recognizable. I kept my eye on the Highland Mommy classified ads, without much hope. Then came the ad I'd been wishing for: Lion costume, size 2T, $10. Perfect. I picked it up that night, and when I walked in the door, Isaac came running to me with arms outstretched and his face radiant. He took this large, floppy lion (costume) from me, and we spent the rest of the evening changing Wy-on's diaper and offering him water from Isaac's Klean Kanteen.
The lion had arrived freshly washed, but by the time Halloween came around, he had been dragged around our dirty house - by his previously neat and tidy mane - for two weeks. However, Isaac's eyes saw no flaws. Here he is becoming the lion for the first time.





There's a fun tradition in our neighborhood called Trick-or-Treat Street. We have three historic commercial strips lined with independent shops and restaurants, and the stores in each district give out candy on Halloween day or the Saturday before during designated hours. The two older events are packed with kids, parents, and strollers. The one nearest us (walking distance) is just in its second year, so it's less crowded for now.
Below, I took the boys (Jonah in the sling, Isaac in the stroller) to our event on 32nd Ave.

Look at all the snow we had left! (See previous post.)

Lions need to drink a lot of water.

Looking down our street on Halloween day...snow and fall leaves.

At the ice cream store, where Isaac doesn't care about the ice cream that much but loves to push the red button and watch the trolley go down the track.


Mr. Lion.


Kind of hard to see under this thing...

On the way home...Isaac insisted on pushing the stroller with his feet. Made for a slow, slow walk.



We spent most of Halloween night at a party with our wonderful playgroup and their families. Below are friends Oliver and Thrace. Oliver's talented mama made this costume - his choice, but very appropriate for the son of two Mainers!


Isaac walked in and went straight to the toddler food table - just the right height for grazing. I think he added some hummus and salsa to his costume, poor Wy-on.
We were among the last to leave, and by the end of the night, Lion was spending a lot of time on the floor. I imagine there was some food down there.



Playing with Farmer James.

Eventually, all my boys retreated to the family room, where Elmo was putting on a show. They were mesmerized. Elmo is like a drug. Jonah is starting early.

End of the night...The costume was perfect for outdoors though too hot for inside - but look at those curls.

Oct 27-29 - Big Snow!

It started snowing on a Tuesday night and didn't stop until Thursday afternoon. That night, I had taken both boys out to the grocery store for the first time, in a fine, steady, 40-degree rain, running in with Jonah's carseat in one hand and Isaac's hand in the other, the Vitamin Cottage bag dangling around my wrist. By the time I was unloading us all back into the house, I saw snowflakes mixing in with the rain.

Adam was gone that night and I wished for him after I'd put the boys to bed, as I sat on our daybed by the front window and watched the snow falling so slowly but so steadily under the glow of the streetlight. One of my favorite sights in the world. I have sometimes been so tired of this white stuff since we moved to Colorado, but no matter what, the first real snow is always special.

Waking up the next morning, I was amazed to see how much it had piled up overnight. I put Jonah in his new fleece dinosaur suit and kept him in it for two days, until the snow stopped and the temperature finally climbed out of the 20's.



On Thursday morning, it was still snowing. I let the dogs out, and Zorra (25 pounds but lanky) was up to her hips in snow. She bounded through the backyard like a deer.






Adam had come home late Wednesday night, in sandals and without a jacket. I'd worried about his plane getting in and was just glad he was back. Thursday night, he and Isaac went out to shovel. It was Isaac's first time getting to play in the snow, and I think he loved it.

Helping Dada.








By the end of the storm, we had about 2 feet of snow. Our neighborhood had 23 inches on the ground by 10:10am on Thursday, and it kept snowing for much of the day. It really was beautiful.

Oct 28 - Jonah, 1 month

Plus 1 day. Breaking out like a teenager, but definitely growing.
He's wearing his new fleece outfit to keep away the cold. We were in the middle of a 2-day snowstorm that left 2 feet of snow on the ground in Denver.

Oct 25 - Sunday morning downtown

There is nothing Isaac loves more than riding the bus. With the enormous transition in his life lately, we have been trying to take special outings just for him. He is unsure about sharing his mama but thrilled to spend more time on the bus.

On this day, we parked by the station on Broadway, took the free 16th St bus all the way to the train station, then hopped off for a pizza lunch at Anthony's.






Catching the bus back to our car, the temperature had dropped and the wind was blowing snowflakes. I was freezing, but I don't think Isaac even felt the cold.

Oct 23 - First Haircut and Celebration Dinner

I've been hearing about these children's salons where kids can sit in a car or truck while they get their hair cut. But first Adam wanted to take Isaac on a father-son outing to his old-school barber shop.
It was like the scene in Mary Poppins where the father takes the kids to the bank: a fascinating peek into a different world with odd characters, but also stiff, geriatric, harsh, and not a kid in sight. The barbers treated Isaac with cordial formality, offering haircuts and good intentions. A few stooped customers hobbled in the door for their Saturday cuts, and an NFL game played on an old TV. Isaac, and even Jonah in his carrier, stared wide-eyed around the small room. But any attempt to get Isaac in his chair was met with: "Nooooooo." When the owner started suggesting ways to trick Isaac into getting his hair cut, I decided it was time to go. The boys and I went to wait in the car while Adam got his hair cut alone. I nursed Jonah; Isaac "drove."
However, Isaac's hair, a mass of yellow curls in rain or humidity, had become a mass of coarse tangles in Colorado's dry air. The tangles were getting longer and messier, and it was time to cut them.
So on a Friday afternoon when Isaac woke up early from his nap, I suggested a haircut at a different place - where he'd get to drive a car while they cut his hair. He listened and then agreed, restating to make sure I understood: "Isaac get hair cut at different place. NOT barber shop."
So the boys and I drove to the fancy place in Cherry Creek. Free parking was a good start. When we walked in, I knew we were in the right place. All the chairs were vehicles, a cartoon movie was playing on TV (a treat in itself, as there is still no TV-watching in our house outside of basketball season), and the whole place was cheery and colorful. Isaac ran ahead of me and climbed into the fire truck, took the wheel...heaven. The shot above can serve as the "before" picture.


The girl who cut Isaac's hair was young and knew how to handle kids - and their parents. When Isaac got scared and started to protest again, she distracted him handily. She asked me before offering candy (no, sorry Isaac) or asking about trick-or-treating. And so Isaac drove the fire truck while the crazy locks fell away.

I forgot to take an "after" picture, but the picture above shows his hair almost finished. She was done in 10 minutes - the length of a typical toddler attention span in their salon, she explained.


After the haircut, it was time for our Friday night dinner out! We went to my favorite (non fine-dining) restaurant in town, a large, Mexican factory of a place called Benny's - great food, fun atmosphere, and the feeling of a Denver institution. I love this place, and so does Isaac. He doesn't care where we go to dinner as long as it's a "rice beans restaurant." Most nights, I feel the same way.

Above, Isaac is cooking dinner in the "ovens" while we wait for a table.


These are cell phone pictures and are not the best, but still worth adding to the record of daily life.