Happy Halloween!

We had a fun Halloween week. We got ready for the holiday by going to an art class at Gymboree, where I made a pumpkin out of different colored construction paper, glue and - best of all - glitter. A few days later, I woke up and there was a real pumpkin carved suspiciously like the one I made in my art class. Dad said he liked mine so much he used it as the model for a nice jack o' lantern.

Our Halloween festivities started Thursday, when we dressed up for a party at Dad's office. For my third Halloween, I dressed up as a lion. Hazel celebrated her first Halloween by dressing up as a pumpkin. The party was a great chance to play some fun games, color some spooky pictures, and I got a cool spider tattoo on my hand.

Halloween night, we decorated the front of our house with our jack o' lantern, my pumpkin from art class and another pumpkin picture I made at home. Then I put on my lion costume and Mom put on some bat wings and we went trick or treating while Dad stayed home with sleeping Hazel and passed out candy to other trick-or-treaters. This was my first time trick or treating, so we took it easy. We just went to a couple houses on our street, mostly people we know. I liked ringing the doorbells, putting candy in my ghost bag, and trying to run into the houses. I can't wait til next year. In the meantime, I will try to figure out where all my candy went. Mom says it's a Halloween disappearing act.

Aside from Halloween, Hazel and I have made some exciting progress. Hazel has been eating oatmeal with zeal, and tonight she tried sweet potatoes for the first time. She seemed to like it but was tired because of daylight savings time and kept trying to roll over and go to sleep in her high chair. All her eating is paying off - she has moved up to the next clothes size. While we're glad she is growing so well, we're sad to pack her cute old clothes away.

Thursday Hazel figured out that rolling is a good way to get around. Mom was playing with her while I was taking a nap, and she rolled halfway across the room. We are all excited about Hazel's new mode of transportation.

I am making great strides in communicating. I am using loads of signs and am really excited to be able to tell everyone what I want. I am also saying a few new words!!! At lunchtime Friday, I said, "All done." Mom couldn't believe her ears, so I said it again, two more times. Then I said, "Yeah" a couple of times, then "Oh no." My favorite saying by far is "Oh no," and I've been saying it lots since then, especially when we read Blue Hat, Green Hat, a funny book Grandma and Grandpa gave me before I was even born, which features a confused turkey.

Today I found a new hiding place in the kitchen. When Mom was making my breakfast this morning, I realized I can fit in the kitchen cabinet. It's a great place to take a break and hide from everyone.

Friday we all had our photos taken by our favorite photographer, Ginny B. We had a fun time in her new studio and can't wait to share our photos with all of you.

Another exciting thing is this week, a new babysitter started coming to our house. Her name is Dahlia, she's very fun, and we will see her for a few hours most Wednesday afternoons. We are all happy to have her help.

Here are links to pictures from this week, and a video of Mitch and Hazel playing.