On Halloween...

The trick-or-treat crew 2015

Banner:  "Can I please have some candy?"
Me: "Uh, Ban.  Those are pumpkins, not people."
Banner:  "Okay, but can they please give me some candy?"

Me:  "No more candy."
Banner: "But it's not all gone yet."

Halloween...

We've had THREE costumes since late August/early September.  The idea was (since they were only $15 each) that Banner could "gently" wear them all before Halloween, and then have a pretty decent costume bin for dress up after the holiday had come and gone.

There was much debate, leading up to Halloween, about which costume Banner would ultimately choose for trick-or-treating.  Spiderman had been favored for weeks, and that was the costume of choice at Brook Hollow's annual costume party the Sunday before Halloween:

The boots make the outfit.

However, as Halloween approached, Captain America jumped ahead of the competition.  Banner even announced to his classmates that he was going to be "Cap'in Murica".  Many assumed the matter was settled.

But then the holiday arrived, and - after all this choices were presented to him - the HULK was ultimately triumphant.  It was an amazing come from behind victory that no one saw coming.  It was also very short lived, because the Hulk mask "hurt".  So short lived, in fact, that someone's mama didn't even get a chance to snap a picture (sigh).

So it was second place Captain America that actually made an appearance on Halloween night.  Fellow superheroes Superman, Ironman and Spiderman also joined in for the fun, because OF COURSE:

The best part of the night was how seriously Banner...err, Captain America took his superhero responsibilities.  Because, clearly, crime fighting is no joking matter:



(Well, mostly...)



Unexpected problem:  knocking while holding both a
shield and a bucket is impossible when you are two.

Captain America also had quite the haul of goodies.  Lucky for us, he was too tired to appreciate it.  In fact, he was too tired to even take a bath.  Poor little guy was out like a light (because, again, crime fighting is hard, y'all). 

Until next year...

Because it is a FRAMER that actually ended up in a frame. That is a really big deal. Just ask Hilary.

James French, who photographed my sister's wedding, takes pictures every Halloween, Christmas and Easter in a park over near my father's house.  It is first come, first serve and costs $15.  You pay upfront, and just cross your fingers and hope the kiddo is feeling cooperative and smily.  Because, really: you never know with these pint-sized humans.  The portrait is later mailed to your home address.

I've been waiting patiently for a month for mine to arrive.

I had an idea it was going to awesome because Mr. French was armed with a stuffed Grover doll.  Banner thinks Grover is a blue Elmo, and we all know that Elmo is essentially the toddler version of a happy pill.  The Ban-Man was instantly all smiles:

Taken with my iPhone back on that day in mid October.

And here is the photo that arrived earlier this week:



Love, love, love!

The thing is, I am TERRIBLE at changing out the frames in our house.  I have many of the same pictures on display that I originally put together some 10-15 years ago to decorate various college and graduate school dorm rooms and apartments.  The most current image of my sister - until she got married last year and GAVE US a framed picture of her and Adam for Christmas - was taken when she was 13 on a horse that passed away in 2009.  My mother-in-law got so tired of giving us framers that never ended up in frames that she brought over several randomly while we were out of town, and strategically placed them around the living room.  They are still there, which probably means that she has cracked the code of how to get current pictures on display in our house.

(I just hope she'll come back and swap the images out with new ones as the years go by.  Makes my self induced photo time capsule much more interesting with a  pop of "current" every now and again.)

I read blogs of people who put together photo collages on accent walls, hallways and nurseries, and I ALWAYS think to myself, "What a wonderful idea".  But then I remember that I never got around to framing ANY pictures of our wedding day or newborn pictures of Banner.  So maybe more realistic goal for me is to simply commit to swapping out a photo now and again with a new favorite?

You know, like baby steps?

So, I committed to framing the pumpkin picture above, and found a 5x5 that needed an updated image.  Except the picture already in there had been there for so long that it was GLUED TO THE GLASS.  It took six hours of soaking the glass in warm, soapy water to get all the old photograph residue off.  But I persevered and 24 hours later FINALLY had the pumpkin picture framed and on display in a place of honor.  It looks awesome, if I don't say so myself.  Trevor even noticed it, which is really saying something.

(And, don't worry, I scanned the old image in before ripping it out of the frame for good.)

Unfortunately, the mere fact that "swapping out a photo" took an entire day probably means that the next time I do that again will be around the time Banner graduates from high school. 


Pumpkin Village...

Or as Banner calls them "Monk-ins".

Nothing says fall to me like pumpkins, and we've done a lot to try and get our fill of those big, orange balls this season.  

The following are some of my favorite photos taken at the Arboretum over the course of our many (many) visits there (so far) this autumn:

Harvest Parties...

There were two parties at Banner's school last week.  One was a class gathering where the kiddos decorated pumpkins with stickers.

Well, except MY kid, who just decorated himself: 

I love the third eyeball.

There was an event at work for the class party on Wednesday, so Trevor and my dad attended in my absence.  My favorite story from the class party, however, involves my father.  I can't remember if I've blogged about it before or not, but my dad visits Banner 1-2 times a week at school.  He had surgery on his back in May, and his physical therapist offices near Banner's day care.  So, after therapy, my dad frequently stops by to see his grandson.  Every time he visits, dad offers Banner a Starbucks mint from a tin in his pocket.  As a result, Banner now associates my father with mints...as do the rest of Banner's classmates.

So imagine, if you will, the class party.  My dad walks in the door and Banner and all of his classmates run up to greet him...AND IMMEDIATELY START STICKING THEIR HANDS DOWN HIS PANT POCKETS LOOKING FOR MINTS.

Trevor had to explain to the other parents what was going on.  ;P

The all-school party was on Thursday, and - thanks to having to work late the night before - it was no problem for me to sneak away from the office a little bit early to attend.  Each class was assigned a football team, and all the kids got to go on a sticker scavenger hunt to all the classrooms.  It was a blast.

Banner's class was TCU.  Since no one in the family are alums, Amy had the brilliant idea to use purple duct tape and decorate one of Banner's white shirts:

Banner's teachers thought Amy's final product was so cute that they asked each of the kids in the class to bring in a white shirt, and Ebony and Natasha decorated it with purple tape so all of the toddlers in room seven matched.  Then, they dressed in purple shirts with white tape with "COACH" on the back.  It was adorable.

And, of course, what is a friendly competition without eyeblack?  Yeah, exactly.

Toddler game face:

After everyone was dressed and finished with snack, Banner taught his classmates how to "hut, hut".  Had he been there, I'm sure it would have been Trevor's proudest moment:

But attention spans are short when you are a toddler, and slides are very tempting. 

And did I mention Banner's Halloween socks?  Because nothing gets you in the mood for a little trick-or-treating like festive jack-o-lanterns on your toes!

(Thanks, Mom!)

Halloween, Brook Hollow style...

Look at those muscles!

Last Sunday (October 27th), we took the little guy to a Halloween party at a local country club. 

We were running a little late because Trevor and I were unaware that Banner did not like his WEARING his costume.  He seemed excited about the idea of the costume, but put it on him and he'd run around saying "all done, all done, all done" (because he lacks the vocab to say, "Get this effing thing off me NOW!"). 

To be fair, the Thor suit was a little snug in the shoulders.  Which is insane since it is a 4T and Banner isn't even two yet. 

But I digress.  There were elements of the costume that Banner really enjoyed, like his "BOOM! BOOM!" (hammer).  And parts that he wouldn't even consider wearing, like his helmet.  Case in point:

Seriously.  The image on the right is the ONLY picture in existence of Banner dressed as Thor with both the helmet AND hammer in it.  And he isn't even holding the hammer.

Since he refused to wear his costume in the car, we had to wait to dress him upon arrival.  It helped that all the other kids were dressed up, but you could tell Ban still wasn't completely sold on the whole idea.  In fact, I think the only reason he kept it on as long as he did was because I told him he had to wear it if he wanted to go outside and play. 
 

Which is probably why he looked like this when we first walked out on the patio:
 

Not so sure about this, you guys.

 

 

But "Thor" soon recovered once he discovered all the games and activities.  There was so much to do!

 

 

Of course, he wanted nothing to do with anything once he discovered the bounce house.  Which TERRIFIED me because of all the big kids inside rough housing.  But Banner was undaunted, walked right up to it, took off his shoes and socks and climbed inside.

At first he lingered near the entrance, but eventually worked his way to the other end.  As a final obstacle, the exit to the bounce house was a giant six foot inflatable slide.  Once Banner knew the slide was there, there was no keeping him away.  I lost count of how many times he crawled through!

And he wasn't unscathed, either.  Ban was constantly getting bounced upon by other kids or knocked down.  He even split his lower lip open at some point, but didn't shed a tear.  The boy is all about keeping up with the big kids.

(Seriously.  The kid is BRAVE.  No idea where he got that from!  Trevor and I were just accident prone.)

After watching Banner risk life and limb for nearly an hour, I caught him at the bottom of the slide before he could run around and climb back in for another go.  His diaper felt pretty full and it seemed wise to take care of that before dinner.  Secretly, I think Banner was relieved to have a reason to stop the bounce house madness.  He didn't protest once and calmly let me carry him to the women's locker room.

After I got the little tyke cleaned up and out of his costume, it was dinner time on the porch:

Banner's favorite food were the meatballs.  I was partial to the fried pickles.  ;P

As a party favor, mom had made a goodie bag for Banner complete with treats, sticker and - Banner's all time favorite BFF - ELMO.  The best thing about this Elmo is that he doesn't do anything, and is small and soft enough to be Banner's newest bedtime buddy.  He is also a much convenient size...you know, for those times that Elmo absolutely MUST join us in the car to run errands.  "Other" Elmo is longer than Banner and randomly starts snoring.

Instant buddies.

It was a very fun afternoon we the added perk that it completely wore our little Ban-Man out.  Bounce houses and Halloween parties are seriously the things DREAMS are made of.  I think he slept for 14 hours straight!  Bliss!

Happy Halloween!

Love, Thor (Banner), Ironman (Gypsy Kitty),
Captain America (Alley Cat) and Spiderman (Haskell)

And, yes, I know Spiderman isn't an Avenger.

All the Hulk dog costumes available online last week were XS, 

and there was SIMPLY no way Haskell was fitting in that!  ;P

Because getting a picture of the dogs
(and the backs of their shirts) was IMPOSSIBLE with Banner.

A blurry attempt at a family photo in the backyard.
There is a reason there aren't many!

Heading out...

Ban said a jumble of words that sounded enough like "trick
or treat" to pass as acceptable.  It helped that he is just so
(darn) cute.  Next year we need to work on NOT barging
into stranger's homes, waking their babies and otherwise
making himself at home. You know:  Baby steps.

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween!

More trick than treat...

Y'all.  This morning.  I'm still reeling.

Banner woke me up this morning.  At 6:30.  Singing.

I turned on the baby monitor.  He was dancing and making faces at the camera like he knew I was watching.

He was also completely naked.

Terrified, I ran into the nursery.  Banner, excited to see me, exclaimed, "Mama!  Poo-poo!"

Dear God, no!

And it wasn't.  But that's only because Banner gets the words poo-poo and pee-pee confused.  I think it is because the two word are so similar, involve the potty and start with the letter "p".  But I digress:  The nursery was covered in urine.

I stood there frozen for at least half a minute.  I think I was hoping it was all a nightmare, and that I'd wake up back in my own bed.

No such luck.

Even after I accepted that wasn't a dream, it STILL took awhile to process what I was seeing.  Namely a toddler who was celebrating in his pee soaked crib like it was a national holiday.  He was simply thrilled with the situation.

Me?  Less so.

After the initial shock wore off, I decided the most important thing was to get Banner cleaned up and back in a diaper.  And, just like before, it is a good thing I did.  Because less than twenty seconds after taking him off the changing table and turning my attention to the task of stripping the crib, he pooped.  Which, in itself, wasn't that big of a deal.  Except this particular poop that demanded immediate attention because Banner started chanting "Poo-poo! Poo-poo!" and started trying to shove his hand into the back of his diaper. 

So, I dropped everything, and turned my attention to the task of changing my second diaper before 7 AM.  A diaper, might I add, that stank to high heaven and needed immediate relocation to the trash bin outside.  Except I was still in my jammies and my toddler started announcing he was hungry.  So, I washed my hands, threw a waffle in the toaster, peeled a orange, threw it all on a plate and served it to Ban before finding my flip flops, picking back up said dirty diaper and heading outside in the predawn darkness to throw it away.

Instead of calmly eating his breakfast in the 20 seconds it would have taken me to walk to/from the trash bin, Banner decided to follow me outside.  Where he noticed that one of my neighbor's decorative ghosts had fallen out of the tree in last night's rain AND DECIDED TO BOLT AT TOP SPEED TO GO GET IT.  And I had to sprint after because those neighbors never pick up after their dogs in the front yard and my kid was wearing nothing but a diaper.

Luckily, I managed to grab him before he stepped in anything undesirable, but in the process he had noticed that we had a newspaper in our driveway (we don't subscribe, but randomly get them anyway).  Which he had to pick up OR HE WOULD DIE even though it was soaking wet and dripping everywhere.  He wanted to take it inside, but I worked out a compromise where he got to experience the thrill of tossing it inside the recycle bin.  Except then he freaked out because I followed up with tossing the dirty diaper in the trash, and he apparently wanted to do that too.

OMG, CRISIS!

Which was why my toddler had a tantrum at 7 AM in our driveway.  I'm sure our neighbors were thrilled.

I picked up the kid, carried him back inside, washed both our hands and plopped him back in front of his breakfast.  But he wouldn't stay there, so I brought his breakfast back to our bedroom in the hopes that he would eat it there while I got dressed.  No such luck.  But I pressed on anyway, because what choice did I have?  Which was how I temporarily lost him  while washing my face and panicked...before discovering him hiding under our bed.

Banner emerged with Trevor's baseball bat in his hands and a dust bunny clinging to his foot.  I relocated the bat to the top of the closet, carried Banner back into his room, wiped him down (AGAIN) and slapped some clothes on his back...ALL before realizing it was Halloween and he needed to wear jeans and a festive shirt to school today.

Sh*t.

So, I grabbed a more appropriate outfit out of his closet, but Banner didn't want to change and had hidden in his circus tent in the corner.  So I had to resort to bribery with a wind-up bunny, wrestle him out of the outfit  he was currently wearing and into another before dragging him back into my room so I could (FINALLY, OMG) get dressed for work.

I somehow managed to put on Tuesday's jeans and a top when I realized Banner still hadn't eaten very much.  So I heated up these gluten-free French toast sticks he normally loves but (of course) wasn't interested in TODAY.  How do I know?  Because I walked in half a second too late (after making my lunch in the kitchen) to discover him feeding them to the dogs .  So, I tossed the Awesome Pawsome outside, grabbed a squeezie and some crackers, and started loading Banner into the car.  He sucked down the squeezie but refused the crackers and started asking for "wa-wa".  So I strapped him in his car seat, ran back in the house and grabbed him a sippy cup filled with water.

I'm about to open the garage door to back out, when I remembered that I don't have my phone.  So I go back inside to grab that.  Good thing, too, because I discovered that I'd forgotten to turn on the (freaking) alarm. 

Finally, though, everything is locked up properly and Banner and I backed out of the driveway and headed to daycare.  Except it isn't until...

...I'm walking into his classroom that I realize I am still wearing the flip flops I put on to take Banner's poopy diaper to the trash.

...I get to the office that I realize I never finished stripping the urine soaked sheets out of Banner's crib.

...9:30 AM that I realized that I never hit the ON button on the office coffee pot after adding water and grounds.

...10 AM that I realize I never put deodorant on this morning.

Some mornings should come with warning labels.  Or do overs.  Or a little bit of IRISH in your coffee.

Just saying.

Doggie HOWL-O-WEEN costume teaser...

I've had a lot of questions asking what Banner is going to be for Halloween. 

 

Here is a hint:

 

 



Too obvious?



Doh!