Oh, October

Bloggity, blog, blog, blog. Oh, what to write. It's been such a hodge podge month, so I will start out by showing you this incredible log cabin Cali and I built out of Lincoln Logs! Of course, we can't build this when little sister is awake; up and around playing amongst us. She is one years old and well...doesn't understand that you can't just come and knock down all that hard work. Siblings can be rough. Rough to have and rough on each other. I know Cali loves Carice and they can have fun together, but sometimes I think the green-eyed monster blows her wrath around our little townhome as well. Like when little sis wakes up from her nap and has to join Mommy and Cali back into the play day. It's hard to share your parents. Plus, like I said, Cali abhors when Carice does awake from naptime and has the potential of coming and wrecking creative buildings and zoos Mommy and Cali have made. I must say, Carice is not completely innocent. She has been known to grab a handful of blonde Cali hair and give a mighty yank. Self defense? Paybacks? I don't know. And sharing of toys with these two? Not on the radar screen, I'm afraid. Well, sometimes, they do. But snacks? Totally cool for sharing. In fact, when picking out a 'helpful treat' (Cali's reward for being helpful and not a pain in the patooty while in a store shopping) she thinks of what she can get to share with her sister. And nothing has been cuter than seeing them share messy orange Cheetohs together in the back seat of the car with big sis being the 'doler-outer' and little sis begging with one hand extended meaning, "Gimme more!" She seemed to like having one in each hand. ("Hey, I've got two hands, so I need two Cheetohs!)

Unfortunately, we had to curb the Cheetohs and have Cali choose something that doesn't have artificial dyes in it. Have you heard about this? Dyes, artificial colors in food, specifically Red #40 and Yellow #5 (6?) causing behavioral disturbances. We thought we would do a little experiment to see if made a difference in Cali. We read about the Spirited Child (it pretty much saved my relationship with her not to mention my sanity and recommend the book very highly), however, at times Cali seemed even more off the charts. So, we cut out things like fruit snacks and Cheetohs and candy that are artificially colored. Was it coincidence? She did seem less 'edgy.' Maybe four is just the most challenging. Is she mental? Is she just 4? Is it sibling jealousy? Is it the Spirited/Dye Eating Child? Oh, it's been a ride. You can see, however, that even though she still isn't inthralled with picture taking, we've got a few new snapshots to share.
Cali is so beautiful, smart, creative, persistant and has so much to offer herself and others in the world to come. We just have to figure out the best way to get her there. At times, I view her with what I call the "Parable of the Pineapple". Looking at her is like looking at a fresh pineapple while thinking to yourself, "How in theeee heck do I get to the good stuff". There is no little paper tag hanging from her explaining how to do it either. I pray Rick and I won't fall short of helping Cali reach her full potential.

We signed her up for a Gymboree class again. (Oh...the playgroup? Pretty much a complete bust. An 'E' for effort for the Mommy :) Gymboree offers something similiar to a preschool class, only it's one day a week instead of two or three. But she can attend open gym 3 other days of the week to just play for two hours, so I thought this would be a good fit. She had her first class on Halloween day. I may try the other time offered because more kids are enrolled in that class. And Cali needs friends and people. She's an extrovert! She attended two birthday parties this month.

She dressed up in her doctor costume for the first party, but ended up being sad because another attendee was dressd up like a princess. So, needless to say, she was not a doctor this year for Halloween but a princess afterall. The other party was going to Build-A-Bear Workshop. She came home with the cutest brown bear named Snickers in a blue and white cheerleading outfit. Now that was a great party to be invited to! She earned her 'toddlers' (twin baby dolls, a girl and a boy) by completing an eye-patching chart. She has been wanting them for awhile and named them Jordan and Brianna. She also was to take part in a Sacrament Meeting Presentation with the rest of the Primary children reading parts and singing songs (with me!) but she just didn't have it in her to do all that in front of everyone. And that's okay...stuff like that isn't easy.



But I can tell you what is easy...getting presents on your sister's birthday! Yep, Grandma Le Bel was so thoughtful and kind to send not only Carice a box-load of things for her birthday (so she was a wee bit late...who cares!) Cali got some wonderful goodies also. Thanks, Mom! And Carice also received more presents from Aunt Sue, Uncle Carl and Cousin Richard in the same box! (Relatives living together=more presents at one time!) She likes to sit in our Thonet chair in our bedroom and 'read' her books which she got a couple more of for her birthday. She also has been honing not only her walking skills, but walking while wearing a 'princess shoe". I think we have an 'all girl' on our hands :) She was a doctor for Halloween, complete with a nametag that Daddy designed: "Dr. Carice Moore, MD, Resident OB-GYN (Cali was to be Chief of Staff, but the power of the princess dress took over) Carice went with big sis to the 'Halloween Hoopla' at our local library. They had songs and stories and a goodie bag for the children. I love our Draper Library. The girls also went to the Trunk or Treat at the church. They didn't get a whole lot of candy this year, but enough for their little bodies. Not to mention the bowlful we had left over of Reese's peanut butter cups and "Mus-greeters" (Cali's reading of the 3 Musketeer candy wrapper)....not many trick or treaters at our door this year.



We tried something new this autumn; we spent a few hours at Cornbelly's. They have a lot of fun fall activites like being able to pick a pumpkin out of a patch, a cute cow themed train ride, slides to slide, a hayride, food, and of course a corn maze. I have to admit I got a little freaked out in the corn maze even though it was the 'easy' one. But then again, I could get lost in a paper bag. I have serious compass issues! Oh, and just a word to the wise...strollers and corn mazes don't mix. Yikes! Won't be doing that again. I think Cali thought Cornbelly's was a free-for-all as we lost her at one point. :( Thankfully, Rick spotted her across the field and I ran to get her...she was so far from us. It was scary! I guess she was too excited and wanted to have as much fun as she could going from one thing to the next. Oh! our crazy, coronary causin' children! We hope you all had a 'spook-tackular' Halloween! :)








What started out as learning a 'squooshy face' - ended up what we hysterically call 'Monster Face!'