Halloween anticipation has been building for several weeks in our house. The kids both settled on their costumes early on – there was never really any doubt the Harry Potter-obsessed Mikaela would go as Harry Potter, and she received most of the components of her costume as birthday presents earlier in the month. We were somewhat less certain what Jonathan would choose to do, but as soon as we mentioned Halloween, Jonathan was excited to get to wear his dinosaur costume again — and this year, he actually wore it, instead of being afraid of it!

We actually started our celebration on Friday, with an evening playdate with Mikaela’s best CDC-buddy Logan, and her brother Garrett. Rather than carve pumpkins (sharp knives around four young children just seemed a bad idea) we picked up tempra paint and let the kids paint their pumpkins. We also picked up an additive for the paint that was supposed to make it glow in the dark – unfortunately, the additive didn’t seem to work at all. After painting pumpkins, we ordered pizza (and I somehow accidentally ordered a BBQ pizza from Pizza Hut, instead of plain cheese. Oh well. Lots of leftovers for lunches after ordering a replacement pizza).

We watched movies while eating pizza – the boys watched Monsters, Inc. upstairs while the girls watched Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone downstairs. Plans for the return playdate were already underway before the movies were over.

We lucked out with terrific weather for Halloween. Warm enough that we didn’t need to wear coats to trick-or-treat, but Mikaela wasn’t too hot in her Hogwart’s robes and Jon wasn’t melting with his dinosaur hood up. Despite a runny nose and a cough, Jonathan had plenty of energy for trick-or-treating, though he and Miriam turned back to home a few blocks earlier than Mikaela and I did. The only real downside of the whole trick-or-treat experience was the smoke machine that one of our neighbors decided to use as part of their yard decorations. After walking through the smoke to knock on the door, and then back through it to reach the sidewalk again, Mikaela had a pretty nasty asthmatic cough herself. Luckily, we were almost home at that point.

Jonathan and Mikaela got to break in their Halloween costumes a week early at “Boo at the Zoo” at the Kansas City Zoo. After a rainy week, the skies cleared up on Saturday morning and though the day started out kind of cold, the sunshine warmed us up and made for a really pleasant day at the zoo. The cool weather even encouraged some of the animals that are normally pretty sedentary when it’s hotter to move around, like the lions and tigers. We spent a good four hours walking around the zoo, checking out animals and collecting candy and prizes. We had hoped to check out the new baby orangutang, and we kind of did, but the baby was napping with its mama, and they were curled up together in a tight ball. If you looked carefully at the mama orang’s arms, you could just barely see the baby’s tiny little ear sticking out.

I have a new niece! Ella Dayne Rittmaster was born yesterday morning, October 4, 2009. She weighed 7.5 pounds and was 20 inches long. Mom and baby are doing great – Matt says that Sarah and Ella might even be able to come home from the hospital today. Mikaela and Jonathan are excited to meet their new cousin (even if Mikaela was a little miffed when she found out that Ella would be a girl, because she was “the only one who had to have a brother.”).

Ella shares her birthday with United States President Rutherford B. Hayes (1822); comedian Buster Keaton (1895); and actress Alicia Silverstone (1976).

On Ella’s birthday in 1648, Peter Stuyvesant established the first volunteer fire department in America; in 1824 Mexico became a Republic; and in 1957 “Leave it to Beaver” premiered on CBS.

Next week, Mikaela turns seven years old. Just about any day now, we’ll be welcoming a new niece into the world. Halloween will be upon us before we know it (Mikaela is all set to go as Harry Potter. Jonathan wants to be a dinosaur again). Grandma Sali and Paca Steve are coming for a visit. Then comes Thanksgiving, followed closely by Jonathan’s birthday and Chanukah is early this year (first night is December 11) and Miriam’s birthday will be during Chanukah. Deep breath. It should be a fun ride.

One random Jonathan note. We’ve been getting books through the PJ Library program. By far, Jonathan’s favorite is “Bagels from Benny”. It’s essentially a riff on the classic story of leaving bread for God in the Ark, the bread being taken from the Ark by a poor person, and the person leaving the bread learning the lesson that giving to the poor is doing God’s work in the world. The story ends with Grandpa telling Benny that feeding a hungry man has made the world a better place and saying, “and what better thanks could God have?” Jonathan thought for a moment and said, “Hmmmmmmmm. I don’t know. Maybe cake?”

Oh, and a couple of links, because people have been asking.
Mikaela’s Amazon Wishlist: http://amzn.com/w/3H9DXQM787VGX
Jonathan’s Amazon Wishlist: http://amzn.com/w/ZHKS0FLCFHN

Corey was in town for the Kansas City Improv Festival, so we got together after Sunday School for lunch at Mom & Dad’s house. Amid the usual good food (BBQ, of course) and family fun, Mom dug out Grandpa Sam’s old saxophone. Mikaela tried it first, and managed to get sound out of it pretty much right away. Then it was Jonathan’s turn – and it was love at first blat. The sax was as big as he was, but he insisted on trying to carry it around with him. The easiest place for him to play it was sitting on the hearth. He actually managed to get sound out of it pretty consistently – though I’m not sure most would have recognized the tones as a saxophone.

When it came time to leave, Jonathan did NOT want to give up the sax. When Grandma Marcia told him it was time to put it away, he responded by hugging the saxophone and saying, “But I loooooove it.” After finally being convinced to give it up, Jon laid down on the floor and cried over his separation from the sax. Overall, Jonathan has become completely music crazed. He watches Sesame Street Peter and the Wolf every chance he gets. When we only have time for something shorter, he asks for an episode of Jack’s Big Music Show called “Jack’s Big Orchestra” (one Friday night, while Mikaela and I were having a “campout” in the basement, Miriam and Jonathan watched “Jack’s Big Orchestra” six times in a row). He walks around the house with a plastic guitar slung over his shoulder constantly, and he’s recently taken to prentending the plastic hangers are various wind/brass instruments (sometimes it’s a French Horn, sometimes a saxophone, sometimes a trombone, sometimes a bassoon or clarinet).

We had a fun Labor Day brunch at Aunt Judy and Uncle Lloyd’s house. The weather was beautiful, and it was wonderful that Bubbie was feeling better and was able to be there with us. The kids had a great time – Uncle Lloyd showed Jonathan how to use a telescope (well, he tried – Jonathan couldn’t quite manage closing one eye and keeping the other one open). Mikaela, Margo and Teresa harvested apples from the apple tree out back. It was a perfect holiday celebration – good weather, food, family, and fun

Wow. I managed to let myself get a whole month behind in blog postings. Yikes! OK, time to start catching up. We recognized quickly when we got back from vacation that it was time to move Jonathan from his crib into a big boy bed. He’s just too big – he kept waking himself up when he flipped around in his crib and smacked himself on the sides. Miriam had been hunting on Craig’s List on and off for a few weeks, and managed to find a nice twin-bed (including box spring, mattress, frame, and solid-wood bookcase headboard) for $100. The person we bought it from even volunteered to deliver it to the house.

A month later, Jon is still adjusting to his big boy bed. Usually, someone needs to lay down on the sofa in his bedroom while he lays in his bed until he falls asleep. It’s just too tempting to get up and roam. And at least once already, he’s decided to wake up early in the morning and go and get himself a snack from the pantry – I caught him sitting on the floor of the kitchen with a new box of graham crackers ripped open on his lap. But he does seem to be sleeping better now that he’s in a regular bed.

Mikaela started back at school the day after we got back from vacation. She was excited to start first grade, and has adjusted well to full day school. She brings her lunch most days (in her beloved Harry Potter lunchbox), buys her lunch at school once/week, and is generally enjoying that she can choose what to eat for lunch without having to meet the kashrut requirements of the JCC. Though she likes her teacher, Mrs. Eichkorn, her biggest complaint is that school so far is boring, because it’s too easy. She still takes the bus to the JCC for after-school care, and is taking dance again (recital coming in May).

A couple of days later, Jonathan started in his new room at the CDC – this year, he’s a Sunflower Kid. He adjusted pretty immediately to his new room, with no fussing at all about wanting to go back to his old class. He is having some aggression issues, but we’ve been working together with his teachers on that, and this week (the week of September 14) has been much better. As mentioned in one of the vacation posts, Jonathan has become quite the music junkie. At the CDC, this manifests itself in Jon being a bit possessive of the music toys, and many afternoons spent strolling around the room playing his “violin” – comprising one foam block tucked under his chin and another being used as a bow.