Halloween

Halloween was too fun! Dominic's excitement leading up to the date made it feel as if Halloween is made for 4 year olds. He's just so into dressing up, and so into believing he is the character he is dressing up as... Oh, to be FOUR!

For weeks he has been waking up in the morning and shaking with excitement, "it's almost Halloween! I can't wait!" Each morning the excitement seemed to escalate until Halloween actually arrived...

HALLOWEEN seems to be right up there with Christmas. And truly, I think it's the dreams of CANDY that create the absolute excitement. Sweet, sweet candy... Oh, and the reality that for one night, you are a superhero; you get to parade around with your peers of dinosaurs, princesses and other carefully thought-out personas who share this excitement as your fans deposit sticky, sweet delights into your brightly colored orange pumpkin. And oh, the crazy sugar rush that follows up until that final moment when you simply fall asleep...

...As you can see, Ellie was equally excited about the dress up aspect of it all. This little costume was her in-the-house get up. Se wore Dominic's chicken for trick-or-treating as it was quite warm and had lots of padding for those unexpected falls. And may I also confess, she tasted CANDY. Oh dear, she is now obsessed! We have to hide it or she starts to scream at us for it and real crocodile tears start streaming down her face in response to her sheer disappointment of the deprivation!

Background Info on Dominic/Spiderman -- When Dominic saw the Spiderman costume in September, he said he had to have it. He developed a crazed obsession for superheroes over the summer while in Ohio. When we brought the costume home, he said, "Mom, can I wear this every day until I'm like 16?" He's been dressing up in the costume almost daily since.

He dreams of superheroes. The other day when I asked him if he was ready to go to preschool, he confirmed. Although, he said he is ready for superhero school. He seems to think we can enroll him in the school so that he can be a superhero when he grows up. Tonight at bed time, he told me as we were saying a little prayer that he will protect us when he grows into a super hero... Who needs God when you have a superhero:)

I digress... Halloween was most amazing. These little guys really shine spotlights on the thrill of it all...

One more for D

Dominic -- Growin', Growin', GROWING

Dominic gets sweeter, smarter and more fun every day. He's dribbling a soccer ball like a pro after a handful of soccer classes. Solving puzzles is a breeze and his artful pictures grow more vibrant and specific each day. He's drawing monsters, people, dinosaurs and coloring like Matisse (o.k. and exaggeration – just a littleJ).

He's riding a bike with training wheels now -- a bit precarious in my mind as I watch him enjoy the scenery all around rather than look straight ahead to ensure safe navigation. He seems to travel in these miraculous S curves that nearly miss tumbling straight off the sidewalk time and time again. Somehow disaster seems to sashay out of the way when Dominic rides; he miraculously escapes perpetual near misses... So far, he's unscathed and absolutely adores the sensation of his little legs pumping away on the pedals. (Thank goodness he thinks it’s really cool to wear his helmet!)

I adore our time together. When the days get long, as they sometimes do, we simply pop in the hamster dance and pump up the volume for a spontaneous dance party. Dominic and I jump around as Ellie laughs, kicks and waves her hands.

Enough words for today…

Ellie -- All smiles and two (blurry) teeth!

Ellie has two little lower teeth popping through front and center. Her eyes are still a blazing blue -- azure to be really specific:) And her smile, well it lights up a room. (Although this is probably a mom's perception as in my mind both Dominic and Ellie can light up a room with their smiles. It's as if their eyes twinkle and their smiles radiate sheer happiness. Absolutely awesome.)

Let me share some of her smiles...

Miss Ellie-- Learnin' to Crawl

Ellie is trying to crawl; been playing with this movement since January. To date, she's really good at shimmying backwards and has absolutely mastered the 360.

Her forward crawl looks a bit like a legless bug trying to move forward with limbs a kickin'.

Just when she makes two crawls forward, she flops onto her tummy and starts the legless bug -- as if the kicking will somehow propel her forward; never mind that she's high -centered on her belly...

The evolution of crawl...

Glimpse...

It's been months since our last update... Little ones growin' like wildflowers:) I'll share some pix and update with each. (Here are the two. Can we say that Dominic wears "GO Bucks" daily! He has even slept in this outfit...

Ohio -- Halloween

Ohio– Halloween 2009

We finally made it back to visit our family in Ohio in October. It was wonderful as always! For Dominic, Ellie and I – it was our first time to experience an Ohio Fall – it was picture perfect! The weather was amazing. The leaves were glowing with red, orange and bright yellow hues. The air was crisp and the food was wonderful – as always!

For Ellie – she finally got to hug her grandma and papa, Aunties, Uncles and loved ones in Ohio. She can’t wait to return!

It was so fun to celebrate the festivities of Halloween. (It was really the first year that Dominic was absolutely aware and into it – oh so much fun!) We also got to enjoy Mama Lepore’s wonderful cooking, the Ohio haircut with Dominic the barber, dancing to Dominic the Donkey, a Poland Bulldogs football game, great food and festivities with our family and Ohio friends and even a new Cleveland Indians hat for Chris! It was so nice to just be in Ohio relaxing and having fun with family and friends.

Each day was like Christmas for Dominic as he savored the showering of hugs, kisses and gifts from all of his Aunties and Ohio friends. Dominic loved playing with Jack, Maria and Gino – although he’s determined to be bigger than Gino the next time we visit. (Don’t’ tell Dominic this, but it will take him years to gain 90 more pounds so that he can be as big as Gino.)

Everyone was so wonderful to tell Dominic stories all day, every day. Linda told stories, Diane told stories, Tina told stories and Grandma told stories…. Just about anyone Dominic could pin down told him stories and sang him songs. Papa’s stories seemed to be Dominic’s favorite. He loved the stories about the octopus and the pirates. Papa made this scritch-scratching sound with his hand when he described the main characters in his stories and many of them ended with shooting someone or something. Amazingly, Dominic is now incorporating these details into his own newfound stories after Ohio.

Dominic fell in love with the gun cabinet in his bedroom. He told me, “Mommy, I get to sleep in the gun room!” And he is in awe that Papa has an Octopus gun, Crocodile gun and an elephant gun in that cabinet. Papa couldn’t find the keys to let Dominic hold those guns (phooey), but Dominic’s chomping at the bit to return so he can hold those guns and put “bull nuts” into them to shoot the Octopus.

This was the first time in the three years that Dominic has been going to Ohio that he was aware that we had to leave. He was so sad and didn’t’ understand why we couldn’t stay. (I’m secretly hoping that perhaps the pain of goodbye that we experience each time we leave our family and loved ones behind in Ohio will help Dominic and Ellie decide that they want to live in Oregon when they grow up. Maybe families leave each other every other generation as they see how painful it is to live so far away from the ones we love? We really wish we lived closer. Blame it on Chris for leaving OhioJ Oops, we never would have met had he stayed!)

As always, Ohio was a wonderful adventure and we can’t wait to return! We only wish there was a direct flight!