Halloween

We had a blast today for Halloween. Even though Brooklyn has been a little under the weather the last 24 hours, we set out to celebrate as much as we could. Our neighborhood held a Halloween Festival in the afternoon at which Brooklyn and I painted a mini pumpkin - well, I painted it, but Brooklyn poured the glitter on it. Unfortunately, while our pumpkin was laid out to dry, it was taken by someone else - in the thief's defense, it really was the prettiest pumpkin there. I think Brooklyn was just excited to finally take her pumpkin out.


Then it was time for Brooklyn's first time trick-or-treating. She wore the costume from last year... that's right, you read correctly... her costume from last year - when she was only 6 months old. I couldn't believe she still fit in it! But, I was pretty excited that I didn't have to buy her a new costume this year and she still looked amazingly cute!


I got to take her trick-or-treating while Matt stayed home to hand out candy. There were tons of kids out trick-or-treating in our neighborhood this year, too. It was picturesque, really; groups and groups of kids everywhere you looked, wandering our neighborhood streets in costumes, knocking on doors, filling their sacks and buckets with candy, and parents tagging along pushing and pulling strollers and wagons. We tagged along in a small group who was toting a wagon so Brooklyn could ride in it (guess what we are getting her for Christmas this year).

She really picked up on the idea of knocking on the doors, holding up her pumpkin and then receiving candy to carry inside her pumpkin. After just a couple of houses of that, she started pointing to her pumpkin at each door saying, "more". It was pretty cute, and the neighbors just laughed, but I don't think it would be as cute next year - we'll work on saying, "trick-or-trick" next year. :) On a postitive note, she did sweetly say, "thank you" almost every time.


This is Brooklyn's favorite neighbor, Dante, who was dressed up as Jack Sparrow. He is why Brooklyn LOVES dogs.


This was her loot - she made out pretty well for her first time, huh. Of course, only half of it is actually edible to a 1 1/2 year old with only 8 teeth, but Matt and I were looking forward to that. :)

Alright, the question now is this... how long should this candy last???? Should we just let her at it since she "earned" it, and with the idea that this is a once a year kind of splurge? Or should we hide it and break it out once in a while as a treat for her?

18 months old and counting...

Brooklyn turned 18 months old last Sunday, and subsequently had her 18 month well-check with her doctor earlier this week. She weighed in at a meer 21 lbs 4 oz, but toppled over at a whopping 32 1/4 inches tall.

Her height and weight aren't the only things growing, though - her hair has also grown some. Look how high it sticks up now! :)


She has learned so much in the last 3 months. She loves "talking", but we can only make out a few audible words. My personal favorites are, outside, snort (from the well-known book, Are You My Mother), please, thank you, and love ya. She continues to sign lots, though, with my personal favorite being her sign for flower. She is also learning her shapes and colors, and now loves to separate her fruits snacks out by colors before eating them. She also loves to "count" her fingers and toes, among other things. She will point to each one and say one - at least I think that's what she says.

She is also starting to truly enjoy watching TV now (she laughs at the funny parts) and her favorite show to watch is Curious George, and her favorite movie is Tinker Bell. This is how she watches TV at times.

Our little cheese

I just had to share some of these pictures of Brooklyn.

This is her cheese face. Pretty good, huh... minus the food in her mouth. :)


Posing with Daddy wearing one of Daddy's favorite shirts, which says Daddy's Dreamy and so am I. I couldn't agree more. :)


My little cupcake posing before leaving for gym class. You like her new shoes? They're Skechers... and size 6! She inherited her Daddy's big feet.


She loves helping Mommy put away the clean dishes from the dishwasher - she is such a good little helper. She even opens the drawers and puts the utensils away. But her favorite things to put away are the pots and pans and their lids - after, of course, she plays with (or apparently sits in) them for a while. Perhaps she really is ready for pot-ty training. :)

What a cutie!

Helping with laundry

I've thought about introducing Brooklyn to potty-training, but maybe I ought to teach her how the panties are supposed to be worn first. ;)

Brooklyn loves to help mommy with the laundry by trying on all the clothes first.