Happy Halloween from Dread Pirate Eye Injury

Ben really needed an eye patch after I foolishly let him play "basket boy" near one of the baby gates and he fell face-forward into it. ("Basket boy" involves placing one of his toy baskets over his head and running around, and/or sitting in it at an angle so it falls over, preferably into something sharp or dangerous.)

He looked cute but slightly pitiable in his pirate costume while we briefly went trick-or-treating in a friend's neighborhood. Note poor scraped eye!

He was mostly interested in the glow sticks.

It's impossible to keep up with the older kids, especially when you insist on wandering randomly into the street.

Clothing/season timing

So it appears that Ben's winter clothing that I was given or bought months (and sometimes more than a year) ago is going to work out perfectly for this season. Only a fellow parent will understand how exciting this is. It's quite the crushing blow to discover that your child may never get the chance to wear some adorable outfit someone bought him because it was corduroy and fit him when it was 90 degrees outside, or something.

Anyway, behold: Ben in a sweater his great aunt Linda bought him last Thanksgiving. Fits perfectly, no? And those jeans he's wearing finally fit even though I bought them last winter assuming they'd fit soon (babyGap outlet). It's just so satisfying.

Passport photo before and afters

Results of photo session at the post office:

Results of Michael manipulating an existing photo to passport photo guidelines:

What a difference having a designer in the family makes.

What I found on my camera ...

I found some old photos on a camera we don't use as often this morning. Here are the highlights:


Ben bumped his head (note huge red area) around naptime and required prolonged holding afterward, then fell asleep and didn't wake up when I put him down in our bedroom (highly unusual behavior for him). Can you guess which pillow is mine and which is Michael's?


A great picture of my dad and Ben at Dad's pinning ceremony in August. He was graduating from nursing school (note crisp white scrubs) and we were all very proud!

Before I forget ...

I keep forgetting to mention some new words that Ben has been using lately. He's always loved our big analog clock in the living room, and just these past few days he's been walking around pointing at it and kind of chanting, "Clock, clock. Clock, clock." He always says it twice in a row! He says the L sound really emphatically. He's also been saying shoe, sock, snack and a few other S words.

For a long time when we would try to get him to say Ben, he would just emphatically thunk himself on the chest over and over as if to say I'M HEEEERE!! But lately when we ask where he is he pats himself on the chest and says "Bean." Impossibly cute.

Also, I thought he had a fever the other day and asked him if he felt warm. He felt his own forehead for me and then shook his head no. :)

I like swinging moderately well

Ben likes swinging, but he's too cool to be all "Yay!! Wheee!" about it.

Hope he will wear his hat!

Ben tried on his Halloween costume today, and I really wanted to get a photo, but I'm assuming we'll have plenty of chances tomorrow. We're going to Boo at the Zoo at the Dallas Zoo with our friends and their sons. The kids are supposed to wear their costumes at least part of the time; not sure how that will go with Ben.

I really, really played up how great Ben looked in his costume and clapped and clapped and put the hat on all of us (including the dog) so Ben would be really excited about it. Once the dog had worn it he could not get enough of it and kept wanting to look in the mirror. He really looks adorable wearing all of the parts so I hope he can hang onto his enthusiasm!

We also went to the Huffhines Art Trails today at the recreation center where I used to teach dog obedience. They had lots of cute trinkets and stuff for sale and I was wishing we had invited our moms to go, too. Mom, they had tons of Christmas stuff! We stopped off at the playground for Ben. He loves to lounge at the bottom of slides and s-l-o-w-l-y explore at the tops of the structures, and the bigger kids just whiz right past him. Luckily, no one has actually shoved him aside yet! It's a scary age: he can almost play safely on the playground equipment, and he's definitely interested in it, but we still have to be right there in case he slips!