Argh Matey

It's possible that I was more excited for Halloween than Eliot. Especially since he didn't even know it existed before Friday morning.

After much deliberation and many visits to pre-made costume-hawking web sites, it was decided that Eliot would dress as a pirate as 1. I could fashion his costume using items found around the house and 2. it involved a drawn on mustache, which basically sealed the deal. I knit his eye patch and found an old bandanna to complete the headgear. The belt was Justin's wrapped twice around Eliot's baby-slim waist. Though it helped to make the whole ensemble come together it did not last long due to it repeatedly falling around his ankles. He was surprisingly accommodating when it came to dressing him. The only hesitation came with the drawing of the eyeliner pencil facial hair, which explains why it's not exactly precise. But it didn't really matter, because look how mother-loving cute he is!

"Who me? I don't even know what rum is."

Once Justin got home from work we headed to my grandparent's house for chili and trick-or-treating. Eliot was more concerned about getting a much coveted ice cream cone than anything else. He ate dinner and then we hit the pavement. He isn't really familiar with candy, so it was more a concept than a reality, though he did know that he wanted some and when he got some (in his pumpkin bucket) he knew he really wanted some more. I think he understood that there was some sort of food stuff inside the packaging, but I don't know if he was aware of how delicious and hyperactivity inducing its ingredients were.

We knocked on about 10 doors and I'd ask Eliot "What does a Pirate say?" and he's softly reply "Argh." and then get his candy and say "thank you." in an equally tiny voice. He did really great though. In St. Louis, the tradition is that you have to tell a joke or sing a song or do a little dance before you get your candy. I think it might be dying out a bit, but I'm all about it. My grandparents are still sticklers for it, they even invite the kids into their house and chat them up a bit, which was how every house was when I was a kid.

When we got back to my grandparent's house, Eliot was treated to about 7 M&M's, and we could almost see the sugar energy radiating off of him. He stood in front of Justin, literally vibrating all over as he chewed each one, totally intoxicated with the wonder of candy-coated chocolate goodness. Afterward, Eliot took a bath and got into his pajamas; way past bedtime as expected. We hoped he might fall asleep in the car on the way home, but he chatted the entire ride; about candy, argh-ing, cones, Pop-pop, and the zoo. I was a little concerned that he was going to be too buzzed to sleep, but nothing but silence came from the monitor after we tucked him in.

Justin and I used to go to this Halloween party every year that lasted until 4am. We actually won costume contests. We'd always complain that we didn't want to dress up and then go all-out at the last minute. Those were super fun times. Of course, things changed, Eliot came into our lives, and those days are probably staying in the past. But watching Eliot enjoy and revel in something that was once the highlight of the year next to Christmas is way better. Way, way better.

Pumpkin Patch

We trekked over to Ekert's in Belleville on Saturday for the 2nd Annual Butter Family Pumpkin Pickin'. While it's more of a 'choosing' than a 'picking' it's still worth the drive.

Eliot enjoyed the tractor ride out to the patch and went right to work inspecting all the pumpkins. He was really disturbed, however, by pumpkins that had been smooshed, smashed, or otherwise damaged. Every time we passed a broken, rotting pumpkin corpse he'd make this new fake crying sound to indicate his worry and sadness over the tragedy. Unfortunately, there had apparently been a pumpkin battle earlier in the morning, because the field was littered with casualties, so we spent a lot of time reassuring him that those pumpkins would be returned to the earth from whence they came.

Avert your eyes from this most gruesome scene!

In addition to his fear of (or concern for?) broken pumpkins, Eliot was also very disturbed by a Halloween witch doll on a broom in the gift shop. He kept pointing to it and saying, "Doll...broom" and then doing that strange fake crying sound. I will try and capture it on audio for your listening pleasure. He is still talking about that damned doll. We keep reassuring him that the doll is a) not harmful b) lives in another state and therefore cannot find us and c) Mommy and Daddy will protect him from her by melting her with a pail of water if need be. There is currently a ban on the word doll as it only sends him into faux hysterics (again with the fake scared noise).

The main reason we drive across state lines to buy a pumpkin we could easily get in the grocery store is to take the requisite child atop a big orange squash photo, as evidenced here:

Eliot - Age 19 months

And what a difference a year makes:

Eliot - Age 7 months

It's incredible how much he has changed in just one year. For example, he's stopped dressing so punk and started favoring a much preppier look. I mean Crocs? Really? Last year he was all, "Shoes are just trappings of the corporate machine, I'm going in my socks!" and "Anarchy!" I'm sure I could doctor that sweater up with some iron ons and a couple of giant safety pins and he'd be good to go. If only he'd let me.

Now I just have to come up with a costume (and yes, the punk thing did just occur to me, but Justin wasn't on board, so that threw that out the window). Something that layers or can easily have the arms cut off as St. Louis has been sort of sweltering for October recently. It was in the mid-80s this weekend. It's really dampening my Halloween spirit. Last year, he was a hot dog (or veggie dog, depending on what you eat) and he pretty much lost half his body weight via his sweat glands as he was wrapped in thick fleece during a similar heat wave. So, any costume suggestions (and links to how-to make or buy) are appreciated!

October

How to snuggle with a hot dog:
This face cracks Justin up every time.
Sweaty Hot Dog.
First cold. Note the snot snake hanging out on the upper lip.
When we were last together, dear readers, I had posted a Halloween picture of E. with promises of more. While I'm sure after Christmas, none of you took me seriously anymore, I'm finally living up to my word. To recap, E had a candy-less holiday, we went to his great grandparents for chili and trick-or-treaters and he stayed up way past his bedtime. It was unseasonably warm, so he sweat his diaper off the entire evening (see sweaty hot dog picture).

He also had his first cold in October, which was pretty mild compared to what he got at Christmas (see 'December' - coming soon). It was mostly a lot of snotty sneezes and some late night crying. I caught his cold and was about 10 times more affected; while I was hacking up mutant loogies and whining about how tired I was, he was happily babbling in a puddle of his own nose juice.

Pumpkin Pickin'!

Even though Eliot is only one day shy of eight months, I really wanted to take him to a pumpkin patch. Some of my own best childhood memories are of my whole family, grandparents and aunts, uncles, and cousins included, heading out to Rombach's in Chesterfield for a day of pumpkin picking fun. We'd spend the day in the patch, the maize maze, and in the hay bale fort.

Our own visit was not that activity-packed, but we did get to ride a tractor-pulled wagon out to the actual pumpkin patch at Eckert's in Belleville. (Quick note - there's a pumpkin patch - the place where the pumpkins actually grow, and then there's a pumpkin stand, a place where the pumpkins have been transported and arranged on hay bales for sale. The latter is not an acceptable alternative.) The trip was mostly for my own nostalgic purposes, and in order to get a picture like the one above for E's baby book.