Mimzilla’s One More Thing…

Today is Halloween and as Walker was going to bed he told us that he had a “happy day.” Thank goodness. We’ve been preparing him for Halloween over the last few weeks. We read him stories about the holiday, talked to him about Trick or Treats and put his Batman costume on a few times. (You will note that he is not wearing the Batman costume. He put it on twice for no more than 30 seconds each time — not even long enough for us to get more than a Walker sized Batman smear across the digital photos — despite the fact he talked about being Batman for Halloween.)

Walker has decided the holiday has some scary parts to it. He has us change the channel when the “I don’t like Candy Corn” song comes on TV on Noggin. He gets nervous when it’s dark and talks about monsters (and he talks about the monsters in the back yard during daylight too…) And as mentioned before, he’s not terribly receptive to wearing a costume. So, we’ve taken to making costumes out of things he’s familiar with. Last weekend he went to Boo at the Zoo as a Zookeeper and wore his “Junior Zookeeper” vest (which he wears every time we go to the zoo) but we embellished it with his safari hat and a few Beanie Babies

Today we decided we’d whip up a Construction Worker costume. As I was trying to get him dressed, again trying to convince Walker that wearing underwear and pants is required before venturing outside, he brings in the Batman costume and says, “let’s go Halloween.” Well, OK. That was unexpected. I pick up the costume and he says, “NO! NO!” and then won’t let us remove his Captain Spooky shirt or put anything on over it. So, Walker created his own Pirate Construction Worker and he owned it as he knocked on doors.

For knocking on only a few doors, Walker came home with quite a significant candy stash. We’ve decided to borrow a wonderful tradition a good friend established with his kids — the Switch Witch. She comes on Halloween and takes kids’ candy but leaves a present in return. We sat Walker down and told him all about the history of the Witch and how she would bring him something really nice in exchange for the candy. He was fine with taking out all his candy and choosing the two pieces he could keep (he chose his favorite — lollipops) but when we went out on the deck to leave the bucket, he got very scared and asked to go to bed. (Larry and I told the Switch Witch that Walker would very much like a Thomas the Tank Engine Lego set. We’re hoping that’s what Walker will find under his empty Thomas the Tank Engine candy bucket.)

Despite going to a truly fantastic pumpkin patch last weekend — it had a small choo choo train, pony rides, an amphitheater made of hay with sword-fights and magic shows, and an enormous hay maze with a Minotaur who gives out golden gourds (Walker calls it a “Minotorn”) — we didn’t have a pumpkin. So we bought one at the very last minute and whipped up a bat in five minutes with some black construction paper and toothpicks. Walker loved it.

He had a happy day.

Cold and Flu
About two weeks ago, I wasn’t feeling well. I didn’t have the flu but when I awoke, I was not eager to jump out of bed. Walker was up and running around and I absentmindely mentioned I was cold. I hear Larry say to Walker, “Yeah, that’s the one.” The next thing I know, I see my small boy walk into his room wrestling a very large red sweatshirt. He’s trying to hold it up as the arms are falling down and threatening to trip him at any moment. He sheepishly walks over and hands me the sweatshirt and I was so surprised. I didn’t recall saying I was cold and I was convinced he was a mind reader. I embarrassed him by how much I was proud of his thoughtfulness. I gave him lots of hugs. The next day he woke up and immediately brought me my sweatshirt.

Barricades and stairs
As mentioned before, Walker has definite opinions about many things. He continues to demand that I wear my hair in a ponytail — even voicing concern that it’s not up from the moment I step out of the shower. He’s also taken to telling Larry and me where we should stand when we play. One day, he wanted us to play in his room but I had to go out and make his breakfast. As I walked toward the door, he quickly shut it and stood in front of it. That was the first of many human barricades he’s taken to creating in order to get his point across.

It’s not just the human barricades we have to maneuver. Walker has two wooden step stools he’s been moving around the house in order to reach the light switches — he must turn on all the lights in the morning because he’s afraid of the dark — or to get on the bed or wash his hands and brush his teeth. The stools are large and heavy and he must move both in tandem which generally means he has one and either Larry or I must move the other and place it on the floor to his exact specifications. While he can step up on both — one is tall and square, the other is short and long — he likes to have them next to each other so he can step up on one to the other. He also likes to stand on them and play ball in the hall. Suffice it to say, Larry and I must do some reconnaissance before turning in at night to ensure we don’t stub toes or trip and break an important bone or two.

Walker is a lucky boy but he’s not the only one who gets to enjoy fun things to eat. I saw a recipe for banana/chocolate cupcakes frosted and decorated to look like monkeys in the November PARENTS magazine. They are so adorable and relatively easy to make. However, I don’t like giving Walker full-size baked goods, especially those loaded with cookies and M&Ms on top (I can’t fathom the mess he’d make eating the treat or the chaos he’d cause hyped up on all that sugar) so I wasn’t sure when I’d have an opportunity to try them out. I didn’t have to wait long. I was reminded that there are number of good friends at work with October birthdays so I jumped at the opportunity to stay up late and bake away. (Is it bad that I went to shopping for refined sugar products rather than go to the gym?) And, they’re not only adorable, they’re tasty too!

Monkey Cupcake Recipe

Daddy, we love you very much. FAMILY HUG!

Walker is very excited about Daddy’s birthday because Daddy asked me to make him an Elmo cake so we’re going to see how a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting fares when decorated as Elmo. Daddy also indicated to Walker that he will share his birthday (and we’re going to determine what that actually means as we go).

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As I haven’t posted in a few weeks, I’m going to relate a few notable stories and life snippets.

Walker and I went to visit Gigi in Cincinnati. We loved seeing her and Walker was quite a little gentleman as he met all her friends (we’re wondering if he now thinks all eighty year old ladies come with gifts) but of course, the highlight was the two trips to Graeter’s for the BEST ICE CREAM EVER!

Walker was talking a lot about wanting to see a Winnie the Pooh DVD so Gigi took him to the bookstore on Sunday night. The store was closing but they were gracious enough to let us see what they had. As we ran from one end of the store to the other, Walker sprinted by Gigi saying, “Stay right there. I be right back!” Gigi remained still where she stood, shocked by the little guy shouting orders in the dark store. While we weren’t successful finding the right disc that trip, we did end up getting a Winnie the Pooh DVD a few days later. He loved watching his movies on the portable DVD player and given we were on vacation, I will admit he watched a bit more TV than I normally allow. I’m ashamed to admit that he even watched Barney during a bath time or two (we put the DVD player next to the bathtub). He’s quite technically savvy as well. He knows how to change the DVDs both in the portable and regular player as well as how to navigate my iPhone. He’s even successfully bypassed the password screen once. I anticipate we’re in for a lifetime of supplying expensive gadgets.

I also must say that Walker loves to take photos. He takes them with the real camera and the iPhone and he gets so excited when he sees a photo he’s taken. “My JUICE!” or “Look! BARNEY!” And he’s getting much better framing the photos and choosing his subjects. Below are some of his best photos. I find it fascinating to see how he views the world…

(If you can’t see the photos, click here to see them on Flickr.)

While in Cincinnati, Walker used a small plastic step stool to get into and out of bed, reach the sink to brush his teeth and to simply stand on. Now that we’re back, he’s taken to carrying around his big heavy wooden step stools around to turn off the lights, reach high shelves and help me cook. I love hearing him say, “I need to get my ‘tep (pause) ‘tool.”

We very much enjoyed going to the Cincinnati Zoo, one of the best in the country. Walker was very considerate with helping Gigi get in and out of the tram that took us to different sections of the enormous zoo. However, he did get a bit cranky when I wouldn’t let him sit on a bench by a swarm of bees (one has already buzzed in his ear) so he decided to pout — a little something he’s picked up since being two. My favorite pose is when he turns his back, drops his head, pushes out his bottom lip and crosses his arms across his chest. I couldn’t get that pose on film but you can see the dramatic pouting in the photo above.

Little Mr. Pie has some very strongly held opinions. One of the most notable is his preference about how I wear my hair. A few weeks ago, I was wearing a pony tail and it has started to come loose. I absentmindedly liberated my hair from the band and Walker starts to yell, “No! No! No Mommy!” Coming to full attention, I turn to him and re-coif my hair into the pony tail. Walker applauds, “Yeah Mommy!” He’s also realized his name is longer than just “Walker.” The day I returned from Vegas, he surprised me when I asked him, “What kind of Walker are you?” by replying, “Walker YOUNG!” While he knows that’s his name, he prefers to be called “Walkerpie” (I think it’s because that’s what his girlfriend calls him.) And I must say, I do believe he truly loves Madeline. He often gets on his little fire truck, dons his fire hat and declares, “I re’cue Madeline.” When he’s not rescuing the damsel in distress, he places his treasures under the fire truck seat. This week his special toys are his Bunny (of course); his “guys” (while all the little people he plays with are all called “guys,” what he really wants when he asks “Where are my guys?” he’s inquiring specifically for a tiny police man, robber, and dog from a British-made police car set — it took me a few times to realize there are “guys” and “GUYS”); his flashlight; and his Bouncy Ball (a small yellow ball with a happy face I got him more than a year ago). His Bouncy Ball is the newest favorite toy and I love hearing him ask for it in his adorable sing song-y voice (”Mommy, where is my Bouncy Ball?”) before he goes to bed. Yes, he sleeps with it and he will ask for it in the middle of the night and despite being only half awake, he won’t go back to sleep until he gets it.

Oh. That reminds me, I have to go searching for Bouncy Ball as I promised I’d find it and bring it to him after he fell asleep. He really didn’t want to fall asleep tonight — singing a full rendition of Patty Cake with Bunny on his head after his nightly pre-bed muffin, juice and cheese stick. As he’s got a very good memory these days, I must hold up my end of the bargain. So, given it’s after midnight, I’m I’ll finish these odds and ends at a later time. G’nite.