Getting Ready for Halloween

Costume... check!
Pumpkin carving... (we'll be doing that tomorrow)!

This coming week at preschool, the kids are asked to dress up in Halloween costumes (if they want to).  We finally made our way to the Gourmet Warehouse to pick up the key component of Isaac's Halloween costume.  A kid-sized chef toque!!!  I saw it there the last time we visited, so I just hoped they would have some in stock today.  We were not disappointed.  There was only one choice for a plain white chef toque ($5.00) - all the rest had colours or other patterns on them.   Isaac also picked out a wooden spoon ($2.50) for himself.  He saw some cupcakes displayed in the baking ware section and kept asking for the cupcakes!!!

When we got home, Isaac put on the toque right away (and has agreed to wear it to his next cooking class as well).  There's velcro on the back so that it can be adjusted by a tiny bit.

We picked up some sushi for lunch.  I took an afternoon nap and Isaac stayed in bed and napped with me.  I'm glad he's sleeping.  If not, I would likely have had to take him out for a walk in his stroller.

Tomorrow we'll be picking up a pumpkin for a jack-o'lantern.  That should be fun.  I wonder if Isaac remembers helping to scoop out the seeds last year?

Here's a picture of the mini quiches Isaac made in cooking class last week:

I was surprised that he was willing to eat the green and red peppers in the quiche since he generally doesn't eat peppers (not even off a pizza).  I think he liked the peppers because they were in a tart, the texture was soft and they were covered in cheese.  Or maybe it's simply because *he* made it so he wanted to eat his creation.

Update from the past week:
Tuesday, I took Isaac to the library and playground.  An older girl (3.5yrs old) took his sand bucket and he chased her around trying to get it back.  I only put a stop to it when he was up on the big kids playground equipment and started going down the ladder facing out while holding onto his sand shovels.  I was afraid he would fall down because he was focussed on catching S.  He didn't want to leave the playground, so I had to physically remove him and put him into his stroller.  He was fine once he got back his bucket.  On Friday we had a play date at Auntie S's house.  Isaac had a lot of fun.  All was well until after lunch, the kids went crazy.  They started off sitting on the stairs together screaming and kicking the steps.  Then they went upstairs (I told Isaac he wasn't allowed upstairs and took him down).  From downstairs, we were hear periodic loud "Boom"s from the kids jumping off a bed.  I was really surprised that he listened to me, by staying on the first flight of the staircase!  I could see that he wanted to go up and join the other kids, but he was good.  I let him play for awhile longer until he started getting destructive.  He helped with clean up time but put up a fight when we had to go home.

Weekend outing

We're definitely in the process of cutting naps.  There are some days where he will nap in the afternoon and some days he refuses to sleep (but will be cranky in the evening and go to bed early).

Today Isaac fell asleep in the car on the way to the planetarium.  We arrived a bit before 11:30am.  Isaac wandered around pressing buttons and touching stuff.  At 11:30am, we watched a live demonstration talk about rockets launching.  In advance, we warned Isaac that he had to stay sitting and be quiet or we would leave... I also bribed him with some gummies.  He was good and enjoyed the session.  After, we proceeded up to the planetarium theatre.  We watched "The night sky".  Isaac was amazingly good.  Not a peep out of his mouth.  I thought he would find it boring because it was just a darkened room with stars projected up and a long talk about all the stars/constellations that we would see in the sky around this time of year over Vancouver.  After we left the theatre, as we were waiting for the elevator there was a moment where I thought he might get upset that we were leaving.  But he seemed to accept a quick comment from us that "the show's all done".

In the process of TTC.  Won't say too much about that.  It's kind of personal.  We have had some disappointments but I remain hopeful.  We're a bit older now and I'm still not ready to give up breastfeeding so it may be harder this time around.  One difference I feel now (compared to about 4 or 5 years ago) is that I'm not insanely jealous and envious of other people getting/being pregnant.  I guess the big reason is because we already have Isaac and if things are not to be, then I'm ok with it.

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I went to a swap meet this morning while Daddy took Isaac to the playground.  Didn't find any lego.  We went out for dim sum afterwards.  I took a nap in the afternoon while Isaac and Daddy went to another playground.  They came home and had a snack.  Isaac didn't want to nap, but he fell asleep on the floor while watching Wall-E.  I transferred him to bed.

Isaac has cooking class and I have choir tomorrow.  Hopefully the transit ride to his cooking class won't be too packed.  I think I have worked out a good timing (if we can get out of the house on time - too early and we're sardines, too late and we'll miss the start of class).

Cutting naps

It seems that Isaac is starting to cut naps on some days.  He went napless on Saturday and again today.  I was able to put him to bed extra early today (asleep by 6:30pm instead of the usual 9pm).  I don't really know why he's cutting his nap... maybe I just missed the timing since he was looking quite sleepy a bit earlier but I wanted him to eat lunch before his nap.

I know that there are a number of kids his age that have already cut their naps, but I think he generally needs his nap still.  He's much less agreeable in the evening when he doesn't get a nap.

Today, I took Isaac to a Strong Start class.  First we had some gym time, then free play, circle time, snacks, he wasn't interested in reading time, but listened in on the story time at the end.  For snack time, they served crackers, cheese, oranges and apples.  Isaac really loved eating the cheddar cheese.  He kept asking for more but didn't touch any of the other stuff.  I was hoping that taking him to school would help to burn off his energy so that he'd nap... but I couldn't get him down after trying for an hour.  I left him at home with Daddy and went to do a blood test.

It looks like one of Isaac's 2-year molars has finally broken through and is coming in at the back.  3 more to go.  I haven't noticed any teething symptoms this time.  Then again, the teeth seem to be coming up quite slowly.

Tomorrow we have Twos Time.  I've volunteered to help in tomorrow's class.  Hope it'll be fun.

Little Chefs Cooking Class - Pasta

Last week, Isaac made pasta in his cooking class.  The kids were split into two groups.  Each group made their own dough.  First they took turns measuring out 3 cups of flour and pouring it into a mixing bowl.   I'm not sure if any salt was added in, but the kids helped to add in 3 eggs.  Isaac was disappointed he didn't get to help with the eggs since there were 4 kids in each group, and he was sitting at the end of the table.  All the kids got to mix the dough together in the mixing bowl as Miss Jennifer added in bits of sage.

A big pot of water was boiled while the kids each got a cutting board to knead their dough.  Then they all took turns turning the crank on a pasta maker to flatten and cut their dough.  The pasta was cooked for about 2-3 minutes, then served with a bit of olive oil.  Isaac gobbled down his pasta.  I found the sage flavour to be a bit strong.  We brought some extras home for Daddy to try and I mixed in some cream of mushroom soup with broccoli and mushrooms.