Hannah's thankful

for our friend Pat, who came to her birthday party and changed a quarter into a ring for her.

She lost a hair clip at the park the other day, and was MOST upset about it -- how was her hairstyle supposed to work if it was missing a hair clip? After her initial sorrow wore off, she was sharing her woes with Grandma Ellie. Then she came up with a solution to the problem:

"I'll ask Mr. Pat to make me a new clip from a penny. He made a ring from a penny at my birthday party. He can make anything from a penny. He's a GENIUS!"

Reading enlarges the mind

Hannah's reading gets better and better all the time. Which makes for some interesting conversations:

H: Tropical Tan. What do they do there?
Me: [Short explanation of tanning.]
H: Is that good for them?!? [said with a great deal of incredulity]
Me: Not really.
H: Why would people do something that's bad for them?
Me: Well, if they just do a little, it's not too bad, but often people overdo it.
H: What does "overdo" mean?
Me: Well, for instance,...
H: Like if I ate all my Halloween candy at once and didn't have any for another day?
Me: Yes, and not only would you have no more candy, but you'd probably also have a stomachache and feel pretty rotten.

Here's another one:

H: [Looking at the instructions on the placemat, which tell us to use eraseable market, then wipe with a wet cloth] Why do they tell us what to do with this placemat? It's our placemat.
Me: Who made the placemat?
H: They did.
Me: So who probably knows best how to use it?
H: They do.
Me: So they include instructions so that we'll be able to use the product properly.

Babies

Naomi's maternal instincts have been manifesting themselves a lot lately, what with the new baby and all. She loves holding him, singing to him, trying to get him to turn his head her way, helping with diaper changes, whatever. She also has Tigey, who gets to be her baby when Simeon isn't available. Sometimes he's what she calls her Simeon, which means that developmentally, he's the age of Simeon -- he can't walk, talk, or eat solid foods. When she wants a baby who CAN do those things, Tigey becomes her Lincoln, since she's heard that Lincoln can do those things.

You know you live in Seattle when...

your husband, 5-year-old, and 2 1/2-year-old are all outside, raking leaves...in the rain.

**UPDATE**

Of course, after that, it will clear up and be a lovely, sunny day for the rest of the day.

Not usually listed as nocturnal creatures

This morning, Hannah decided to check for packages on the front porch. It was only 8:40, but no matter, Hannah told me, "I'm checking for boxes, because sometimes mailmen and box deliverers are nocturnal, you know."

He's a smiley little guy

especially when one of his big sisters is singing songs to him.

Halloween costumes

I wasn't present for most of the trick-or-treating, so there aren't as many pictures as I would have taken, but here are some of them. Simeon isn't featured because I didn't get a picture of him in his outfit before he pooped on it 10 minutes after I put it on him.