Happy Halloween

We took Kenny to our next-door-neighbors’ houses on both sides for his first venture into trick-or-treating.   One of our neighbors was actually ready for him with a Starbucks bag and biscotti (which they figured would be good for teething!)  

  Kenny wore his cow costume, and really enjoyed going visiting in the dark.   He was all smiles and happiness about picking candy (which Casey and I have already consumed much of) from big baskets and all the attention from our neighbors.   He even liked the biscotti!

Earlier today, we played “let’s clean house!”   I sang “Let’s Tidy Up the Nursery” from Mary Poppins and handed him the feather duster, which he gleefully patted on all the furniture he could reach while I followed behind with the Pledge and dust cloth.   Then I put him in his highchair in front of Sesame Street (for the second time ever), which he roundly ignored, and vacuumed the downstairs.   He was so thrilled with a morning with the merry maid, that he promptly fell asleep and took a real nap.   I celebrated by mopping that same downstairs floor and windexing our Wall of Glass (four very large sliding glass doors that face the water and let in enough light to show every particle of dust on the Pergo and every fingerprint on the furniture).   When he woke up, we both celebrated by eating chocolate chip cookies and playing with the pumpkins we never carved:

Kenny continues to pronounce more words clearly everyday.   Today it was “Aaplane!” while we were playing at the park, obviously beneath a flight pattern from BWI.   He’s learning to climb, too.   At the park, the steeper the steps the better, and climb he did.   At home, he always seems to want to be on top of something.   I understand him wanting to climb up on pillows or large boxes.   What I don’t get is his insistance on standing on things that test his balance and threaten to topple him over.   Why does he pull magazines off the coffee table and then stand on them?   I watch the top glossy start to slide away and  watch his little feet start to slip, yet when I try to pull them away, he loudly protests and stands on them all the more defiantly.   He will also try to stand on the corner or his playschool barnyard.   I have no idea why.   He will stand there and bend over to play with the animals while his ankles wobble and his knees buckle.   Last Friday at our weekly home group Bible Study, he insisted on standing on one of the poor gent’s feet and holding onto the coffee table for the majority of our time there.   He fell over several times, but always wanted to go back for more.    I guess there are some mysteries about being a thirteen month old that I will never understand.   Like, why does he beg for crackers when I serve up grilled new york strip steaks?   Why does he kick me in the head when I change his diaper?   Why does he push the dining room chairs across the room?   Why does he take his cheerios out of his cup, put them on the floor for three seconds and put them into his mouth?     Why?   Some things are better left a mystery, I guess…