Oh Mighty Gatekeeper

The other day I asked Olivia what she wants for Christmas. She replied, "A big pillow like yours (I have a body pillow) and maybe a clo." Clo is the singular form that she uses for clothes. I think it's so cute when she says it that I don't correct her. I guess I better be sure to do that at some point, for sure before she goes to college. Sophia has become the Gatekeeper in the Wizard of Oz, and every door in our house leads to the Emerald City. She insists on being in charge of opening and closing every door in the house, and she gets quite upset if someone else tries to do her job. I think this started because she can finally reach all of the doorknobs. She used to get very frustrated with Olivia when she would shut her in or out of somewhere she didn't or did want to be. She's making it very clear, that now SHE has control.

Trick or Treat

Olivia and Sophia had their first experience with trick or treating this year. They both had so much fun, it was hard explaining to them that Halloween is the only day that you can ring a stranger's doorbell and ask for candy. Yale had the idea of the girls dressing up as skunks this year. I was all for it because I was hoping we could stay away from the princess theme. I've had my fair share of princess talk/play lately. Plus, I've grown to really dislike Sleeping Beauty. She is NOT the kind of role model that I want for our girls. As far as I can tell she's known for being pretty and sleeping. Even when I asked Olivia if she does anything exciting in the movie, she said, "Well, she talks" and that was all that she could come up with! What kind of heroine is that??? When you think about it, princesses in fairy tales, books and movies are always pretty lame. They rarely getting to doing anything daring and adventuresome. I need to find movies for the girls to watch where the girls get to fly, rescue people, and wear a cool cape. Anyway...back to Halloween. I decided I would attempt to make the girls' costumes this year. Not only do I want to expand their imaginations with being something unique, I wanted to show them that you can also use your imagination by creating your own costume. Luckily I was able to come up with something very simple. I got a couple of black hoodies, some black boas and some white boas, white fur, and black and pink felt; Voila: skunks. Yale said that seeing them in their costumes melted his heart. I had to agree, they looked awfully cute. We went over to our friends', Betsy and Vince, house for Halloween night. They have a daughter, Ellen, that is Olivia's age and good friend. And their son, Hugh, is Sophia's favorite friend from P.D.O. After eating pizza, we went trick or treating to a ton of houses in their neighborhood. At first Sophia didn't seem to understand the point of the whole thing, but after she got a couple of pieces of candy, she was all for it! Olivia and Ellen held hands and ran from house to house, telling everyone "Happy Halloween!"