The Trick or Treat Ride (or, Our First Halloween on the 'Sac) 2013

This was an epochal Halloween on a few counts. First (and most important) is that it's the first one where one of our children did not make use of the famous cow costume. This was a point of pride for Kate and great, great sorrow for Paul. Clara found her mermaid "queen" outfit at Costco several weeks earlier and has worn it at least a dozen times in preparation for the day. We dug Hattie's out of our well-stocked costume bin (tossing the cow aside as we dug), and she selected the bumblebee over the equally as cute ladybug.

Second, this was our initial Halloween on the cul de sac and our first where most of the trick or treating was done away from good ol' Mordecai. So new traditions are in the making and it started with the pre-party in the Acombe's garage...

...then commandeered neighbor Matt's golf cart + trailer for our own party float trick-or-treat ride...

We knew going into it that the golf car was either going to be a really good idea or a terrible, terrible folly (with no options in between). Luckily, it was the former. The kids (mostly) loved it. It made life easier for we parents. It definitely brought plenty of attention to our merry band of tricker treaters. And there were no causes for ambulance visits. So, yes, it was a success.

Ours was the largest band of trickers roaming the streets of North Hills this night, so there was plenty of candy to go around. Clara (who twinned out the mermaid with neighbor Arrington...down to identical eye makeup) had the clear goal of filling her plastic pumpkin bin to the brim. She wasn't trending toward that goal until we hit the self-serve houses (no one to answer the door, candy laying out for the taking) after which she was trying to compress the old candy by shoving it deeper in the bucket to make more room for new candy. 

 

With her copious sugar intake, Hattie was becoming more and more like that bumblebee as the night progressed. She had so much sugar energy that she insisted on running up the final hill before we got home, waving off offers to get back on the trailer and climbing the entire thing at top speed.

We made a wide loop around the neighborhood in about 90 minutes before returning to the Sac and back to the Acombe garage for the after-party.  Clara had energy to spare and so stayed out dancing and playing until nearly 10 o'clock. Though Hattie insisted she had the same staying power, Paul brought her in for a bath, jammies, and a few brief songs before putting her in bed at 9.

It was a good start to some new Halloween traditions for the Drydens...

Clara on Roller Skates

Everything that's old is new again. Kate broke out her Care Bear skates from, um, a few years ago. Not only is Clara eager to learn skating, but she's also a fan of Care Bears. Double victory!

Hattie the Singer

Hattie loves to sing. She does it constantly. She even soothes herself at night by singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in her bed. Here we caught her enthused by This Little Light of Mine, a song she learned earlier that morning at Sunday school...

Ms. Carole

Okay, so it's sad that Ms. Carole has been helping us with the girls for a few months now, and this is the first post featuring her.

She is awesome! We know her first from Clara's MMO program where Carole was a teacher (and Clara adored her). She's helped out from time to time since then. And when we had a chance to bring her on to help watch the girls when Kate works, we jumped at it.

She shows our daughters so much love and invests so much in teaching and guiding them. We are lucky to have her.

Here she indulges Hattie's fascination with the leg-crawl back flip:

Hattie's 1st Haircut

Kate was concerned that Hattie's hair was coming unwieldy. The back was growing into the shape of curly rat tail. We Drydens do NOT do rat tails (well, not for the past 32 years anyway, but that's a story about Paul for a different post).

We have designated our neighbor Kendall as our preferred child hair stylist, so when we saw her in the yard this week we grabbed her and asked for a quick trim. She obliged, giving Hattie her first haircut...right in the driveway.

Hattie has gone from rat tail (though it was cute) to stylish "bob."

Of course, we grabbed a curly lock for the family records...

 And Clara got a trim to boot...

Delightful Hattie, Some Udpates

Whether it's nature or nurture, Hattie's personality seems well-suited to being the younger sister. She's a touch more flexible, able to roll with the punches and adapt, than was her sister at the same age. At the same time, she's tough enough to stand up for herself when she's had enough...a critical skill for a younger sibling.

Something about her nearly-two-year-old personality screams trickster.  Hattie loves to laugh and make little jokes for us. Few things are more fun to our little tyke than stealing someone's chair when they're gone or putting on Kate's too big shoes.  Or (best of all) needling her big sister to get the upper hand (ever so briefly) by getting under her skin.

Clara hates it! Hattie knows it... 

Hattie loves going to mother's morning out each Wednesday morning, excited that she has her own school with friends her own age to play with. Yes, she did scream bloody murder the first couple times, but she's since developed trust that Mama does come back. Mama always comes back. That's enough to loosen her up and let her enjoy her thing.

And the sleep - oh, the sleep! Is it nature? Is it nurture? We don't know. (We don't care!) She has the skill that eluded her big sister for soooo long. Hattie sleeps all night in her crib, making no attempts to escape. When she wakes up in the morning, we often hear her through the monitor singing quiet songs to herself.

Songs. Hattie loves to sing! And she does if often and loudly. Her favorite right now is Life's a Happy Song from the Muppet Movie. She can string together several lyrics n a row before mumbling through the rest. So yes, that means her singing style is identical to her father's. 

And all those words! Hattie is working hard to master the english language. She's not shy about trying new words, and she even has a few five- and six-word sentences in her repertoire.

Clara's "All About Me" Book

By:  CLARA KATHERINE DRYDEN
Age 4


At Arts Together, September's theme is "All About Me..."  For the entire month, Clara has been working on her "All About Me" book in art class with Ms. Renee.  We are so proud of the hard work she has put into this creation.  Such an artist!!

Page 1:  SELF PORTRAIT

Page 2:  MY FAMILY

Page 3:  MY SCHOOL FRIENDS

(Clara chose Eva and Olive to trace their hands with her)

Page 4:  I LIKE TO.....

("I like to play everything with Olive.")

Page 5:  MY FAVORITE COLOR CREATURE

(Clara's collage was made from cut-out images in RED!)

Page 6:  MY PAINTING

(The flowers were painted right-side-up, I just couldn't figure out how to flip this photo!)


THE END!

Our Little Pumpkins

We embarked on our annual pumpkin picking trip this weekend.  The girls discovered a pumpkin patch less than one mile from our house, and they each chose several pumpkins to bring home!  Clara was determined to find the largest possible pumpkin, on which she loves to sit and show off her treasure......Hattie, on the other hand, was content with the small ones.  We have a feeling this will not be the case next year!

Sister Love!!

Clara's New Bike

Clara has outgrown the 12-inch frame, that bike on which she shed the training wheels some five months ago. Now she out-spins that bike's gears and small tires with her longer, 4 1/2 year-old legs, having to churn her pedals like mad to go fast enough to stay upright.

Time for a new bike. A 16-inch frame bike. There's no obvious gift-giving season with Christmas a ways away and a birthday further yet, so we set up an earning opportunity for Clara. No one was going to give her a new bike. She had to earn it!

We started with a trip to the local bike shops a few weeks ago. Clara got to sit on a bunch of different models to see if there's one she really wanted to work towards.

That was fun and all, but Clara felt overwhelmed by making the decision. I'd like any of them, she said. You just pick for me. ("Just make sure it has a basket, and tassles, and a bell, and a kickstand!" But otherwise, you just pick.)

Now the earning part. We drew this picture:

Then Clara cut it into an eight-piece puzzle:

She would earn one piece each day if she met a goal we set for her that day. On day's she was with Ms. Carole, the goal was about treating her nanny with respect (a challenge of late).  On other days, there were chores or expectations of cooperation. After earning the piece, Clara would glue it on to the final puzzle sheet.

After those eight days, Clara complete the puzzle...

...and earned her bike.

Clara was ecstatic and quickly off to the races.