Happy Halloween!

Hope everyone had a good Halloween with lots of treats and no tricks. Once again, we had no trick or treaters (they tend to cluster down by the high school) and once again, Ian refused to wear a costume. At the Chinese school party on Saturday, I got him to wear his fireman hat by telling him he couldn't go to the party unless he wore it. It was controlled chaos. They had the elementary school classes go first and parade around in the common area (kind of like a small cafeteria) by class so the judges could see the costumes. They also passed out goodie bags to all of the kids, so Ian liked that. Plus, they had bowls of popcorn out. It was so noisy and there were so many people, Ian got a bit overwhelmed and wandered off away from the crowd. I went running after him and asked him where he was going. "I wanna go to the party!" I told him that THIS was the party and he looked pretty upset. Then he wanted to go back to the classroom. He totally reminds me of his Jiu Jiu as a kid -- hated too much noise, chaos and crowds. I got him a cup of popcorn and he just clutched that and his goodie bag for dear life and told me he wanted to go to the car. So we got our stuff together and headed out. Of course, it was pouring rain outside and we just had our jackets with hoods and no umbrella. He wouldn't let me hold his popcorn, so he wound up eating soggy popcorn in the car (not that he minded).

Yesterday, they had the Halloween party at his school. Again, I brought in his fireman hat, but apparently he wouldn't even wear that this time. The party was at 3:30, so Jeff and I couldn't make it. I tried to leave early from work and did manage to get there by 5:30 (he was one of 2 kids left). Alex, the assistant director, said that the other parents were concerned that Ian didn't have a costume and would feel left out. Alex said she explained that he did have one, but didn't want to wear it. Alex commented on how with most kids if you tell them that the other kids are doing something or if they see other kids doing something, they will want to do it, too. But not Ian. She told me, "Ian doesn't care what everyone else is doing. That is good! Good for him!" I am glad he is not a follower, but sometimes I wish that at this age he could be swayed by his peers (e.g., potty training). As we were leaving, Alex said she forgot to give Ian something. Ian said to me, "Alex forgot my pretzels." Sure enough, Alex came out with a small bag of Halloween pretzels. I said, "Wow, there's a pumpkin!" (on the bag) and Ian corrected me: "It's a jack o'lantern." He was right. It had a face on it, so clearly it was not simply a pumpkin. He ate the pretzels on the way home ("First I eat my pretzels, then I have my nai-nai.") He would pull one out and joyously announce, "It's a punkin!", then "It's anudder punkin!" and then he said, "It's a vat!" "Do you mean a bat?" "Yah, a bat!"

He didn't want to wear a costume, but he let them paint a tiger on his hand. He didn't let them paint his face, though (that's my boy!). Plus, his soon-to-be teacher Tiffany* gave him a Scooby-Doo band-aid for his boo-boo on his thumb (we've been putting band-aids on that for the past 2 days and they keep coming off). I asked him who was going to be at home when we got there and he said, "Daddy and Grandpa. Abuelita mei2 you3 lai2. Grandpa de che1 zi ne1?" (Abuelita didn't come. Where's Grandpa's car?) I explained that Grandpa took the plane and a taxi to come to our house, so his car wouldn't be there. "Grandpa de che1 zi ne1?" Then I realized he wanted to know where the convertible was, so I told him it was in Florida. "Oh." When we got home, he showed Grandpa his band-aid and wanted to play with Grandpa and show him his toys and drawings. He immediately started speaking to Grandpa in Spanish. He held up one of his bus drawings and told Grandpa (in Spanish) "Yu-an Yi drew this." (Yu-an Yi, he hasn't forgotten about you!!!) Grandpa smelled something not quite right and we asked Ian if he was poopy and maybe we should go upstairs to change and take a bath. "No, change diaper here!" (in Spanish) and immediately lay down in front of Grandpa. Jeff went to get a diaper and Ian said, "No, Grandpa change." Poor Grandpa. Ian wanted Grandpa to draw and asked him to draw a camionetta. Grandpa asked Jeff what that was exactly and Jeff said, "A pick-up truck." Ian immediately repeated "Pick-up truck." Then when I asked him what Grandpa drew, he said, "A picking up truck and Grandpa and Abuelita's car and a big bus!" Ian is spending the whole day with Grandpa today, lucky boy. He was very excited about it. Hopefully, Grandpa will still be standing when we get home this evening.

*Ian transitioned up to Little Explorers this week. First day, just snack and circle time upstairs, second day, snack and circle time and lunch, then snack, circle time, lunch and nap. He's had no problems because he knows all the kids as well has his new teachers. His new teachers will be Tiffany and Gina. There's a little girl named Tiffany in the class, so he says there are two Tiffanies, a big Tiffany and a little Tiffany. When we go back to school tomorrow, he will be in their classroom for the full day.