Trick or Treat…Dude

As a child, I remember Halloween being one of the most exciting nights of the year.  Now my kids radiate that same kind of excitement.  At preschool this morning, Matthew told his teacher that he was going to use the force to get his pencil.  Daniel has been practicing different spells with his wand (he has a whole list of Harry Potter spells that he printed up from somewhere).  And Nathan has been wearing his costume for the past month.  They were all hyped up even before they got hopped up on sugar.

We are lucky enough to live in the kind of neighborhood where there are tons of kids and we feel safe roaming the neighborhood at night.  Daniel was out with a little pack of his friends and one of their moms and we all felt good about that.  Kev discovered that we live on one of the two streets in the neighborhood that attract the most trick or treaters.  There was pizza being made, hot dogs being grilled, and doughnuts being fried.  We have neighbors that know us and our kids well enough that they had special treats set aside for Matthew.  This is the kind of neighborhood I grew up in and I feel incredibly blessed that my kids can grow up in a place where we all have friends and feel safe.

While Harry Potter, Dumbledore (minus the beard because he didn’t like the feel of the little hairs in his mouth), and Yoda were thrilled to wander the neighborhood collecting loot, the chubby melon and I stayed home to answer the door.  (The tights are my favorite part of this costume.  I plan to put Malia in them as often as possible while they fit her.)  I only had one group try to hit me up for candy twice and only had a few kids show up who were (in my opinion, of course) far too old to be trick or treating.

At one point a group of fifth or sixth grade boys showed up at the door.  As I doled out candy with one hand and held Malia with the other, I heard one boy say to another, “Check out that baby, Dude!  It’s awesome!”  While I did get a chuckle out of this event (After the kids left, of course.  I don’t want to be known as the mean lady down the street who laughs at the little kids on Halloween.) and I appreciate the compliment to my offspring, I have to say that of all the things I would hope for my child to be, “awesome” is not exactly at the top of my list.  It’s not that I want her to be un-awesome, it’s just that in all the prayers I have uttered in her behalf, not once have I said, “…and please, please let her be awesome…”  However, as of today I can honestly say that I have offered up a few words of thanks for the fact that my children are more articulate than that. 

So in conclusion, Happy Halloween, Dude!  I hope the trick or treating was awesome!

Halloween Cuisine

A few years ago, I discovered that if I make a creepy meal on Halloween, my kids will actually eat a halfway decent dinner before heading out for trick or treating.  Somewhere along the way, I discovered that I really enjoy creating these special dinners for them.  Yesterday morning we had Jack-o-Lantern pumpkin pancakes and tonight was our typical themed dinner.  Nathan started asking what we would have way back in September, but I never tell them until Halloween night.  That way the suspense gets to them and makes everything extra exciting.  This year’s offerings were all pretty tasty and the boys enjoyed it…except that Matthew was scared to eat the brain.  I don’t know if it was because it is just gross to think about or if it is an unknown food and he had a food allergy scare a couple of weeks ago.  Either way, I have to give Tofutti Better Than Cream Cheese another point.  It was tasty in the jell-o.  And it made the brain look extra gross.

Pumpkins Are For More Than Just Eating

Although we really like pumpkin flavored eatables around here, this particular batch of pumpkin was for decorative purposes only.  The boys painted some of their pumpkins yesterday afternoon after school.  Nathan and Matthew both painted the Wicked Witch on their pumpkins.  Daniel painted the Death Star and an X-wing fighter on his.  The remainder of the pumpkins were carved today.  Now that Daniel and Nathan are a bit older and can handle most of the carving on their own, Kev and I can even create Jack-o-Lanterns of our very own.  It was a fun, and slightly slimy, afternoon!

Cibophobia

Did you know that the fear of food is actually a real thing?  I have a fear of food, not for myself, but for my food allergy child.  I’m always afraid that I will inadvertently give him something to eat that will be dangerous for him.  I am always a bit more aware of this fear in October.  Not only is that when we do his yearly allergy testing, but Halloween is especially frightening for a food allergy mom.  I shudder to think of the Snickers Bar of Death rolling around in the bottom of his trick or treat bag.

Today was Matthew’s appointment with the allergist.  His allergies to milk, egg, peanut and cashew are still as severe as ever.  He is not likely to outgrow them at this point (No surprise there.  I’ve been convinced of this since he was two.) but the allergist says that he is a good candidate for desensitization therapy for the milk and the egg.  She wants to wait until he is at least five so that he can talk to her and communicate well what he is feeling, but she is optimistic about the results.  She says that the therapy for eggs has been quite successful.  The therapy for peanuts has not shown as much promise.  Apparently people who successfully complete the therapy have a tendency to redevelop the allergy later on.  I have just assumed the peanut allergy was here to stay since day one, so that is not devastating news for us.  Of all his allergens, nuts are actually one of the easier ones to avoid because they get so much publicity that people in general are more aware of nut allergies.  It can be a bit of a task to convince people that milk is just as dangerous for him.  Luckily for him (and for me), we are surrounded by people who are continually going out of their way to accommodate Matthew’s food needs.

We also tested for coconut, sunflower seed, shrimp, clams, and peas.  We had an event involving peas a couple of weeks ago and although he did not react to the skin prick test, his allergist wants to watch closely for that one because he is so allergic to peanuts and peas are also legumes. He was also negative to everything else we tested today, so we are going to cautiously begin to introduce products with coconut oil and coconut milk.  Coconut milk is a very common dairy replacement, so if he tolerates coconut well it will open up a whole world of dairy-free products for him. And it will bring a variety of tasty recipes back into our cooking repertoire.

The Doctor Was Amazed

Malia had her two month check up this morning and her doctor (who is currently a different doctor than the one who sees my other kids) was absolutely astonished that she has more than doubled her birth weight.  She now weighs 11 lbs. 3 oz. which makes her normal size for our family.  The doc now has a better understanding of why a 5 pound baby kind of freaked me out.  It is funny to say that she was in the 3^rd percentile for weight when she was born and at two months is in the 57^th percentile.  She has definitely caught up to where she should be!

Considering the fact that she was born a month early I thought she might be slower to develop skills, but she seems to be right on track.  She coos and smiles, can hold her head up, sucks on her fingers and watches people as they move around her.  She is beginning to gain interest in toys and loves when the boys play with her.  She seems to be a people person, which is good considering the fact that all her older brothers maul her as often as possible…and usually all at once.

The doctor was also very pleased with her development.  He said, and I have to agree, “I hate to tell you this, but you have a perfect baby!”

Yes, I Gave My Children Beer

But it was totally Mormon friendly beer, so I (probably) won’t be condemned in the eternities. 

Several weeks ago as I was web surfing looking for fun ideas for Halloween dinner, I came across recipes for pumpkin pasties and butterbeer (think Harry Potter).  Considering there will be a Harry Potter and a Dumbledore at our house this year, I thought my kids would enjoy trying it out.  It seemed like a good treat for fall, so after our excursion to the corn maze this morning, we got our Harry Potter on and made two of the oft mentioned treats from the novels. 

The pumpkin pasties were delicious.  Pumpkin pie is usually a dessert that is eaten cool due to the fact that the filling must set up before the pie is sliced.  So being able to eat these tiny pasties warm was unexpectedly delightful.  The butterbeer was…bizarre.  I think Kev described it well when he said it is like popcorn jelly beans-the flavor was fine but the texture was all wrong.  Butterscotch should be a flavor you can chew.  However, it was fun to watch it fizz and foam when we stirred the butterscotch syrup into the cream soda.

I think we will definitely make the pumpkin pasties again.  As for the butterbeer…at least now we can say that we’ve tasted it.

Oh, What Do You Do in the Autumntime?

This morning we partook of the many fall festivities available at Cornbelly’s.  We went last year and got rained out so we didn’t get to spend as much time as we would have liked.  This year the weather was highly cooperative and not only did we have time to wander the corn maze, but we also saw pig races, played on a variety of wooden vehicles, slid down air slides, climbed on hay bales, saw a chicken show, shot pumpkin blasters (Air cannons are totally fun, by the way!) and Daniel and Nathan gave rock climbing a try.  We opted to skip the corn room (think a ball pit but full of dried corn kernels) which is just weird or the haunted stuff which is not our favorite thing.  It was a fun way to while away a few hours on a beautiful autumn morning!

When You Have Three Older Brothers, At Some Point You Are Bound to End Up With a Lizard On Your Face

 

I guess today was the day.

(This Kodak moment was brought to you by Matthew, of course.)