October 25-November 1

We came back from Sidney Monday night, beating Jacque by a matter of minutes.  She was coming back from Michigan with a van load of stuff for the basement.  On Tuesday she drove the empty van back and then returned Wednesday with Mom, Donna, and two more vanloads.  The girls and I took her back to Michigan on Friday, spending the day hanging out at the house and visiting Mom, Dad (briefly back from California), James, Jillian, Josef, Jacob, and Donna.

Thursday night was trick-or-treating and Saturday was a Halloween party, so the girls got to dress up twice.  Olivia was a mermaid and recovered nicely from her initial disappointment that resulted when she discovered that I merely constructed a mermaid tail skirt rather than turning her legs into an actual mermaid tail.  Gretchen wore the witch costume that was Olivia's two years ago, and Kaitlyn took her turn as a lion.  I found a wonderful zebra robe at Wal-Mart so that I could carry Kaitlyn around in a sling and pretend she was a mighty hunter on the Serengeti.

Kaitlyn is very talented lately.  This list covers several weeks of recent accomplishments.  She sits well enough that I no longer worry about leaving her alone on hardwood floors.  She's trying to crawl and can successfully get up on her hands and knees.  Her progress in this area has slowed recently since I've been putting her down sitting rather than on her stomach.  However, she has managed to discover that she has forward movement, although it's still only effective if the desired object is no more than six inches away.  Anything beyond that is insurmountably far.She eats varied purees and small bits of soft foods.  She knows the sound "pbbbt," and especially likes practicing it during meals.  She tries to help put clothes on.  Her arms are actually pretty useful, but her leg and head movements are more of a hindrance than a help.

Unique things the older girls still say:
Strapen - verb, to tighten the strap on a carseat - Mom! You forgot to strapen me!
Skatings - noun, roller skates - She has purple skatings.
Unbutton me up - phrase meaning "button me"
Mines - possessive - That's yours and this is mines.

Pictures:
Kaitlyn plays with rings:

The BamBam pictures:

Reading Halloween cards:

All dressed up:

Josef took a picture with Gretchen: