Happy Halloween!

Malcolm the Ninja!

Ninja Malcolm with Mommy the Kitty Cat

Malcolm's Mighty Ninja Hands . . . Hai-Yah!

Matthew is down with a cold this year, leaving just Malcolm and I to go trick-or-treating. Our apartment complex doesn't have much in the way of chocolate-seeking fun, what with having to buzz into each building . . . so we branched out a bit. We ended up over on the other side of town, trick-or-treating at his honorary Aunt & Uncle's house. In addition to trick or treat chocolates, they also invited Malcolm in for homemade cookies and a glass of milk.

After that, Malcolm and I tootled off to explore the neighborhood. Malcolm loved trick-or-treating this year, and really got into it. "Mommy, I want to trick-or-treat that house, right there!" he would declare, pointing imperiously at one house, and then the next.

Let me preface this last part . . . what Malcolm did next was entirely of his own accord, with absolutely no prompting from me at all!

As we were wrapping up for the evening, with a just a few houses to go, the nice lady of the house opened the door, and Malcolm said "Happy Halloween. Trick or Treat!" (This is what we'd been saying all night at each door. After she held out the bowl and he picked out one (just one!) treat, he said "Thank you." (Again, we'd practiced this all night as well.) But then, he decided to chime in with a new request:

"I want to take one for Mommy, please!"

Needless to say, the lady was (very) charmed, and I was (a tiny bit) mortified. Malcolm truly meant what he'd said though. With her permission, he picked out an extra candy, and turned and handed it to me. "This is for you, Mommy!"

Too sweet! (He even picked out a Reeses. My favorite!)

Halloween Fun at the Zoo with Friends!

The Comfort of the Comforter

Matthew and I recently retrieved our thick down comforter from storage and laid it out on our bed. Snuggling up, toasty warm, under it has always been one of my favorite parts of the cold weather days. Needless to say, Atlanta didn't have much call for the comforter. I'm not too excited about coming back to Rochester winter, but I am glad to have my comforter.

This morning, I woke up to the beep-beep of my alarm, wrapped cocoon-like in an eternal thickness of warm, warm comforter. I looked at my clock, and thought about how cold the air was on the tip of my nose -- the only part of me sticking out, and proceeded to glare at the alarm clock. Alas, that didn't stop the beep-beep either, so I slipped an arm out to whack the snooze alarm, and zipped it back in as quickly as possible. It was even colder out there than I thought, and I felt extremely grateful that my comforter is big enough to cover me the tips of toes, to up over my head like giant warm hood.

After the third snooze alarm, I gritted my teeth, and slipped out (being careful not to let the cold air in, where Matthew still slept under the comforter. I brushed my teeth in record time, while thinking about which thick wooly sweater I would wear to work.

I returned to my room to discover that Malcolm had left his bed, and climbed into ours. He was curled up under the comforter (my comforter), stretched across my pillow, and snuggled up with Daddy.

"Hi Mommy!"

"Good morning, Malcolm."

"Mommy, I'm in your bed! I'm stealing your Zzzz's."