Unhappy Dino

Sam REALLY wanted to put his trick or treat bag all the way over his head. We finally resigned ourselves to the fact that Sam doesn't like trick or treating. The crowds, the "ask" -- too much for my sensitive little man. He likes candy, but not enough to accept it from strangers and certainly not enough to ask for it. Crowds make him claustrophobic. Next year, we'll skip the parade and downtown trick or treating, and have a peaceful night on Blaine Street. Which is, after all, THE place to be in our little burg on the spookiest night of the year. 

Stellaluna

Our little bat, before she injured her "wing." 

Lovey Dog

Last week, we adopted a four year old purebred Chocolate Lab from the pound. His name was Brutus, which Sam opted to change to "Lovey Dog." He is very lovey... sweet with the kids and only wants to be where the family is. But he loves to run and jump and play fetch too. He's a big dog, so he needs to get some good exercise daily. His only faults (that we know of) are an aggressive nature toward other male dogs (his scheduled snip-snip on Tuesday should temper that) and putrid farts (well, we can't complain too much about that around here). He is used to being in the house for hours at a time which is good because he easily jumps our fence. He only does it when he sees us all trying to leave though. If we are home he would much prefer to be in the house. 

Nursemaid Elbow

Athena took two trips to the Emergency Room this week, for nursemaid elbow. Hard to believe this never happened to Sam and now it happened twice in one week to Athena (on different arms, too). The first time was Halloween -- during the annual parade, of course. Athena was on daddy's shoulders, playing a game they often play where she leans back and he keeps her from falling. She leaned back too quickly, he wisely held her tight, and yowch! Nursemaid elbow. We cut short our festivities, got fixed up in the ER, and came home to watch a movie. Since our street is a hot spot for trick or treating, we put our 500 or so pieces of candy in a bowl outside the gate and watched it disappear in about ten minutes.

The second time was yesterday. After playing beautifully together all morning, Sam decided Athena absolutely must not play in his room upstairs. Rather than waiting for daddy to help, he tried to drag her out by her arm. Uh oh. Back to the ER (these things always happen after office hours or on the weekend, don't they?) This time they insisted on an X ray before they would adjust her.

Athena is fine, Sam is apologetic, and I am scared to see the bill for this week.