Month: November 2007

Mama threw a baby shower for Riley’s Mom, Kelly. We had lots of friends over and plenty of yummy food, including home-made cupcakes and ice cream.

Dada helped with hosting duties and Mama played some games with the other mommies. One game asked everyone to write down their name suggestions, which were later read aloud and the other game had everyone trying to match baby photos with the correct Mommy. Dada said it was a tough game since there were a lot of “white people.” Silly Dada.

Austen continues to enjoy her trips to MyGym. She’s still very independent and will usually only go to the areas she wants to go to or areas that she sees older kids playing in. She’s very good at emulating older kids’ activities and is usually able to match their physical abilities (unless they’re several years older).

Here she is doing some “big jumps” on the trampoline, which is one of her favorites.

Austen went trick-or-treating in Metuchen with Mama and Dada, dressed up as Snow White with a fancy fur coat on top (it was chilly!). We saw lots of other kids dressed up, some younger and some much older. Some houses were very docorated and Austen pointed out when they had a “biiiig pumpkin” or if they had a mummy or skeleton, she mentioned how that was a “scaaary house.” Towards the end of the night, Austen was getting tired so Dada carried her around to the last few houses before returning home with her stash.

Dada thought some of the ‘kids’ were old enough to be considered a posse when walking around in a group. Surely they could scrounge up a few dollars to just buy their own candy but Dada guessed it was more of a social activity. Then, Dada recalled being in his own posse and doing some not-so-nice things but that’s another blog entry…

Austen went trick or treating at the Menlo Park Mall with some friends and Mama. She did really well, except for one meltdown, and said “trick or treat!” “thank you!” and “Bye-bye” to those giving her candy. She enjoyed following the boys around and giving the costumed creatures hugs.

Along the way, they came across a big bunny. I guess Easter bunnies can’t rely solely on their Easter time employment so they have to take other gigs. As usual, Austen loved the bunny and hung out with the bunny while talking, hugging, following and waving to him.