Happy first Halloween, Maya!

Dear Maya,

Last Sunday we woke up to a foot of snow on the ground! The weather was nice and the roads were clear, though, so we got our ocean family costumes ready and headed shopping, then to your great-grandparents' house to trick-or-treat. You were a sea turtle, mommy was a lobster/crab, and daddy was a jellyfish!

Our super easy homemade costumes:
Maya's is wearing a frog bathrobe and a dollar store basket with ribbon and cellophane 'seafoam' streamers.
Mommy is wearing all red with her red oven mitts (visible flour optional!) and plastic eyeball /pipe cleaner headband.
Daddy was thrilled that all he had to do was hold this umbrella with ribbon and cellophane 'tentacles' for his costume. 

I didn't know sea turtles like to munch on jellyfish tentacles!

It was your ten month birthday, but you are still too young for Halloween candy. So what did your great-grandpoppy give you instead? A $10 bill which you ran around with and wouldn't let go of! You had us all in stitches and you got mad when mommy took it away, so he gave you a $1 bill. Thus the spoiling begins...

One edible treat you did get for Halloween was your first taste of baby snacks. Every day now you've been eating either wafer cookies from your grandparents in Japan or rice crackers we bought here. At first you chewed them very slowly and delicately but now you go through them pretty quickly. You love them!

You've been toddling around like crazy lately! Every evening you have mommy and daddy running around so much that by the time we put you to bed, we're exhausted. Still, it is so much fun to see how proud you are when you pick something up and bring it to us or move it from one place to another. You're growing so fast!

Here's something mommy didn't think she'd be saying this soon--I started a new job yesterday. It's only a few days a week when daddy can stay home with you and it's close enough that mommy can come home for lunch to feed you. At first, mommy was so worried about the separation, but you handled it really well and mommy was excited to wake parts of her brain that had been hibernating. Plus, even though you tired daddy out, he loved getting to spend that time with you. It seems to be a really a great arrangement for all of us.

Well, it's time for mommy to sign off and get some rest. We get an extra hour tonight for Daylight Savings, but I'm sure that only means you'll be up an hour earlier in the morning. Here's hoping that's not the case. Love you!