Seeking Samadhi

Tai had the most fabulous Halloween - which is good, considering how much he was looking forward to it.  He loved the decorations, the stories, the pumpkins.  Yesterday I threw a modest Halloween party for friends, Tom's coworkers and the women from my neighborhood mom's group.  It went really well - all of the kids played together, and no one got bitten.  (In fact, no one got wounded at all.  There were a couple of minor mishaps around sharing toys, but that's to be expected.)  Not only did the kids have a good time, but the adults chatted together too.  It's funny - even though I wasn't doing a lot of work during the party, it was hard to get to talk to anyone for very long!  It did feel good to have everyone having fun.  Tai seemed to love it too, even though he had to share his toys.  Fortunately Dottie came on the early side, so I got to watch her and Tai make flirty eyes at each other.

The other kids were adorable, too.  I should have taken pictures!  We had: a knight, a garbage man, a dutch girl, Nicholas from "I am a Bunny", an astronaut, a vampire (of the Dracula, not Twilight, variety), a punk rocker (who happened to be one of the quietest kids in the group), a dog, Princess Jasmine, a panda, a devil and a giraffe.  

After the party, we headed down to Cortland and did plenty of trick or treating.  Tai said 'trick or treat' to everyone, and even remembered to say thank you, with prompting.  I think it helped that he had Blue by his side for most of the adventure, so he got to see how it's done by the big boys.  He totally idolizes Blue.  I can't wait to see how they grow up together.

When we got home, he handed out candy - which he got a kick out of, though he was scared by some kids in masks.  Then he and Tom went next door and crashed our neighbor's party.  It was 9pm, but Tai joined the other kids there, who were jumping off the couch into a big mosh pit of pillows. 

Even today he was still in a good mood.  We went to the playground with Blue and Lisa, then they came over for a little hang out/ Guitar Hero time.  We're going to have to play that in a group more often.  Tonight we went to dinner with Mom and Mcgee.  The restaurant was decorated for Halloween, still.  At one point, Tai was getting restless - he was tired and we were waiting for the check.  I suggested he count the spiders on the spider web - and he counted to ten, all by himself.  I will admit to being pretty proud.

Tai had quite the busy holiday!  He had two parties, a Mom's Group gathering and trick or treating.  And he was just recovering from his illness.  The boy is a rock-star.  He held up better than his Momma did.  Though he had a bit of a tough time with his costume sometimes (especially the hat), he was generally in a good mood and showed off how adorable he was. 

Tom's mom made Tai an incredibly soft mouse costume, complete with ears, feet and hands.  It was all quite a bit big (due to my inept measuring) except, ofcourse, for the head part which was too small.  Unfortunately the weather was crappy - humid and warm - so I think Tai was hot dressed up, too.  At least it didn't rain.

We started our day heading down to Cupertino to attend the Halloween Party at Tom's office.  I hadn't known that it was going to be a costume party until the day before, so I had to throw something together quickly.  Actually, I'm a bit proud of my 'costume'.  I darkened the bags under my eyes, mis-buttoned my shirt, messed up my hair and wore maternity pants - and a sign (pinned on with a diaper pin) that said 'Desperate Housewife will trade baby 4 freedom'.  Tom wore a suit and tie, wore a bluetooth earpiece, numbers and an ID saying 'Lehman Brothers'.  I suggested he get face paint and make it look like he'd been in an accident and go as a stock broker 'after the crash'.  As it was, he came in third in the group costume contest.  Tai and I shared ice cream (he had a couple of tiny tastes) and he did his adorable baby routine for Tom's co-workers.

After that, we went to the Mom's Group, where he was the only mouse.  There were three monkeys, a bear, a kangaroo, an elephant, a smurf (and smurfette!), and little red riding hood.  The babies were all in a mood, and taking pictures was not an easy feat.  It was cool to meet a couple of the Dads, too.  We had a short meeting, then headed down to the main street in our little neighborhood for 'trick or treating'.  Mostly we just checked out other kids in costumes.

Finally we headed to John and Kendra's for their Halloween party.  By that time Tai was tired of his costume, but he enjoyed crawling around on their floor and playing with their dog's toys.  He even managed to stay awake while we handed out candy.  He loved watching all the little kids.  It was a successful night.  I just wish I had trick-or-treated with him so I could eat his candy.

( Pictures! )