Halloween and Hoodlums

While this was neither my first Halloween, nor Selah's, it felt like it was in some ways. Last year she was not mobile, and was content to be stuffed into what was essentially a bag with ears pretending to be a rabbit suit.

This year, she was a beautiful ballerina. With the help of much hairspray, I formed her hair into a cute little bun, tugged two pairs of tights on (for warmth) while she protested, and stuffed her rotund, though certainly swanlike belly into a little pink leotard. She was adorable! I finished the outfit off with a hand-me-down skirt from my neighbor Julia, in pink tulle with rose adornments.

At first Selah was demure, hanging back and coyly accepting candy if the giver pursued her. She said little, and smiled shyly. She hung back while her two companions ran ahead. Okay, okay, she just isn't very fast and they are! She tried shouting, "No! No!" since she couldn't keep up with them. Their enthusiasm was catching, however, and she started racing toward people's doors and pounding with all of her might (which isn't much). 3-year-old Micah was by far the best trick-or-treater of this first group, with 20-month-olds Selah and Carys struggling up and down the stairs, handing candy to people who opened their doors instead of vice versa, and occasionally attempting to storm the houses instead of waiting on the porch. Walking the four blocks or whatever was clearly tiring, and Selah fell and skinned her thumb on the way home.

Later, when Micah and Carys had gone home and the next round of small people had arrived (William, Ethan, Brianna, Sonya, and Willem, ages 1-5), Selah got to go out for her second round of candy-begging. She was already tired, so gradually morphed from the sweet ballerina of several hours earlier into a crazed, yelling one, who tried to stuff still-wrapped candy into her mouth and refused to let anyone help her down stairs. Everyone else, meanwhile, enthusiastically swarmed up and down the porch steps, snatching candy like there was no tomorrow.

We got home to an entirely empty candy bowl--some stupid punk stole all our candy from the porch (sigh--farewell caramels!) but hey, that's halloween in a nutshell:
angry, greedy, wound-up kids circling front doors like wolves while teenage thugs roam the neighborhood.

When Selah had officially stopped being a very good hostess, we
just threw her in the bath and let her unwind a little, then she was
much better! We gave some of her candy away to trick-or-treaters who had the bad luck to show up after the Great Candy Theft of '07.

Fun! I love holidays, even the stupid ones.

Ready or Not, Here He Comes

My friend Rachel is in labor, and once Selah wakes up from her nap, I will be headed over there! I am very excited, and feel like I am the father or something--I can't quite think clearly, and am agitated and happy. Okay, so I probably don't feel as intensely as a real father would, but you get the gist of what I am saying, right?

I feel a little like I didn't get to be present at Selah's birth. I mean sure, I was there, but mentally, I was nowhere. When you are in labor, your body just takes over, and you halfway kind of black out (mercifully, I guess). I was the only person who didn't get to see her crown, to see her come out, etc., and I'm the one who had to do all the work! I know what you are thinking--did you really want to see THAT anyway?

And yes; the answer is yes. Beforehand, I didn't think so, believing I would rather die than have someone videotape my arse. However now I halfway wish I had had a video made, that I would watch one time, all by myself, and then throw away! Because I know it wasn't pretty, but I also don't know what happened.

Don't worry Rachel, I am not bringing my video camera.

Pray for her, for Patrick, and for Baby Wilson!

Shirts for a Cause

A new friend who has recently joined our home community is a cancer survivor (Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma) who designs and sells t-shirts to raise money for his medical costs. Here's a good way to look good and help someone out!

http://shourisha.blogspot.com/2007/01/serious-monkey-business.html

Famous Writer!

I have scored my first paid writing gig--I am a columnist / blogger for EcoMetro, makers of the Chinook Book. If you'd like to visit my other blog, it is: http://www.ecometro.com/portland/categories.aspx?tag=Messays

In honor of this, and because I am currently watching Grey's Anatomy, which I am guilty of being addicted to despite its abhorrent overdramatic nature, I have decided to become a screenwriter as well.

Here's my first project: a Grey's Anatomy episode! Siamese twins will be admitted to the hospital, and all the interns will gather around their bed, while Bailey explains the dilemma. One of the twins, Sheila, has an extremely rare but agressive form of cancer. Though they are attached at the brains, Dr. Shepherd will attempt to separate them to save the healthy one, Jamie. In the middle of the surgery, things go downhill, and unfortunately Sheila dies. Jamie is very sad, feeling guilty because her deceased twin had been in love with Alex, and Jamie was sleeping with him while Sheila was sleeping.

Meanwhile, Christina and Meredith, on vacation in San Francisco, are shopping in Gymboree, the only store that carries clothes small enough for them. Suddenly, an earthquake hits, of an unprecedented 14.0 magnitude! Christina and Meredith are forced to perform open-heart surgery on a fellow shopper using only a hanger, a paper clip, a onesie, and a stick of chewing gum. They manage to save the shopper, much to the relief of her three small children.

It all wraps up with Meredith explaining that sometimes our lives are like an earthquake, ravaging us unexpectedly, and that sometimes we have to be separated from ourselves before we can see ourselves clearly.

So what do you think, those of you who have seen Grey's Anatomy? Pretty good, no?

Torn

I am starting to feel like I am well on my way to becoming an insane person.

How is it that I can love a tiny little warm body so much, and yet wish that she would, well, just go away? Not forever, mind you, just for long enough for me to do all of the many many things that I am trying to do, supposed to do, and maybe even, God forbid, things I WANT to do? Not that I can even really remember if there is anything I want to do. I am so busy being a wife, a mom, an employee, a homeowner and bill-payer, a ministry leader, a friend, and whatever else, that I am starting to really grieve ME. Oh yeah, I remember--I really want to write. I also really want some friggin' time to relax, so that I don't do things like randomly cry when I talk to people, or hysterically overreact when I feel frustrated by Jeremy or Selah.

But how am I supposed to do that when I am so tired, and when I have a toddler who often wails and cries and clings to my leg when I try to leave the room even to go to the bathroom, use the phone or the computer, or go put clothes on? How can I sit down and be creative when I can barely think enough to do my work over the angry whines (she has started to hate my computer)?

Anyway, I am done feeling sorry for myself. However, if you happen to know any babysitters who want to work for free, please let me know! :)

Funny Thing

This morning, I heard Selah playing in her crib (and it was even a fairly reasonable hour by this point). I got her up, and brought her to our bed to wake her daddy up. She jumped all over us for a few minutes, turned on my clock radio, then left, following Emily. We just lay there and listened, and it just made me crack up.

First, as she went after Emily, I listened with trepidation, waiting for Emily's distress cries, but they didn't come. I think she must have been asking Selah to let her out, but Selah just started trying to convince Emily that she should go to bed. Selah takes great joy in putting "babies" (stuffed animals and dollies), as well as ME, to bed, saying, "Ni ni. Ni ni." [For those who are not members of the Garwood family, "Ni ni," pronounced nigh-nigh, means good-night.] So she followed Emily around, who was meowing, saying "Ni ni!" and we listened. Emily did not listen.

Then, Selah discovered Jeremy's cereal and ice cream bowls from last night (yes, on the floor--don't judge us please. We are tired and tend to console ourselves with food at night, and then not clean up, apparently). She tried to bring them into the kitchen to put them on the counter, but, by the sound, didn't quite succeed. So then, she thoroughly rebuked Emily again: "No yum-yum! No! No yum-yum!" I believe this was loosely based on when Jeremy and I won't let Selah have food she wants (either something she has spied on our plates or something she has tried to pull off the counter or out of the pantry). So Emily was not allowed to have any of the imaginary food that was in Selah's bowls. I'm sure Emily was crushed, though she didn't throw a tantrum like the toddler in question tends to do.

Next, after a bit of loud running, Selah started saying, "Bye bye! Bye bye!" I couldn't see her, but would give my left arm if she didn't have her purse on her arm. She enjoys picking it up, slinging it over her shoulder, waving, and saying, "Bye bye!" to show that she is leaving. (Presumably whoever is the recipient of this show is being left with a babysitter; hopefully Selah would not leave us unattended.) Meanwhile, Emily was probably holding her breath, hoping that Selah truly would leave.

I turned to Jeremy and laughed, "It's like a whole little household is going on out there!" The funny thing is that Selah treated Emily as she feels treated: go to bed! No, you can't have any food! Bye! We are leaving you! At least she has an outlet, though--Emily clearly falls lower in the power hierarchy than Selah does.