La Comida

No, I still don't know Spanish. Well, un poco. But I'm not feeling very creative at the moment and Food just didn't seem like a 'cool' blog title...
The only thing Esperanza will eat lately are cooked wheat berries and oranges. Oh, and kefir. Sometimes I worry. It's seriously been a couple of weeks since she ate a good solid meal. Okay, I worry so much that I'm worried that she's not eating because I'm worried about it. I don't know anything about what I'm doing with her. I've eliminated a lot of things as far as 'what I shouldn't do again', but there's still a ton of options left to try. Will I ever get it right? Back to the food - I do know she should eat. I might not know exactly when, or how much, or what - but she should eat...right? I'm constantly trying to feed the kid, and she constantly refuses it or thows it. And then, as I sat on the toilet lid last night, with her lying down squirming on my lap facing the ceiling as I tried relentlessly to pry her mouth open in order to brush her 4 1/2 front teeth before bed, I caught a glimpse of a molar peeking through her gums. Ah, ha! Maybe that explains the food thing.

Can't see the molar here, but she's got a kefir mustach

Still, that doesn't mean she shouldn't eat - right? Any advice about what your toddler/baby would eat when they wouldn't eat anything else, whether they were teething or just being picky? I'm only guessing that it's the molar, but this girl fools me all the time.

More Amazing PolkaDot Photography

Just got the CD this morning with the pictures we got taken awhile back from Jenifer of Polkadot Photography. I posted a few not too long ago but wanted to share some more because I love them so much and hope everyone else does too.

Halloween Fun

On Halloween we took Esperanza trick-or-treating for the first time. We left our own little neighborhood to do it since the kids here are pretty scary even when it isn't Halloween - I really didn't want to cross paths with them on this night. And I had no desire to be around for them to come up to my door trick-or-treating. So we kept our lights out, hoping that would discourage kids from coming to our door and took off about 5-ish. We were thinking it would be safer to be out trick-or-treating with a little one before it actually got dark. Apparently we were the only ones that had that thought though. No one was out and we didn't want to be the only ones on the streets. So we popped in at my moms, had dinner with them and then went back out once it was dark. We found a nice neighborhood close to moms where there were tons of children and their parents trick-or-treating. It was funny to watch all the little kids run around dressed in their cute costumes overly excited about getting a bunch of candy. Even though Esperanza is pretty good on her feet these days, she still prefers to be in a stroller, held in arms or in a carrier when we go for walks. So Mando and I took turns holding her and walking up to door steps to get treats. She seemed to have fun and was also entertained by all the kids and people wandering the streets after dark. She had a tiny woven basket she could hold with the candy in it and had fun tossing pieces out for us to pick back up. She also kept trying to give candy to the people who were handing out candy. It was funny. We've managed fairly well so far with keeping her from discovering the taste of candy...but who knows how much longer that will last and I'm sure by next year she won't be trying to get rid of it. After about an hour and a half of door to door fun, we took our little Ladybug home and put her to bed. It was a perfect first trick-or-treating evening!

Convict stealing a kiss from the Scarecrow

After Esperanza was asleep, my mom came over so Mando and I could sneak out to a Halloween party for a couple of hours. My BFF Val's mom has a membership at the Dolphin Yacht Club on the Columbia River in Camas where they host the best parties several times a year. Unfortunately, Val and her husband Jameson went to an 80's themed Halloween party at a friends house instead of going to her moms party...so we weren't able to see them. But we knew most of the other people there and had a great time.

Bacon & Eggs (AKA - the hosts Shelly and Greg)Convict and Corrections Officer - looks like they are secretly making a dealLove these two!!! Imagene and John Watts - Val's GrandparentsEarlier in the week we carved pumpkins - Mando carved out a scary scarecrow in his pumpkin and I carved a wicked witch in my pumpkin. Then we made a cute one for Esperanza with 4 1/2 teeth just like her.