Monday Quick Takes

• Mike painted the crib this weekend making it all seem more real. I've done little to prepare for the birth of this child and I'm finally thinking I should start gathering labor/after supplies and maybe start preparing for the impending arrival. I'm not really sure how one can be as unprepared mentally for a very planned third child as I am.
  
• To take the edge off the SuperDaddy/Husband label, Mike also mentioned this weekend that we should get a baby name book from the library. This after leaving up the name I really want on the whiteboard for about 6 weeks and letting me think that we had arrived at a name.
  
• We made it through another October 31 when our friends the Cooks saved the day. I had thought of calling them to see what they were doing but Mike was sure they were trick-or-treater types. Then they called to see if they could just drop something off to us real quick. We convinced them to stay for pizza and all of our kids started playing together and completely forgot it was Halloween. YAY!
  
• Not one trick-or-treater came to the door. Thank goodness for a small package of Trader Joe's mini-chocolate bars. We had candy left from last year until Kyri found it last month. But we can rid ourselves of 28 mini-chocolate bars pretty quickly.
  
• I finished knitting a baby blanket that I started when pregnant with Kyri. She and I went and picked out new yarn for the new baby and I started that one. If I sit and watch enough football this season, I'll have it done before the new baby arrives. (Fingers crossed.)
• Kyri lavished herself in makeup yesterday. She also refuses to let us help her put anything on and so getting ready to go out the door means 20 minutes of hearing her cry in frustration over putting her socks and shoes on but not letting us help. "Me do it." Her independent streak is beyond what is normal and healthy. She also dresses herself in her choices. I'm not worried about her tastes. She matches quite well. But neither child has adjusted to the reality that it is 40 degrees outside in the mornings and the house is cooler now too. They are content to run around in summer clothes.
  
• Kyri is apparently on the path to word recognition and teaching herself to read. She blew me away a few weeks ago at a restaurant when she pointed to "Macaroni and cheese" on the kid's menu and said that is what she wanted. It was the 8th choice on the menu. She has done similar things since. And over the weekend, she spotted a pink envelope up high and climbed up to it and read her name and opened her first birthday card. And yes, this is the week of Kyri! My baby girl turns 3 and she is well aware of it and takes every opportunity to make us aware.