Monaloca

While heading to the park on a mellow Thanksgiving day, Joey and I asked the kids what they were thankful for. Kai told us: “I’m thankful for the earth for giving us life, and for two families.” Melina thought for a minute and said “I’m thankful for Halloween.” When we asked if there was anything else she added, “Thanksgiving. And I’m thankful for turkey.” Joey and I were both thankful for a low-key, low-stress holiday with all three kids at my parents’ house.

Grandma and Grandpa may not have seen having three kids in the house as low-stress, but they’d probably agree that it was great to spend three full days of unscheduled time together. On Friday we did make it to Happy Hollow park and zoo, where Kai and Melina had a blast on all the rides. Melina took her first whirl on a roller coaster and loved it. She was lucky enough to choose where she wanted to sit – and headed straight to the front car with a huge grin on her face that only grew during the course of the ride.

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Nalani has two big new moves this month. She started sitting up without safety bumpers (i.e., pillows) while in Hawaii. On our first trip to the beach she sat for a 30+ minute stretch without toppling in one direction or another. Even through a beach mat, her butt must have settled into the sand in a way that made her super stable. Ever since then I was able to set her down anywhere…. and still can, but perhaps not for long.

Without taking more than a week to relish her coveted new skill, Nalani started launching herself from sitting to an awkward all-fours (really, two arms, one foot, and one leg still pinned behind her) in preparation for crawling. She’s found she can reach otherwise unreachable toys (or in this morning’s case, the blunt scissors her sister left on the rug) this way, and she happily stays like this for quite awhile.

Eventually she’ll push herself back up to sitting or plop on her belly. She especially loves doing all this on the big quilt we set up for her in our new family room, where she also gets a kick out of pulling her own toys out of a basket. Amazingly, she’ll entertain herself for up to an hour.

I hope I won’t jinx it by writing it here, but Nalani has been a rockstar sleeper since a few days after our return from vacation. She mostly wakes just once each night, nurses, and goes back down til morn. She must really like the peace and quiet of her new room (and our new room, where she inevitably spends the latter half of the night or at least the early morn). On the flip side, she’s a horrible napper and only sleeps for more than a 20 minute stretch when in continual motion. This means a long stroller walk, long car ride, or hanging out in the Ergo on Joey or me. It’s not ideal, but since she’s been doing so well at night we’ll happily take it!

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We got back from Hawaii a little over a week ago and have loads of photos to share (take a look!). Seeing them now, they’re a little heavy with Nalani, but it was her first visit so who can blame us? She was certainly the easiest kid to travel with, too, and was quite content to sit for long stints on the beach, where the sand made a little mold around her butt preventing her from toppling over even once.

The rest of us had a grand time, too. Kai loved the water, and Melina loved rainbow shave ice and lots of Grandma time. She also claimed to like Samson the dog, but grew shy every time he was around. Neither kid enjoyed sharing a bed. They share a room fine at home but with bunk beds. One double bed proved to be a whole different experience.

Joey and I enjoyed visiting with his family, having impromptu potlucks, and especially loved seeing his sister Linda for the first time since our wedding. We wish we lived closer to everyone, or were able to visit more frequently. We’re already envisioning our next visit – before Nalani turns two and costs full plane fare!

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We returned from our Hawaiian vacation just in time to finish up Halloween costumes and head out on the annual candy parade. Kai joined us for an hour on Halloween eve, so we could trick-or-treat at a few houses on our new block. It was still early so we only caught a few people at home, but met a couple families, including one with a boy exactly Kai’s age.

Joey, the girls, and I then headed to our now-annual playgroup Halloween potluck at the Beeler’s. I’m not sure how much “real” food Melina ate, but she had a blast running from house to house with her friends. She and Emma kept saying “Let’s go to THIS house next!” after each candy score – they must have felt so empowered! And with good reason.

A bunch of the girls also spent a good 40 minutes pooling their candy then re-divvying, over and over.

Tonight the Great Pumpkin will visit our house to take all but three chosen pieces of candy for each kid, and will leave a special toy in the candy’s place. Thanks to Meghan for that grand idea.

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