Fragments of life with the wee ones

1) Despite my post at the time, Halloween did, in fact, happen. (It had better damned well have happened, or the yard apes would have had my skull on a pike.) Abbey was dressed adorably in a ballerina kitten costume, proof positive that you can get anything through mail order. Nik, equally adorable, went as a lion, at least until the outfit got too hot for him and he ditched it, leaving us parents to explain to the curious that he was dressed as a skinned lion.

2) Aside from the usual Bagful o' Sugar extortion run, both kids won prizes for their costumes at the annual Halloween Parade at the high school. This is a good thing. Both of them losing? That'd have been a bad thing. One of them winning, and the other not? That'd have been a very, very, very bad thing.

3) When you become a parent, your definition of the word "luxury" shifts pretty dramatically. This morning, both children slept until 8 a.m. *contented sigh*

4) So we were all hanging out in the living room, and all of a sudden I hear Abbey singing under her breath: "He put the lime in the coconut and drank it all up..." Pardon mon Franglais, but who in the hell is my daughter learning Harry Nilsson songs from?

5) I often try to tell non-parents about the fringe benefits of parenthood, and I invariably fail. But this, I think, sums it up pretty nicely:

Abbey: Daddy, can you make me a perfect paper swan?
Me: Well, I don't know about perfect. I'm not a perfect person.
Abbey: [laughs] Yes, you are.

Ohhhh... *hugs self* I needed that.

On picking up the song cues

One problem with being a parent of young children is that every now and then the kids will set you up perfectly, but don't understand the joke they've set up:

Abbey: [at McDonald's] I see a little cup of ketchup over there...
Me: [sings] Scaramouche! Scaramouche! Will you do the fandango?
Abbey: [deeply confused look]

*sigh* She'll learn. Someday.