To Stella 2.2 - 2.3

Dear Stella,

Once again, forgive your mommy for having to combine two months into one. It won't be easy because what a two months they have been! The highlight surely was Halloween. I think it is safe to say that no 2 year old has ever been quite as obsessed with Halloween as you. We spent the entire month of October in the Halloween store and try as we might, we could rarely entice you to go to the playground or the museum or even out for cupcakes when the possibility of visiting the witches, skeletons, mummies and other bloody statues and masks was a possibility. The only thing that made you as happy was going to look at the decorations that the owners of a house on West End Avenue thankfully put up weeks before the actual holiday. We spent day and night in front of that house looking at the ghosts and goblins hanging out of their windows.



















Daddy and I were relieved when you told us that you wanted to be a policeman for Halloween as we were only too glad to put the princess thing off for at least a year. We expect that it is looming somewhere around a nearby corner but, for the time being, you have bigger things on your mind and this makes us very happy. I must admit that I was skeptical about your actually putting on a policeman costume given your refusal to wear anything other than a dress these days -- the longer the better. So imagine my delight when I saw a policewoman costume in the Halloween store. I showed it to you excitedly as we ripped open the bag to explore the contents. A lovely long blue dress with a badge embroidered on it. Perfect, I thought. However, as soon as you saw it, you shook your head vigorously and said, "no". You then pointed to a statue in the store wearing what can only be described as a long black graduation robe. You told me that you wanted to wear a long black dress and so it was decided -- you would be a witch. We found the perfect costume in a Halloween store near Grandma and Grandpa's house and from that day on, you were proud to tell anyone who asked that you were going to be a witch for Halloween.


















I was amazed by how much you seemed to grasp about the holiday. When asked what was going to happen on the actual day, you would answer, "I say 'trick or treat' and people give me candy." After about a month of wearing your costume all the time, on October 30, when you were invited to wear it to school, you refused to put it on. Thankfully, I already had the picture because I assumed you wouldn't ever be caught dead in it again. On Halloween, you did wear the long black dress although the hat never touched your head. You had a great time anyway. We went to a block party in our neighborhood where all the houses were decorated and there was ample trick or treating to be done. At one point, you were walking down the street holding a piece of pizza and a dog came along and took the pizza right out of your hand. It was so hilarious except that it really freaked you out. It did provide you with an amazing story to tell and re-tell and re-tell and many many people now know "dog ate my pizza".

One night we were out to dinner with a big group of people and you and Clara were getting restless and decided you wanted to run up and down the street. Grandma Helaine and Papa Paul went with you to supervise. You guys were running back and forth underneath a scaffolding and I looked over just in time to see you slam into one of the verticals and fall to the ground. A woman on the street screamed, Daddy jumped up and ran to you (we were eating outside), scooped you up and saw that your head was bleeding. I was ready to go to the hospital. You were screaming and crying. We cleaned you up and within minutes, you asked if you could go back and run again with Clara. I tell you this story because it is a great example of your remarkable resiliency. You recover from setbacks so quickly and you always want to get a do-over when your initial attempt at something is unsuccessful.

We have been having a great time at Poppyseed. At first you were super shy and didn't really want to participate much. When I would ask if you wanted to join the class in singing or dancing, your reply was invariably, "I'll just watch" but that is no longer the case. You love your teacher, Lily and have made a lot of new friends whom you talk about all the time. Each week we do a different art project. Daddy took you one time and you guys made a puppet.





When we got it home, we put it up on the refrigerator. I pointed to the googly eyes and asked what they were and you replied, "the eyes" then I pointed to the yellow button and asked what it was and you replied, "the nose" Naturally next I pointed to the yellow yarn below the nose and asked what that was (thinking the answer was quite obvious) and you replied, "the moustache!" as though it was, indeed, the most obvious thing in the world.


We had a fantastic time at Thanksgiving and your indiscriminate love for holidays helps you fit right in to our family. The night before, we braved the crowds and went to see the balloons being blown up for the parade.


















It was pretty hectic and I'm not sure how much you appreciated it but I was glad we did it. For one thing, it convinced me that there was no way in hell that we were going to go to the parade the next day. Too many people (as you would say). We were very happy watching it on TV instead. At Aunt Beth and Uncle Dov's house, you had such fun playing outside with your cousins, running around and playing ball. Daddy swears that, at one point, totally unprompted you shouted out, "I love the country." The thing about you is that you love everything. Whatever you are doing, whoever you are with. You are just the happiest kid who finds so much joy in everything.

I know that part of my job as your mother is to teach you things and it is generally really satisfying to do just that. I am, however, radically opposed to teaching you to say the letter S. I am so totally in love with the way you call yourself Tella and and sing "The itsy bitsy pider climbed up the water pout." On really cold days, you put your carf on. You love your Uncle Teven. I know it is only a matter of time before you are speaking like a big girl the way you are doing so many other things these days but, in the meantime, I am relishing this adorableness. You are my little tar.

I love you.
Love,
Mom