To Stella, Thirty Nine Months Old
This month's letter need be about basically only one thing -- Halloween. You look forward to it for months planning what you are going to wear and then on the actual day, well, there are no words to describe. This year was no exception. For weeks you were committed to being a blue butterfly. We found all the elements of the costume online and I showed them to you a couple times to confirm that that was absolutely definitely positively without a doubt what you wanted to be. But I took it even a step further and DID NOT ORDER THE COSTUME waiting waiting waiting for the last minute so you had ample time to change your mind. And lo and behold, about ten days before Halloween, you and Ranny were in a toy store where you found a ballerina witch costume which you tried on and fell in love with. Fell so in love, in fact, that you had a crazy temper tantrum in the store when it was time to come home and were, according to Ranny, lying on the floor of the store refusing to take the costume off. Daddy and I were very upset when the minutes past -- 6:05, 6:10, 6:15, 6:20 and still you weren't home. We finally called to find out where you guys were and discovered that Ranny was kind of freaking out in the store unsure of how to get you out of there. Eventually she did but no one could temper your love for the ballerina witch costume. Ever the internet sleuth, I went online and found the very same costume for 1/3 the price. You confirmed that yes, the polyester, tulle and taffetta costume I had found was indeed the Halloween garb of your dreams and, much to my chagrin, I placed the order. (I'm not going to lie -- I was into the seven times more expensive beautiful blue butterfly costume but I know that Halloween is no longer about me so I put my desires on hold in order to indulge your cheaper and tackier ones.) Several days later the costume arrived to much joy and fanfare (from you). You tried it on. Your prayers had been answered. It was just as you remembered it. Days passed. You continued to tell everyone who asked that you were going to be a ballerina witch for Halloween. And then, with less than a week before the big day, you made a confession. "Mommy," you said sheepishly, "I can't wear the ballerina witch costume. It's itchy." What could I possibly say? You clearly had a legitimate reason for having soured on the ballerina witch so we couldn't take the hard line approach -- you buy it, you wear it. And so you decided that you wanted to be a butterfly, after all, although a pink one rather than a blue one. So I went back online, ordered the ridiculously expensive pink butterfly costume and Daddy convinced me to splurge for overnight delivery just in case there was yet another problem. We take Halloween seriously in our house.
Fast forward a couple days. I met you at Grandma and Grandpa's house where you got dressed in your costume which included a dark pink lipstick I bought especially for you. We went to the parade at Washington Square Park. The weather was beautiful -- bearing no resemblance to the cold Halloween's I recall from my childhood. It was so warm that a pink butterfly could walk down the street in a short sleeve leotard and not be the slightest bit uncomfortable. You were so adorable and I wasn't the only one who thought so. We overheard a woman comment that you were the cutest thing she'd seen all day. You weren't that into the parade so we went ahead to the street fair at the parade's end where you didn't want to go on the merry-go-round or any of the rides but were very happy to watch. You were fascinated by all the other costumes and excited to be outside in a costume yourself. We stopped by a party at the Bowery Bar that I had helped to organize (via Trip's house where we went briefly so you could show him your costume) but after just a couple minutes you were ready to leave and go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to find your trick or treat partner, Clara. When we got back to the apartment, Clara was there in her Belle costume and we all headed out to collect candy. You guys had so much fun ringing doorbells and getting treats to put in your trick or treating bag. At one point, after you rang a bell, a dog started barking in the apartment inside and you and Clara simultaneously backed up several steps. But no one got bitten or hurt at all and a great time was had by all. After an hour or so of candy collecting, it was time to go to Blue Ribbon for Steven's birthday celebration. Ginny came along and gave you a gigantic box of candy from Dylan's Candy Bar. Just what you needed! More candy! You were a happy little girl. At Blue Ribbon you were very friendly to lots of strangers and we had so much fun. But I think the best part of all (or second best after CANDY!) was walking home from the restaurant. It was late -- way past your bedtime -- but you were wide awake and wanted me to tell you what every person's costume was. And we were downtown so some of them were pretty outrageous. This was not your average family Halloween celebration. But it was really splendid and you talked about it for days afterwards. Amazingly, you never asked for your candy after Halloween night so I got to eat lots of it and then just got rid of it. I guess collecting it really is better than eating it.
The only downside to the holiday was that Daddy was 6762 (thank you, Internet) miles away in Japan. While he was gone, we did plenty of skyping so he even had virtual dinner with us a few times with you hugging the computer screen and talking to him excitedly. While he was gone we went to open play at NY Kids Club where you told the coach, "Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me! My daddy's in heaven!" She looked at me stunned, unsure how to respond. I just said, "I think you mean Japan, Stella." I guess you were getting Jesus' daddy confused with your own which, come to think of it, your daddy does too sometimes. Maybe it is genetic. In case you are wondering about the extent of your religious education heretofore, you are familiar with Jesus's Daddy because your passion for "Godspell" has not abated even though the production was tragically cancelled.
Grandma and Grandpa have introduced you to dozens of movie musicals and one of our favorite games is to sing a few lines from a song and have you identify what movie it is from. We usually get about three words deep before you shout "Carousel!" "Oklahoma!" "LIttle Shop of Horrors!", "Singin' in the Rain!", "Annie Get Your Gun!", "Sound of Music!", "Cats!", "Shrek!", "South Pacific!", "Hair!", and so on and so on and so on.
We also had a great Thanksgiving celebration this year. You love spending time with family and couldn't wait to get to Beth and Dov's house -- especially once you learned that we were taking a train so you wouldn't have to go in the car seat. You really love the country and were so happy to be outside with Clara and Owen running around playing football. You were a little disappointed not to be able to go swimming, however.
You've fully adjusted to school and seem to even look forward to going sometimes. As long as we find Tina before we leave you are okay. I'm really proud of you and feel so privileged to be your mommy. You were great company when Daddy was away and I'm just so happy to know you.
I love you lots.
Love,
Mommy
Fast forward a couple days. I met you at Grandma and Grandpa's house where you got dressed in your costume which included a dark pink lipstick I bought especially for you. We went to the parade at Washington Square Park. The weather was beautiful -- bearing no resemblance to the cold Halloween's I recall from my childhood. It was so warm that a pink butterfly could walk down the street in a short sleeve leotard and not be the slightest bit uncomfortable. You were so adorable and I wasn't the only one who thought so. We overheard a woman comment that you were the cutest thing she'd seen all day. You weren't that into the parade so we went ahead to the street fair at the parade's end where you didn't want to go on the merry-go-round or any of the rides but were very happy to watch. You were fascinated by all the other costumes and excited to be outside in a costume yourself. We stopped by a party at the Bowery Bar that I had helped to organize (via Trip's house where we went briefly so you could show him your costume) but after just a couple minutes you were ready to leave and go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house to find your trick or treat partner, Clara. When we got back to the apartment, Clara was there in her Belle costume and we all headed out to collect candy. You guys had so much fun ringing doorbells and getting treats to put in your trick or treating bag. At one point, after you rang a bell, a dog started barking in the apartment inside and you and Clara simultaneously backed up several steps. But no one got bitten or hurt at all and a great time was had by all. After an hour or so of candy collecting, it was time to go to Blue Ribbon for Steven's birthday celebration. Ginny came along and gave you a gigantic box of candy from Dylan's Candy Bar. Just what you needed! More candy! You were a happy little girl. At Blue Ribbon you were very friendly to lots of strangers and we had so much fun. But I think the best part of all (or second best after CANDY!) was walking home from the restaurant. It was late -- way past your bedtime -- but you were wide awake and wanted me to tell you what every person's costume was. And we were downtown so some of them were pretty outrageous. This was not your average family Halloween celebration. But it was really splendid and you talked about it for days afterwards. Amazingly, you never asked for your candy after Halloween night so I got to eat lots of it and then just got rid of it. I guess collecting it really is better than eating it.
The only downside to the holiday was that Daddy was 6762 (thank you, Internet) miles away in Japan. While he was gone, we did plenty of skyping so he even had virtual dinner with us a few times with you hugging the computer screen and talking to him excitedly. While he was gone we went to open play at NY Kids Club where you told the coach, "Excuse me! Excuse me! Excuse me! My daddy's in heaven!" She looked at me stunned, unsure how to respond. I just said, "I think you mean Japan, Stella." I guess you were getting Jesus' daddy confused with your own which, come to think of it, your daddy does too sometimes. Maybe it is genetic. In case you are wondering about the extent of your religious education heretofore, you are familiar with Jesus's Daddy because your passion for "Godspell" has not abated even though the production was tragically cancelled.
Grandma and Grandpa have introduced you to dozens of movie musicals and one of our favorite games is to sing a few lines from a song and have you identify what movie it is from. We usually get about three words deep before you shout "Carousel!" "Oklahoma!" "LIttle Shop of Horrors!", "Singin' in the Rain!", "Annie Get Your Gun!", "Sound of Music!", "Cats!", "Shrek!", "South Pacific!", "Hair!", and so on and so on and so on.
We also had a great Thanksgiving celebration this year. You love spending time with family and couldn't wait to get to Beth and Dov's house -- especially once you learned that we were taking a train so you wouldn't have to go in the car seat. You really love the country and were so happy to be outside with Clara and Owen running around playing football. You were a little disappointed not to be able to go swimming, however.
You've fully adjusted to school and seem to even look forward to going sometimes. As long as we find Tina before we leave you are okay. I'm really proud of you and feel so privileged to be your mommy. You were great company when Daddy was away and I'm just so happy to know you.
I love you lots.
Love,
Mommy
posted by Carolyn at 11/29/2008 12:51:00 PM
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