Clara made a most excellent observation tonight, "hey, people who use sign language can talk with their mouths full!"

Leo's top explanations for getting out of bed after lights out:
1) "my blankets are all messed up"
2) "you need to 'nip' (snip) my toe(nail)"
3) "I had a bad dream..."
4) "I hear a weird noise, a really weird noise"

Lately, if he is not completely and utterly exhausted at bed time, Leo wanders out of his room at least one time per night, and employs one of the above excuses. If he were not so darned cute and convincing I'd likely become annoyed with this game but the facial expression and gestures Leo uses to emphasize the point are just too far over the top to respond with anything other than a hidden smirk and mock concern. After 8pm this guy turns into an actor I tell ya!

Halloween started in our house at 7:20am. That is when Clara woke up with shining eyes saying "its Mecredi, its Halloween!" She quickly wolfed down her breakfast and brushed her teeth so that she could get to the step she's been waiting for since Saturday morning when she first saw her Cinderella gown all stitched together. Making the gown is a whole other story - it involved two visits from Auntie Dorothy and many hours of our working together. I did learn a lot about dress making but I'm still not sure I'm up for tackling another project of this scope for awhile.

Cinderella/Cendrillion

Anyway... back to Clara's thrilled expression as she put the dress on. She swished, and twirled, and posed like a princess right up to the moment Papa pulled her out the front door to get her to the all-day Halloween party at school. It sounds like the party was a huge success, all I know for sure is that a lot of candy was consumed and that Clara did Halloween themed activities in each classroom over the course of the day.

Doin' a twirl

Once the princess was gone, Leo and I got ready for his last Petite Parleurs Class which was also to be in costume. Unfortunately, we discovered the day before that Leo absolutely could NOT abide by the feeling of a polyester blouse against his delicate skin. You see, he was Captain Hook in a gorgeous white puffy sleeved shirt under burgundy velour vest and pants but that only lasted about 30 seconds at the Carrefour Halloween Party. So, on the day of Halloween, in hopes of Leo actually wearing his costume we selected a very comfortable gold coloured, soft, long sleeved shirt. Thankfully this was an acceptable substitution and although he only wore his pirate hat when requested he did stay in costume all morning and then again all afternoon at the Halte Garderie. By being at Les Ateliers d'Education Populaire all day Leo managed to go trick-or-treating around the building twice; once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Not bad for a half dressed pirate.

Back home after a fun night on the Plateau

After a quick dinner of chicken's fingers dipped in blood we met Lea, Naomi, Yan, and Eva for some trick or treating. The weather was perfect, the kids were able to layer under their costumes and a lovely time ringing bells and watching their bags get fuller and fuller! There were a few scary costumes answering doors. Lea bolted at the sight of one guy but Clara's strategy was to stand her ground and stare him down while stealing glances at us adults to ensure this was indeed just a costume and not something she should be running away from. Leo's party trick during the evening was dropping his pants... really they were at his ankles at least 3 times during the evening. It was not his fault though. The velour pirate pants were a little too loose in the waist so when Leo got a good trot going or was climbing stairs they'd work their way down and eventually end up at his feet. He took it in stride announced, "Not again!!" every time!!