Halloween

We went to Lucian's sister's house for trick or treat this year. Her neighborhood is filled with kids and several houses were quite decked out. It also occurs while it's dark out, which adds a layer of mystique. We started early and I even broke out the Queen Amidala costume my mom made me in college. Still looks great!

Kyle was a lego ninja. The Red Ninjago Kai. His pants made it super hard to walk, so I was overprotective mom the whole night worried he would trip if he ran to took any steps. At some point after dark, I just took off the costume pants and we all felt much better.

Claire had a blast running around with her cousin Lydia. Claire was a zombie cheerleader while Lydia  was a zombie bride.

The girls hit more houses with Nana and Blanca while Lucian and I hung back with Kyle. Those darn pants! I'll remember that next year when selecting a costume.

The next day we casually made it around our circle for more treats. Claire let me have fun with her make-up again and Kyle added nunchucks to his ensemble that day. 

Our First ER Trip

I made it 7 years as a parent before our first trip to the ER. My parents were up to help us for the week while I was shooting commercials. My mom called with the news that Kyle had fallen at the park after school and she was pretty sure he needed stitches. I made some phone calls to our providers to figure out where to go and determined the Children's ER was the place to be.

I will say, Kyle was quite the trooper. He didn't seem to be in too much pain, which made the whole thing easier. He got to wear this cool gown, watch tv and stay up way past his bedtime. Oh, and he got a popsicle for dinner. What could be better?

In all seriousness, I am really grateful to have this facility here. The doctors and nurses were amazing and he is healing like a champ. And here are a couple funny highlights I don't want to forget.

• After having some laughing gas, the PA, whose name was also Kyle, was examining the injury. As he poked around at Kyle's lip, my Kyle started to touch and pet his beard. We all had a good laugh.

• They told me when coming to after sedation, seeing double is very common. Kyle awoke and told me "Mommy, you have four eyes!" He also mentioned there were now two TVs.

He stayed home the next day (we didn't get home until 11pm) and rested. And dad even got him some new Rescue Bots while picking up his medication.

Apple Field Trip

I was able to chaperone a field trip with Kyle's class to the apple farm. I surprised him when he got off the bus at school that afternoon. He eagerly showed me around his classroom, his carpet spot and all the cool toys. I was assigned a group of boys and we boarded the bus to the farm.

The boys in my group were very sweet and eager to sit by me and hold my hand. Kyle had a little trouble sharing his mom, but figured it out in the end. 

One of the boys fell asleep on the bus riding back to school. I had to hold him so he didn't tip over into the aisle. I was a little unsure if it was ok to cuddle this boy I'd never met. But realized how fortunate I was to take the afternoon off and join my son. And if it were Kyle who needed help on the bus, I would sure hope someone else could be there for him.