Days Nineteen, Twenty, Twenty-one and Twenty-two

              On day 19, we bought some foam pumpkins from Michael’s and got a set of eyes, noses, mouths and ears to decorate them with. I used this as a learning opportunity for Brendan and we pointed out eyes, mouths, ears, and noses. Then I had him separate them into categories by body part. I think it’s very important to be self-confident and be knowledgeable aids in self-confidence. There’s always something magical about knowing what you’re doing. It was much easier for Brendan to assemble and take apart the foam pumpkin than the Mr. Potato heads and we had a lot of fun!

This isn't one of our foam pumpkins, but this is the same set we used to decorate our foam pumpkins!

              On day 20, we made pumpkin pie milkshakes. They’re easy to make and they taste delicious! I think it’s very important to know how to cook, and starting early is the key. I realize that pumpkin pie milkshakes don’t need any cooking, but it’s a good starting point. Cooking memories are some of the fondest memories I have of my own childhood, so I hope my son will cherish our cooking memories as some of his most magical childhood memories. The recipe calls for 2 big scoops of canned pumpkin, 3 or 4 scoops of vanilla ice cream, ¼ tsp pumpkin pie spice, heavy cream and 1/4 cup of milk. We used a blender to blend all the ingredients until smooth and I put a cute Halloween bendy straw into Brendan’s.

                On day 21, Brendan and I went to the Halloween Bootique and tried on costumes. Brendan paraded around in front of the mirror in each one, it was really cute. I think self-identity is an important part of childhood, and trying on Halloween costumes really helped Brendan’s little personality shine through. He ended up choosing Winnie the Pooh and it looks really cute on him.

                On day 22, we made our own homemade Halloween candy bag. I bought a plain canvas bag, tempera paint in Halloween colors, googly eyes, fabric glue and fabric markers. Then I let Brendan dip his hands into different Halloween colors and make upside down hand prints all over the bag. Then we stuck googly eyes onto the palm of the hands with fabric glue to make cute Halloween ghosts. Then we used the fabric markers to write “Trick or treat!”, “Boo!”, and Brendan 2010 on the front. It turned out really cute.