Jackpot!

We finally found a food she likes! It turns out Linda is not a big fan of the mushy stuff--she'd rather gum her food to oblivion by gnawing on it. So we started with some zwieback toast left at our house by an older baby, and after a couple episodes with that, she's finally agreed (with vigor) to the more standard mushy cereal. She begs for pancakes, crackers, beans, but I'm still wary of her choking. Now if I can just get Isaac to stop offering her everything he's eating.

Our cowgirl.

He looks so sweet...

...but put him in bed 20 minutes too late, and the next day he's a monster. Self-proclaimed.

Look what I found in the corner, Mom! Yummy!

A Conversation With Mary, Just Before Her Bedtime, When We Were Snuggling Up With a Story

Mom : "You seem tired. Did you have a hard day?"
Mary: "No."
Mom: "Did you have a good day?"
Mary: "Yes."
Mom: "Did you have a fun day?"
Mary: "Yes!"
Mom: "Do you love school?"
Mary: "Yeah."
pause
"I love home, too."

Well, I'm here...

I've officially entered the blogosphere. As pretentious as this can be, I venture into this brave new world primarily for the sake of the Grandmas, because as I am painfully aware, I am terrible at keeping the extended family up-to-date on the grandchildren. So here is where you can now come (dare I commit myself?) a couple times a month to read all the cute sayings, see the adorable faces, and hear the sarcastic commentary that comprises the life of the Chicago Stratfords.

So how are we doing, way out here in the Midwest? After a Danish Halloween last year (which means just about nothing), the kids were incredibly excited this year for "Halloween Night." Originally we were all going as the Incredibles, even little Linda Grace as Jack-Jack, but Mary got fixated on being a witch, and then we couldn't find an easy red suit for Ed, so we gave it up.

I made Mary's witch costume, and I'm very proud of myself. It's the first time I've sewn anything that someone could actually wear! Of course it can't compare to Clara's amazing princess dress (way to go, Amy!!), and you can't look too carefully at it, but that's why it's good to practice on costumes, right? Mary even won a prize at the ward Halloween party for the best witch costume.

I'm sure you'll notice Mary's hair hanging in her eyes. She doesn't want it cut, because she wants it long like Mom's. So we put two clips in it every day before school and if we're lucky, one of them makes it home. I need to buy some big, heavy-duty ones and glue them to her head. Despite being incredibly grown-up and conversational (so she thinks), she still comes home every day with dirt, glue, chalk, and blood all over her clothes. Her best friend is her neighbor Eli, and I think she'll always be a little more comfortable on the tomboy side of the line.

Isaac said he wanted to be a ghost, but we didn't have an old white sheet to cut up, and I knew he wouldn't stand for anything over his face anyway. So we got him to wear his Incredible pajamas, ordered from the Disney Store clearance for $4 before Mary jumped ship, and he loved being Dash. You would think eating so much candy would have given him a turbo boost, but we had such a busy day he was petering out by 5:00.

Isaac's getting taller by the minute. He's been waking up at night with cramps in his legs and this morning he told me he couldn't walk anymore because his knees hurt. He asks to go to school (he has sports class on Mondays and a co-op "preschool" on Fridays) every day, or begs to go to a friend's house. And now and then he asks to go back to Farum, where the trains drive under the street. Copenhagen, Farum... whichever. When I tell him it's too far from here, he says "Well, we can drive!" And when I remind him about the big ocean in the way, he says "Then our car can turn into an airplane!" I really can't imagine what it is he misses about Denmark....

Linda Grace didn't much care for her spider costume because she can't roll over in it. She has all of a sudden become mobile and doesn't like anything getting in her way, particularly over her face. But I just loved how when she moved her arms it moved the little spider legs, too. When I can manage to take a good video of her, I will post it on here. She has the cutest and most ready smile, and the biggest, deepest blue eyes. They accent her round cheeks perfectly.

I'm trying to make my own baby food this time around, and Linda tried solids for the first time on Saturday. However, I didn't cook the ground oatmeal enough and it made her really sick. Boy do I feel dumb and mean. So I think she's ready, but I'm now a little gun-shy. If she wakes up happy from this morning's nap, I think I'm going to try bananas. It's hard to screw up bananas.

Halloween is a very different experience as a mom, mostly just tiring. Isaac had a party in the morning at his parks and rec class, Mary had a parade at school in the afternoon, then we all (sans working-hard Dad) went to the U of C dorms with a group from Mary's school to trick or treat in the late afternoon. Then it was dinner time, a half-hour of trick-or-treating and bedtime. I hope the day lived up to all their expectations. They seemed pretty happy at bedtime.

My favorite quotes of the day:
Mary: "That's a ghoul that is ghoulier than most. " (from a Janeen Brady song)
Isaac: "This bag is getting heavier and heavier!!!!"
Linda Grace: "Aaaaaaaahhhhhh!"