Trick or Treat

We finally had trick-or-treating today, and we were able to relive our youth through Sophia. I think Joe was most excited to take Sophia up to the doors and get treats. She wore her pumpkin outfit (thanks to the Hafners :). She loved it and said "apple" when she put it on. She thinks everything is either an apple or a ball these days.

Newest Sophia antics - coloring big loopy circles in her Winnie the Pooh coloring book and saying "apple" or "ball," pulling her little toddler chair up the piano and banging away, being fascinated with zippers and undressing herself, choosing her own clothes, and my personal favorite - pooping in the bathtub. Even though it's gross, I have to include this here. No one told me that I would experience such joy as a parent and such disgust!! Sophia has now left a little surprise in the bathtub for me 4 times! I could handle once or twice, but four?? Last night she did it. I heard her in there saying, "No, no." She was standing in the opposite corner from her little deposit. I drained the tub, cleaned it out, ran fresh water, and put her back in. Five minutes later... I hear, "No, no." There she is, looking concerned, inching away from her second deposit to the opposite corner of the tub. "I love you," I say, through clenched teeth. What did I do? I drained the tub, cleaned it out, ran fresh water, and put her back in. The joys of parenthood!

I don't know if she understood much of the trick-or-treating today, but she had fun chasing her friends around. Well, she tries to chase them anyway. She is the youngest of the bunch and can't really run yet, so it puts her at a bit of a disadvantage. Her buddy, Layla, is two and a half. (She coincidentally wears the same size as Sophia. No wait, Sophia wears a bigger diaper. It's that Buddha belly.) Whenever we see her, Layla immediately pinches Sophia's cheeks. Then, she grabs Sophia's hand and drags her around. I got a great picture of them holding hands tonight. Pretty cute the way they give each other kisses, too.

Our week of vacation is over. Was it a vacation? We spent two and a half days working and planning at the school. It took away from our break, but I am sure I will appreciate it later. There's so much still to be done! Joe went to a Halloween party at a friend's apartment across the street tonight. (I went last week.) I'll have to ask him what interesting costumes there were.

Tomorrow, we'll go the big, and supposedly fabulous, brunch at the Hyatt hotel. A mother at our school got some teachers half-price tickets, so we lucked out. I hope it's half as good as they say it is.

Almay is just as crowded as ever and just as polluted as ever. The air has been getting worse as it gets colder. Almost everyday the weather forecast online says "smoke." Seriously, that's not a weather condition. I've been trying to beat a slight cold, but it just won't go away. Hmm...wonder if that thick Almaty air has anything to do with it. Not to mention our apartment is so dry, I wake up in the morning feeling like beef jerky. There's not an ounce of moisture in the air.

They have finally opened up the new underpass/road near our house. I told Joe it would open this week, and he so dubiously said, "No way, four more months." It's bad, but it's not as slow as Egypt could be. It opened! Our time to school is greatly diminished. No more chicken fighting our way through an alley on the way to school. However, Almaty in its great wisdom has a serious problem with left turn signals. A serious problem meaning, there are none. Now they have a new road, but if you have to turn left, you're screwed. You have to wait until the light turns red and then try to speed through the intersection before you get hit by the oncoming traffic which of course goes before their light turns green. Great system. Just great. Regardless, we are still getting there faster. Yippee!

It seems there was some strange happening to report, but for the life of me, I can't think of it. I will write it down when I remember!