We were a little late this year. We didn’t go to the pumpkin patch until last Sunday, the 26th. That’s strange for us. I usually make sure to drag everyone over there the first or second weekend of October. But, it was nice…and crowded. Squid had fun. This year, he actually knew what the heck we were doing. He screamed “pumpkin patch!” the whole way there. It was darn cute. My mom came with us, but no pictures of her since she was the photographer. Thanks, Mom. Hope you all enjoy!

A friend of mine told me that when her sister was pregnant, she would make her daughter start waiting for things in preparation for the day the baby would be born. I thought that was a really good idea. When our baby comes, I’m not going to be able to jump right up and get Squid whatever he wants right away. But putting it into practice is harder than it sounds.

This morning Squid woke up wanting pancakes, as usual. When I didn’t get out of bed and start making them immediately, he started crying. Then the crying got louder. I threatened him with a time-out and he basically started hiccup crying - you know, where he can’t catch his breath ‘cuz he’s crying so hard. I was so pissed. Then Jason got mad and we were both resisting getting the pancakes for him until he stopped crying. We stayed in bed with Squid lying on us getting more and more out of control. Not a good sign. We’ve been spoiling him and now he’s freaked out that we won’t just hop up and serve him.

Finally, his cries came to a stop and I told him, “Say ‘please, Mommy, can I have pancakes.’”

He looked at me and said, “Say please Mommy pancakes.”

Jason and I both started laughing. It sucked going through all that drama this morning, but maybe it was a good first step.

Ah, remember when I had three pair of really expensive, nice eyeglasses that didn’t have scratches all over them? I do.

Now I have really expensive, nice, scratched, stretched out, crooked glasses. Guess why.

I admit that it is my fault. Jason warned me many, many times to put them up high where Squid couldn’t reach. But he looks so cute when he puts them on upside down on his little nose and walks around, saying, “Mommy gasses.”

Yeah, Squido, Mommy gasses. That’s right.

The thing is, though, all three pair of my frames were like $500 each. So, that’s a bummer.

My Christmas present to myself might be to get a pair that I don’t let Squid touch.

Jason won’t believe me, but oh well. I think my insurance allows me to get a pair this year and I haven’t been getting frames for the past two years or so since I’ve been ordering contacts instead. A cool new pair of frames would be nice. Plus, I don’t have to get the super-expensive, designer ones this time. I’ll be a smart shopper and not insist on having the most beautiful, shiny, cool glasses. Oh, wow, I’m so not convincing.

Why is that? Squido had an appointment last week and I was told that he is underweight and under the norm for height. WTF? My boy is perfect! So he’s a little on the small side. I’m so mad at doctors that make you worry for no reason. It’s unnecessary. Those charts are B.S. Every child grows at his own pace. It’s not like I don’t feed him, so whatever. My son is 2 1/2. He’s not supposed to be huge! And besides, mentally, he’s at a way higher level. He speaks like he’s a four year old, can count to one to ten in English and Spanish, say his ABC’s, identify every animal at the zoo and has memorized many of his books. He practically reads them to me now. What kills me is that Squid’s pediatrician isn’t even a parent! You gotta love that. These people look at you like you’re doing something wrong when they don’t even know what it’s like to raise a child. It’s all just garbage that comes out of a book.

It reminds me of the first pediatrician we had when Squid was a newborn. He would tell me exactly how I should be breastfeeding - “one breast for 5 minutes, then switch to the next…” Yeah, right. You try moving a baby from one breast to the next mid-meal. Squid hated that. It totally messed him up and then he’d just cry. Plus it left me leaking from both boobs! Like I’m gonna take breastfeeding advice from a man!

I’m seriously considering changing doctors again. Originally I wanted a male for Squid’s pediatrician since Squido is male. But I really would much rather have a woman (a woman who has kids!) to be guiding us. Besides, when our little girl is born, I will definitely want a woman as her doctor, and I don’t want to have to go to two different pediatricians. Does anyone else have these problems?

It seems very odd to me that my stepson doesn’t like Halloween. When I was his age, I couldn’t sleep ‘cuz I was so excited for Halloween to come. Costumes were carefully thought out and hours and hours were spent trick-or-treating. My stepson, however, would prefer Halloween didn’t exist at all. He’s not even that into trick-or-treating! Whu?!?! He’s scared of the Halloween Costume Stores that suddenly start popping up around the city, too, which I guess is understandable. There are some pretty disgusting things in there. I just can’t fully wrap my head around it, though. The boy is definitely not from my gene pool! I’m exactly the opposite. I love being scared and love dressing up, and definitely love getting free candy…even now.

Next to Christmas, Halloween is definitely one of my top favorite holidays. Speaking of Christmas, you know there are also some excellent Christmas Costumes showing up this time of year. If you’re planning on dressing up like Santa come December 25th, it actually might be a good idea to get your costume a few months early. Definitely don’t wait until Christmas Eve or you’ll be dressing up like the Holiday Armadillo or whatever Ross was on the that episode of Friends. You remember it.