Halloween 2006

Erika would not wear her cat costume. At least she agreed to have whiskers painted on. Here she is getting the hang of sparkley things which are used in holiday art during toddler group.

She found the mock store at toddler group and was immediately drawn to the cash register. Continuing from the last blog post, she really enjoys manupulating money.

Halloween was a bit tiresome for little cupcake. Here she is mellowing out with mommy. They are watching The Aristocats which is Erika's favorite for the moment. Of course, she would not wear her Aristocats costume, but you already knew that.
 

Woodinville Halloween Fest 2006

Erika is slow to warm up to things which are supposed to be "fun". The local Halloween event had lots of carnival-type games which can take some time to get used to. Here, Jackie is trying to hurry the process.
Notice that Erika is not wearing the cat costume which Jackie bought for her. Erika would not put it on. Which type of stubborness is this? a) Hughes, b) Kruse, c) Wetzel, d) Harding, e) All of the above.

Erika, like her father, needs time to stop and reflect without the chaos of a crowd. Time to get comfortable. You can't just show up at some crazy chaotic thing and expect to enjoy yourself from the first moment!
Noticing this, one of the fair workers gave her a shiny golden plastic coin for just getting near a game, and Erika seemed to like that quite a lot. In fact, she would rather manipulate the play money than do almost anything else. This coin is what she's feeling behind her back in a side room all by herself away from the crowd. No doubt she is pondering an interest-bearing account while other children run around deluding themselves. At the conclusion of our outing, the coins she obtained were not traded in for mere plastic detritus, but rubbed together with great satisfaction and pocketed. I'm so proud! I can't wait until I teach her about mutual funds!

Before the pony rides, Erika warmed up with a faux horse. This was Jackie's idea and was a great success.

After coins were stored some fun was being had. This is her second pony ride. Indeed it takes time to warm up a Wetzel to this sort of thing, but we get there eventually. My appologies to Jackie's side for contributing my "annoyingly cautious" gene to our progeny.
Interesting how my red-eye removal software is defeated by this pony. 

Fabulous weekend weather

After a few drizzly days, here we are in the 70s with blue sky as Erika poses with her new pillow. We let her pick out any toy she wanted, and it didn't take her long to be drawn to a Hello Kitty pillow. She loves to beep it's nose and exclaim "Beeeeep!" As a side note, you can tell where I gave up staining my fence in the background! D'oh!

Once again at one of our favorite parks in Redmond.

Look at this! Someone bred the Lock Ness monster with a goat!
 

Meow-Meow gets a diaper change

Getting the diaper right is tricky. Sometimes it's best to give up and settle for wearing a hat.
 

Cupcake of LaMancha

I hope that drinking bath water is ok, because Erika likes to do that a lot.
Anyway, it makes a great Don Quixote type beard with the bubbles.
 

Pumkin Patch 2006

Perhaps it is quite obvious where we were today; outside cavorting in the October sunshine.

There are so many useless gourds. How to choose?

For the second year now, Erika remains thoroughly unimpressed with pumkin patches.
 

Sick this week

This week has been no fun. Erika started us out by having a cold and then she began to recover as Jackie and I got sick. I stayed home from work two days, but it was a challenge to keep Erika under control as Jackie and I were not up to her energy level at all. I think we've gotten through the worst of it. Nothing quite like a bored two-year-old to keep you from sanity.