First Halloween

The results of the Neta McFarland carving party

Avi with his pumpkin-bear that Leeor brought home--we couldn't resist, as he is our pumpkin and our bear!

Ready to head out into the rain!

Although Avi had no idea why I kept putting him in his panda bear costume that my mom sweetly made for him (he kept wiggling himself out of it-- and forget about keeping the hat on), I enjoyed every minute of his first Halloween. After a fabulous 2 hour morning nap for Avi, we walked over to our friend's house in Bernal Hill for a gathering of social workers and babies in costumes. At one point we managed to line up all the babies on the couch for a pretty hysterical photo; I will add it to this post when someone emails it to me. I sadly did not get a shot of that. Avi was grabbing baby Ruby's flower power costume and she was protesting; it was absurdly funny. The kids looked adorable.

It began to rain as we walked over, but we were prepared with umbrella and plastic stroller cover. I love these new-fangled inventions! Avi was struck by the novelty of being enclosed in his stroller and made nary a peep. On the way home, he slept in the ergo and I longed for our early days when me walking and him napping was a regular thing.

Though we bailed out on our evening plans, which would have been so much fun, I think it was a good first Halloween for Avi. Leeor ended up having to work late-ish so Avi and I just goofed around with his little pumpkin bear. And it's official; our pediatrician predicted that Avi would be a late crawler, and speculated that 9 months would be his time to master the skill. For the past month, Avi has tried and tried and tried but could only manage to push himself backward across the floor, rock back and forth on hands and knees before crumpling to his belly, or try continuously to lauch himself forward from sitting only to get stuck on one foot. In the midst of our get-together with the social work moms and babies, I happened to notice Avi moving across the floor on all fours and nearly started to cry. Next week he will be 9 months old. Our little bear is on the move!