Austen Famous Rodey

Austen went trick-or-treating in Metuchen with Mama and Dada, dressed up as Snow White with a fancy fur coat on top (it was chilly!). We saw lots of other kids dressed up, some younger and some much older. Some houses were very docorated and Austen pointed out when they had a "biiiig pumpkin" or if they had a mummy or skeleton, she mentioned how that was a "scaaary house." Towards the end of the night, Austen was getting tired so Dada carried her around to the last few houses before returning home with her stash.







Dada thought some of the 'kids' were old enough to be considered a posse when walking around in a group. Surely they could scrounge up a few dollars to just buy their own candy but Dada guessed it was more of a social activity. Then, Dada recalled being in his own posse and doing some not-so-nice things but that's another blog entry...

Austen went trick or treating at the Menlo Park Mall with some friends and Mama. She did really well, except for one meltdown, and said "trick or treat!" "thank you!" and "Bye-bye" to those giving her candy. She enjoyed following the boys around and giving the costumed creatures hugs.

Along the way, they came across a big bunny. I guess Easter bunnies can't rely solely on their Easter time employment so they have to take other gigs. As usual, Austen loved the bunny and hung out with the bunny while talking, hugging, following and waving to him.

Austen and Dada made a special dinner tonight: nuked frozen pizza and a one egg omelete. Dada took care of the pizza while Austen was holding her egg. Then, somehow, Austen's thumb ended up inside the egg, which started dripping over her hands and onto the floor. Austen looked a litte concerned but Dada reassured her and helped clean her up.

Afterwards, Austen held another egg as Dada got the bowl and utencils out and we mixed it together and Austen helped move it around as it cooked on the skillet. Austen was also impressed by Dada's ability to flip the egg by tossing it in the air while simultaneously carrying Austen.

Once the cooking was done, Austen enjoyed eating both her entrees.

Austen went to a Halloween party at her friend Dean's house. Dean also has a little brother, Theo, but he's too young to register on Austen's radar.

Austen was dressed up as a cow (thank you Morgan for letting me borrow your costume!). Austen's friend, Riley was also dressed up as cow. It was cute to see them together.




It was a little chilly but everyone still enjoyed playing outside. The 55-60 degree whether helped promote many physical activities such as frisbee throwing, hoola-hooping, riding bikes and cars, running around, throwing balls, etc.


Mama and Dada enjoyed holding baby Theo; he was very mellow and didn't mind just hanging out. Most of the time Austen was too occupied playing with her friends to notice but occasionally she saw and came over. The first few times, she didn't seem to mind much. Maybe she thought Theo was just a dinosaur animal because of his outfit? Then, she put some rings on his head. Eventually, she realized that was a baby and that was not allowed so Theo had to be passed on to another grown up.









There were plenty of yummy treats including cupcakes, cookies, chocoloate, lollipops, pumpkin doughnuts, warm apple cider, pigs-in-a-blanket, etc. Despite the temperature, we even ate home-made pumpkin ice cream! It tasted great and was hard to resist.



The party was briefly interrupted by a tickle-fest.










We'll give Riley's Dada (Sanjiv) the benefit of the cold whether as an excuse to be playing with the hoola-hoop.

Austen went to the MOMS club party, dressed as Snow White. There were several activities including pinning the nose on the pumpkin (but this was for older kids) and gathering candy from a pinata.

Dada even coordinated a game that Mama thought of: the kids had to find someone dressed up in the category that Dada called out, such as pointing to Spiderman for the superhero category. Even if you didn't find anyone, Dada still gave out candy for playing.

Since the party was held in an assisted living facility, all the kids paraded around throughout the cafeteria, greeting the residents during lunchtime. Afterwards, they all returned back to the party area.


There was a pinata full of candy and once some of the bigger kids got it open, everyone dove in to collect the candy. Austen just collected from the outskirts but she still got plenty of sweet treats.

Inspired by potty training stickers which she gets to stick onto a potty training chart, Austen sits on her potty for about a minute or so if you chat with her while she does so. She has yet to produce anything, but Mama and Dada think this is a start.

Austen has gotten a lot better at painting and drawing and using stickers. She doesn't need much assistance to create a "masterpiece" of color and lines. Her art teacher comments on her independence and Mama is enjoying seeing her focus on her painting, drawing and glueing long enough to create something she can take home to show Dada. She also cleans up when done, which is truly beautiful to see.

Austen went to see The Wiggles live in concert at the Beacon Theatre in NYC. She was so excited and fixated on the stage the whole time. Austen also followed along with some singing and dancing. The whole crowed, including parents, got into the groove and sang along. It was a great special activity.

Afterwards, we went to Ruby Foo's, an old hangout of Mama and Dada's.

Time for another shoe shopping excursion with Auntie Heather.

Mama & Dada went to the Opera at the Lincoln Center to see Le Nozze di Figaro with Auntie Heather and her friend Joe; the Opera was certainly entertaining and afterwards, they went to eat at Gabriel's Bar and Restaurant. The food was good and everyone had fun. Since Mama didn't want to walk so far in her fancy shoes, Dada went to get the car. Mama was waiting in front of the restaurant and saw Regis Philbin entering with his wife. Mama later described his look to her as, 'Oh no. I hope this isn't a crazy fan who's going to start talking to me about the show ... while I'm trying to enjoy a peaceful dinner out with my wife.'

Since Austen wasn't ready for the almost 4 hour long Opera, she spent the day playing with Grandma Mindy and Grandpa. Whenever Austen visits them, she has a very active time: running, dancing, singing, jumping, playing with jewelry and eating lots of homemade food.

When Mama and Dada returned around 8pm, they were expecting to find a pooped-out Austen, ready to go to sleep. Instead, here's what they saw: Austen jumping, dancing and singing with Grandma Mindy!

Austen ate lunch with a bunch of her friends. As usual, they ran around in the restaurant, playing and eating together but today, there was an extra surprise -- a big teddy bear! Of course, Austen loved the teddy bear...almost a little too much. She followed him around, gave him hugs and sat on his lap. She followed him when he went to see other kids in a different part of the restaurant. She got the bear to pick her up. She followed him when he tried to go in the back. She found him after he took a break.



Meeting the bear.


Where you going, bear?



OK. I got him back to our area.


You need a hug?


This is a comfy place to sit.


I'll come with you.

Austen gets extremely jealous when Mama tries to help out another mom by holding a baby. Huge tears and yelling is followed by clinginess after Mama returns the baby.

Uncle John is home from the hospital. Sadly, the cancer has spread and they’re stopping treatment. We saw him twice; he seemed to brighten up a bit when greeting Austen. He didn’t seem like he was in pain, just a bit lethargic and he liked to talk about “normal” stuff like the football game and his collections. Janet, Jo Anna and Gloria seemed very happy to have visitors, so we stayed for a while. We also saw Don, Kristine, Jason and Mark.

At Jeffrey’s birthday on Saturday, Austen had a wonderful time playing with the boys … and Grace and Julia (“the baby”). There were tons of fun toys and activities like Austen’s first piñata batting experience, a John Deere ride-on battery-powered car, and a indoor-sized air-powered jumpy castle. And chocolate cake! Austen was in her best mood, talking a lot and running around. Sometimes she would yell, "Pa! Pa!," and run up to Grandpa, but he didn't seem too excited by this.

Grandpa was busy hanging out with Dolly, so we left earlier than we’d planned although we did squeeze in lunch with Janet, Grandpa & Dolly at MaGerk's in Bel Air and a visit to the scrapbooking store, where Mama went wild.

Austen had a blast at Cousin Jeffrey's birthday party.

She enjoyed the jumpy castle with all of her cousins.


Jonathon took Austen for several rides in his John Deere truck.




Austen even got Grandpa to hold her for a bit (although it might've taken some coaxing from Mama).


Austen's jammin' on Jonathon's guitar while her older cousins danced to some music.


Who says you can only play knock-hockey with two people?


After all the kids took many whacks at the pinata with hardly a dent, Uncle James decided to help things out by tearing it a little. Then, Jeffrey gave it a big hit and out popped all the candy.




Austen also helped Jeffery open his gifts and then sang into his microphone.