Filed under: Family togetherness, Toddler, Creative projects, Outings

We've just returned from trick or treating and I promised Heather I'd do a pumpkin, so here they are. OK, well they're a pie pumpkin and a mini squash, but they're pretty mean looking, no?

Though the day was mild and eventually sunny, in a typically Canadian flip-floppy way it got rather cold out by night. There weren't as many kids out this year compared to last year, or so it seemed. We decided to leave our sad little neighborhood and join my husband's clan at my sister-in-laws house. She lives in "the Beach," an area home to a high concentration of upper middle class families in Toronto. Truth be told, the grass is definitely greener on their side, mostly because people can afford landscapers. The candy's better too.

"Beachers" pride themselves on decorations and often try to out-do their neighbours, so the decorations alone are often worth a trip. So off we went to join my husband's family. (One location makes it easier on excited grandparents too!) Last year Nate was too young to really appreciate Halloween. But this year he really got the spirit. Just hearing him say, "Twicker twicker" at every door made it extra fun for me too. And since there is no way he can eat all of the candy he collected, it looks like my husband and I will be indulging in high end goodies for a while.

Oh and my costume connundrum got sorted. After much running around today, including the purchase of some (ew!) used red underwear from the second hand shop (isn't that illegal?), we put together a proper half-homemadeSuperman costume. I was going to go as Lois Lane but she's a bit non-descript and the costume would have involved a skirt and heels, so I passed on that -- much to the chagrin of my Clark Kent.

Hope your Halloween was as fun-filled as ours!

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Filed under: Health and Safety, Kidwear, Fabrics

Family Dollar Inc., of Matthews, N.C., in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission, is voluntarily recalling their "Creepy Cape" Halloween Costumes. The capes fail to meet the flammability standards for vinyl plastic film. There have been no incidents or injuries reported.

The recalled costumes are a 40-inch long black vinyl cape with a stand-up collar. Ironically, there is a white sticker on the collar of the cape that reads "FLAME RETARDANT PVC". These capes were sold at Family Dollar stores throughout the US for $2. They were available from August 2005 through October 2006. If you have one, stop using it and return it to Family Dollar for a full refund. For more information, contact Family Dollar toll-free at (800) 547-0359 between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET Monday through Friday, or visit the firm's Web site.

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Filed under: Image of the Day

I had so much fun looking at your Halloween photos. Thanks to all of you who have contributed to this month's theme via our Blogging Baby group Flickr Pool.

Happy Halloween everyone!

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Filed under: Sean, Will, Amusement parks, Vacations

I already mentioned that Halloween is not highly celebrated in France among kids. Well, I just found out that it's not highly celebrated in Korea either! I expected pumpkins everywhere, but the only place that was properly decorated for Halloween was the amusement park Everland, which our family visited today.

Happy Halloween everyone! Hope you all have a fabulous time tonight!

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Filed under: Health and Safety, Infertility, Pregnancy and Birth, Newborn, Infant / First year, Toddler, Preschooler, Pre-teen, Teenager, Birth complications

When I first read the Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, it was my first experience with putting myself in the shoes of someone with autism. Since then I've had my own child, and I've read the blogs of families with a child, sometimes two, dealing with autism or Asperger's -- a related syndrome. My awareness of studies on autism has increased as a result. The personal accounts I've read online are sometimes heartbreaking, but more often than not they are heartwarming. Still, it's not something anyone would wish for their children.

Some are referring to the increase in autism rates as an epidemic. There has been a lot of debate in the scientific and medical fields as to whether autism is developed due to environmental factors, or if it is a hereditary/genetic issue. Last week, we reported on a study that linked toddler's TV habits with autism. Since then the BBC News website has published two reports on studies that seem to side with the "autism is genetic" school of thought.

The first study, conducted by the University of California, suggests that children of couples who have experienced infertility may be four times more likely to have autism. According to BBC News, in a separate study researchers from the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development found "A gene mutation which affects brain development increases the risk of autism".

Both studies are groundbreaking and will be subject to further research before anyone can say for certain what causes autism and what the risk factors may be. The important thing here is that we seem to be getting closer to a cause and hopefully a treatment.

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Filed under: Lifestyle

I did not carve a pumpkin this year. We took the kids to the pumpkin patch, where I took a ton of photos, and I took more pictures while everyone worked on their pumpkins, but I didn't do one myself.

Pumpkins must have lots of acidity, because when I helped my son scoop the guts out of his, I ended up with a prickly red rash on my inner arm. Not too fun, so I washed up and stuck to my picture taking duty.

This pumpkin was created by my husband, John. The eyes are hard boiled eggs, peeled ones, and the teeth are pumpkin seeds. Yes that IS a green pumpkin. Disgusting, isn't it? Can you tell that he likes to watch scary movies even when it's not Halloween?

This afternoon when the kids and I came back from school, we disturbed a squirrel who was eating one of my son's pumpkins. That one looks pretty creepy now, too, with all the bite marks around its mouth and nose.

So, do you prefer scary and gross pumpkins, or do you like the smiley, friendly ones?



Boo!

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Filed under: Moms

There's a growing population of parents joining playgroups, though what they are joining for is a bit different. While many parents join to help their children learn to interact with other kids, women in one Virginia playgroup are there to learn English.

Many communities are starting to offer playgroups for Hispanic families, who have often moved to the area and are unused to the local customs and language. In fact, the women in the article mentioned did not know English, speaking to the reporter through a translator.

I've heard of several playgroups for people that speak other languages. I'm pretty sure a prerequisite would be that I actually spoke that other language, though.

Do you know of any bilingual playgroups? Have you ever visited one? If so, did your children pick up any words from another language?

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Filed under: Child Development, Feeding & Nutrition, Health and Safety

Hard to believe that anyone could think that the contents of your children's triuck-or-treat bags could be considered health food, but according to all kinds of recent studies, dark chocolate is full of flavonoids, chemicals found in fruits and vegetables that have positive effects on everything from blood vessels, heart and brain to endurance and longevity. In fact, dark chocolate has higher antioxident levels than green tea, red wine, and even blueberries.

A number of studies (discussed in the article) have shown the many positive benefits of dark chocolate. The bad news is there probably won't be a lot of dark chocolate in your kids Halloween candy hordes. Most candy is made from milk chocolate that contains 50 percent less cocoa, which is the source of the health-increasing flavonoids. And that milk chocolate is often partnered with sugar and saturated fat. Still, some savvy household in your neighborhood might be passing out dark chocolate this year, and when you go through your kids' bags, be sure to tell them about any "health food" they might have received.

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Filed under: Family togetherness

Although this is my third Halloween while having children, it is the first one that we've gotten to have some Halloween fun as a family. Now that my daughter is two, she understands what pumpkins are. Although she was napping while my husband and I carved our pumpkins (mine is the one on the left) she seemed to enjoy the results.

"Ooh, spooky!" she says when we go into our back yard. "Pumpkin! Spooky!"

I am having my very first Halloween party tonight and am totally excited. This is what I've been looking forward to as a parent: I like celebrating things and incorporating my children into the celebrations.

I want my babies to grow up and have great memories of their family having fun together. Here's hoping your family makes some great memories tonight!

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Filed under: Media

The world's largest pumpkin was recently on display at Grand Central Station in New York CIty as part of the Halloweekend charity event. The massive, 1,502-pound pumpkin dwarfs the thousands of regular-sized pumpkins that were for sale surrounding it. Befitting its size and current geography (just down the street from the Empire State Building), the giant gourd has been carved to resemble King Kong. Master pumpkin carver Hugh McMahon claims it took him two hours to clean the pumpkin and about another six to carve it into the King Kong design.

Thousands of the smaller pumpkins were sold and the proceeds went to the Food Bank for New York City, which feeds the homeless. I wonder how many pumpkin pies they made from old King Kong there.

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