Last half of October

The middle of October started off with Ella's ear tube surgery.  Agnieszka was pretty nervous to hand Ella over to general anesthesia, but the procedure lasted only a few minutes.  The medical team was made aware that Ella's pacifier and clump of string were her comfort objects so she got to go to the OR with them.  When she returned, the string had been carefully counted and placed in a medical bag, since the team didn't know want to lose a single piece. 

Ella recovered quickly from her surgery, and within a few days (honestly, even the same night she came home), we could tell that her hearing and sleep had improved. She began repeating words people say the evening we got home, and she began to more reliably sleep through the night!

Due to October's persistently warm days, we spent as many open days as possible at the kids' favorite park, Totland.  Auggie's favorite activity is doing monkey bars and climbing anything he can get up on.  Ella's is slides, water play and push toys.  Here are some favorite pictures from our visits:

 One of our days we got to visit Olga, Ari and Natan. Kids hadn't seen each other in months, but got along just fine.  Ella loved discovering that strangers' houses, which seem initially scary, are full of new and fun toys!

The weekend before and week of Halloween was an adventurous one.  Daniel left town for a work trip, and PG&E turned off our power for 3 days due to high risk of wildfire.  We were living with flashlights, and a camping stove.  Everyone was on high alert. A fire started burning quickly near 15 miles north of our house, and then another one started so close to Dziadek and Babcia's house that they were urgently evacuated.  Fortunately, all fires were put out within that same day.  The kids barely noticed the excitement and enjoyed pumpkin carving with the whole family. 

Drive to Agnieszka's work the next day, with hillsides still covered by smoking embers:

At Agnieszka's work, despite the filtration system, many doctors wore masks to deal with the smoky air.

Smoky air, now an annual event in the Bay Area, does lead to pretty sunsets:

Kids enjoying a little outside time during a smoky few days. 

Morning cuddles, missing Papa and sending him a photo.

The air had cleared by Halloween, so Auggie's school got to do their Halloween Parade.  Auggie was a lollipop this year.

Afterwards, the kids went trick-or-treating with the cousins and friends in Albany. Everyone had great costumes. 

The evening ended with the very important and high stakes candy "Trading Floor".

First half of October

October started quietly, with some cozy days around the house.

Ella resting with Kristen in the morning

Auggie showing us his creative creations

 

Auggie and Evan (I think). Bath time!

Ella making sure Papa gets a long shower.

One very memorable event from early October is Auggie learning to ride a bike.  Daniel watched some Youtube videos and then took Auggie out to his school playground one Saturday, while Agnieszka was at work.  They spent most of the day practicing, but by the end of the day, Auggie could start the bike and ride around the playground on his own!

Family time with beautiful sunset

All little kids like boxes....

...and trying out big kid things

Auggie agreed to have a haircut, as long as we called it a "trim"

These two are more and more adorable together. 

By mid month, fall/October events were in full swing.  Auggie and Papa went to the local Harding festival, where they met up with preschool besties Maya and Colin. 

That evening, we joined the cousins and friends at a local brewery Octoberfest festival.