Bedtime prayer

Luca and I sometimes pray before he goes to bed. (usually I do) Tonight when I asked him if he wanted to pray, he said, "yes but I will need some time to think about it".
A few moments later he said, "I am ready...God, .I am thankful for all the people in the world, and I like them all, just the way they are."

Along these lines:
Luca and I were reading a book about a boy in a wheelchair. I asked Luca...what could you do to be a good friend to someone who rides in a wheelchair? Luca said, "I would make sure he had one" I said, "where would you get it?" He said, "wherever I needed to find it"
This was esp. touching to me because I have a friend (that Luca has not met before) in need of a wheelchair and are hoping to begin a fundraiser for this young man.
More about that to follow...but then I said,

"I was thinking about recess time, you could talk to him or play a game with him, maybe? since he can't go on playground equipment and slide"
Luca said, "yes, he can, he can go on the slide"
I said, "how?"
Luca said, "you know, the teacher just carries him over to the top of the slide and he can go down backwards and he will fly right down the slide into his wheelchair, that I push to the bottom of the slide, he just slide right it. It will be so fun"

I had to laugh and love that Luca does not put limits on anyone or anything. He is out of the box thinking. He does this for himself all the time but it was really cool for me to hear him think it through for someone else who would do things, a different way than himself.

A few new pictures

Sorry, I haven't posted pictures in a while...here are a few as of late:

 The kids dancing

 Luca and Scarlett striking a pose

Luca's artwork

 Luca has begun doing some amazing artwork during rest time. (His 1-2 hours in his room by himself after lunch). He sits on the floor and uses markers. There are a few pieces of art from school in this grouping too as I wanted to show you how he can write his name! So proud of Luca!

 (sorry I cannot figure out how to flip)

  The girl with long hair above is Alisasa and the boy is Diego and the face in the middle is baby Jaguar.

 John drew a skeleton and Luca copied it. I also drew dots for him to trace but he did all of the tracing and coloring himself! I am so impressed!

Halloween

Luca dressed up as an astronaut and Juliette was a ballerina

with wings. They could not have been cuter! Our friends, Dale, Kate, Sabine and Ingrid came over to trick or treat together! Lots of fun and way too much candy for anyone! I didn't go trick or treating as a kid so it is really entertaining to me to experience it as an adult.
I like the chance to meet neighbors and say hello to people who live nearby!

Jumping in Fall Leaves!

Jen invited us to a beautiful time of jumping in fall leaves at Lincoln Park! Great idea, Jen and so fun!

Peek a BOO!

Juliette loves playing peek a boo and hide and seek. Hard to capture in a picture but this was my best attempt!

Anya is turns ONE at the pumpkin patch!

We had a lot of fun celebrating Anya's first birthday at the pumpkin patch! I got some great pictures...which seems hard to do these days. It is fun to think of how much Anya has changed this last year and will this coming year. The first few years are such exciting ones and dramatic ones!
Juliette, below looks like she is saying "hey friend, Happy Birthday!"

 (in case you are wondering, she did not eat this whole apple on her own...but she loved holding it)