Some random thoughts from today:

1. As far as I am concerned, there are two downsides to a Jewish pre-K. The first is that school is often closed for random holidays. The second is the following note that came in the girls’ totebag from school today: "Please remember that we do not celebrate Halloween. We ask that you not send your child to school wearing a Halloween costume or with Halloween treats to share. Thank you for your cooperation!" Bah humbug.

2. The girls and I named the pumpkin today: Herman. For those of you who didn’t follow the saga of Who Will Dress As What For Halloween a few weeks ago, the final verdict is: A – dinosaur and M – Clifford. (Though if you ask them, A says, "scary dinosaur" and then M says "scary Clifford.")

3. M amazed me tonight. She asked me if I have a friend named Max. I said no. Then she asked me if I have a friend named Greg. I said yes, there is someone I work with named Greg. She then said, "Remember when we went to your friend Susan’s house?" I said I remembered. (This was about a month ago.) "We saw someone named Greg there." This is true: Greg was pulling up in his car just as we were leaving. All she saw of him was his face. How did she remember that???

4. Books tonight: Several pages of Richard Scarry’s Cars, Trucks and Things that Go (I love the pumpkin car!) and T-Rex Trick-or-Treats, my new favorite book. A and I discussed that it was funny that in the book, the T-Rex was deciding what to dress up as, while A is dressing up as a T-Rex!

5. As if I didn’t have enough reason to love Trader Joe’s, they now have little mini-shopping carts for young shoppers. M pushed hers through the whole store (A gave up on hers after a few minutes), and we filled it so that she could unload it at checkout. Genius. Here’s a photo: