I was up later on Thursday night than on Holloween. Making cookies. The standard toll house recipe, but with M&Ms for the kids. Not that they cared. With this much excitement in the air, any cookie will provide the treat. On Friday afternoon I snuck away from my monitor-lit enclave to help small children, dressed in myth and history, snatch powdered sugar donuts suspended from a pole, using only their mouths. They also drew pictures of death and mayhem on orange colored squash and threw sacks of dried lentils at each other. They had a great time.

Conor happy the rain has stopped.

Alison in character, as usual, wearing her hand made costume. Thanks, Doris.

Holloween is fun for kids of all ages. At USCB is was *the* big party, to say nothing of what goes on in the City these days. But for Alison and Conor, it really kicks their brains into high gear. The costumes and change of routine immediately starts them creating imaginary worlds and scenarios, into which they can place their new characters for play. I see the play activity jump at other times, too. If they get a new toy, or if they are put in a very rich environment. By rich I mean something with a lot of deformity and complexity. Like a bubble bath or wilderness (e.g. camping or visiting the creek.) It is almost like their minds are pushed to deal with the variety at hand, and in my quite unbiased opinion, they excel.

There is one other interesting aspect to their level of play. On a normal basis, when they hit the transition point of boredom and want to change their activity. If they have the opportunity to watch TV, they will do that and stop all visible play and interaction. If the TV is not there, they will reengage in active play. I cannot know what is going on in their heads, but all visible evidence indicates that TV does not provide even the same challenge and stimulus to the brain as, say, a tree.

Of course, I cannot restrict it in a normal sense, as that would make it a future target for rebellion, and complete isolation would likely put them at a social disadvantage. My strategy, instead, is a combination of inconvenience, role model and substitution. The inconvenience is that I do not have broadcast or cable TV available in the home, although their mother and every other place they might hang out, does have it. So it does not feel like a restriction, just an inconvenience. The role model is me. I might drink and swear and carouse in front of the kids, but watch TV, no way. For substitution there is movies or prerecorded shows (they love Star Trek: TNG, of course), limited by going out to the video store. Thankfully, where I live, they have thwarted Blockbuster's entry and you can actually rent movies other than those top ten box office hits that are no more than two weeks old. I am usually against such heavy-handedness, and I was in this case, until I actually visited a few Blockbusters. That was scary in a way quite different than Holloween.