October Fun

There are some fall rituals I absolutely love – jumping in leaves, the annual pilgrimage to the pumpkin patch and of course Thanksgiving and Halloween.

The Search for the Great Pumpkin

Our favourite local spot is Miller’s. You can take a tractor ride out into the field and get your own pumpkin, Indian corn and gourds.

They also have an apple orchard, so it is also a great place to stock up on yummy apples for eating, and of course, for baking apple crisp (my other favourite part of fall.)

This year our friends Coralie and Valerie came with us.

An Unusual Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was a little different this year because it was so warm! Usually we are jumping in leaves, but none had fallen. Luckily, when you are a kid there are lots of other fun things to jam into your pockets - like rocks and shells.

Our ‘cousins’ Casey and Jack and their mom and Dad (Paul and Theresa) came to visit for the weekend. On Sunday the big activity was shell hunting. We went to fellow cousin Odin’s new house, which is on the river, and spent a lovely morning collecting shells, and of course, throwing rocks in the river.

Leaves and more leaves

The other fall ritual of course is making a pile of leaves and jumping into it! This year was a wonderful experience for everyone involved. Every house on our street has a giant maple tree on the front lawn, and the tree in front of our house really delivered, so to speak. So, the kids got a stack of leaves to jump in that completely met their expectations, and then some. Steve and I were blissfully happy as well. We had some raking to do, sure, but it was not ½ acre of trees like at our old house! It was so nice to be able to enjoy watching the leaves fall rather than worrying about how we were going to get 100 bags of leaves to the curb!

Halloween

The photos say it all.

Carving is fun..but icky

The costumes!!!

Other interesting news

It occurs to me that in my zeal to report the significant trips/events, I haven’t had a chance to tell anyone about the mundane yet newsworthy events in our lives.

First: Bye, bye diapers! We’ve been working on this since the summer, and I can now say that we are there. Charlotte still wears a pull up at nap – just in case, and of course a diaper at night (our nights are bad enough without getting up to go pee, thank you very much….but more on that later.), but during the day we are all underwear all the time. Gone are the days also of “pee pee Mommy!” and then the mad sprint. Charlotte quite often takes herself to the toilet now, and I don’t know it has even happened until I hear the flush!

Talking like crazy
I stopped updating her ‘vocabulary’ page some time ago because she has worked her way up to 3 and 4 word sentences, and can essentially parrot any word she hears. (This is mostly good, but of course requires extra vigilance on my part to ensure that my vocabulary is clean and age appropriate. : )
It is her ‘stories’ that crack us up the most. Here is a story about a typical Wednesday, as told to Steve when he comes home from work. “Go see Valerie and Cocalie (aka Coralie). Go in wagon. Wheeeee. At playgroup go down slide. Sleep at Cocalie’s house.” I could add in the extra details for you, but to be honest, it is pretty accurate.

And, because she is 2, the most commonly heard phrase is, "I do it my own self."

Mom is headed back to work full time

Yep, the glory days are over. After 18 months of fun and frolic with my girls, I am headed back to work full time. To say that I have mixed feelings about this is an understatement. While there have been some trying days, I have really enjoyed being at home. Most of all, I have seen the value in walking to school, playing during the day, snuggling after nap time, and hanging out in the playground after school. I really, really, really wish that I could work p/t. I think it will happen someday, but unfortunately it is not in the cards right now.

After several excruciating months of searching, I’ve found a daycare that I think is OK for Charlotte. I don’t love it. I don’t think I would love any arrangement. It is in a big daycare center, which has a lot of benefits in terms of hours, feeding and learning plans. I am worried about the numbers of course, the profusion of snotty noses and deep coughs I see/hear every time I go there, and whether Charlotte will get enough one on one attention. The thing is, of all the places we checked out, and there were many, Char seems to love it. She loves the structure, the arts and crafts, the circle time and just generally running around with all those kids. Should be interesting to see if she still loves it once she figures out it is a permanent arrangement.

AJ is also going to be a challenge. She is enrolled in the after school program at her school. She tolerates it, but she is NOT a fan. Now, she has generally hated any and all care arrangements I have set up for her, even when it was with grandparents or friends.

I expect there will be a lot of crying in November as everyone adjusts to the new lifestyle. I expect that some of it will be done by me and Steve.