A new day

So fall is officially here, and I can stop complaining (see last post).
I've worn rain boots for three days straight, the air is crisp, and finally someone is watering my flowers.
I have been crazy-lady busy these days.
With kids to teach life to (I could just stop there), lots of new design projects, visits with friends and family, I have been keeping my head down and doing my best to plow through the weeks*.
So, I took a little break this afternoon. (Very little actually, 10 minutes.)
Thought I would just poke my head up and see what's happening right now. A green wheelbarrow filled with rainwater, sun on the leaves. I stood by the back fence and looked at the house from an angle I've never seen it before.
Just a quick ten minutes outside, but my whole world seems a little wider now. More than just car, kitchen, desk.
And it made the day seem new, which it always is, I just needed a little reminder.
 
*This is not supposed to sound like complaining. Nope, I'm often at my best when I'm running on all cylinders. I don't wear boredom well.

Hello grey day!

Finally! A grey day greets us.
The sun has been awful uppity around here this year. Barging into ones Fall where it's not wanted. Am I right? (Girl looks around for a high five and realizes she is the only one.)
Well anyways, I'm ready for my favorite season to start.
I've had pork chops and apples waiting for my word to jump out of the freezer and into the roasting pan, rain boots nipping at my ankles to be taken out for a walk, and my coats are causing a ruckus in my closet with all their impatient rustling.
And why shouldn't they? We've missed a solid month of what's supposed to be coat weather, and the summer dresses are starting to think they rule the roost.
But things are starting to right themselves at last. Rain is in the forecast Friday through Sunday after a ridiculous 73,000 day dry spell, and today is only supposed to get up to 68.
So I like to think it is safe to shake hands with the sun now and part ways at last.
Good bye ol' Sun, job well done. I think you're wanted in Florida or California or some overrated place.
Oh yes, and then there is the children. Oliver is sitting up by himself, loving his new jumping seat, and fiddling with rice cereal.  He's interested in toys now and is finally sleeping on his back*.
Greta has started to narrate her actions in third person, and used scissors yesterday for the first time.
I will probably elaborate on all of these at a later date, but it has just become strangely quiet downstairs. And any mom can tell you, although it is the thing we pray for so much of the day, when it happens it is unsettling and often caused by mischief.


 *He has been using a funny little bed on a wedge, jimmy rigged with towels up until now for his reflux. Something of a life saver and death trap rolled into one.
Glad to be done with that!

Painting by Wendy Doak

Farming.

This weekend we drove down to Lattin's Cider Mill. Which happens to be the sweetest little farm, apple cider mill, and heaven to small children.
Our Olympia family came with us and boy, we did it all.
Picked pumpkins, fed animals, sling shot apples, raced pigs, played carnival games, listened to blue grass, bought farm produce, rode the animal jug train, took pictures on a giant pumpkin, ate BBQ, and (what you really go for) enjoyed a freshly made, piping hot apple fritter...saints above.
And afterwards I was exhausted! Now I know what they mean when they say that farming is hard work.

Oliver: Fast Facts

1. His name is Oliver.
2. His household name is Olliwog.
3. His formal title is Señor Wog.
4. He is known informally as simply Señor or Wog.
5. He is now 4 months old.
   
6. He weighs 17 lbs.
   
7. He is so ticklish.
   
8. The 4 seconds during diaper changes where he is diaper less is his favorite part of the whole day.
   
9. He is in the 100th percentile for head size, by World Health Organizations standards. Which in a nutshell means that he has the largest head in the world.
10. He also has the cutest head in the world.

First Day of Preschool

Today was Greta's First Day of Preschool!
How did this happen? I have been waiting/stalling/wondering about this day for a few years now. The day when I will have to share Greta with a world of other people. Fun, play, and learning are no longer in my sole control. She is meeting new kids, learning new things, and instead of always being in the know, I'm going to be surprised with the new ideas and words she comes home with.*
I'm used to knowing the origins for almost every little phrase she says, or imaginary friend, or new play. The first day of preschool is really the first day of letting go... for the rest of my life.
I know this, and (obviously) I have thought it all out.
So I was surprised that when this momentous day came to us, how unraveled it felt!
It was a little hectic, rushed, and I could not for the life of me take a good picture.
It came right after a family trip and a day of not feeling well, so things were a little topsy turvy around here anyway.
There was no quaint little scene of clothes laid out with care (I was hunting the house up and down for key items all morning), or special First Day of School Pancake Breakfast...in shapes like apples and pencils. My child ate a Z bar by the door while I frantically put on her shoes, and chowed down half of a string cheese while walking out the door. The other half was quickly thrown on the front steps (by my orders) when she said she was starting to not feel very good. Dairy in the morning makes Greta's tummy a little iffy, and the last thing we needed just then was a vomiting child. But throwing food on the ground? That was the most telling. There's rushed, and then there is throwing food to get somewhere faster.
I think right about then, somewhere in my mind the thought came to me that I need to get better at getting all of us out of the door by 9:00, or this is going to be a very long rest of my life.
It was a whirlwind morning from then on as well, and my pictures of her at school, with her teachers, were all blurry as proof. Try as I might, my hand wouldn't stop bouncing.
But she went, she did well, and she loved it!
I've been getting little snippets and clues all day about what she did and what she learned, and it has been such a treat to find her talking about her letters and numbers with excitement. (She refuses to discuss these matters with me, for whatever reason.)
But if preschool is what makes learning fresh and fun for her, and perhaps if she makes a few sweet little friends as well, then my prayers will be answered.
Happy School Day Sweet Girl!

*She has already started to mimic her teachers. This afternoon she was at the kitchen chalkboard pointing to letters with a chopstick and saying things like "Which letter starts with a circle?...a?", "Excellent!", and "What makes the Tuh sound?" "Noooot quite!"

Happy Birthday Tolstoy!

THE ZOO

*And it's a good thing we found that lion! All Greta really wanted to do at the zoo was to say "Pooh pooh" to the tiger like Madeline does in the books: ("And to the tiger at the zoo, Madeline just said pooh pooh.") But the real tiger was not on exhibit. Thankfully, she has a great imagination, and this lion statue scratched the itch.