September 2010

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Fall's so close we can taste it

Finally, finally, FINALLY! the temperature dropped well below 90 for two straight days and no sooner did the mercury show 68 that I whipped out the scarf; Jay, his sweater; and we headed our well-insulated children up to Indiana (which is all of 5 minutes from Louisville, don't be too impressed) to go apple picking and check out how the pumpkins were shaping up for this season. Oh, and, you'll be relieved to know the cider donuts are doing just fine. They missed us, but we made it up to them by eating a half-dozen in one sitting. Yes, maybe it's because I got married in the fall, both of my children were born in the fall, or I'm just particularly fond of wool, but I love this time of year. Things crunch, like leaves and apples. You rub your hands together when you leave the house in the morning and say things like "Oooh, it's chilly!" and you're actually surprised by it. And the outside world just smells better. It's like nature's disinfectant.

We got our loot home and Annie and I made our first apple pie together. Well, I actually made it, but she helped put the apples in the bowl and taste-tested every single ingredient that went into it. Even the flour. It was like having my own personal quality control agent.

Speaking of Annie, she's basically a teenager now. When we were on the tractor ride back to the farm, she insisted on sitting by herself. What? She's 3. OK, she's almost 4, but still. And she's getting a little sass to her behavior lately. She's two weeks away from asking me to drop her off a block from school so she can walk the rest of the way. I'm just hoping she slows it down a little with the maturity. I can only take so much so fast. She's also starting to read. It's pretty neat to watch a person get that. Only when I actually had to explain how the English language works did I realize how messed up it is. Silent e's. Different spellings of the same sounding word. And what's up with the "k" in words like "knob" and "know"? Someone was playing a joke on us. She's taking it all in stride though and I can't wait until the day she can read Oscar "The Very Hungry Caterpillar," partly because it would be sweet, but mostly because, frankly, I'm sick of it.

It will be a challenge for her though, since right now Oscar has absolutely no patience for the written word. Even if it's just one written word accompanied by a large colorful picture and something soft to touch on the page. He has no time for books and oh, how I've tried. Even his mannerisms exhibit his lack of attention. When he's crawling (or, really, sliding) around the house, whenever he has paused to decide what to do next, he'll thump his foot in anticipation before heading off. He may not have an appetite for books or being still, but he certainly has an appetite for food. He's a little pickier than Annie was, but man, can that kid pack it away. I have no idea where he's keeping it all. I expect to find a squirrel's nest full of chopped up waffle and banana somewhere in his closet someday because this baby is much slimmer than Annie was at his age. It's probably because he won't sit still for two seconds and burns off his food in a manner of minutes once he hits the floor. Whatever the reason, we're doing our best to keep up with them, even if keeping up with them sometimes simply means surviving the day with no broken bones and a weary smile on our faces. A large slice of apple pie doesn't hurt either.

And now, to close: What Oscar's been up to lately, or shall I say "gettin' down to":

You gonna finish that?

Well nothing pleases me more than a fat baby, especially when it's my fat baby. Oscar is a chow hound lately, and I'm going to chalk it up to a growth spurt and not his bid for childhood obesity. Baby food is so last month and he'll only eat whatever everyone else is eating. No complaint here. Tonight he had raw salmon from the sushi we bought. He's pretty cosmopolitan. He also has four teeth, working on six, and can pull up and cruise on pretty much anything. He's like Annie on speed. She didn't start this sort of behavior until at least a month later. He's also, well, a little more, how shall I say, aggressive than Annie ever was or is. His favorite game when I'm nursing him now is to bat at my face. Well, not so much "bat," as to whack. He's strong, too. Not so funny, Oscar. Not so funny. He's learned that when we give him his lion lovey in his room it means nap time, so he's strategically figured out how to take said lovey and throw him violently on the floor. I'm thinking we're in for a ride with this one. Buckle up.

On the Annie front, she LOVES school and all the playdates that come with it. Her social calendar would rival that of President Obama if I let it. It's too exhausting. Mama needs her down time. She even recounts the day on the way home from any final event: "We only did THREE things today, Mama." She's also developing quite the sense of humor. Here she is taking clothes from the laundry basket and putting them on herself because that's the funniest thing ever, and if you don't think so, you're stupid. She watched her first movie this weekend so the grown-ups could have dinner in peace: Toy Story. It was worth it. I wanted to watch it with her to be there for this big moment, but the big glass of red wine and adult conversation won the contest. Sorry, kid.

The weather is finally getting a little cooler so we're again enjoying the reason we moved from Houston: seasons. I busted out the outdoor broom and some yard bags and did a ton of weeding and sweeping. I've got to build my upper body strength if I'm ever going to take on Oscar when he turns a year. I swear there's a punching bag hidden somewhere in his crib.

And now, a little traveling music: