Oh where, oh where have we been?

It's been a busy few days. When I said the time change hadn't interrupted That Grace's schedule too much, I spoke too soon. She has been getting up at 6:30 - 7:00 in the morning lately. Normally she sleeps until 8:30 or so. This means an earlier nap and an earlier bedtime and just in general a complete upheaval of our previously smooth schedule.

On Wednesday we bought acorn squash to cook for our Thanksgiving Feast with The Moms on Thursday. We saved the seeds and roasted them like pumpkin seeds. They're very similar in taste.

After cooking, we loaded up in the wagon and walked down to our neighbor's house to play. She has twins, A, a boy, and B, a girl. They are such sweeties -- and just turned 2.

Thursday was our Thanksgiving Feast with The Moms. That Grace loves playing with other children but I have to watch her very closely, as she can get a little aggressive. It's odd because she is so sweet and so mild mannered in every other way. She's really an easy baby, but she will hit. And the other day she bit me.

Another neighbor whose daughters are in our Tot Class had a birthday party for the girls today. That Grace loved the big bouncy apparatus. She couldn't stand up in it very well but she enjoyed sitting in it and bouncing. She also loved it when the other kids would bounce near her. She got very excited and wanted to hit for some reason (I think it may have just been excited arm flailing). I talked to her about it and afterwards when someone came near her, she would look at me and do the "gentle hands" sign. She had a really difficult afternoon, though. I don't think she handles birthday cake very well.

Busy at Home

We did an activity with matching pots and lids today -- look at that concentration!

Reading Mother Goose.

Maniacal sweeping!

We roasted a butternut squash today. That Grace helped scoop out the seeds.

Soup that we made from the roasted butternut squash. I had several recipes but I didn't have all of the ingredients for any one of them, so we just made up our own. I sauteed 1/2 an onion in some butter and added some cumin seeds. Cumin is my new love. I used it in the black bean stew last night, too. We're a little soup obsessed over here these days. Then I added the roasted butternut squash, thinned it out with a little water and added some cream. What? There are no carbs in cream. It's practically diet food. I didn't blend it with the stick blender because I like a chunkier soup. That Grace loved it. She also loved gradually uncovering the picture on the bottom of the bowl.

The new Babybug came today, always very exciting. By the time the new Babybug comes, we are tired of reading the old one, although we then have to get all of the back issues and read through them all. It is a great magazine and, as you can see, she really likes it. She carried it around hugging it for quite a while before we got around to reading it. She looks a little rough in this picture because she just dumped a cup of water on her head.

Election Day

As part of the NY Times Polling Place Photo Project, I documented my polling place today. I was a little worried I would be asked not to take pictures, but nobody seemed to care, so I fired away. I had to wait in line for about 1-1/2 hours. Thank goodness Grandma was keeping That Grace. Otherwise I would have taken her with me. There were a few children there but I don't think That Grace would have done too well with that long of a wait.

Of course, she still wanted her voice heard. There was much post voting analysis of the green crayon scrawls. After a long debate, Caroline called it for Ralph Nader.

That Grace was just happy with her sticker.

And her lotion, of course.

Grandma's Visit

I was getting ready to publish this post last night around 10:30 when I heard That Grace crying. Some investigation revealed a severe diaper rash/yeast infection -- must have been the antibiotics. Poor baby, it was a rough night.

It was a great day, though. Grandma came up to spend the night and watch That Grace while I went to the doctor. Here she is eating boiled peanuts with Grandma.

She took the book away from me and gave it to Grandma. Apparently she wanted a fresh perspective on her bedtime reading.

Sleeping In

We had a lovely Sunday today and enjoyed our extra hour immensely. We even made it to Sunday school early this morning. That Grace loves her Sunday school teacher. He seems to be one of the few people exempt from her intense stranger anxiety these days. The time change threw That Grace off her schedule a little but not too bad. Daddy and Caroline, however, are snoozing away and it's not even 10:00.

Little Yogi

That Grace loves to do her yoga! Here she is doing "Down Dog."

Happy Halloween!

These are the last of the cute chicken pictures. We went to our church's Halloween festival. That Grace was a huge hit, although she is really not a "center of attention" kind of kid, unlike her big sister. People kept going on about her costume and how cute she was and she did okay with that. However, quite a few people tried to touch her or even, *gasp* pick her up, which she was not okay with! She really enjoyed the festival, though. Here she is playing with "World's Largest Rabbit (probably)." She loved the hayride and seeing all of the other children dressed up.

I tried to ply her with nutritious snacks before we left, so she wouldn't eat so much candy. She caught onto the grabbing candy notion really quickly. We didn't take a bucket for her, though, so we just got a piece of candy at one station and ate it a little at a time until it was gone, and then got another one. She had about 3 pieces of chocolate, 1 cupcake plus a few bites from another and shared a hot dog with Daddy. Not too bad, and we didn't bring any candy home with us. I'm sure this plan will have to be revisited in a couple of years, but it works for now.

Earlier today we did a big/little activity. It was very easy and required minimal prep time. I just grabbed a big and little object of several different items (shoe, cup, and spoon) and we talked about which was big and which was little and then I let her pick out the big ones of each. Cheap, easy, and educational entertainment!