What We've Been Up To (Fall)

On to fall. It's my favorite time of year---mostly because summer here is way to hot for me to breathe outside, but I love outside. By the time fall gets here I could camp the entire season and be just giddy about it. Unless it's 18 degrees outside (but you guys didn't listen to me!)

This fall with Fisher has been great. Chase has been working 5am-2pm so he has gotten to be there every evening! We went to the woods, to several corn mazes and pumpkin patches, and of course to Mercier's Orchard for Pink Lady picking. That baby can put down some Pink Lady apples. We went trick-or-treating at the Creative Discovery Museum, the Zoo, the Aquarium, our house, and at Sugar Plum Lane. Fisher was a candy-seeking bum (what's new?), an astronaut, and a dinosaur. We were going to dress up like Martin Luther too (Oct. 31 is also Reformation Day) but I couldn't find a turtleneck for a monk outfit and he's too young to get it, anyway. He was also supposed to be Super-Why, but I got l-a-z-y busy and didn't find time to make him a costume (one day...).

Fisher and I had lots of fun learning time, too. We talked about apples and pumpkins and color-changing leaves to name a few. We made apple art and picked colorful leaves for the fridge. I had more ideas, but as he is mostly interested in things with wheels at the moment (with short intermissions for anything Elmo or Super-Why related) I figure they can wait until next year.

We also started doing Morning Meeting / Calendar Time. I know, I know, for all of the teacher-moms out there, and I am not going to try to single-handedly teach my kid elevated concepts for mommy street-cred. However, he really likes it! And guess what, I knew he would! We talk about the days of the week and the seasons and the months of the year. We count. We talk about yesterday, today and tomorrow, and the weather. We have a chore chart that we mark when he helps me make his bed or brush his hair or when I catch him minding the "one book/toy at a time" rule (by putting the other back on the shelf, toddler-style of course). We go over house rules (Ten Commandments for Kids poster).

He's soaking it all in, too. Last week he and Chase were in his room and the closet door was open. He walked up to the season sign that is on the weather chart and pulled it off. He took it to Chase and said, "Fall." He was right. It said "fall." He might have epic-ly (i know, just roll with it) refused to join me in the Baby- sign- so- mommy- and- baby- won't- be- so- frustrated- with- lack- of- communication- department, but HE UNDERSTANDS with the calendar time!

So that, so far, is our Fall. It's almost Thanksgiving. I just had a follow-up heart cath yesterday, but when I feel better we may think up some cool toddler Thanksgiving crafts to do. This Thursday is going to be fun. We plan to meet Nana at the YMCA Holiday Market and then have our Christmas Card pictures made that afternoon. I am sooo excited, and that's just the beginning of Thanksgiving season. In the days ahead, we plan to go to Disney on Ice and to see the Pink Pig at Lenox (insert choir for Lenox here). Then, Black Friday, I should have nothing left to buy, but I plan to get out because it's fun! Then, Christmas time is here! (That is my FAVORITE season...especially wonderful since Fisher will be old enough to enjoy it this year!)