Hello, Fall!

We've had quite a dramatic seasonal change here in the past few days. I spent most of last week sweltering in my non-air conditioned classroom, and carting the boys to a very warm cross country meet this Saturday, but by yesterday, there's a crisp chill in the air that smacks of tart autumn apples and hayrides. Of course, it's a little too soon for that yet, but we are all a little anxious for autumn to arrive. We enjoyed our day yesterday by riding to the playground and harvesting squash, tomatoes, and basil from our garden, which, at this point, looks like it could overtake our house. The pumpkins and butternut squash have already crawled across the span of our yard. Eric cooked about 10 squash and one ginormous pumpkin yesterday, which went into the freezer and into a delicious pumpkin soup that we enjoyed for dinner. We've given a few away to neighbors, but there are still many more just hanging out in a box in our kitchen and a few more ripening on the vine. Lesson learned: Take the seed packet's advice. When it tells you to "cull the plants," you really can stand to kill off a few of them after all.

Still, it's nice that the squash will last us quite a while--they keep pretty well. And they are fairly preservable, after all.

We've learned that Auden loves cherry tomatoes. I was cutting back the basil yesterday, and he eagerly picked a few of our orange cherry tomatoes off the vine. I was really concerned he would choke on them, so I tried to at least bite them in half for him. He didn't like that idea--he shrieked in protest and threw the remaining tomato on the ground in a fit of rage. So I let him take the next one, which he squished quite happily. And I discovered this weekend that he is not just gumming the food any longer--his top molars are both coming in. They are now very fine points on either side of his gums, which probably account for his wakeful nights of late, drooly face, and snotty nose. We played a lot of music this weekend, since I finally got around to finding out the names of the artists of those few random songs I've liked on the radio. Auden bobs his head up and down or does a saucy but smiley "no," twists his torso from side to side or bounces to the beat of the music. Such a joyful little boy.

Logan is still enjoying his weekly rotation. He gets to see Miss Dawn and learn new things, and then he gets to play all day over at Jen's. Dawn has been introducing Logan to letters of the week. M was the first week, and that one seems to have stuck the best. He excitedly points to the capital Ms in the stories we read--The He-Man book is his obsession of late. Boy, am I thrilled about that. B and H have been the letters that have followed and apparently leave much to Logan's imagination. He could care less what sounds they make or how they look. I was, however, able to spark some interest in the letter B by buying him a roll of Bubble Tape as a treat at the grocery store. They offer little shopping carts for kids to drive around so they can "help mommy," which Logan loves to do. Every once in a while, I let him try out his shopping skills, and he actually behaved really well. No near-collisions with other shoppers, and he walked beside my cart the entire time. So, I felt it appropriate that he get a bubble-gum treat, in honor of the week's letter, B (and in honor of his hopping up and down asking for the stuff!). We listed some of the B things we bought in the store, like bananas, berries, bread, and, of course, bubble gum. I threw him a curve ball and told him that avocados started with B, too. He fell for it. But, hey, he's learning. "Just about everything in that store starts with B! But some of it doesn't." So true.