How 'bout them apples?

That's one of my favorite movie lines -- from "Good Will Hunting," in case you didn't know.

I really do want to talk about apples, which I think are one of the treasures of Michigan. They certainly have been a highlight for us each fall, and we have learned quite a bit about the types of apples available.

There is a cider mill about 20 minutes from our house that is one of our favorite getaways. It is quaint, the cider is amazing, and they have picnic tables next to the tree-lined river that make for a lovely scene. I haven't mentioned the cider donuts, which are not to be missed, and the caramel apples that are incomparable. (Prior to having these, I didn't even LIKE caramel apples, so that says something!)

The girls also love going to the cider mill. (Above, they're very seriously eating and drinking by the river) If you ask Jellybean what happens in the fall, before even mentioning leaves or trees, she will tell you that in the fall you go to the cider mill. That's just what you do. Today, as we were getting in the car to go to the cider mill for the second time this fall, Peanut was repeating, "Excited! Cider mill!" (sounded like "sided" "sigh miw")

We eat apples year-round in our house, and they happen to be one of the girls' favorite snacks. Jellybean loves to know what type of apple she's eating -- more on that in a second -- and she has preferred to eat a whole apple at a time since she was about 1 1/2 and could say "whole apple." Peanut also inhales all the peeled apple slices we give her and now that she has teeth, they're much easier for her to eat. I couldn't live without my apple cutter!

L and I go to the cider mill for cider and donuts. The girls, for some bizarre reason, don't love cider donuts. I gave Jellybean a choice today: donut or apple? She chose apple. We tried again to give Peanut some donut today, and she eschewed it in favor of bites of Jellybean's apple. They are gaga over the cider, though, and would drink the whole gallon if we let them. (I read recently that unpasteurized cider has tons of antioxidants, so that wouldn't be so bad)

As for apples, I have become very opinionated about the types I like. I also have learned that all my favorites are later-season apples, so now is the time for them. Yea! I have always liked the tart little Jonathans, but more recently I have discovered Macintoshes, Pink Ladies, Honey Crisps, and last year I think L's and my overall favorite was the Jonagold. They are all on the tart side and offer varying degrees of firmness, which I much prefer over mushy Red (not very) Delicious. We'll keep trying them this year, and I'll let you know if our favorites change.

With the later-season apples comes the best cider as well. Our cider mill always posts which apple types are in the cider each week. I always prefer the cider when it's mostly Jonathan with a little Macintosh and Honey Crisp in there. How's that for specific?

So now, I have to ask you: How 'bout them apples?

Trash day!

It's about time to recognize what has become a popular day at our house: trash day. I know, I know, but there's no more denying its appeal.

We have three different trash trucks that cruise our neighborhood every Thursday: landfill trash, recycling and yard waste. Both girls scramble for the nearest window at the faintest sound of the rumbling engine or the screeching brakes so that they can catch a glimpse of our faithful waste removers.

This morning, as I was approaching Peanut's door to get her out of her crib, I heard one such truck. I opened her door and as she heard the truck, she transformed from lounging toddler to a standing enthusiastic groupie, exclaiming, "Bash-uck! Bash-uck!" I snagged her out of the crib and whisked open the blinds so she could see the truck for herself.

Do other kids love trash trucks as much as mine do? The only part of the fascination that I can sort of relate to is that our landfill trash trucks are automated. When they pull up to the curb, a robotic arm lowers from the truck, grips the trash can and lifts it to tilt upside down and dump the trash into the truck (see pictures for my photojournalism at its finest). So, there's no need for the trash man (person?) to get out and lift it himself.

I guess if I work hard, I can start thinking it's neat and worth the excitement. I definitely encourage and participate in the trash day celebration regardless, because I love seeing them dash to the windows every Thursday.

Happy things

All right, enough of this grouching and grousing. I feel like all I've done on here is complain lately, and actually life is quite good right now, so that seems a mistake. It must be because I was feeling sick and then lying about it.

On to happier things!

The girls have both been so much fun lately, of course in their own ways. Jellybean has been making friends everywhere we go, and I just love watching her go up to other kids and say "hi" and ask them to play. She has always been much more reserved, and now at 3, she really seems to be coming out of her shell. I don't know if it's preschool or her age or both, but it's a joy to watch her personality unfold every day. We were at storytime at the library today, and she found some preschool and former music class buddies, and had a grand time.

My favorite thing lately with Jellybean are the mornings. I relish our special time together every morning (especially now that she's sleeping until a normal time!). Either she climbs into our bed or I snuggle into hers, and she asks me to tell her stories. I make up stories -- it helps that I'm not fully conscious yet and my head is still full of dream imagery -- and she lays there next to me and listens quietly. At the end of each story, she is silent for a moment then says, "Can you please tell me another story?" It's the sweetest thing and a wonderful start to the day.

Jellybean also got her hair cut yesterday (see before and after pictures), so we went to the salon together. She watched herself in the mirror the whole time and mugged and made faces to amuse herself. I loved it.

Peanut is talking and talking so much lately. It's like someone left the barn door open, and the words are just falling out of her mouth. She puts two words together regularly, and she's also started communicating in gibberish sentences as she pretends to play and read books to herself.

Peanut recognizes when you're asking a question, in particular a yes or no question. Her response is always a very confident "yeah," and I'll appreciate that for as long as I can because I know it will soon be "no." L and I like to have fun with the affirmative responses.

The practical: "Are you hungry?" "Yeah."
The mushy: "Will you be my sweet baby forever?" "Yeah."
The hypothetical: "Will Obama win the election?" "Yeah."

Peanut is very outgoing and always initiates talking to other kids and even adults. Today at library storytime, she kept going up to Jellybean and her buddies. She would pat Jellybean on the back and say (quite loudly), "Hi Jellybean!" It was clear she wanted to be one of the gang.

Her favorite two-word combination these days always involves the word "silly." There is "silly Daddy" and "silly Jellybean" and whatever else she deems to be such. (It does seem like she gets the meaning of silly.) Today, we all spent about 20 minutes watching a squirrel catwalk between our evergreen trees in the backyard and gather twigs for his nest. After a few minutes of watching him, Peanut inevitably popped out with "silly squirrel!"

Deceiving Grandma

My mother-in-law left this morning after a five-day visit. The girls really enjoyed their time with her, and although she wore me out the first couple of days, it was fun to have her here.

Because of choosing my battles, I decided to cooperate with L and not inform his mom that all four of us were getting over a cold. She's a nurse (now teaches nursing), and she tends to overreact to even the slightest sign of illness in L and sometimes the girls. I was feeling a bit guilty and deceptive until L came home from work on Thursday and was a bit hoarse from talking all day. Immediately, his mom grilled him: "Are you feeling okay?" "Maybe you're getting sick." "If it's not better tomorrow, you'll have to go to urgent care." All because of a tired voice. Yeah, that's what I mean.

So I was done feeling guilty about hiding our illness. She kept going on about how Jellybean must have bad allergies and I had better get that checked out -- because her nose was still runny from her cold. I just blew it all off, doing my best imitation of my husband's ability to dismiss most of what she says.

Until. Until. Yesterday, Grandma was clearly not feeling well. She was sneezing all day and low energy and just generally yucky. She kept blaming it on her allergies, and I cringed inside as I bit my tongue. I'm sure she caught our cold, and I'm sure it will turn into a sinus infection for her (that's what always happens to her). And she'll continue thinking it's her allergies until she gets home and feels the same way inside her house.

I can't tell her now. The deception has gone on too long for that to help. Will she figure out the truth?

Updates

Tying up a few loose ends on a Friday afternoon. In case you've been wondering about a few things...

First of all, Peanut's finger is just fine. Not even a scratch remains, and she's just fine. (I'm far more damaged than her about the incident at this point!)

The porch light saga continues, although intermittently. The night after I blogged about it, the light was off for the night. I thought maybe they saw my blog and got paranoid. Yeah, right. It has been on most nights, but it has also been off a few, including last night. It still seems a pointless waste of energy to me. If you leave exterior lights on at your house all night, why do you? Maybe that'll give me some insight.

We tried one of the new wine blends, the Blue Jean red. We liked it and I would recommend it. It's flavorful yet pretty smooth, and I would say similar tannin to a pinot noir. We'll probably buy it again. We also like the Rosso Classic by Coppola with garlicky Italian food, less than $10/bottle.

D'oh

As a parent, I always dread the times my children get hurt. I'm glad to be there to comfort them and care for them at least, and I have lots of empathy.

However, one thing I didn't anticipate when I became a parent were the times that I would inadvertently hurt them MYSELF. Don't worry, no need to call SRS. But I injured Peanut today.

It was lovely outside, and we were on the front porch chatting with one of our neighbors (if you haven't read about my neighborhood, you should) and her kids. I stepped inside to retrieve a Kleenex for the neighbor. As I came outside, I was greeted by Peanut chirping, "Hi, Mama!" only to stop mid-"mama" and start screaming in pain. I turned around and realized that her little ring finger was smashed and stuck in the front door right under the hinge.

Of course, I picked her up immediately and got a good look at the finger. It was a bit purple and had an abrasion on the fingertip. My neighbor reassured me that it was good that it was on the tip and not by a knuckle so the finger wouldn't be broken. Good point and great reassurance. Peanut finally stopped crying when I offered to retrieve her stuffed penguin, Rodrigo.

We bid the (mildly traumatized) neighbors goodbye and came inside to get ibuprofen and calm down. It was right before naptime -- which always happens when there's a worrisome injury, so I can't monitor it closely and see how things are, especially scary with head injuries. Anyway, I got her down for her nap, and she quieted down pretty quickly.

Thankfully her finger and fingernail seem all right. Her fingertip is swollen and a bit funky looking, but she is using the finger and lets me touch it. So, none the worse for wear. Phew.

This incident served as a good reminder to always look for little fingers near doors before I close them: closet doors, room doors, car doors, etc. I won't forget that anytime soon!

It's too early for this

Both girls and I have our first colds of the season. All the stupid rain forced us to be inside, and the humidity probably extra-conducted the germs for us.

This is odd to say, but I'd rather the three of us all be sick at the same time. That way, none of us feels like doing much, and it's easier just to hang out and be chill with everyone wanting the same low level of activity.

Last spring, I had a nasty cold that wiped me out. The girls were both fine, and I could hardly even sit up. I watched them play, feeling very bad I wasn't involved beyond commentary, but it was all I could do to stay awake. I vividly remember Jellybean admonishing me, "Don't go to sleep, Mama!" That wasn't my best day as a parent, certainly.

We spent today at home just playing with toys. You would think that isn't different than normal, except that usually, when everyone's healthy, at least one -- if not all -- of us gets antsy and wants a change of scenery. We rarely spend a morning in our playroom and living room exclusively. We at least venture out to the backyard and play on the swing set. And usually, we'll at least meander partly around the block.

I know I'm not feeling up to snuff if just stepping out the back door seems like it takes a lot of energy. I actually laid down on the couch during nap time today! That's unheard of for me; I always have a list a mile long of things to do. Well, the list is still there, it just won't have any check marks today.

Wet, wet, WET

"The sun did not shine. It was too wet to play. So we sat in the house all that cold, cold wet day..."
The Cat in the Hat, Dr. Seuss

I can't help but channel Dr. Seuss. For the past three days, it has been cloudy and raining constantly. The temperature hovered constantly around 70 degrees, so there was no difference (or break!) between day and night.

I've felt like we've been living in a steam room. Everything in the house has absorbed the sticky humidity and feels wet to the touch. Towels haven't dried, glasses are sweating all over the tables and counters.

Now that the remnants of Hurricane Ike have drenched us after all the moisture we already had, I think it may be almost over. I wouldn't mind seeing the sun (and wearing dry clothes!).

Late-night storm

I'm a bit slow and my mind is foggy today from being awake with Jellybean in the night. At a little before 4 a.m, I woke up to the distant rumbles of thunder. I thought that I may as well stay awake -- I knew the flashing and banging would rouse Jellybean into a fit of tears soon enough.

It was only about 10 minutes later that I heard the pitiful cry and "Mama!" I went to her room and found her sitting up in bed clinging to Berkeley, her little white bear. Her fear and vulnerability tug so strongly at my heart. I laid down in bed with her and we both dozed a bit. There were only two more audible claps of thunder, each of which made Jellybean flinch and whimper and reach for me.

After about 40 minutes, I got up and whispered that the storm was over. As I was walking back to my room, I saw another flash and thought, "Oops." I continued back to bed and laid there for another 30 minutes while there were more flashes and far-away rumbles. I anticipated hearing Jellybean again any second, but she must have been crashed out. I got back to sleep about 5:30, only to be awakened for good by Peanut at 6:45.

Finally, I can give at least one concession for winter: Thunderstorms are rare. One less thing to wake all of us for a few months!

Why we don't eat out very often

Tonight when L got home, I was prepping dinner in the kitchen. He said, "Let's just go out to eat." After some hemming and hawing on my part, trying to figure out how to stopgap the meal and serve it tomorrow instead, I agreed.

We don't go out very often, as budget considerations don't allow. But the idea of not doing all the cooking and having dishes to wash suddenly released all the tension in my shoulders. The idea of having $2 off the best margarita in town at a restaurant nearby released all the tension in the rest of me.

We go to this place maybe once every three months, and the food is excellent. We sit down at the table, and our (very kid-friendly!) waiter comes to take our drink order. L gets a beer, I order my margarita and milks for the kids. The waiter walks away to retrieve the drinks while we start studying the food part of the menu.

Jellybean announces, rather loudly, "Mama, I know what you're having." And I said, "Oh really, what?" Then she practically yells, "A margarita!"

Like it doesn't look bad enough to be out to dinner with two very small children and having the stemmed glass towering in the middle of the table. The kid also has to advertise by word-of-mouth that her mom needs a strong drink. Awesome.

Little-girl playdate

This morning while Jellybean was at preschool, Peanut and I got to have a playdate of sorts. Our little neighbor S came over to play while her parents went to check out a potential preschool for her. S is about 8 months older than peanut and 14 months younger than Jellybean, so she's almost smack-dab between my two girls.

It was good to have a playmate for Peanut who is closer to her age than Jellybean -- and without Jellybean around. Peanut loved having S over to play and kept repeating "hi" and a mangled version of S's name, which was very cute. They spent a lot of time NOT sharing and NOT wanting to take turns with things like the rocking horse and the musical chair, so all in all I consider it a success!

I remembered today that two things happen at every playdate: 1. Something (usually a toy) gets broken, and 2. Kids adapt at least one bad habit from each other.

Something small did get messed up, but it was very trivial. The latter remains to be seen, but I'm guessing it'll either involve Peanut putting things in her mouth (she had gotten past this, but S still prefers to taste-test toys) or standing on chairs. Stay tuned.

Notes from Dad

As I've mentioned before, L's schedule this semester includes an early class that requires him to leave before the girls get up in the morning. He concocted the brilliant plan to leave notes for the girls each day so they'd hear from him as soon as they got up in the morning.

Jellybean can hardly wait to get downstairs for breakfast on the days that L is working. "Do you think he left me a note?" she wonders, all the way down the steps. I read her the note, and she memorizes it, then reads it out loud to herself a few times during the day. It's so sweet. Sometimes she reads Peanut her note too, which I also love.

Peanut gets the note thing totally. She points to the notes and says, "Note." or "Daddy!" (depending on her mood, I think).

I have to give props to L for a really good idea.

"Kids or dishes?"

Every night, after our family dinner, L and I divide and conquer. One of us clears the table and does all the dinner dishes. The other one corrals the children so the dishwasher can accomplish his/her task interruption-free.

Tonight, toward the end of dinner, Jellybean turned toward me with a mouthful and asked something indistinguishable. Once she swallowed her food, she repeated her question, "Kids or dishes, Mama?"

There you have it. L's and my nightly line repeated back to us before we could even say it to each other. We laughed, then I asked her who should have which job. She chose me for dishes so she could play her crazy airplane wrestling game with L (Peanut too, in a lighter version). That was fine with me.

When you have a child, you always know the phrases and words you overuse. Now we can add "Kids or dishes?" to that list.

Wine-ing

Wine drinking is something I missed while I was pregnant and nursing, and now that I've been "back in the game" almost a year, I'm finally making up some ground of trying new wines.

I've gravitated toward some interesting blends and even "table wines" recently, so I thought I'd share a bit about them.

In my opinion, the king (queen?) of all white table wines is Conundrum. If you haven't had this, you MUST. At the very least, find it and give it as a hostess or house-warming gift to a white-wine aficionado. It has one of the most complex lovely flavors that changes as it warms up, and it goes with absolutely everything to eat (or nothing to eat, as maybe we've done around here occasionally). They don't list the grape varietals, but who cares what it is if it's delicious? It runs about $25/bottle, so not an everyday wine, but the perfect special-occasion white wine.

A red blend I discovered very recently that I enjoy is Bliss Schoolhouse Red. Again labeled as a "table wine" -- I need to get that negative association out of my head -- this blends at least four grape varietals, and I think it could go with about any food. I've had it with pasta and meat, both of which went excellently. It's fruity, yet just glides down smoothly. Pricing for this is more moderate than Conundrum, more in the $15 range.

I have two new blends I just found that I want to try. One is Blue Jean California red wine, which looks to have an intriguing varietal combination. The other is Hare's Chase red blend Barossa Valley, which has to be at least partly wonderful because it includes shiraz from the Barossa Valley. If you haven't had Barossa shiraz of any type, you must try that sometime too -- blended or otherwise.

I'll update once we've tried the Blue Jean and Hare's Chase to let you know how they are. In the meantime, I'm open to any and all recommendations.

Like a good neighbor

I must take some time to discuss our neighborhood, because it really is fantastic. My mother-in-law calls this the "Beaver Cleaver" neighborhood. And many people I know are in awe of the people who live around us. We really are lucky (and luck is what's involved with neighbors and neighborhoods, don't you think?). Of course, the porch light across the street is annoying, but SO minor compared to what could be happening.

When we bought our house here two years ago, it was about 50-50 older people (original owners, many of them, as the houses were built in the 60s) and young families. Now, with the recent sale of several homes, the tide is turning and it's probably about 70-30 younger people to older. There are tons of kids, many in elementary school and several around Jellybean's age.

We have really enjoyed getting to know everyone here. And we really do know them. I could walk you around the block and point to almost every house and tell you who lives there and at least something about them -- if not a whole lot more.

We can't take a walk without people stopping us to chat or coming out of their houses to say hello and see how we're doing (like really how we're doing, not just the vapid "how are you?" we all recite anymore). Part of that comes with having little kids, but most if it is just how it is here.

When we returned from one of our vacations this summer, within 45 minutes, three different neighbors stopped by to welcome us home and find out about our trip. Within 2 hours, we had talked to almost everyone on our street and been invited over for drinks to our next-door neighbors.

When Peanut was born, we received everything from cards to homemade dinners to toys for both girls and even two handmade pillows with photos of the girls on them. And we had lived here less than a year. It was unreal.

This summer, we had a gate installed at the back edge of our fence we share with the behind-us neighbors so we can easily go back and forth to their house to play. Their girls are 2 and newborn, so it will get even more use as time goes by. (Not to say it hasn't had A LOT this summer!)

The other night, we went out for a post-dinner walk, and Mr. and Mrs. H next door, parents of teenagers, came out to say hello. Both girls greeted them and proceeded to be very entertaining. Mr. and Mrs. H sat down in their driveway for half an hour to interact with the girls and chat with us. So cool. Peanut rewarded them by repeatedly lifting her shirt to reveal her navel and saying "din-don" as she pressed her chubby finger into her belly button.

Yesterday morning, I was walking over to another neighbor's house to consult with her about marketing her business (the second such neighborhood "client" I've had). I ran into my neighbor Mrs. S walking her dog, and she turned around her walking route just to accompany me to chat on my way. We had a lively political discussion, particularly about Sarah Palin, and it was lovely.

The reason I'm choosing to describe my neighborhood today is that, first of all, it's great, and second of all, we're having our annual Block Party this afternoon. It's a gorgeous day, people will bring potluck food, the kids will play with water balloons and bust a pinata, and it will be a nice time as always.

I can't remember the last time I lived in a neighborhood that had regular block parties. I do recall some from my childhood, so we're probably talking 1985 since I've experienced that. I'm so glad my kids get to, and I think more people should hold them. I know everybody around me, and I would jump at the chance to help anyone if they needed it, and I know they'd do the same for us. In this age of Blackberries, video games and webcams, it's a welcome relief.

New routine

We've spent the past few days settling into what will be our routine. Because my parents were here last week and preschool didn't start until this week, we hadn't really adjusted to L's work schedule nor organized our lives properly.

L's teaching schedule this fall requires him to leave before the kids wake up in the morning. Jellybean goes to preschool three consecutive days per week this fall, so that's one more day than she's used to and different than her previous Tuesday and Friday routine. Peanut and I will start a music class next week one day a week too.

So I think I have it all worked out as to the timing of everything, obviously with some give and take here and there. Because of Peanut's afternoon nap schedule, I have to feed her lunch before we get Jellybean at preschool, but that's not a huge deal. (easier than when she still took a morning nap too)

I took Jellybean to preschool yesterday and got her settled in, only to have Peanut dying to get out of my arms so she could also play with the myriad toys surrounding us. One of the teachers made the comment that this will be a hard year to bring Jellybean to school, now that Peanut sees how much fun it is there. When I picked up Jellybean on the playground at the end of preschool, Peanut thought that looked fun too, and said, "I fing, I fing!" ("I swing! I swing!") It was cute, but I also felt a little bad for her. She's stuck at home playing with Mama while Jellybean has a blast with tons of kids and tons of toys. It's hard to be the baby.

Jellybean seems to be having some transition time to adjust to this routine -- L being gone all day plus the three days of preschool. She only napped for an hour yesterday (she's a very regular 2-hour napper), then proceeded to lay down on the floor and cry after her nap when I said she couldn't color right then. It was horrible and so out of character. Change is difficult to cope with for 3-year-olds, I'm seeing. In the meantime, Peanut was zooming through the house saying, "I nunning, I nunning" (running) and just exercised away her stress.

So let's hope today's nap goes better and she's more herself. She was a monster until L came home, and then it was like nothing was wrong. Not too much mystery there as to what her problem was!

Bright lights at night

The neighbors across the street have been keeping their porch light on all night lately. They don't have any kids, so no one is coming home in the middle of the night. I don't know why it's on.

The reason I'm aware of the light is that our bedroom is right across from their porch. We need the windows open at night to circulate air with our attic fan, so the light spills in on our bed all night. I tried to see yesterday if the light was on all day, like maybe they don't know it's on. But it looked like the light was off in the daytime.

It's a waste of energy, and it's bugging me. I would love to say something, but I'll see how long it keeps going on. It's been about 10 days so far. I hate to tick off a neighbor. I also hate to have light beaming over my bed at 3 a.m.!

What would you do?

Summer lovin'

I spent all day yesterday depressed because summer was over. I'm much more cheerful today, but that's because I worked hard to focus on all the good times we had this summer.

I was trying to figure out why this summer was so significant for me, and I realized that it was my first real summer in about 4 years: 2005 -- Jellybean was born; 2006 -- we moved our butts to Michigan; 2007 -- Peanut was born. I wasn't awake all night feeding a baby, and I wasn't unpacking everything we owned. A nice break!

Here are some of my favorite times this summer.