All Things Fall: Food, Friends, Fires
I'm not someone who likes to use cliches frequently, but when it comes to the amazingness of the Autumn season, I'm a walking cliche. I love chunky sweaters, plaid blanket scarves, comfort food, candles, and yes, pumpkin spice everything. I've actually forced myself not to get a PSL from Starbucks yet this season, because I know once I do, there's no turning back. The past few weekends in Western Michigan have been unseasonably warm, so you can only imagine my inner excitement when it FINALLY started turning cold this weekend. Unfortunately the chilly air came with pouring rain, but it's nothing we couldn't handle.
My amazing parents took Eloise overnight on Friday (I know, we are so lucky!) so we could get a full night's sleep. It ended up working out pretty well, since Annie had a cough last week and as you know if you read my previous post, was just a gem all week, so we were able to spend some good one on one time with her that evening. Saturday morning came, Dan and I were feeling refreshed, and it was a good thing, because we had a pretty busy morning. We went over and picked Eloise up from my parents, and then headed to my in-laws for a nice family breakfast. Ellie was a dream, as expected. She just sat there and took it all in, being passed from adult to adult. Annie and her cousin Emmy were definitely the life of the party. They are 19- and 20-months old, so you can imagine the level of energy and curiosity in the room. We loved it though. It's so much fun to watch them together, especially now that they are old enough to recognize each other and actually play with each other instead of next to each other.
After about an hour-ish at my in-laws, off we went to our next party! Our friends had the cutest birthday party for their adorable kids who recently turned one and three years old. If any of you know Aly, you know she's pretty much a SuperMom, and throwing a fantastic party is no exception. They had yummy food, Robinette's donuts (anyone from the Grand Rapids area knows these are incredibly delicious), cider, tractor rides and pumpkin painting. Kudos to you Mama, you never cease to amaze me! The birthday boy and girl are the most adorable kiddos ever too, and so sweet. I had gone up to the baby's room to change Ellie's diaper, and the birthday girl (the one who turned 3) wandered up and we had a nice little conversation. We talked about who was on Eloise's diaper (Cookie Monster and Elmo), if she had a poopy diaper, and how old she was. I asked if she liked babies and if she wanted my baby to sit next to her and she got the biggest, cutest smile and said yes please. And this happened:
Miss Eloise was absolutely smitten and didn't want to look away. I hope these girls grow up together, because they certainly seem to like each other a lot right now!
After the party, we came back home and put the girls to bed because we had a dog behaviorist over for a few hours. Nothing bad, but we've been having some issues with our dogs being possessive, but not necessarily aggressive - barking at ANYONE that walks by the house, loud barking whenever they hear a doorbell on TV or if someone knocks on the door, even if it's someone we know, things like that. They'd also been not listening to us as well as they used to. We want to make sure we get a handle on these behaviors before they turn into a bigger problem, especially with two little ones. We got some great tips and feedback, and can already notice a difference, which is great! During the time the behaviorist was over, both girls had woken up from their naps, which made things a big chaotic, but in the end it was good so she could see the dynamic of a normal day in our house. After she left, it was about 4.00pm and between her visit, the birthday party, and breakfast, we were pretty spent! Maybe it was the tiredness, maybe it was the dreary weather, but we just decided to order pizza. Somewhere in there on Saturday, and honestly I cannot for the life of me remember when it happened (I'm thinking after the dog lady left but before the pizza came, because when else could it have been?), Annie worked on a little art project. It's been so fun to watch her motor skills improve over the year. This time last year she would have just been painting with her hands. Now she's using a brush and doing her best at dipping it in the paint container (and yes, Grandma Ellen and Uncle Neil, with her left hand!).
Neither of the girls slept particularly long that day (Eloise had just two 30-40 minute naps the entire day which is not out of the norm), so it ended up being an early evening for them. I took Eloise up to bed around 6.30pm because she was cranky and tired, likely from the previously mentioned lack of daytime napping abilities, and Dan said Annie pointed to the stairs and asked him to go "Night Night" about 15 minutes later. She wasn't whiney, just matter of fact. Yes, I know we are lucky - our toddler asked to go to bed. And this isn't the first time she's done it.
I was fully prepared to be back to waking several times a night with Miss Eloise after having a glorious full night of sleep Friday night. By some strike of luck, she actually slept ALL night. Well, all night being until 5am. On a weekend. I asked Dan if he could get up with her, and he did, bless his heart. She fell asleep in his arms and he laid her down and came back to bed. Unfortunately, that lasted about 5 minutes and she was ready to rock and roll for the day. Since I had gotten another 45 minutes of sleep while he was up with her, I took her downstairs so Dan could get some more sleep as well. I used this time to watch one of my recorded shows and snuggle on my little lady. It's hard to be mad about an early wake up call when this is the reason:
Sunday was another bit of a dreary day, so we did various activities to pass the time to keep Annie entertained. Ellie is pretty easily entertained - hold her, put her in the bouncer, read some books - she's pretty easy to please. It's the busy toddler that is another story. After the normal start of the day with breakfast, we moved on to turning on the fireplace (all things fall, no? Love me a cozy fire!). We have shown Annie what fire looks like on a candle before, and she very clearly understands what "Hot" means. She will stand about 2 feet away from the oven, point at it saying "Hot!" and try to blow on it to cool it down. Even when the fire was not going, we did the same any time she got close to the hearth, so we are pretty confident that she understands she's not to touch fire. It doesn't mean she's any less intrigued though. Lucky for us, this kept her busy for a good 20 minutes Sunday morning.
After a while, I decided to take the girls over to my parents for a quick visit to eat up some more time before lunch. Just a quick change of scenery can do wonders for them, and in turn me, especially knowing it was highly likely we'd be inside most of the day due to the weather. We had a great time visiting, and shortly before noon, came back home for lunch. For those of you that know Annie, you know she's basically a garbage disposal. She loves to eat. So when I made her lunch and turned around to see her almost asleep in her food, I of course had to take a video to document the fact that in this case, sleep won.
I really appreciate the determination to continue chewing while falling asleep, kiddo. You've got grit.
After a nice long nap (well at least for Annie, because as you know, Ellie doesn't like daytime napping), the kids were bright-eyed and full of energy for the afternoon. We spent a bit of time doing some sibling bonding, teaching Annie to read to her little sister. She's getting better every day at being gentle, almost to the point where we don't have to be right on top of the girls to make sure Ellie doesn't get a finger to they eye by accident. Annie's aim is getting much better as well. It's really heartwarming to watch these two do small things like this. Ellie is so interested in her big sister, and Annie is doing a great job being nice and sharing with her, too!
As you can imagine, toddler/baby story time lasts for about 5 minutes, if you're lucky. At about the time they were over it, it was somewhere around 4.00pm, maybe 4.30, I can't be certain. I knew I had to get dinner going, but also knew that Annie needed to be entertained, and was having a very "Mommy" weekend so would not be far from my side. I thought to myself, "She's 19 months old, it's never too early to learn how to do new chores, right?" I mean, she already does a great job of helping clean up her toys every night, why not have her help with dinner? We made this Chicken-Macaroni Casserole that is pretty much the definition of comfort food and PERFECT for a fall meal on a Sunday evening. We washed our hands, pulled up a chair, and she was SO excited. She studied everything we were doing. She got to play around with the noodles before they were cooked, which is apparently a very fun thing for a toddler to do. Once everything was ready to be mixed, we brought the chair over to the stove and (I) poured everything in so we could stir it up. She loved every second of it!
Now, before the trolls of the internet jump all over me, let me just give a disclaimer here. Yes, she's close to the stove, and no, she's not wearing pants. I pre-cooked anything that had a chance of having splatter so she was not at risk of any oil burn. Also, she definitely understands the concept of hot so doesn't get too close. She even blew on the pot when I told her it was hot. Also, she did not pour any ingredients in herself. So if at some point this blog gets a huge following (in my wildest dreams, right?) and someone feels it appropriate to judge my parenting decisions, know that I did not put my child in any sort of danger. Instead of judging, I hope that people look at this as something positive. I was involving my child in chores and teaching her new things. We talked about how we mix things together, how they felt, all the different ingredients that we used, and I explained every step to her. Not only was it a great teaching activity for her, even if she is just a toddler, this was something she really enjoyed doing! Making dinner with Annie was an an absolute blast and it was great when it was all done baking and we could have dinner and say to her, "Annie, this is what you made for dinner!"
On the note of dinner, I'd love for people to share recipes of their favorite fall dishes! We get in such a rut sometimes with our cooking. I feel like I tend to have the same 5 or 6 meals in rotation each season, and could really use some new ideas. Think easy and not very time consuming, and something that a toddler would eat. Help a mama out!
At the end of the day (or shall I say weekend?), we had a decently busy weekend, but it felt productive and happy. The rain didn't get us down, and we made the best of it. I'm so thankful for time with our family and friends, and even it it meant running back and forth, I wouldn't have changed it. We were tired, but our hearts, at the end of the day, were full. Today it's back to work and thinking about next weekend, but for now I'll enjoy the fun times we had this past weekend.
Excuse me now while I go finish my lunch. Hopefully it goes a bit better for me than it did for Annie the other day.