Navigating the hilly terrain of motherhood
Tess: "Mom, I want a baby sister. And a baby brother. Two babies!"
Me: "You want me to grow another baby in my tummy?!"
Grace: "Mom, you should adopt one instead. It's good for the earth."
She has a good point. But I think I'll just stick with the two I've got.
Today was a gorgeous, sunny and warm fall day in New England. Perfect, we decided, for visiting our two favorite apple orchards — one for cider and donuts (and wooden cutouts just screaming for adorable photo ops), and the other for kids' activities. So we drank cider, took photos, climbed on hay bales, visited farm animals, and laughed our way through a corn maze together. And for some reason — perhaps the sun, or the fresh, crisp air, or the pumpkin donuts — our two sweet girls had a wonderful time together, without a single tear or unkind word. They giggled and climbed and played and ran around and reveled in having each other as playmates — exactly the kind of thing I have always hoped for them. It made my heart happy, and I think their hearts were happy, too.
Me: "What do you want to do today?"
Tess: "Play, play, play, play, play. And wear dresses."
Grace got so excited today when she noticed that it was snowing at the football game Adam was watching. She immediately asked where the game was being played, and then wanted to know how far away we are from Foxboro Stadium. When Adam told her that it is about three hours away, Grace immediately ran to get Tess. "Tess," she exclaimed, "the snow is coming! It's only three hours away!" And then they proceeded to put on their winter gear to prepare for the impending squall.
Clearly, they are way more excited about winter than I am — and they lack a basic understanding of how the weather works.
After much wiggling and even more anticipation this week, our sweet little Gracie lost her first tooth today. It happened on the playground at school. Suddenly she realized her tooth was missing, and her classmates and teachers searched around in the grass until the precious tooth was recovered. Because, you know, the tooth fairy will be looking for it tonight.
Just yesterday, I took a short video of Gracie wiggling that very tooth. Honestly, all of this wiggling made me weak in the knees, but I did my best to act appropriately excited and amazed. After all, a kid's first wiggly tooth is a pretty big deal. I just hope the tooth fairy comes through for her.
This afternoon Grace and I had a special date and hiked up Bradbury Mountain together. Just the two of us. Holding hands and laughing, taking photos of each other, eating trail mix, and just enjoying each other's company.
When we did this hike on Monday as a family, Grace lamented the fact that she didn't have her art supplies with her, because she'd like to draw the beautiful view. So I brought along a new sketchbook and some markers. She drew the view from the mountaintop, then drew the whole world (the "M" is for Maine and the "P" is for Pennsylvania).
Grace's new book is entitled Hearts for Peace. I can't wait to take more special excursions with her so that we can get that sketchbook filled up. It's kind of fun seeing the world through her eyes for a while.
On Sunday we visited the crazy place known as Pumpkinland. I had heard about it ever since we moved to Maine, and was slightly afraid to witness the extravaganza in person. But it's just a bunch of Halloween-y things set up on someone's farm, so how crazy could it be? And I certainly didn't want to deprive my children of a fundamental "fall in Maine" experience. So off we went.
Let me just say that Pumpkinland was unlike anything I've even seen. There was so much to do that I can't even remember it all: a petting zoo, corn maze, tractor rides, bouncy houses, climbing wall, big slide, tricycle course, hay bale climb, dance party (?), fair food, and a huge pumpkin patch. Some things were just too scary, like the Scooby-Doo bouncy house (which the girls decided not to do only after we had waited, and waited, for our turn) and the only slightly haunted fake graveyard (which scared poor Tess to death, even though she never even went in). But bless their hearts, those two little girls walked hand-in-hand right up to the creepy skeleton-face bouncy slide and slid right down, still holding hands.
So, Pumpkinland was a big hit, and the two sisters handled the excitement — and scariness — beautifully. Now Grace keeps asking me, "What other kinds of 'lands' are there that we can go to?"
Grace spent a good deal of time yesterday morning preparing for and attending her "teenager meeting." I really don't know what this was all about, but apparently teenagers wear ties and carry their favorite stuffed animals in their suitcases.
Travelingjenny 