We went to the Zoo

We went to the zoo and Athena's favorite was the monkey cage. She kept mentioning "thatsa' mommy," "thasa' daddy," "thasa' baby." She is making sense of her world and classifies every adult male as a daddy, every woman as a mommy, and every kid as a baby. Yesterday she said, "bye bye daddy!" to the trash man. Uh oh Conrad.

Yesterday she stood on a chair and looked intently on a fly that came to sit on the chair's back. She gave it her sweetest smile, hunkered her little back down in a humble proposition as she cupped both her baby hands toward the bug. She directed some baby-lish at the fly in a sweet sing-song voice. Her face was the epitome of sweet humility; I just had to stop and enjoy it for a bit. I was going to record it, but the camera was upstairs, so I just watched instead. She gently moved her cupped palms toward the bug, entreating it to hop inside, but it flew away. She laughed as it buzzed around her. And - she goes back and forth: The other day I let her play with a worm and the worm ended up in a few crumbly pieces. Slugs though- they are very durable and she likes their little searching eyes. So unless her hands are salty, slugs are the best outdoor toy.

She loves her Aunt Leah, my little sister who's 16 years old. We are 11 years apart and Leah is 14 years older than Athena so it's like history repeating itself. They really hit it off! We visited grandma's house and I walked into Leah's room to find the two of them sitting on Leah's bed surrounded by soft fleece animals, and pink things, and other little 'pretties' that girls play with. Athena was smiling up at Leah with this total look of excited admiration. In her hand was a chap stick. Athena loves chap stick. I don't know why, but it makes her feel so special to have it in her little hand and reapply it every couple seconds. I've had to take it away in the past because it's messy on a cream colored couch. If she didn't dig in it I'd let her hold it longer. Anyway she looked up at me with this excited special smile and her eyes got big like she was about to have to protect her happy girlish moment. But I wasn't there to confiscate the chap stick. I kissed her head and said, "Do you have chap stick?!" She giggled excitedly. "You feel special!" Then I left the two of them to each other. Later I joked with Leah, "One of these days I won't be cool anymore and she's going to turn to you. You better steer her right!" :)

And an update on me: I'm 33 weeks along so only 7 weeks left to go! Holy moly- I'm in no hurry! Every time I hum baby kicks, and I like knowing one predictable thing about him. Every time I sing Athena says, "No! no! no!" What gives?! I have a relatively nice singing voice. (shrug)I have really enjoyed editing lately. I like being part of a team and being depended on outside of the family. It gives me a different angle of fulfillment that I don't find in my other favorite occupation... -that's mommy; just in case you inferred that I'm selling drugs or some other undercover shady deals.

I'm a scout leader for bears. I like being around those 'male' personalities. The over-excited hyped up immaturity common to that age is annoying and I'm not very patient with it. But on their better behavior, the male humor is refreshing; there's a certain open frankness there, and they just take life as it rolls. They don't over-think or hide their 'true feelings' about things. I can't find the right words right now, but a room full of boys and a room full of girls are such different rooms! I appreciate both, but I appreciate very different things about them. Each room is an entirely different experience.

I've been working in my garden, pulling weeds thigh high because it drives me crazy to see them and I hate to admit I was defeated by weeds once again this year. So come fall I hope to have it looking tidy before the snow hits. My Stella cherry looks diseased- still trying to figure out what it is. I canned a LOT of stuff this year and have really enjoyed doing it. I love seeing stocked shelves that I know will last roughly a year.

Here's what I did:
29 qts Peaches
31 pts Green beans -our own garden
16 pts and 11 qts Pears
7 qts Applesauce
4 qts Pickles
9 pts Apple pie filling
13 pts Tomato chunks - own garden (there's a lot more to come)
4 qts Tomato sauce
7 pts Salsa
10 qts apple slices
9 pts apple pie filling
1 qt apple butter

A picture would say a lot more, but maybe after I'm all done with it.

And last we put up Halloween decorations. Athena loves Halloween. She's catching the spirit of fun in it. I put up a little ghostie in the front yard that sways in the wind. -I've scared myself twice now as it moved in the corner of my eye. - lame? yes.