Fall Coats

Last year, she hated the coat that Myney bought her; she refused to wear it all season. This year, she pulled it out from the back of the coat rack and begged to wear it to show her teacher. It looked amazing with her yelllow crocs.



Then, when Orlando bought her a beautiful new charcoal grey peacoat, she instantly hated it, and only wore it to school under threat of losing her tv privileges.

Once at school, though, her friend Karynn told her she looked like a teacher, which Annie thought was the best compliment she could ever have gotten. After that, she was happy to wear the coat anytime. She even insisted on wearing it to go apple picking.



Guess from now on, we just have to either buy coats a size too big, or find a friend to compliment her in them when we make her wear them.

A restful weekend and musings

With Orlando being home before he starts his new job, we had one more weekend together as a family. Yesterday, the fun took the form of not leaving the house and having an amazing fall dinner of curried butternut squash soup and asparagus salad (thank you, Orlando).

Orlando and I spent a few moments marvelling at how our little girl has grown. Her leg, from knee to toe, is now almost exactly the same length as she was when we brought her home from the hospital. She seemed so big to me then, my baby. Now, I see glimpses of the woman she'll be.

Physical growth isn't the only change we've noticed. She seems to be stepping away from the shyness that was such a fixture of her personality from the day she was born. Annie always took a while to warm up to strangers, and avoided any kind of public attention. She's becoming less risk averse, too.

Today, I took her to watch our friends Ann and Abby take their first lesson in trapeze school. It was great fun to watch, though my fear of heights was making my heart race from the very beginning. The most amazing thing for me was seeing Anastasia inch her way towards the rigging and then begging to be allowed to take a lesson. (They don't accept students under age 5, so I had a relatively easy out there! How likely do you think it is that she'll remember it next year?)

We've also entered the phase of development where she has to share the intricate details of everything she observes. Lately, the phrase I think we hear most often is "and do you know what else ...?" Tonight, I was watching 60 Minutes, featuring a story on Jane Goodall. Anastasia came over, watched for a minute, and said, "mommy, those chimpanzees are really smart. And do you know what else, they talk to each other!" Jane Goodall said so.

Orlando and I know that we are extraordinarily blessed with a child who is at once smart and not overtly devious or mischievous. When she does act out, her reaction to Orlando or me counting to three is instantaneous. But, Myney reminds me that Orlando went through the "terrible twos" at about age 16, and I know that I pushed boundaries of my own in high school--guess we have that to look forward to. Think counting to three will still work then?

Wonderful Fall Day

Saturday was the day for our repeat visit to Homestead Farms in Maryland. When we went last year to pick apples, we loved the place for both the charm of the small farm and for the delicious apples that we brought home.



Because brunch was in his job description, Orlando was not in the original plans for the trip to the farm, but an impending job change meant that he was able to come, too. The farm is about an hour away, and we piled into the car early in the morning, hoping to avoid the crowds that we were sure would come by the early afternoon.

When we got there, we were reassured that there were still some apples on the trees. Our first stop, though, was to the goats, pigs and sheep in the pens near the house. We'd brought a bag of oats for the animals, and Anastasia was very excited to pet the little goats and we all smiled at the little piglets.



Then it was time to hit the trees. Our favorite apples from last year, the Cameo, were the still on the trees, though we had to walk a good way down the aisle to find the trees that were still full. The farm's new puppy, Logan, joined us for a good deal of our walk. He likes sticks just as much as Murphy does.



When we hit the apple trees, our buckets and our bellies got filled pretty quickly. Anastasia especially loved the apples, helping herself to at least 5 during the day.



With two bushels of apples, we headed back up to the market to pick out a pumpkin or two before heading back home to make a pie for dessert.

Road Warrior

The other night, Anastasia was playing in the back yard by herself while we fixed dinner. When she'd been outside for a few minutes, we went out to investigate. This is what we found:



Orlando decided he should go down and give her a little lesson.



When he turned it on, she got pretty scared, so she won't be taking to the roads anytime soon. Still, her love of Daddy's hobby is pretty strong.

Tiny Dancer

Anastasia has always been a musical kid. She loves to play the piano, tinkling the ivories practically every time she passes. Her recorder is a favorite toy, though she hasn't really learned how to use it and it's not the prettiest music to my ears.

Yesterday, Orlando caught a glimpse of Anastasia's latest musical expression. Not playing the music, but moving to it.



Not sure where she learned the moves. I'm wondering if I need to seek out a dance class for her to get her groove on.

Food for Thought

I don't remember the "healthfulness" of school lunches ever being an issue when I was a kid. I remember that breakfast cost a quarter, and lunch was 75 cents. We had hamburgers with tater tots on Thursday, spaghetti on Tuesdays, and pancakes for breakfast with your choice of maple, blueberry or strawberry flavored syrup at least once a week. Your beverage choices were plain or chocolate milk. Last year, Anastasia's school cafeteria was basically the same. Lots of processed foods, overcooked canned veggies, and sugary cereals were offered, with strawberry or chocolate milk. Here's a picture courtesy of the Better D.C. School Food blog:



Though Orlando is a chef, and food is important to us, we don't harp on healthy eating with Anastasia (or ourselves for that matter). We do limit her choices, and obviously, the kid doesn't eat ice cream 3 meals a day, but you will find more than just organic fruit and veg in our kitchen.

And, our little girl loves food. She's never met a protein she didn't like (including, we learned this week, chicken gizzards). Ditto fruit. With vegetables, she's a bit more finicky, but I can't really call her picky, since she loves broccoli, peas, carrots, asparagus and any salad.



As much as she loves food that's good for her, like her parents, she also loves junk food. She'll happily help mommy and daddy dig into a bag of potato chips, and it's guaranteed that every night she'll ask for a treat after dinner. Only recently did she start liking french fries, but now that she does, it's even odds whether she'll choose fries or apples at McDonalds.

Because we're not the type of parents to worry too much over it, and because breakfast and lunch (and 2 or 3 snacks) are free to every student in her school, last year, she ate cafeteria meals, rather than a sandwich packed by me. I'll confess, though, I wouldn't have eaten most of what they served.

This year, in response to new legislation made possible by parents who care a lot about this subject, the DC Public Schools school lunch catering company is offering a much more healthful menu. Every meal now includes locally grown fresh fruit or vegetables, and whole grains. The processed sugars are largely removed, with cereals now tending more toward Kashi and Shredded Wheat than Fruit Loops and Cinnamon Toast Crunch. And, there's no more chocolate or strawberry milk on offer. A more recent pic of a chicken lunch from Better D.C. School Food:



I didn't think this would be a big deal to me. I'm surprised by the level of happiness that I feel knowing that she's being presented with choices that are both better for her, and more appetizing. But I am pleased, and it's one of several examples of the changes that are being made in DC Public Schools in the last couple years.