Autumn Harvest

I made a little leaf pile for Alden today and let him explore. He was surprisingly relaxed about plunging right into it, especially considering how sensitive he is to strange textures. Crunchy leaves are clearly much better than wet sand.

The garden is starting to wind down. We had our first frost last night and spent a cold half an hour in the dark after Alden went to bed putting the tarp over our cold tolerant plants and harvesting the tender annuals like basil and peppers. The leeks, carrots, Brussels sprouts, kale, chard and artichokes need mulching to keep them alive for the winter, hence my new found enthusiasm for raking.
My Dad visited us last weekend and took Alden to the apple orchard. He got to ride a tractor, which was the main attraction as far as he was concerned. When they got back from their afternoon adventure, Alden modeled our vegetables for Bapu. He gets really wound up when brandishing a leek, which he calls grass. He still loves to run around in the garden and pick sun gold cherry tomatoes. Now that they've seen frost and have blacked and become thin-skinned and limp, we won't let Alden pick any more. How frustrating!

Alden's First Installation

I took Alden to the Point of Connection installation opening at the North Dam Mill in Biddeford. Karen often helps watch Alden on Fridays, however she could only do a half day this time. I had some work errands to do so I brought Alden along.

I left from work around noon and had lunch with Alden and Karen. Alden and I then drove to Portland to see David Wolfe at his studio. David was awarded a Fellowship this year and we are making a video about his work (typesetting) at the agency. Alden and I checked in with him to make sure the rough-cut was on track. Alden and I then went around downtown Portland putting up posters for the Fellowship award event.

At four we headed to Biddeford for the opening. Alden fell asleep on the way so I put him in the ergo-pack and carried him around to start with. By about 5:30 Alden woke up and was really upset not to be sleeping. He complain-cried for several minutes till he saw the big yellow triangle piece. He loved seeing the sculpture and ran to it. Then he climbed up the side as far as his little legs would carry him and slid down to the floor. Things were all better after that.

Alden has a well honed appreciation for installation art from the many artwalks he has done in Gardiner. He especially liked running around the big mill hallways. People seemed to get a kick out of him as well.

first poo

Just a quick little not to mention Alden took his first potty break today. We are very proud (sorry, no pictures yet). Some of the other kids at daycare are being trained, so Alden is very interested it that whole process. Hopefully it will make things easy when we all get serious about moving on from diapers.

Walking in his Father's Shoes

Somewhere among the myriad ESTs of the human genome lies a gene responsible for a desire to walk around in your parent's shoes. Alden reached this developmental milestone this week. I have very fond memories of gleefully stomping around our old house in my father's hiking boots. Why we all go through this development is beyond me, but it is interesting to watch your offspring discover and then thoroughly enjoy this universally beloved activity.

Poor quality dance video

Poor quality on the video... NOT the dancing. The dancing is awesome, as you can plainly see.

The Joke

Storytime with Kerstin and a big punchline at the end.

Ah-chyee

Alden has been really into the alphabet these days. Alphabet blocks, alphabet songs, and his new alphabet mat, thanks to grandma Barbara. He knows all of his letters now and we are very proud. He loves the floor letters and by putting it in his room we have become inspired to better Alden's environment. We took the guest bed/changing table out so he has more room to play and are currently looking for proper changing table, lamps, and colorful wall-things.

Along with the Alden space improvements we are also doing quite a bit on the rest of the house. I am in the process of building a bathroom downstairs where our sketchy mudroom currently resides. It's going to be a tight fit, but I think I will be able to get a shower, toilet and sink in the space. In any case it is better than a cast-away area, which was the function of the room until recently Also part of the work is caulking the windows, doing some finish work on the upstairs bathroom, and making a shelter for our woodpile. It's been so wet this year that September is really the first month it's been clear enough to work.