September is here along with full time daycare which means during the week our house is bustling with small children playing, eating, creating and learning. For Leah it means she gets to spend lots of time with her ‘best’ friend and she couldn’t be happier. Until it is time for her to go home that is. After spending over eight straight hours together, side by side, I would think Leah would be okay with some time apart. Especially as she is going to come by on a regular basis. Her departure was marked with tears and Leah begging to go home with her. Thankfully, she got over it soon enough and was back to playing and waiting for tomorrow morning when she would arrive once again.

I also devoured a gardening book specific to our growing climate and felt like I enrolled myself in Gardening 101. I learned a lot about different types of soils, fertilizers, seeds and growing methods. Armed with much information but not much experience I ordered seeds, made up a promising organic fertilizer and the phone calls to those more knowledgeable than I began.

The season got off to a slow start with a colder spring and I planted some of the vegetables a little later than planned but I started watering when necessary and hoping for the best. Unfortunately, the summer weather didn’t fully cooperate either but we got a small harvest last night. The potatoes are amazing though not plentiful, the onions that took did well, the carrots are small but looking promising, the snap peas taste great and the tomatoes are now plentiful but still mostly green.

I bought some broccoli and kidney bean seeds on a whim and though they haven’t produced anything yet as they were planted late, they are showing some signs of producing vegetables. Depending on our September weather, we may have a few more additions to our table from our garden.

Of special meaning to me is my rhubarb plant that has flourished well from a transplant from my Grandma’s garden. My late Grandfather was an avid gardener, starting up his own landscaping company as a new immigrant from Holland. Over the years he turned from landscaping into growing his own bedding plants for wholesale. Eventually he started growing peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers as well. In retirement he loved to manage his own large gardens adding another island every year or so to further extend his love. When his large property was sold, my mom was sure to save some of his rhubarb plants and transplant some into her garden and into my dad’s mom’s garden. When my mom turned her garden to grass, they lived on at my Grandma’s house. Now that I have my own garden, I got one of the new growths off one of the rhubarb plants and it is doing great.

On another side note, when we see some of the tomatoes from the nursery he started that have a sticker with my Grandfather’s likeness on them at the store, I always point it out to Leah that that is her Great Opa and was grown by her Uncle.

Leah loves to help with all the canning and preserving. She was very keen on making sure no stems made it into our winter blueberry stash. The second picture is our harvest from last night.

It’s amazing to me how the tomato plants, which some are taller than me (and my friend, Katherine) started from just a small seed.

I love that I live in a place where we experience all the four seasons in their varying beauty. I don’t think I would appreciate the warm sun without the coolness of winter or the flowers budding in spring without a period of months with no colour peaking from the garden. Winter has it’s own beauty bringing family and friends closer together indoors with children ecstatic over any snowflakes fluttering to the ground.

All that to say, we enjoyed one of the last days of summer with great friends at the beach. Leah kept us on a slow, leisurely pace so we could enjoy the ocean breeze and appreciate the wonderful place in which we love.

The trail is wide, pretty smooth and flat with great scenery, often bringing you to the ocean’s side while passing manicured farms, forest and brush. The park is located very close to the highway whose sounds can heard all along the trail which I found an interesting juxtaposition to the nature surrounding us at every turn.

After biking for about half an hour, we stopped on a little grassy patch along the trail to have a snack and let Leah stretch her legs. Once we had refueled with some snacks we ventured back to the car with Leah loving every minute in the bike trailer. We got back to the car and watched a train up close boom by us before heading back to town to do some errands.

I didn’t realize what an impact the visits had on Leah. She was excited to see a little baby but was also excited to check out all of her baby toys and play with her own as well. Now she walks around with her ‘Katelyn’ patting her on the back saying “I know Katelyn, I know” and “poor Katelyn, poor Katelyn”. She also thinks it funny sometimes to hold her upside down. Leah can be so maternal and yet she has so far to go.

Today we were able to squeeze in another visit before our lives get much busier with full time daycare. Leah was so excited to give Katelyn her dress that she watched me make. Katelyn even modeled it for us. I got to hold Katelyn for quite awhile after she was fed. It reminded me of when Leah was a babe. First we tried to get a few good burps, then changed a poopy diaper that didn’t make me wince before doing the sway dance while shushing and patting her back to keep her happy.

Once she was a bit calmer, I let Leah hold Katelyn. Leah was so excited. Unfortunately Katelyn did not share her sentiments and was wondering why the sway dance, shushing and patting had stopped. So we alternated. I got Katelyn calm and settled then I would let Leah hold her for a few seconds until she got upset again then repeat. We only tried that a few times and then diverted Leah’s attention to giving her kisses on the head instead. Then they both were happy.

Leah has a special stool she can sit or stand on to see all the action. Almost everything in the kitchen is huge. Leah could fit inside that mixer bowl with no problem.

After hanging out in the kitchen, we usually check out the horses, pig, bunnies, sheep and goats and take a walk by the fruit fields. After going for a walk around the fields we end up back in the kitchen, observing and helping when possible.

On Friday we hung out at home, ate dinner on the couch and watched some of Leah’s shows when she was getting tired and cranky. Saturday morning we treated ourselves to some homemade waffles and went off to the local blueberry festival. We saw a BMX stunt show, went on a trolley ride (and promptly got off at the first stop as Leah was almost in tears), saw a gal spinning llama wool with her two llamas and admired lots of old and unique cars. I really wanted to see Cinemazoo but Leah’s fear of the trolley, even though she loves seeing buses and trolley buses, caused us to not go to that part of the festival. When it was getting hot and Leah was tiring of walking, we visited the library, read some books and borrowed a few.

On Saturday afternoon a friend came over to dip her feet in Leah’s kiddie pool and have a nice chat. We laid low after that, eating dinner outside as it was cooler than inside.

On Sunday we went to the Farmer’s Market. It was a special day at the market for kids as there was a clown making balloons and face painting. I was more excited about the festivities than she was. Leah said no to face painting and balloons so we bought a cinnamon, sat in the shade and indulged.

After church we went to see Uncle David and Auntie Andrea for lunch and then us three girls went shopping. Leah loved riding in the mall stroller and wanted to touch every rack of clothing we went by. I tried to steer away from anything overly fancy or white.

That evening while having dinner, Morgan came home and all were happy to be reunited again. Leah was so excited to see him as was I. He wasn’t gone that long but usually he is always around so it was an adjustment. We usually have lunch and dinner as a family every day and Morgan spends lots of time with us in the evenings. I’m glad he had a great weekend at a buddy’s wedding and am also glad he is now home.

Leah has also become more opinionated about how things should be. She will argue the funniest things. We were at a coffee shop the other night and Morgan asked her if she wanted to sit on the chair with him. As it was upholstered and a large chair, Leah was convinced it was a couch and would ‘correct’ Morgan every time he called it a chair.

One of her new favourite phrases is “do it in myself” which generally works out fairly well. Translated that means she wants to do it by herself. Her dexterity is coming along so she can be quite helpful. Just last week she has starting insisting on climbing into the car on her own and into the car seat. I love it as it no longer means trying to lift her at funny angles so I don’t bump her head every time we go in the car.

She also likes to dictate her hairstyle of choice for the day. I’ve fallen in love with the double ponytail though after a week straight of ponytails, she seems to be favouring the au natural look. The hairstyle that looks like I haven’t washed her hair in weeks with hair constantly in her eyes. It definitely isn’t her best look but I haven’t broken that news to her yet.

One last story that I though was quite funny. We were mostly done eating dinner and encouraging Leah to finish the food left on her plate.

Me: Leah, are you going to eat your chicken or your potatoes?
Leah: Chicken
Leah plays with a piece of chicken
Me: Bok, bok, bok
Leah continues to play with chicken
Me: Leah, eat your chicken
Leah:No, it’s an animal
Morgan and I chuckle to ourselves while worrying about how to deal with future vegetarianism and excessive playing with food as Leah continues to prance her piece of chicken around the table.
Leah eats the chicken and we sigh with relief.

I love conversations with toddlers.

Leah spent lots of time in her kiddie pool on the deck sinking her plastic boats, pouring water out of her watering can and splashing with Grandma. Having your feet in a cool pool in the shade was definitely a great way to enjoy the hot weather.

Hanging out on the deck with Grandpa and George, her monkey also made for good times. Leah learned how to blow bubbles on her own which kept Leah busy for a few hours this weekend.

Leah wasn’t too keen on swimming in the lake so she just dipped her feet in the water with Daddy. She liked ‘writing’ her name in the sand.

It took Leah a few minutes to warm up to everyone when her uncles came up with a couple of their friends. Once she was comfortable, she enjoyed kicking the ball around with them.

We went for a little boat ride but Leah wasn’t too impressed. We dropped her off and I got to watch the guys wake board and ski. They can do some pretty amazing moves.

Leah loved all the time she got to spend with her Grandma and Grandpa. (I think they enjoyed it as much as she did.) Leah loved cuddling with Grandma for her nighttime stories before going to sleep.

I found it interesting when I left some cracker dough on the counter after making a few batches and got distracted when the kiddies woke up. Morgan took over the operation. I am all about efficiency while Morgan likes things to be very neat. Can you tell whose is whose?

Rest assured, they both tasted the same and both were delicious and all were gone in a very short period of time. After a baking spree, it was time to borrow my mom’s sewing machine for a few weeks.

I have discovered a wonderful, free bounty of unique sewing patterns online. The measurements are usually a bit of a guessing game and I can’t find a pattern for a shirt made of non stretch cotton for the life of me but it is great fun for a spontaneous urge. Here are my last two creations. A funky shirt…

and super comfy pajama pants.

Not sure what is next but my neighbour gave me some awesome, old fabric. I think a dress is in order. It makes me want to learn how to sew my own clothes but for now Leah is definitely the better way to go.