Thanksgiving Thoughts.

11/26/08: Getting ready for Thanksgiving. Reviewing recipes, grocery shopping, cleaning house and crocheting like a fiend. I’ve been trying to get Christmas presents together. Yes, the home made, oh so crafty kind. I’m trying not to spend more money on yarn than I would on actual gifts. Christmas is going to be big on spirit and light on funds this year. We are so lucky though. Blessed really. And I am so thankful for that. I listen to NPR a lot, too much probably, and as I’m trying to make room for leftovers in a packed fridge I hear about little old people and children standing in line for hours to get a free sack of potatoes and some onions. And this is somewhere in my neck of the woods. It makes me pause and realize that although we may have some unexpected bills and things are tight, that we are soooo very lucky that we have each other. We have heat, food, a warm place to sleep. I get to stay home with my amazing little man and practice words and signs with him everyday (today we learned dragonfly- thank goodness for the internet and http://www.aslpro.com/) Anyway, I guess I’m blubbering and going on. But I am so thankful this Thanksgiving. Now I need to go look up that recipe I heard on NPR for putting vodka in your pie crust. That’s my kind of Pie! Happy Thanksgiving.

Visiting a Horse.

I took Miles to meet my friend Wendy's horse, Concerto today. Miles loved him. Wanted to feed him treats and follow him around. He wasn't afraid of him at all. Not sure if that's good or bad sometimes! I'll be doing a portrait of Concerto for my friend. I'm looking forward to it. He's such a sweet, gentle horse. I'm having some trouble uploading a picture, so I'll try later.

Haircuts, Halloween, and Mission Trails Hike

11/1/08: I can’t believe it’s already November! But don’t I say that ever month? A couple of days ago Miles got his first professional haircut so he finally looks a little less wild. I’m a little sad about it, but his hair really was getting unruly. He did great. Sat on Daddy’s lap and watched me get my hair cut at the same time. They gave him a lollypop so I think that’s the trick to getting him to hold still.

Yesterday was Halloween and Miles went trick or treating for the first time. He loved it. It took him a few houses to get the hang of it, but after a while he was running up to each door to show his pumpkin to our neighbors. He is still too little to say "trick or treat" so we said it for him. We just went up our block and back and that was enough. Halloween is a little bit of a reunion tradition for us with some of our old friends, so I made a big pot of stew and we had guests in and out all evening. It’s amazing that Miles slept through the noise.

This morning we went on a hike at Mission Trails. Miles is asserting his independence and strong will full force these days. It can be difficult to go to a store or run errands with him because he has his own ideas about what we should do and where we should go. So that’s why I took him hiking today. I wanted to let him lead the trail and show me every branch, rock and twig along the way. We ended up going about 2.5 miles, Miles was great for about the first half then he got tired and would pause for long periods, picking at nearby plants. Finally I would carry him a while and then he would want down, would walk then stop, the crouch and poke at the dirt looking for good rocks to show me. I carried him the last mile or so, up the detour that turned out to be very steep. I was worried about not getting enough exercise going so slow, as it turned out, I got my fair share. Whew!