The Great Pumpkin Patch

This past weekend, the family of three visited the pumpkin patch at The Country Mercantile. First we ran a few errands, ate Japanese food, and then headed for the fun. Van was particularly excited about the whole picking a pumpkin thing.

When we arrived, there was a perfect little spot for a photo op. I plopped Holly down and this is what I got. She was pretty tired, as it was technically nap time and I kept her awake in the car on the way there so she wouldn't sleep through all the fun.
Then, Van & Holly climbed all the way to the top of a ginormous stack of hay bales. There were some kids who were trying to play king of the hill on it, but their parents kept yelling at them to stop. I'm sure they were imagining broken arms or other casualties of war!
We wandered over to another (less busy) stack of hay bales and it took a lot of persuading to get Holly to climb up on one herself. She wasn't particularly thrilled with the feel of the hay. It reminded me of her reaction to grass this spring.

Eventually, she was convinced to climb up all by herself. Mostly because Van climbed up first, sat down, and talked Holly into joining her. I'm still not sure Holly was thrilled with the whole touching hay thing, but these are growth experiences, right? Or will she be scarred for life because I forced her to do crazy things like touch hay?

Then we headed over to the petting zoo. I was hoping we could put the horse, but the lady said that he was really cranky, fed up with people, and would be going home that night (even though they are open until Halloween)! So Holly tentatively pet the sheep after Mama and Van showed her that it truly was ok.
The cows had flies all over them, so we skipped them and went to the goats instead. Holly seemed to like them better. I don't know if it was because there were more of them or because the brown one was friendlier and interested in being pet.

Whatever the reason, Holly made herself at home and sat with the goats for a little while before we headed out to the pumpkin patch.

As I said earlier, Van was excited about this part. She searched far and wide for the perfect pumpkin! I wished that I had had a video camera with me because Van went bouncing through the pumpkin patch, would stop and turn around to wave periodically, then continue to scrutinize each of the larger pumpkins for the perfect, beautiful pumpkin. Occasionally, she would pick one out, carry it to the edge of the patch and go on to see if she could find a better one. It was incredibly fun for me to watch how much enjoyment she got from this!

While Van was searching far, far away, Holly and I stayed closer to the hay wagons and she did a little picking of her own. I think she tried to pick up every pumpkin in the vicinity! It cracked me up watching her because I think almost every one of them weighed more than she did!

It was a taxing activity, especially with no nap, but we eventually picked out four pumpkins; two larger ones and two small ones. They are still uncarved and sitting on our front porch. Holly got to ride in the wagon with the pumpkins back to the car. She had one big one to lean against, and one to hold on to.
By the time we got back to the car, she had slid down in the wagon and was basically lying down with her head propped up on the biggest pumpkin. This picture makes me smile because I think its so sweet. It really shows her attitude about the whole day..."just give me a nap already!"

After putting the pumpkins in the car, we went inside to buy homemade chicken enchiladas and caramel apples to take home. After we ate the caramel apples, Van asked if we could send some to her mother in June right before she leaves to go back to Vietnam. I had to break the news to her that apples are fall fruits and that we really only get good caramel apples at this time of year (and that the Country Mercantile doesn't make them in the spring). She was very disappointed in this news!

We had a great time out in the fresh air and sunshine all afternoon and Holly zonked out early Sunday night! Hopefully, we will get the pumpkins carved this weekend. Van has seen some on other people's front porches and is looking forward to making a super cool face on hers. I'll keep you posted on how they turn out!

On a different note, Holly had her 18 month checkup last week and I could have sworn that she had gained at least 6-7 pounds since her 12 month visit. Alas, wrong again! She was a mere 21 pounds, but had shot up to the 14th percentile in weight (This is laughable, I know, that the 14th percentile would be way up! But she was in the 3rd percentile before, so its all a matter of perspective!). Everything else was super great, and she was a real trooper about her 4 shots.

18 Months Already?

I can't believe that my little girl is 18 months old! She is so big and independent now. She is really good at telling you what she wants, when she wants it, and lets you know if she's not getting her way! Although most people don't believe this because she is super well behaved in public and loves to be around people and activity (Knock on wood; Let's keep that going!).



Recently, Holly received a comb, brush and mirror set from her former daycare provider and she loves to play with it. The only problem is when she tries to comb her hair with pigtails in because she gets the comb stuck in it.

Last weekend we all went up to my parents to hang out. I wanted to take Van up there at least once before Thanksgiving so that she will be a little more comfortable and not feel so overwhelmed when the entire family shows up for dinner! Holly has loved Nana's garden hats for a long time. Here she is with one of them on. She made Nana put one on, too, and they sat on the steps talking for a long time. I think this is an incredibly adorable picture.

The little nut is in 18 month clothes now and I had to do some emergency shopping 2 weekends ago. When she outgrows things, its an overnight phenomenon, not a gradual one! Here are the monkey pj's that she picked out herself.
Today was the huge community yard sale in town. There were 35 yard sales in a town of about 500 people! No worries, lots of out-of-towners came to buy things up! Holly and I went perusing the goods. I spent $9.00 and got a toy tea set and dishes, 2 Winnie the Pooh videos, 4 Peter Rabbit videos, and several others like the Velveteen Rabbit and some others I can't remember the names of. The dishes were the best purchase of the day, as you can see! Holly played with the entire time we were home today. After the yard sales, we went to check out the new daycare that Holly will start going to soon. The great thing is she will be around other kids again and be really busy and active all day long. The bad thing is that I will have a 20 minute drive each way to take her to daycare (and then again to pick her up). That may not sound like a lot to people in the city, but considering that I work 4 blocks from my house...you get spoiled in some ways by living in a small town.

During the Moon Festival, my mom gave me the table and chairs that I used when I was a little kid, and that has been in the family for a long time. Holly loves it and its perfect for her new dishes. Here is my little daredevil thinking it might be fun to stand up on the chair. She definitely knows what "Sit down!" means. Van's brother goes to college at the University of Wisconsin. He called to tell us that their football team was playing tonight on ESPN, so Van and I watched them get their butts kicked by Pennsylvania. Here's a sweet picture of Holly and Van watching the game.
Holly is doing so many new things lately. I guess this is normal for little kids to learn so much stuff in such a short time, but it sometimes takes me by surprise what she knows. Here's a short rundown of the things I can think of right now:

1. She can point to her head, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, hands, feet, belly, toes, leg, arm, belly button, and fingers. She can say most of them, too. Salem (the cat) doesn't particularly love it when she points out his body parts to him, especially his belly.

2. She wants to sing the ABCs and Twinkle Twinkle Little Star in the worst way! With the ABCs, she gets some of the letters, especially at the beginning and after the pauses. She also kinda has the "Now I know my ABCs, next time..." part down. She tries so hard, but her little mouth still can't make the words perfectly!

3. Holly has definitely been influenced by her babysitter. Some of her favorite words right now are "cool," "dude," and "sweet." She uses them in the right context, too. The other day she asked to press the "button" (aka light switch), turned the light off, then said "Cool!" I cracked up!

4. She loves to stack blocks as high as she can, then knock them down and make them scatter across the room. Fortunately, she usually picks them back up so she can do it again.

5. Holly likes to put her blocks into cups and then pour them into a different cup. Sometimes she even takes a little "drink" from the one she ours them into.

6. Sadly, she is tall enough to open the doors in the house. Several times I have gone down the hall in the morning and found that she opened Van's door, went in, and I find her standing by Van's bedside and staring at her while she is sleeping. She also goes and opens the pantry door to point to what she wants to eat.

7. The girl is a cleaning fool! Give her a washcloth or Clorox wipe and she goes to town. She likes to clean her high chair tray, her face, and the coffe table the best. She also want to wipe the table off when we eat out at a restaurant. I'm trying to nurture this quality as best I can; I hope its not just a phase.

8. Potty training is in our near future for sure. Now, after she has gone potty, she will lie down on the floor with her legs up in the air until I come and change her diaper. If I ask if she has gone potty, she always says yes if she has.

9. Holly is cheerfully willing to help pick up toys and put them away. She knows where most of them go without specifically being told, or she will put something exactly where you tell her to. How great is that?

10. She gives the sweetest, delicate little kisses, finally with her mouth closed and puckered up instead of just slobbering or breathing heavily on your cheek.