Deacon Dad

What a beautiful weekend! It was my first away from E, but I handled it well. I drove to my parents' house in New York to attend my father's ordination. He's now a deacon in the Catholic Church. We're all so proud of him! The ceremony was so traditional and beautiful and well-deserved after 4+ years of classes and hard work. During that time, his father, step mother, and step father passed away, and my mom underwent 3 surgeries. As always, he was our rock and continues to inspire me to work harder.

On Sunday, I attended mass where he officially served as Deacon. Since I'm not a practicing Catholic, I couldn't receive communion, but I went up to the altar to receive a blessing from him. I also gave him a big, weepy hug and told him that I love him (so much)!

He had told me not to come, that the trip was too long, that he'd be worried about me traveling into the night, that I didn't have to leave E for a weekend just for this. It's rare for me to disobey him, but I had already made up my mind to go. How could I not? I can't think of one significant moment in my life when he wasn't by my side -- elementary school, middle school, high school, and college graduations; my wedding, when E was born.

On Sunday, after mass and after he taught Sunday school until noon, I caught him "stealing" my car to go put gas in it, check the oil, and put air in the tires for my trip home.

"You know, Mom already gave me money to help with gas," I said, as he got in my car.
"Yeah, I know."

Big sigh of relief on my part. We could use the help. He knows that.

And, I think what amazes me most of all is that, he just goes on with his life like normal, as if nothing has changed. He handles the challenges so gracefully. Both he and my mom take care of family the way they always have.

My grandma, Dad's mom, stayed with them for the weekend. She talks proudly about him, the way Dad talks about my sister and I, the way I now gush about how every little thing E does is just so amazing. "I'm just so proud of my baby," Grandma says as she beams. I know that feeling now, I really know it.

Back home yesterday evening and into a chaotic Monday readjusting to life with a toddler. The last 24 hours have been a rollercoaster of laughter and tears. But, more about that later!

Foliage Friday

Ok, so I know that it's technically Monday, but I'm adding this as a Friday post. Friday, I ventured across the lake to see my parents in New York. I thought that the sunset ferry ride would be a perfect photo opportunity to capture the Vermont foliage from Lake Champlain. It wasn't quite as "glowy" as I anticipated. It was more... um, black, silhouetted against the fading sun.

Still, I snapped a few pretty pics and particularly liked this one, below, with the ferry leading a (gaggle?) of geese, but I apologize for ending the week with a sizzle instead of a foliage explosion. If anyone has any of their own pics to share, feel free to email me, and I will post them!

Now I'm home and getting used to having a toddler again. Wow, this is not for the faint of heart! More updates to come!

Foliage Thursday

Well, I'm a little late getting to Foliage Thursday, but that's okay, because... we didn't do that much. I had to call into a work meeting in the afternoon, and poor E was weepy from a bad diaper rash. After the call, I let her soak in the tub while I played with her in the water and visited with my mom on the phone. We picked up the apartment, and she helped me make dinner.

I've been having a hard time getting her to sit through a meal, but tonight she was content to sit and eat, cross-legged in the kitchen, in one of the big dining room chairs, her dinner bowl in her lap. I pulled up a chair next to her to eat my own dinner. "Sure, why not?"

One of her favorite new phrases is, "I'm happy," or as she says it, "My happy!" as she points to her big grin. Then she asks if I'm happy. I always say, "If you're happy, I'm happy."

It's true. But, I have to admit that I love that I get more of a glimpse of her little personality when she's sad or when she sees me sad. I had a little meltdown during dinner when the food was done, and E was hanging on me crying. I was trying to prevent her from getting burnt while not burning the food while still letting her "help" in the kitchen and giving her all the sympathy and patience I could, knowing that she was just cranky from that diaper rash. I broke down and cried a little, just a stress release from... everything. I sat down on the couch to take a moment.

She crawled up in my arms, touched my face and said, "Mommy crying? Mommy sad?"
"Yeah, but I'll be okay. I'm just a little stressed with dinner and everything. Can you help me?"
"Yeah, I gib you huggies."
"Awww!"

And it did help, and I know I'm doing something right. Some people would say that I should hold it together, be the rock, not let her see me cry. I tell myself that sometimes, too, but tonight I just let myself have a little sob-it-out moment. Then we talked it out, got up 2 minutes later, and went on with our night.

And I can't get that image out of my mind -- of her looking at me with genuine concern, that hint of empathy. I worry so much about being a good parent. I let her have her way a lot, maybe too much sometimes. Like, does she really need to cover her stuffed duck in (washable) paint just to spend an hour giving it a bath in the sink? Probably not, but I let her. She throws typical toddler temper tantrums, and I sometimes give in out of sheer exhaustion or bored indifference, but I'm trying for consistency.

My mom motto has and always will be, "I'll do better tomorrow," and I preached the same thing to her this morning when she confessed that she had hurt one of her classmates at day care.

"I hurt Jodi's leg."
"Did you scratch him?"
"Yeah."
"What did the teacher say."
"She said, 'Stop!'"
"Did you stop?"
"Yeah."
"Did you apologize?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, well let's do better at day care today. Please don't scratch anyone else. And, if someone scratches or pushes you, you need to say..."
"Stop it!"
"That's right. And then you tell..."
"Jacob."
"Well, Jacob is a toddler like you. Please tell an adult. Tell Katie."
"Ok."

I think she's getting it. And, hopefully, me too!

Here's a picture of a big ol' spider in our window last night and the sun setting over our little apartment in the Green Mountain State. Tomorrow, Friday, I head across the lake to New York. My first weekend traveling without my baby! My dad is graduating and becoming a deacon in the church. This is a huge accomplishment, and I can't wait to share this celebration with my family! More foliage pics to come!

Wow, our window is dirty.

Foliage Wednesday

What better way to celebrate Vermont's foliage than to get outside and enjoy it! We got out on the rec path again today and rented bikes. This time I got a cart for E. She loved to "go fast" and say, "Giddyup, Mommy!" It was a great ride, perfect weather, gorgeous scenery. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day!

Some parts of the path were already covered with leaves. It was so pretty. We showed Mark our photos when we got home, and E narrated our day:

"There's Bee! We ride bike! Look at the water, Dada! There's some trees! Leaves changing colors! That's me! I throw rocks in water!"

That pretty much sums up our awesome day! More pics and a video of us riding on Instagram.

Here are a few more pics of the scenery:

Foliage Tuesday

This is a fun project to try with your toddler! Just expect paint to get everywhere. In fact, you may want to consider attempting this right before bath time and keeping your little one in a diaper only.

Yay, finger painting! I provided E with fall colors: green, red, yellow, and orange (mixed some red and yellow). She loved it!

Let your little one make all kinds of "smushes" on the sheet using things around the house to stamp. You could even use actual leaves to stamp with, but we used our fingers and paper towels mainly. You can bunch and pinch the paper towel into a leaf shape and hand it to your toddler to dip, or you can just let them do their own thing and, after, sketch leaves into their designs. We did a combination of the two.

E really likes having her own painting, so I let her do her own to keep for herself. Then, I ask her to help me by stamping a few "leaves" in the corner of a greeting card.

I like to use a Sharpie pen to sketch in some details of the leaf after the paint dries, but some of them were clear enough and looked so pretty with no drawn in lines (2nd photo at right). It's completely up to you. Also, her little, red finger prints made sweet, little ladybugs (bottom photo). You can add some stamped- or hand-lettering, too.