Change of Seasons

The leaves are just beginning to really change color around here. I was hoping they would have been more splendid when Jeff's mom was here, but I'm discovering that it's very difficult to predict when out-of-towners should visit during the fall based on the peak of color. Sometimes you hit it right, and sometimes you don't! There are some pictures below to show the current status of our trees...

The boys and I had to run a few errands this morning, and we drove home the back way--a favorite drive of mine. We saw some absolutely brilliant trees while driving, but of course I couldn't capture them with my camera. I took heart pictures...too bad you can't see them! :)

Fall is my second favorite season of the year (can you guess my first favorite?); and besides the changing leaves, I've been enjoying other changes as well. For one thing, I got to light the first fire in our woodstove the night we got home from NY and PA. The temperature in our house upon our arrival was 64 degrees, prompting Jeff to exclaim, "It feels good in here!" and me to request, "Is it OK with you if I just have a little fire, please?" :) Despite my current internal heater, I did feel a bit chilled at 64 degrees! Plus, it's just so much fun to have a fire in the stove. I guess my mother's genes are coming out in me in this area. Her biggest complaint (if she let herself complain, which she doesn't) about living in their current home is that she doesn't have enough storage space--a significant issue, for sure. But her second biggest complaint is that it doesn't have a woodstove!!! Last winter, she would sneak up here often and say merrily, "Would you like me to build up your fire for you?" :)

Another change of the seasons is clothing; and I've begun the thoroughly enjoyable project of sorting through the boys' clothes, packing away what they've outgrown, getting out bigger sizes, etc. I'm as happy as a clam whenever I do this project! I love holding their clothes and being flooded with memories of when and where they wore them; the hand-me-down clothes are especially fun because I can sigh and think as I look at a size 2 shirt, "I can't believe Josiah could fit in this! I remember that he wore this when he came to visit me in the hospital after David's birth." And on and on the memories come...

Besides clothing, I've also had to think about shoes for the boys. Josiah has either gone barefoot or lived in sandals this whole summer--so has David, for that matter--but last Sunday morning was chilly enough that I thought I might be reported to the authorities if I let them out of the house without socks and real shoes. So I pulled out a pair of lace-up shoes and set to work trying to get them on Josiah's feet. What frustration! They were so difficult to get on--so much so that when Josiah took his shoes off during the church service and then had to be helped with them at the end to coax them back on his feet, I made Jeff do it because I wasn't sure I could do it with a good attitude. :) Well, well...later on when I measured Josiah's feet, I realized that he needs size 12 shoes. No wonder his size 10 and 1/2 shoes were not going on his feet easily! So Monday morning we set off for the shoe department of Walmart. :)

Of course, David's feet have grown, too; and now he needs size 8 shoes. That problem was easy though. We went "shopping" in the top of the boys' closet where I had put Josiah's old shoes, and we found a great pair of black casual shoes, some cowboy boots, and the best part--a pair of tennis shoes that LIGHT UP--for David. He's thrilled, and loves doing his little "Happy Feet" impression that makes all the lights go on in his shoes. I'm thrilled that it didn't cost a penny!

Here's another change: a very welcome one, but one that has nothing to do with fall. Remember when I wrote about my frustration with buckling carseats? Would you believe, Josiah has since learned to completely buckle and unbuckle himself in the car! I can hardly express how happy I am about this!!!!! It's a small thing, I know; but the amount of difference it makes in my attitude is anything but small. I am extremely grateful for this change! :)

Other random notes from this past week that are all falling into this post:

~ My favorite cereal is Blueberry Morning. Since we have been back from Israel, the company has apparently discontinued it because we have not been able to find it anywhere. (This always seems to happen to my favorite food and drink items!) On Wednesday, Jeff went to a discount/seconds store that carries a little bit of everything, including grocery items...and, well, you can guess what he found there. That's right, Blueberry Morning cereal! He bought four boxes for me, and I (and Josiah) have been happily eating it ever since! :)

I first started eating Blueberry Morning cereal when I was in college, and I have vivid memories from my sophomore year of eating bowl after bowl of it. That year I lived in a traditional dorm room so I didn't have a kitchen, but I did have a small refrigerator in my room and could keep some milk in it. I would come home late from the music building where I had been practicing...my roommate would already be in bed, and I couldn't have much light or noise or it would bother her...I would turn on the lamp at my desk and sit down to study there, after pouring myself a bowl of Blueberry Morning with milk on it...I would hunch over the desk with my books and cereal with my headphones in my ears and Israeli music in my CD player, and study until exhaustion drove me to bed. Even now as soon as I open the box of cereal, I can smell the blueberries and it takes me back to that year of college.

My other memory of Blueberry Morning cereal is opening care packages from my parents when we lived in Israel and finding boxes of Blueberry Morning tucked inside! Now that I'm more aware of the cost of shipping, I realize that those were some expensive boxes of cereal!!! But I know that my parents' love prompted them to provide a little extra goody for us when they knew we couldn't buy it in Israel. Parents never stop giving.

~ One historic occasion of this week was David's first visit to the dentist. We are privileged to be able to take our boys to Dr. Greene, who happens to be the children's dentist that I went to as a girl. That must mean he's getting up in years; but even though his hair is silver, his face looks as young as ever. He is so good with children, and his staff is incredible. Because this was David's first visit, the nurse took extra time with him and showed him all the buttons for the water that gets squirted in his mouth, Mr. Slurpy who comes and sucks it up, the magic chair that goes up and down, etc. She let David push the actual buttons and explore everything before she even started checking his teeth. I remember well how much Josiah cried and cried during his first visit to the dentist, so I thought we might have a repeat of that. But no, David did FANTASTIC! I had tried to prepare him and had coached him about opening his mouth wide, saying "Aaa," etc. It seemed to pay off because he cooperated and did so well that even Dr. Greene commented, "This isn't normal!" :)

My big question for Dr. Greene was whether David could still suck his thumb or whether we had to kill that habit now because of damage to his teeth. The answer was a gracious one: "David is not hurting his teeth by sucking his thumb so he can continue for now and be gradually weaned off it in the next few years!" Yippee! I was not looking forward to fighting that battle now, so was very glad for an easy answer. :)

One more thing about Dr. Greene: during one of Josiah's early visits to him after we moved here, Dr. Greene was wearing green scrubs...so it was easy for Josiah to picture him as Dr. Greene. The next time, however, he was wearing blue scrubs, so on our way home, the boys kept calling him, "Dr. Blue," and couldn't understand that he was still Dr. Greene! During David's appointment on Wednesday, Dr. Greene was wearing green scrubs again, so that made it nice and easy for David to call him by the right name. :)

Now for the tree pics...

~ one of our October Glory maple trees, just starting to show its "glory"
~ the red of our October Glory tree, with the orange of one of our neighbors' trees, with lots of green still mixed in
~ David with an October Glory leaf