Month: October 2010

Elly has 2 sticks-in-the-mud for parents. Even though this is her 1st Halloween, we’ve said no to all the fun stuff.
No costumes.
No trick-or-treating.

We just feel Elly is too young to understand. Maybe by next year we can dress her up as a little angel.

Yet the fact that Elly is too young to participate in the making of jack-o-lanterns didn’t stop me from buying 2 pumpkins for carving.

There are some traditions you can never be too young or too old for.

Who needs a double boiler when you have an Elly?

We live in a world where you can buy just about any fruit or vegetable all year round. It’s no longer necessary to know when certain produce is locally being harvested.

Although I try to be cognizant of what produce is on sale, I live like most people – unconcerned if something is out of season.

There are a few exceptions: fresh blueberries, fresh tomatoes, apples and pumpkins. I only buy fresh blueberries when they are being harvested in NJ. Price is a major factor as is taste. Fresh tomatoes are easier to explain; that’s what my garden is for.

Though you won’t find pumpkins in my garden (they hog up too much space), I only buy them in October. The selection can’t be beaten. No other time will you find such a variety. And after making fresh pumpkin puree a few years ago from butternut squash – not pumpkin -, I can’t bring myself to buy the canned stuff. It just doesn’t hold a candle to fresh puree. Besides, there is no need to buy canned puree. I typically have enough fresh puree left over to freeze several containers of it.

So why don’t I eat apples any other month besides October? It doesn’t make any sense, I suppose. Neither selection or price is an issue. Maybe it’s because I overdose on the fruit, cooking and baking it into every possible dinner and dessert. By the end of the month, I don’t want to look at another apple for a very long time.

Because of my silly produce “rules”, Elly finally got to taste her 1st apple this weekend. She was thrilled with the experience.

Elly is 8 months old today. She is growing up so fast!

Despite not whole-heartedly embracing solid food, Elly remains off the charts in weight. At 25 lbs, she has outgrown all her clothes labeled 12-months or smaller.

On the other hand, I struggle to keep Elly from trying to eat everything that isn’t food. Why she just loves to try and eat leaves.

She is constantly trying to pull herself up and “cruise” (walk while holding tight to somebody or something) around.

Yet, she has no interest in crawling. Every once in a while, she fools us into thinking she is going to crawl. She poses herself perfectly on all fours. Then, she moves one hand forward and pushes her knees out, landing flat on her belly. If she really wants something, she might drag herself along the floor just using her arms. More often, she cries about being on her tummy until Dan or I help her up.

One of her favorite new toys is an activity desk.

She is able to pull herself up by just grabbing an edge. It’s the perfect height for her to hold onto or to lean on. Though all the buttons make noise, she spends most of her time just turning the page in the book back and forth.

Elly adores Jake. Her face lights up when he walks into the room. The feeling is mutual.

Jake is pretty thrilled to have Elly around too despite getting fistfuls of hair pulled out on occasion. You see, Jake loves cleaning up after Elly’s spills during mealtime.

This is a post from Knitted Gem’s blog, authored by Marie Haigh.