Pumpkin Time

Have I ever mentioned that Therese loves to hang out on her side? Like she's posing or something? It's adorable!
Swinging!
Greta is really into this park lately--Maple Grove. It's several blocks from our home, but an easy walk. It has a playground and tons of big trees and old tree stumps. In the summer there's an outdoor pool to visit there as well. It's super great!





When I was working outside the home more, Greta used to have "Papa Days" regularly. This just meant she spent time with Matthew, WITHOUT ME, for several hours. She loved this, and she misses this...and so does Matthew. So now the Papa Day has been re-instated for at least once a week. Last week they went to the big fancy pool and had a blast! It's fun for me too, because I have time with just Therese. We went to the library :-)
Greta has discovered that she likes taking the lids off the markers so she can put them on her fingers. What fun! The girls in the kindergarten class I taught in always liked doing that too...after I saw Greta do that for the first time I told her about the kindergarten girls, and now it seems to have even more appeal.

Another funny thing about our dear little Greta that simply MUST be recorded in this blog is that lately she has taken to narrating herself. For example, she said at dinner the other night "I want some more milk, she said very loudly", or "I'm all done, she yelled". I am smiling right now just writing about it.
Hanging out under the table while Papa and Greta color.
Greta and Matthew watching a Donald Duck movie together. Matthew and I laugh nearly as much as Greta when we watch these cartoons!

Recently Greta saw a picture of Mickey Mouse and some other Disney characters on the back of a Little Golden Book. She asked me about who all the characters were, I told her, and then decided to introduce her to Mickey Mouse via YouTube. What really caught her attention, though, was Donald Duck! Since then she has watched many short Donald Duck movies from the 1940s-1950s. She LOVES them! She actually laughs out loud at Donald Duck, and I have never heard her do this while watching a show before. The first night she saw a Donald Duck movie she completely lost it and turned absolutely SILLY. We couldn't have any sort of English conversation with her as we got her ready for bed, all she would do was Quack. Now she insists on being called Donald. It used to be that she had an alternate name for herself: Meh (which she made up and introduced herself to people as...lovely ha?) and now she introduces herself as Donald, or Donald Duck, instead. Just today we were at the gymnastics drop-in place and the teacher asked Greta what her name was--she said "Donald" and the teacher said "What?" and I chimed in, "Her name is Greta" and Greta interrupted with "No I'm Donald!" and I finished "...but she likes to be called Donald Duck". Is this strange?
Good old Donald Duck in the hammock she made out of the blanket and Papa's legs.
Last weekend we went to the pumpkin patch. Greta has been anxious about pumpkins and jack-o-lanterns ever since last year's ill-fated jack-o-lantern experience in our kitchen (she was terrified of the face Matthew put in the pumpkin!)...and really, I am NOT exaggerating. For awhile any time she saw anything resembling a pumpkin or jack-o-lantern she would put her hand up to it, shake her head, and say firmly "No!"
On the wagon ride to the field of pumpkins, listening to music and thinking about why her parents would put her through this AGAIN. (No, I think she had a good time, but she was rather quiet and contemplative throughout the adventure...not much Donald Duck silliness could be seen!)
In the corn maze we did sort of get lost. I was thankful to not be alone, or I might have really freaked out.

We got our pumpkins!

Home sweet home, safe and sound :-)
Safe and sound...but with pumpkins! Fortunately Matthew carved a decidedly HAPPY face into this year's pumpkin, with a little artistic input from Greta. Mostly, though, she stayed far away from this activity.
Will this picky eater try pumpkin seeds? Yeah right! But it was still worth making them :-)
Getting a good picture of Greta with the jack-o-lantern was a very comical ordeal, she would not cooperate! She insisted on holding a ruler over her face for nearly all the shots.
Shortly after this photo was taken Greta went to her room and gathered some peace offerings for the pumpkin: she brought it several toys and her new pairs of pink, white and black tights. Of course.
Therese is too little to be freaked out by this pumpkin, but she has been looking at it rather suspiciously lately.