Walking, Talking & Pumpkins

Maren is starting to walk!  She has been on the verge for the last two weeks, but her attempts are short-lived because she giggles, flails her arms, and run/walks faster than her balance can hold her.  She is finally managing her excitement, and has slowed down a little to balance her head with her feet.  She can walk across rooms now, and is building her confidence all the time.  Her vocabulary is growing as well.  She says "hi" and "bye", and "bobby", which I think means baby and/or bunny and/or bird.  Last week we were in the car driving someplace a little distance away.  Ezra was asleep (as usual), and Maren was wide awake and chatty (as usual).  Maren was attempting to communicate with Ezra, to no avail.  For a good minute she said, "hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi.hi." while frantically waving her arm at a comatose big brother.  Her determination made me chuckle; that is my little Miss!

Ezra and I have been working on a lot of projects together.  We make some kind of homemade baked good at least once of week.  Our agreement is that I scoop (flour, sugar, baking powder), and he dumps.  We almost always give at least half the treats away to friends, but as long as he gets to lick the bowl, he is appeased.  We also do a "letter of the week" art project to reinforce what he learns in preschool.   We continue to work in the garden, and do various "little jobs" to clean up the house.

Potty training is going awesome, except that he loves to wait to the very last possible second to use the toilet.  It usually goes something like this:
            Ezra is extremely wiggly, tapping his foot, shaking his bum.
            So I kindly ask, "Ezra, do you need to use to toilet."
            To which he replies, "No Mom, I'm just happy.  I wiggle when I'm happy."

A rare Ezra-Maren cuddle moment--relaxed and mellow waiting for General Conference to start.

Ezra and I made homemade brownies for a General Conference treat.

Last Tuesday Ezra, Maren, and I visited this family farm and pumpkin patch near Dallin's work.  The pumpkin patch was filled with various friendly and not-so-friendly Halloween characters.  Ezra was most adamant that we say hello to every one.  After exploring the entire field, he came back around to his favorite, a smiling scarecrow boy.  Ezra and "the cute boy" had their picture taken together.  Maren was less enthusiastic about the situation.  Ezra was in hog heaven; Maren was freaked out by almost all the Halloween characters--with the exception of the cute boy.  She curled up her toys and refused to even try to walk over the weedy, grasshopper-laden field, and she didn't want to touch the pumpkins.  Ezra, on the other hand, could have stayed all day.  He arranged and rearranged several piles of gourds, loaded and unloaded a wagon full of pie pumpkins, and pulled every pumpkin cart he could find.  When we finished our exploring, we surprised Daddy by showing up at his work.  We offered him a ride home.  Apparently, our timing was excellent; he gladly closed up shop and left work an hour early. 

Ezra and "the cute boy" scarecrow.

A kind visitor took a picture of us outside the pumpkin patch.

 

Ezra happily loading a wagon with pumpkins.

Pout-pout face Maren.