Better with Age

You know those parents who buy their newborn baby a baseball glove?

Well, that’s not me.  (Pro Tip: That’s really, really not me.)

Instead, I am the parent who, among many other silly things, was genuinely disappointed when her four-month-old missed the church trip to the Nelson Farm Pumpkin Festival because it conflicted with her nap.  Because she was, you know, four months old.

She could barely pause to pose for this one.

Pumpkins!  Pony rides!  Mini donuts!  What mother would not want to share these fall treats with her child?  Zoe missed out during our first fall in Litchfield, but we’ve been to the Nelson Farm every year since.  And every year, it’s better.

Not because the pumpkin festival changes–I’m pretty sure it’s substantially the same experience Mike and his brothers had when they were kids–but because Zoe does.

We were the first customers for the pony rides. Of course.

At age three and a quarter, Zoe can ride ponies, choose pumpkins, race through a mini corn maze, devour mini donuts, disappear into the long tunnels at the playground, and have a tantrum when it’s time to go home.  (Some things never change, right?)  It is such a joy to watch her explore, and to realize how much she’s grown since last year.

Especially lovely was sharing this year’s visit with my parents.  We had planned to do it last fall, but gathered around my dad’s hospital bed instead.  (Pro Tip: Cancer is no respecter of pumpkin festivals.)  Which just made watching my dad and Zoe petting baby chicks that much sweeter.

Grandma and Zoe “being flowers.”

What else is better with age?

Just Another Manic Monday

This weekend found me hunting for clothes pins and gourds in a corn maze by flashlight, attempting to teach fourth graders about the Bible, screaming like a girl in the haunted house in the church basement, celebrating Zoe’s baptismal birthday some more, and wearing my Very Favorite Ordination / Reformation / Pentecost Shoes through two worship services and a potluck dinner.  No wonder I’m moving even more slowly than usual this Monday morning.  I mean: Monday afternoon (see what I’m saying?).

Zoe was also moving slowly this morning, in the sense that running around the house while your mother attempts to feed and dress you is “slow”.  But: she was beyond thrilled to don her beloved bumble bee costume.  So much so that she resisted other parts of the outfit, like pants.  (Pro tip: call them “bumblebee pants” and you are good to go.)

She perched adorably on her Big Wheel tricycle, but of course I couldn’t find the camera.  So, here are a few photos of her outside of day care, where I tried to make her pose after we picked up the camera from Grandma’s house (no wonder I couldn’t find that thing).

Waving bye bye to Daddy, who was waiting in the car. "He's not driving away!" she said, apparently disappointed that he was waiting for Mama.

More and better photos to follow, I hope.  If we are very lucky, she may even keep the antenna on for more than three seconds in a row.