Terah's 8 month birthday was yesterday - 2/3 of a year old! What a busy child she is these days. We are at 6 teeth, pulling to standing, rolling and flopping and scooching all over the place (still moving backwards more than forwards). She is not content to be still for very long - unfortunately that is often the case when she is awake and sleeping (still working on long blocks of sleep for the little one and her mama!). I was just thinking today how I'm not really taking many pictures of the harvests this spring - where are the all green photos of chives, scapes, peas, lettuce, herbs, etc... It's mostly that it's a good day if I just get the harvesting done. Terah is not one to just come along for the ride. She likes the front pack or ergo for limited periods of time and if she is well entertained throughout. If not, she will entertain herself by pulling my hair or reaching for anything she can (pulling pea vines or thornless blackberry flowers off the vine). She is quite the swiper - and often its a smooth motion of swiping and inserting into her mouth. It was not easy for me to get a picture of the four leaf clover Kali found for her today before it was disassembled and partially consumed. So, if previous posts have left any doubt in the reader's mind, she is keeping her big sisters and parents on their toes! Whenever we are anywhere it seems most folks comment on how happy she is. Our response is almost always, "Yes, she is very happy...except when she isn't." She loves to smile and laugh. She is also very ready and willing to let us know when all is not to her liking. I'm glad she has a strong voice - may it serve her well all her life (and may her parents not try to squelch it in their moments of exhaustion or desire to eat one meal in relative peace)!Here's two of her current favorite activities:
This is how we all get ready for bed before she completely melts down. She will play scoochy-scooch for quite some time.
I have to work pretty hard to keep her happy in her high chair for a full meal. Once she is out of it, she is still quite happy to be entertained by her chair with some arm exercises.
So, what else is going on? Well, we sure are ready and hoping for that "June lull" we have often experienced but it appears that if there will be such a thing it will be of our own making, not because we'll experience a lessening of tasks. We've got the vast majority of the planting done but there is millet to get in, string beans to plant as soon as the hull peas are done and then some transplanting (due to some peppers dying, we think thanks to slugs, and poor winter squash germination). Sugar snap and snow peas are coming in and hull peas right behind them. The lettuce is still marvelously plentiful, but the hot weather is sure to turn it bitter soon. We are eating garlic scape pesto daily and various other pestos (oregano, parsley and basil). The strawberries came and went without much flair - a very poor year with a few containers in the freezer and one batch of jam. So we are rooting for the currants and gooseberries and raspberries and wineberries...
We are feeling grateful for a few things that will give us a little more breathing room - the girls and Jason finished off the spring soccer season yesterday. I think we all feel grateful as the heat was starting to make Saturday games less pleasant - Kali played in 90 degree heat yesterday at 1 p.m. and I think did the best I've seen her play. She even had a break away and got a shot on goal. Yep, I was proud of her - proud of how she has stuck with it and enjoyed it and steadily improved without what I perceive as any anxiety or frustration, just enjoying learning and improving her skills while having fun. What a kid!
Kali's ducklings outgrew the swimming pool so they moved out to the empty half of Kali's duck coop this week. I need to get down their to see them as ducklings, like chicks, don't stay little long. And Alida has some exciting news in the pet department. The other day the girls reported that Alida's chicken Goldie Bean (not sure I'm spelling that right) was acting a little strange - on the nest, ruffling her feather, and growling a bit. Broodie hen behavior! She has never gone broodie before so this is a bit unusual but just in case Alida went down with Jason that evening and they put fake eggs under her. She's been sitting tight ever since so tonight they'll put real eggs under her and get the incubator going with one more round of eggs. We'll hope for good hatches, as we've had a lot of sub-optimal hatches this year (it's just been a tough spring for growing things - that is except for the baby and our pigs; neither are lagging in growth!).I'm looking forward to taking most of the rest of this month off from work (my away-from-home job anyway!). We are anticipating our yearly summer trip to Pennsburg to see all the Benners at the end of this month, so happy to all have some time at home before and after that excursion. I'll be working from home most of July and then will get back into a regular work routine in August (currently planning to be in the office two days/week and working from home one day/week). But for now, I'm focusing on the time at home and have high hopes of getting in a little more reading and writing in the weeks ahead during Terah's naps, that have been almost exclusively devoted to office work the last few months. We'll see. Maybe I'll even have a book report to share on the blog at some point. :)
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