One of the best parts about fall is going to the cider mill. One of my fondest childhood memories was going to the cider mill every year. The cider mill we always went to was Apple Charlie’s. I don’t remember details of what we did there. I just remember we HAD to get donuts and cider. I’m assuming we ate them there and looked around, but I don’t remember the little petting zoo, I don’t remember looking at pumpkins, and I definitely don’t remember the Barn of Blood. But what I do remember is the feeling I had. The trip to the cider mill was a summary of what the fall season was. Everything fall was compiled into one spot with cider and donuts as the stars. The cool crisp fall air, the dry colorful fall leaves, fall jackets, everything imaginable made from apples and pumpkins, fall decorations, fall produce, and polka bands. And now that I have my own family, I’m very excited that I get to show Ellie why the cider mill rules! Continue reading “THE CIDER MILL RULES”
FRIENDS WALK TOGETHER
It had been awhile since I had seen my friend Meghan. We used to be coworkers and worked on a lot of projects together, so we got to be pretty good friends after awhile. When we sat next to each other, every day she would ask me, “do you wanna be friends forever!?” Yes Meghan, that sounds good. Then she would specify, “not BFFs… just FFs. BFF’s would be too crazy.” Right Meghan, that would be too crazy. Meghan is my unique exotic friend. She’s from an exotic country where they eat ketch-up chips, and things named “poutine.” Yes, you guessed it, Meghan is from the Great White North. She’s Canadian. Eh. Meghan was going to be in our friendly country and wanted to come by and visit me and Ellie. We originally had planned on taking a walk down by the river but the weather was cold and rainy. So we did the next best thing, we headed for the mall. I was excited because this would be Meghan’s first mallwalking experience.
THE STORM OF THE CENTURY
The day was to be the Storm of the Century. The news stations had warned everyone of the damaging winds and the possible tornados to come. It was to be the worst storm the Midwest had seen in 70 years. It also happened to fall on library day. Should we even go I wondered? What if I got stuck in the storm with her? What if we were trapped in the basement of the library? I even got the worried reminder phone call from my mom. “Make sure you have a weather radio on. We have a tornado watch today. We are supposed to get severe storms.” Not only was it the Storm of the Century, Ellie also hadn’t been napping well. Well, she hadn’t been napping at all, for a little over a week now. Ten or fifteen minutes in the car on the way home from Meijers does not count as a nap. Also, story time is at 11:00am which is a tricky time for us. Ellie usually eats at 11:00am or 11:30am, and if I’m lucky she’ll hopefully fall asleep afterwards. So between all these things, you could say I was a little distracted in the morning. Continue reading “THE STORM OF THE CENTURY”
STORY TIME PART II
I finished my third class of story time with Ellie at the library. We were on-time and even though no one else comes prepared with the essentials, I still do. Burp cloth; check. Diapers; check. Wipes; check. Emergency cheerios; check. In this session there were five kids. Two boys, and three girls. Two of the babies had their grandmas with them, and the rest of the parents were around my age. Our group is always very quiet, but when these rowdy grandmas came in I couldn’t help but feel a little threatened. Intimidated. Each week I’m determined to participate more, to interact more, but these grandmas seem pretty dominating. We’ll see how I do.Â
We sit down and Ellie is already pumped. She immediately squeals and starts heading her way to one of the boys. He sits in his mom’s lap and looks scared. “This chick is nuts!” I scoop up Ellie up and story time begins. It starts with a book. Ellie squeals again and stands up. The grandmas chime in “oh my, she’s really excited.” She is the most excited and most outgoing one of the bunch. She is fixated on the instructor and the book and stares with a smirk on her face. The other kids are just looking around the room or playing with their shoes. The grandmas are participating more than their grandbabies. They are mooing and barking loudly at the animal flashcards being shown.  Otherwise the room is pretty quiet.Â
Next comes the nursery rhymes. Patty Cake. Which, by the way, did you know it’s actually called Pat-A-Cake? I did not know this until I Googled it. The instructor sings through Pat-A-Cake a few times and I’m really listening to the words because I don’t know them. I figure I should learn these soon. The other parents my age are half mumbling the words like I am, but these grandmas are singing along like they wrote the song. The instructor isn’t handing out prizes ladies. Let’s use our inside voices okay. I notice one of the lyrics “and mark it with a B.” I really don’t know what that means. What kind of cake is this? Hesitantly, I ask what the “B” stands for. The instructor doesn’t know, but sure enough those grandmas do. “It stands for BABY.” Well, par-don me. If I was baking a cake for my baby, I would not put a “B” on it, I think to myself. Maybe an “E” for Ellie, with a heart around it and some sprinkles. But I reply with, to make sure Dad doesn’t eat it by mistake?  No one found this cute. Luckily Ellie squealed to break the silence.Â
Then it’s toy time. All the babies sit shyly looking back at their parents for approval to go get the toys. But not Ellie. She’s on the ground and the first one to the box. She grabs a few toys and shakes them with a smile. Then she heads for the instructor. She crawls right up and sits in her lap for a little bit. And then she heads over to one of the grandmas. She climbs up on her leg and starts pulling on her hair. I thought about stopping her, but maybe it’ll be a good lesson. Look Ellie, H is for hair.  As Ellie climbs around and meets people and the other babies, the grandmas take it upon themselves to be the toy police. They intervene and make sure babies don’t take toys away from other babies, or they make suggestions. They even decided to appoint themselves to teach the other babies, too. “This is a ball… do you know what a ball is? It is a red ball, can you say red ball?” What’s with these ladies!? How about you worry about getting your hippie grandson a haircut and stop policing the room. The other parents and I just sit quietly and make sure our kids don’t pull hair or punch anybody.Â
I thought about being more social this time, I thought about singing along to the songs, but I was a little turned off by the grandmas. I know they mean well and they have a wealth of knowledge that I don’t. But they rubbed me and my cake pan the wrong way. And to be honest, all this Pat-A-Caking had me a little distracted so I couldn’t wait to get home and bake a cake. I think I’ll do just that… and I’ll even put an “E” on it… with sprinkles.
BABY, WON’T YOU SWING WITH ME
Ellie and I headed back down by the river for a nice afternoon stroll. I wasn’t looking for her to take a nap. It was just gorgeous outside it felt like a crime to not have her be outside. It was a tricky time, not quite nap time, and not quite feeding time. So she had some yogurt for a snack, I grabbed my coffee, and we headed for the river park; destination swings! Continue reading “BABY, WON’T YOU SWING WITH ME”