Fall rolls in

The leaves are starting to change and Myles is wearing pants every day, I love fall in the mountains! Today was a very rough day for Myles. It began with me accidentally scheduling a meeting during his Kindermusik time, so I asked Seth to cover for me and forgo his lunch break. Seth agreed but forgot to check his calendar. So when he finished the class (Myles on hip) at 10:15, he realized he was missing a meeting. So he took Myles along. Myles typically naps for an hour or two at 9:00 or 9:30am...After that Seth had another meeting at 11 so I rushed Myles into his morning out program, letting them know he should be extra tired. He didn't fall asleep there until 12:30, and I came at 1:00 to pick him up. In the afternoon he resisted and resisted all attempts to put him down for a nap. So we went shopping! (I have some extra time this week after the weekend WAND conference in DC) And I bought him the cutest winter coat and hat you've ever seen, got them second hand at the littlest bird in west Asheville. Then we decided to swing by the Burnets, at which point he began getting fussy. From there we picked up Seth at work and came home and he was asleep in the car. When I took him out of his car seat he woke up angry and proceeded to scream for a good half hour, alternately choking and looking up at me despairingly. He refused the pacifier and mama's milk, so all I could do was lay beside him and try to help him calm down. Seth went for a run and Myles finally conked out, so I started cooking dinner. About a half hour into dinner preparations, he woke up with a scream and again was inconsolable for about 15 minutes. They seem like very very long minutes. In the middle of his tirade, the timer went off and Seth was still on a run so I had to haul him out of bed, down two flights of steps and shut off the oven. He's finally asleep. Whew! Never again will I let him skip the afternoon nap...lesson learned.

Did I mention he's starting to crawl? He gets up on hands and knees and rocks back and forth. He moves his little knees forward, then reaches out his arms and falls on his face. He's working at it. But he can successfully move himself around the room with half crawls, rolling, and scooting. What should he be for Halloween??? Suggestions welcome.

In other news, we are just back from the WAND conference in DC. This happens every other year, and it always reminds me why I do the work that I do. We had several women announce their run for higher office at the conference (by design, half the participants are state legislators). I had the opportunity to speak on a panel, and you can read my remarks at www.faithwand.org if you want to see what I had to say about the cost of war. Seth and Myles had a fantastic time, Seth ran on the mall as the sun was rising, they visited a museum and Union Station...by the way, did I mention that Seth won first in his age group for an 8k he ran on Saturday morning? He's back in the game...

And a special shout out to Michelle Kaiser, whose birthday is tomorrow. We love you Michelle and can't wait for the pumpkin potluck!