Sunday

Snowdrop is famous for always rising early when she is here at the farmhouse. Today, the morning of her overnight is no different. I hear her chatting to herself up in her crib just as the sun rises over the horizon. A few minutes later, her chatter is louder and I know the gig is up.

Little one, so long as you're up at sunrise, would you like to see the sun rise? It comes up -- we have light. It goes down -- we have a dark night.

She stands in her dinosaur pajamas and considers the implications of this. Then she turns toward the farmhouse with a wave of her hand and a sweet bye bye sun!





I don't quite give her breakfast at first. Just a yogurt to tide her over.

Here she is, anxious to put on her polka dot sneakers, which she found waiting for her on the counter.






Those go on after your bath, little one.

There, shoes on, ah-ah up, girl happy.






And now it is time for breakfast. Pancakes! She doesn't want to help make them. She wants to sit out on the porch in her chair at the table. I catch her gaze out the window...






She came here with an overnight bag, in which her mommy packed her outfit for the day -- something that'll be fitting for the baseball game the young family will be attending. I am so out of the loop that I cannot even tell what the M stands for. I could look it up, but I let it remain a mystery -- I am that removed from paying attention to ball games. It is an activity Snowdrop shares entirely with her parents.

Okay, breakfast is ready. And yes, she loves the pancakes. With syrup. And fruit.






We have a little time left for play and having discovered her red wagon on the porch, Snowdrop is excited to take it out for a spin. Meaning she sits and I spin.

I take her to the fields to the east of us -- a bumpy, muddy ride, but with some flower views to keep me happy. When I pause to take a photo, she indicates that pauses are not cool.






Back at the house, she suggests a game of "let's climb up on anything in sight..."






... but I tell her it's time to head home.






After she leaves, Ed and I head out for a bike ride around Lake Kegonsa. It takes us close to two hours to complete the ride, with just a handful of stops to admire the fields of soy...






... and corn...






It's a warm day but you can so tell it's Autumn!





It feels good to be doing bike rides with Ed. We've done this loop a handful of times in the past and so I think of it as our signature ride -- a few challenging (for me) hills, just to make me squirm. This year it still felt eminently doable. Next year? Ah, but we shall see.



In the evening we see the young family again, as they come over for Sunday dinner.

Snowdrop's dad wants to catch the tail end of a game,  and she insists on sitting on the porch and participating. They both eat the predinner snacks which, on Sunday, nearly always include roasted beets, cheese, and olives.






When she comes back inside, I tell her dinner is in a little while still. She takes control of her space and movement. She puts on a hat. She moves books, She runs to her toy animals. She runs back to the porch. She is on the move!






And at the end of the day,  so very happy to be eating dinner with the rest of us....






It was a beautiful day. I did "forget" to do a thorough cleaning of the farmhouse sometime in the thick of it all but hey, if you looked around, you wouldn't notice it. I don't think. Right? Right???