Final Days of Summer

To say that I am dreading the end of summer would be putting it mildly. Usually at this time of the year I am looking forward to returning to work after the long summer, but this year, well, I simply don't want to go back. We have had the most splendid summer in terms of weather, and this year of course I have had little Raf to entertain - as he entertains me. This past weekend we tried to make the most of these final warm weekends by visiting three state parks.

On Saturday we went up to Wolfe's Neck Park, which is a beautiful park on the coast. It's rocky and not really a place to play on the beach, but they do have a lovely green expanse. We spent a good deal of time there as Raf was loving walking up and down the grass.. back and forth, back and forth, back and forth.... He had so much fun! As did we watching him...

Totter totter tumble

Dancing Boy

August 18th.

Today would have been Richard's mum's birthday. Ros would have been 56 years old. Sadly Ros died 16 years ago, just a few months before I met Rich so I never got to meet her. But we all think of her often, and as Raf reaches new milestones we feel that loss even more. So that Raf knows about Grandma Ros, we're making much of an effort to mark really special days. So this evening we decided to go out to dinner to celebrate Ros' birthday... I also made a cake :)

This isn't the best photos of Ros, but I had it to hand so I scanned it in. What a beautiful woman.



To celebrate Ros we went out to Sebago Brewing Company, and, blessed with lovely weather, we sat on the deck and had a lovely couple of hours.

Raf enjoyed hummus, pita bread, and crayons at Sebago Brewing Company :)





back at home Raf enjoyed some grapes and applesauce - and enjoyed showing off his teeth.

Out little toddler!

toddling

My Monday didn't go quite as planned. It was one of those days when the busyness and chaos catches up with you, when things you ought to have done remind you that they haven't been done, and lots of disappointments mount up. Just when I was feeling like I'd appreciate the day ending, I arrived home and played with Raf. He hasn't taken many steps since those first few steps a couple of weeks ago, but all of a sudden today he was walking up a storm. He walked right across the living room - back and forth! It was pretty amazing to watch, and when we gave him his cup with his green shake in it, he took off before i knew it, drinking as he toddled along.

Here are some pics of the weekend.. he's getting so big!

What's for dinner?

I don't think I've mentioned it here but a few months ago we discovered that Raf is either allergic or intolerant to soy. As vegans this is a little bit tricky, not least because soy seems to be in everything! Seriously, it is in virtually everything... soybean oil is apparently very popular, and even something like bread is hard to find without soy showing up. We've been doing quite well, though, and as long as you stick with whole foods - which is obviously best anyway - it's fine. For things like yogurt we've been using coconut yogurt (I like him to have the probiotics and the B12), and on the few occasions he's had milk in something (other than mama;s milk) we've used almond milk... As luck would have it a new vegan - non soya - cheese is now available, and, seriously, it is yummy!!! Vegan cheese is notoriously terrible but this stuff (made with tapioca and expellar pressed oils) is delicious...

But Raf has also become a lot more fussy around food. He used to love fruits and veggies but he's been refusing to touch them lately. Broccoli florets, an old favourite, are left untouched, and his old fav, watermelon, is dropped on the floor. And, his beloved hummus is now a no- no, and he even spits it out! Still, we've been managing to get in some good nutrition. Here's a typical day:

Night/waking up: milk
Breakfast: sprouted wheat bagel with almond/cashew butter and apple butter, apple sauce mixed with a nut or seed butter and coconut yogurt.
Snack: milk
Lunch: French bread (usually the soft bit scooped out), with pasta sauce, chopped spinach, and vegan cheese sprinkled and melted. He gets to eat a lot of spinach this way! Yoghurt to finish.
Snack: Milk
Dinner: sweet potato slices with hummus spread on... though this is hit and miss lately. Corn on the cob (a new favourite). Mashed banana with nut butter mixed in.
Snack: milk



He has some new favourites. Today he tried plums, and he really seemed to like them. I was just excited he picked the pieces up after his fruit/veggie refusal of late. He also really gnawed the corn the other day, which made me very happy. His absolute fav, though, are snapea crisps. I'm not sure how healthy these are for him but he adores them.

Would love more suggestions!

Return To Bradbury Mountain...

With slightly cooler weather on Saturday morning, and thinking that the boys needed a different walk and that they could be in the car for longer - we decided to head to Bradbury Mountain, outside of Freeport, Maine. It's been awhile since we were all there and we have been on and off since we first came to Maine - though we have never run around it (hopefully that will change soon...). It's a popular destination for mountain bikers from the Portland area, and has many trails for hiking and trail running. While it's called a mountain, it more like a rather large hill, though it does offer stunning views back towards Freeport and the Atlantic from the top.

So off we set towards the top, which doesn't take too long since we decided not to take the longer Boundary trail this time. Kiltie was doing his level best to 'reclaim' the mountain as his patch with much marking, though Sammy is nearly as prolific these days too. We nearly saw a mountain biker come a cropper - but he regained his composure and made the steep descent with ease.

Rafi, was enjoying being carried by Al, watching the dogs and seemingly being content as we recalled previous visits - and at the top we stopped for a few photographs before heading back down the way we came. Kiltie and Sammy seemed to love being back on the trails and Rafi again was content as we navigated down some slippery slopes back towards the car park. What a lovely Saturday morning, with family in nature...

Then and Now...

Then...





And now... yes, I bought the same outfit but in a much bigger size :)

2 Steps...

Raf took his first steps today. Both Rich and I were there to see them, but he didn't totter over to us... no! One of our favourite people came to lunch today and somehow managed to coax Raf to take some steps. Joel was brandishing a little tea candle, and Raf was just desperate to get his mitts on it! It was all very exciting. Below is a photo of the moment just preceding those little steps... He took more later that afternoon and he was incredibly happy with himself. What a wonderful day...

And we also had a lovely time with our friend, Joel.