In Romania

this time of year the sheep are coming down from their summer pastures high in the mountainsr with the shepherds, the "ciobani."

The cliffs are so steep in parts you wonder how they do it without falling, scrambling down the rockfalls, urged on by the shepherds, herded into line by the sheepdogs.

Have you ever seen a shepherd drive a flock of sheep across a road? They never seem to hurry. There is no sense in rushing the sheep as they will only startle and scatter. Instead, it's a balletic, almost slow motion event. A woolly parade.

I always loved when we were driving in the Romanian countryside and had to stop the car to allow a flock of sheep to surge by. It was like stepping back in time.

No whining

I cannot even venture a guess as to how many times a day I remind Miss Bee of the above. Whhyyyy is three going on four such a tough age? One minute, my darling firstborn is little miss helpful, baking cookies and helping me walk the dog. Two minutes later, it's meltdown central. I can understand whining on the weeknights--the poor child has to behave at daycare all day, and that's a lot to ask. But whining on the weekends? Come on! There's too much to do, no time for drama.

On Friday afternoon I finally got around to sorting through the nice pile of mail that had accumulated in my entryway. I found a small envelope addressed to me that surprisingly didn't look like junk mail. I opened it up and found a cork inside. Puzzled, I took a closer look. The cork had a web address and it took me here. My little cousin, who is not so little anymore, in fact he is quite grown up, is starting out in the wine business. And his wine, unlike whining, is fantastic.

Three Quarters One Year

Dear Cheeks McGoo,

You are nine months old today. You celebrated by staying up way past your bedtime and practiced your latest baby milestone--sticking out your tongue. You shrieked with joy every time I mimicked you. We must have looked like a couple of fools.

Cheeks, you are such a funny, sensitive baby, and the ultimate Mama's girl. You ride the metro and make friends with complete strangers, yet you cry when I leave you at daycare. Every. Single. Time. You can crawl, but only backwards. You go wild for paper, any kind. You wake me up at 3:30 every morning, but I don't mind--much.

I love you Peanut.

You have utterly stolen my heart,

Mama

Definitions

I was out walking the dog tonight with Cheeks McGoo and Miss Bee in tow.

Bee is very proud that she can read the words "stop" and "no." As we walked, I pointed out various other signs and words.

We came across a sign that had the word "emergency." Out of curiosity, I asked Bee, "Do you know what emergency means?"

"Yes," she replied, "An emergency is like if you pee your pants."

Indeed!

Good pizza

Fall fruits and vegetables have arrived at the farmers market: hearty kale, bumpy squash, and crisp apples. This week, I bought home a pair of acorn squash and immediately set about figuring out how to cook them. Roasted squash received the best reviews and so I decided to try a food network recipe for roasted squash pizza with gorgonzola and arugula: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/roasted-acorn-squash-and-gorgonzola-pizza-recipe/index.html

Doesn't that sound like a strange combination? It looks even stranger on the pizza but believe you me. . . it tastes delicious.

(New recipe #I have no idea; I have missed writing down quite a few.)

Evening song

We had dinner at my parents' house tonight. My father grilled filet mignon. It was an impromptu celebration. Cheeks McGoo loved the roasted potatoes. Bee mostly ate sour cream but declared her "chicken" very tasty. The poor meat-deprived child. Good food, good company, but the greatest gift for two full time working parents--no dirty dishes at our house.

I have been making a big effort to get Bee ready for bed at her bedtime and break the habit of rushing through teeth brushing and story time. I had gotten into the habit of hurrying Bee off to bed, mostly because during the summer she tended to stay up a little too late. Now that I am working and not usually arriving home until after 6 pm, I have a very small sliver of time with Miss Bee. We need to spend more time together snuggling on the couch, not less.

While her big sister is a champion sleeper, Cheeks McGoo is a decided underachiever. We have been working her bedtime routine this week. Infants can keep their own crazy hours but big babies, ones that are almost nine months, well I just feel that they should be sleeping a little bit more. You know, like through the night. And not in my bed. It's not going well, mostly because I know that Cheeks spends the day crying at daycare and I cannot bear to cause her anymore trauma. My Baby has the most delightful, sparkling personality. It should be impossible to love her as much as I do. But boy oh boy she is loud when things aren't going her way.

Right now, though, both of the little ones are sleeping and I had a chance to bake bread. (I will post soon on how it is possible to bake sourdough bread while working full time. It is possible) The whole house smells delicious. Tomorrow morning I will toast a huge piece for breakfast and thank my lucky stars that it's Friday, and a three day weekend.

Yes you can

pop popcorn in a half a stick of butter. The butter browns and the popcorn kernels pop and turn a lovely caramel color. Put some really fancy sea salt on top and oh. my. goodness. It is the epitome of popcorn. A popcorn sonata. Popcorn perfection.

2,000 calorie popcorn is really what you need when you have a serious case of the Tuesdays. It's pretty sad that a bowl of popcorn is the highlight of my day. I have a summer cold, which is always worse than a winter cold because warm sweaters and hot tea just don't have the same effect when it is 90 degrees outside.

Being sick is a good excuse for oversleeping, and this morning Dear Husband and I managed to do just that this morning. We overslept despite the fact that we went to bed at nine p.m. Cheeks McGoo woke up around 4 am and snuggled back to sleep in the bed with us. Max the dog must have come into the room around 6:30 because my Dear Husband and I woke up simultaneously gasping with horror as we saw that I was supposed to be leaving for work in 20 minutes.

I made it to work, mostly washed and dressed, but spent the morning in a complete fog. I poured dish soap into my tea instead of honey! (Not so good for a sore throat.) I wandered over to the wrong office for a meeting.

So, It was a generally disastrous day, but I am optimistic that tomorrow can only get better. And if it isn't, we'll make more popcorn.