Pumpkins

With fall suddenly in the air, Sunday morning Andrew, Lucia, and I set out for some good autumnal fun—pumpkin patch, livestock, apple festival—at a farm in…Long Island. It wasn’t exactly a rural setting, but really, with a toddler, this was all the farm we needed. Lucia seemed at home as soon as we arrived, rushing up to each animal pen to greet the animals, often in their own language: “Hi, geese! Honk honk!” “Hi, chickens! Bock bock bock!”

When we reached the pick-your-own pumpkin patch (a bit of a misnomer, since the pumpkins had already been freed from their vines and were waiting, artfully arranged in the field, for camera-wielding parents like us), Lucia was beyond excited. She immediately selected a tiny gourd-pumpkin and then rushed around, climbing over pumpkins, sitting on pumpkins, attempting to pick up large pumpkins, smiling happily when she succeeded in lifting smaller pumpkins.

Nearby, some medium-sized pumpkins were strewn around a grassy field, and for a while we were the only ones there. Lucia was running, toppling, falling over the pumpkins, laughing the whole time. A baby amidst pumpkins—hard to get cuter than that.

We rounded out our farm visit by buying some apples, and then we headed on our way—onward into other parts of Long Island. Our goal was to see two towns that might become potential house-hunting spots next year. First, we drove around Port Washington and had lunch at a diner—a successful lunch, even though Lucia was tired, because we sat in a booth, I’d packed plenty of raisins, and the waitress gave Lucia a lidded cup with a straw (she loves straws). When Lucia began trying to climb into the next booth, we called lunch complete. Lucia fell asleep as soon as we started the car, which was great—we were able to drive to Sea Cliff and see some nice streets without worrying about toddler car sickness. Though there was an alarming number of country clubs around Sea Cliff, there were also some beautiful houses. Lots of research to do in the months ahead.

Lucia slept nearly the whole way home, waking in a good mood and waving me off cheerily—“Bye, Mama!”—when I went out for a prenatal massage later in the day. When I got home, she and Andrew were sitting at the table, reading books while Lucia devoured a bowl of pork, kale, bean, and potato soup. She then devoured a large quantity of apple, cheese, and toast. (Her growth spurt seems to be continuing—she’s firmly a 2T now.) A lovely fall day all around.

Note: I composed this blog post Sunday evening. An hour or so later, I began bleeding and went to the hospital, where I remain today. A lovely series of hospital posts to come.