In the past month...

we
visited the National Zoo;
attended the county fair;
sat around a friend's bonfire;
made our own pizza in a neighbor's backyard brick oven.

Gideon
has started whispering to himself in the car or at the dining room table and then saying aloud to us something along the lines of, "'Yes' starts with 'y' and ends with 's'.  What other letters are in it?"  And each time it's a different word.  Recently when asking if a word starting with the 's' sound began with an 's' or a 'c', I launched into an explanation of how most words that start with an 's' sound use the letter 's' and the letter 'c' usually makes the 's' sound in the middle of the word.  Gideon was silent for just a few seconds before saying, lightheartedly without a malicious intent, "But city starts with a 'c' and it has the 's' sound."  I'm not even sure how he knew what 'city' started with, much less came up with something to contradict me so quickly!

Graham
turned nine months old and continues to grow, but not to crawl.  He maxed out the baby scale at our weekly breastfeeding support group, which goes up to 24 pounds.  He reaches and stretches, twists his legs into a lunge position from sitting, scoots imperceptibly on his bottom, pivots when on his belly and sometimes manages a scooch backwards, but nothing approaching real forward movement - yet.  He is, upon occasion, waving and saying "ba-ba" simultaneously, and we have counted that as his first word.

Jeremy
is test-driving managerial duties and work, as well as a few Harleys last weekend on a motorcycle outing with a co-worker.  But he's still more engineer than manager and a Victory man for now.  He also built the garden boxes we've planned for since the spring, the ones now holding my herbs and lettuce.

And me,
I've gotten my mojo back which, among other things, means I'm actually finishing things:  knitting, books, a small garden box of herbs and lettuce for the fall.  We've found a babysitter and that translates into one yoga class a week for me.  I even took up a dust rag this week and reached into some VERY dusty corners of the house.

Our days have found their new, school-year rhythm:  Jeremy makes breakfast for all of us in the morning and leaves for work between 7:30 and 8.  Graham and I walk Gideon to the bus stop shortly after 8, and then carry on with a walk of our own.  Morning naptime usually begins between 9 and 9:30, but there's a slow shift in the works - somedays Graham doesn't sleep until almost 10.  Mondays and Tuesdays we generally stay at home, cleaning, organizing, playing.  But if we're going to get out, like on Wednesdays for breastfeeding support group or Fridays to run errands or meet friends for lunch, we're usually on our way out by 11, even if I have to wake a baby up to do so.

We're home again by 1:30 and (hopefully) napping again by 2 p.m.  I usually still nap during this time - read and nap, followed by surfing the 'net, watching (crap) TV, and maybe a little bit of household chores.  Graham usually wakes around 4 and we leave to pick up Gideon at the bus stop (except on Mondays and Fridays, when we pick Gideon up at school) at 4:35.

From there, it's a quick slide to bedtime - dinner making, Gideon's homework and playing with neighborhood friends, dinner together around 6.  Kitchen clean-up, wash-up time, and getting Graham to bed by 7 follow and Gideon is then in bed by 8.  Laughing on the couch with my best friend at our favorite shows follows, but if I'm smart, I'm ready for bed by 9:30 and read in bed until my eyelids are too heavy to stay open anymore, leaving Jeremy to his quiet time downstairs in the still of the early night.

More often than not, Graham still wakes up once a night to eat, anywhere from 12:30 to 5:30.  We're all up and ready for the day by 7 in the morning.

I still can't believe my good fortune most days.  Even as Gideon enters this new phase and "leaves me behind" at home, I have been blessed with a new constant companion - as Gideon was for five whole years.  At the same time that I get to walk with Gideon into the new experience of school, I also get to start all over, relishing these sweet baby days - a second chance I'd longed for for quite some time.  Life is so very, very sweet.