Weebles wobble and other random tidbits

Goodness knows it has taken him long enough to get to this point. Noah just started taking a few steps around 16 1/2 months, but only when he thought we weren't looking. He is finally now letting go and really walking. Of course his cousin showed him up a long time ago, but hopefully in a couple of years no one will be able to tell the difference! So here he is in (wobbly) action!

He slipped in just under the wire, as I had been threatening to send him back to the physical therapist if he didn't get moving before 18 months (that is in just 10 days!).

Frederic started trimming the hedge around the house today. He made great progress. We'd prefer to tear it out at least at the front of the house, but that is going to have to wait a while... in the meantime, what a chore.

Our garden is doing great. I blanched and froze some more zucchini today, and may need to start doing tomatoes soon. Although we do have bunches more company coming soon, so perhaps instead of having stuffed tomatoes we will just stuff our guests with tomatoes. We'd like to expand our garden as time goes on, but I think we'll have to learn how to can vegetables at some point if we are going to do that. And find a better spot for the garden than near the swing set.

Cool as a.... zucchini, after blanching and before freezing

This morning as Frederic was getting the kids out of bed, he looked out the window and saw something a little unusual. He called me, and I of course ran for the camera.

It was very low over the house and must have landed nearby.

Noah's hair is getting so long, it's almost getting too long to curl. Which leaves me with the dilemma of trimming it and hoping it still curls some, or leaving it for a bit and enjoying his long baby hair. Or I could just give him barrettes or ponytails. We're also being much more lenient with the pacifier and lovey being allowed outside of his bed since it's one of the few ways to calm his frequent, random displays of bad temper.

And Benjamin starts school next week... but we don't know whether he starts on Wednesday or Thursday, whether he has school on Wednesdays at all, what his teacher's name is, what time school starts, what time school gets out for lunch, whether his teacher knows he is only attending half days, whether he needs school supplies, whether they know how to contact us in case of emergency (we're unlisted), how to sign up for the school bus should we choose to do so (we probably won't), or, well, ANYTHING. I'm prejudiced against the French school system to begin with given Frederic's experiences with it, but this is really not helping matters. Frederic called the city hall of the village where the school is yesterday to try and get some information... but of course they are not open until Tuesday morning.

Benjamin, fortunately, is blissfully ignorant of all this, and I think he is going to love being around other little kids. As far as I know, he will be the youngest one in the school this year as there are no first-year preschoolers and his birthday is 15 days before the cut-off.