de-ter-mi-na-tion: The Dictionary Entry

de·ter·mi·na·tion

Pronunciation: \di-ˌtər-mə-ˈnā-shən\

Function: noun

Date: 14th century

a : the act of deciding definitely and firmly; also : the result of such an act of decision b : firm or fixed intention to achieve a desired end

A little girl who is determined to climb the stairs all by herself, every time.

A little girl who is determined to get all of her toys out.

A little girl who is determined to finish her meal, regardless of how sleepy she is.

Yes folks, a new personality characteristic has been born. Alessandra is one determined chaquita. It reared its lovely head right around walking o' clock. As I mentioned in a previous post, Baby Girl had been ready to walk for a very long time. What I realize now is that she was determined to do it right the first time, and thus let a huge amount of time pass between her actual first steps and the day she walked. Knowing full well that she was capable of left foot front, right foot front-ing it, she moved on to practice balance and squatting and carrying objects. One day, she threw them all together into an all-out walk and hasn't looked back since. Often you'll hear that squatting to pick things up and carrying objects comes later. You'll also read that often babies will revert back to crawling in order to get wherever it is they need to be much more quickly. Not our love! She is walking all day, every day, yes indeed! The old mantra is true: Practice makes perfect!

Another personality trait we're noticing is her tendency toward all things methodic. Yes her walking, but her stair climbing is an even better example. Ascending is easy cheesy, she'll tell you! But it's the DEscending that'll get ya every time. The girl's got some fear in her, so we've got that going for us...No "learning by falling". (I've always hated that method anyway...) ;) So, she's been putting herself through a very rigorous program the last week or so. She will climb one stair, and then climb down that stair, touching the safety gate at the bottom. Then she will turn around, climb two stairs, and then descend those two stairs, only to turn around once the safety gate is touched. (Picture relay racing by oneself.) Then she'll climb up 3 and down 3, then 4, 5, etc. We haven't let her reach the top yet because, to be honest, it just takes too stinkin' long to sit there and wait for her to do it! Some day soon I'll just grab a cup of coffee and a crossword and let her spend all day there!

Contrary to my last post, fall is in full effect here in Minneapolis. Thank goodness that horrific snow melted away in time to let the beautiful leaves show themselves. I was the teensiest bit paranoid that we were going to miss out on it altogether. Mother Nature pulled through for us again this year though! Colors are at a peak and a drive anywhere, even for the quickest errand is more beautiful now than any other time of the year. And then there's that crisp smell...Mmmmmmm....!!! I must say, if autumn wasn't the precursor to winter, it just might have been my favorite season. But alas, winter is just around the corner, so summer remains my fave!!!

And speaking of crisp smells and beautiful days...

We met up with Ang, Aaron and Eli the weekend before last


For some Afton Apple Orchard fun!!!


We picked apples

And hung out with the animals inside the petting zoo

And when we're not picking apples, we're carving pumpkins!! Here is Ali showing off "her" little "punkin'"


Go ahead, you can say it. Okay, you won't say it for me? Then I guess I'll have to: Is there any better pumpkin carver this side of the Mississippi? The answer is "No Way, Jose!" I am the best!! (Just squint your eyes...)

Hope this finds your week off to a great start! Happy Autumn!