Christmas Tree

On the Friday after Thanksgiving, the Groen family went to Wheatfield to buy Christmas Trees.

Thanksgiving Day

No Photo Yet

Well since Douwe is walking, I am now officially nursing a toddler. We both are quite content with that status. He eats three regular meals in his chair at the table, drinks juice and has munchy snacks here and there, but when the dr's office asked: "Is he on 1%, 2% or whole milk?" The answer was "Mother's milk". Since I've always nursed "on cue", or as is now more accurate, "upon request", there is not really feeding times to drop, but he definitely forgets to ask some days what with all the exploring and walking and playing that can be done now. I never imagined I would nurse an older baby, but so far I highly recommend it. This article from La Leche League's website is seeming to be matching up with our reality: Benefits of Breastfeeding a Toddler. Very few sick days, and mild ones at that, a calm, easily comforted toddler who shows more signs of independence every day but still loves to snuggle, and a mom who is still benefiting from the mellowing effects of prolactin.

I wouldn't consider myself a breastfeeding activist, but I am definitely interested in encouraging more moms to resist the false conventional wisdom that withholding the breast at younger and younger ages is a sign of progress for the amazing species of mammal called homo sapiens.

Snacktime

This is Douwe with his church friends Rebecca, Levi and Gracie, (and Adam, too, who was somewhere else right now). They were treated to a donut hole by Mrs. Abbott. Douwe enjoys toddling around with these children while we are in the worship service.

Chicago Children's Museum

Douwe and I took a field trip to the Children's Museum on Navy Pier. He spent his whole visit in two different exhibits, both built for age 5 and under. I just sat and watched him happily enjoy the following adventures: eating a pretend meal for about a half-hour, walking back and forth over a challenging (for him) sloped "bridge" about 30 times, and taking a wet drippy net from the stream to shake it off on a tree stump about 50 times. He loved it here, so we'll have to go back on another cold day.

"Twin" for a day

My sister found a matching set of this outfit at a resale shop, with cousin Liam wearing the other one. We took Douwe and his three cousins to get a Christmas photo for Grandpa and Grandma, it will be so cute!

Fall Flair

For those of my blogging friends that haven't been to our house or haven't been for a while, here is a few pictures of our living room. I spent time last week tinkering with the decorative things and making it more fall-like. We also rearranged the room so that there is a fun play space for little ones behind the couch. Don't worry, that glass coffee table now has a bumper pad around the edge and normally is covered with a table cloth, transforming it to a perfect race-track, forest, or corn field for the trains, cars, animals, tractors and combine harvester that usually are strewn across it.