a december neighborhood stroll

I have restless legs syndrome.  I've been taking iron supplements.  Sometimes it smashes into me and I begin to alarm Ryan (and others around me) with twitching.  My neck even.  

So my poor husband began suggesting things, one of which was a little stroll--get outside, get some sunshine, move your limbs.  We bundled Maya:  the hat (which you'll see later) was made by Martha, the striped jacket is from one of my mother's trips to France, the green blanket was made by Ryan's mother, the pants are handmade from a shop on etsy, and her boots have bears on them. 

Last year, the year before, all the years I can remember, at least in this house, we've had a layer of snow on the ground this time of year.  Today was warm, little lozenges of snow leftover in shadow-pockets.  I gazed up into a lilac bush--lilacs in winter.

Below:  check it out!  Maya has hair!  Not a lot, but look at that sweet tuft.  It's so soft--sometimes I just run my chin or cheek against the top of her head to feel the silkiness of it.

 

Her little nose turned pink but it was warm and she was pretty content.  She was a bit more fascinated by the dogs playing and digging in the stones, but we introduced her to her first sliding adventure:

These dogs used to be the center of my photography-subject universe.  We still love them. This evening, Maya walked right up to Zephyr and hugged him.  She also pointed to the kitty when we asked "Where's the kitty?," though she's been pointing at the ceiling when we ask, "Where's mama?," and Ryan tried to comfort me by saying, "At least she thinks highly of you."  Her favorite pointing-object is the Christmas tree, but I think that's mostly because it's covered in a bunch of hanging toys.  She keeps pulling the plush partridge-in-a-pear-tree off and carrying it around, taunting the cats with it.

And because I like to share her accomplishments, she also managed to manipulate a coaster set from the stairs--by turning it sideways and pulling it through the bars.  Ridiculous.  She reaches farther and farther all the time.

The walk didn't cure the restless legs (though later, a steaming bath helped a little), nor has it chased away the blues that have are following me like a cloud, but it's still good, even in a funk, to spend this time with the two of them, with the five of us, with the late autumn air. 

Tonight, I'm working on a project for Maya for Christmas.  This might be the only year I can blatantly make something for her right in front of her.  Made those solstice pajamas that much easier.  I will share a making-post soon.  But for now, I leave you with this image, and you can imagine yourself on our happy little autumn stroll:

(Um, right after, I wheeled the stroller through a pile of poo and then Maya slipped through the leg holes.  But we caught her.  And I didn't get the dog poo on anything else.  But I had to share, in case you think this was completely serene and clean and pristine and other rhyming concoctions that imply we aren't bumblers.  And by we, I mean mostly me.)