Things are ticking along here. Maisie is commando crawling all over the house. She's found the low windows and the water dish and chases excitedly after all of Abby's toys. I try to show that these are Abby's and direct her towards to her own things but it seldom works. I ended up washing out the spare kong just so I'd have something to give to Maisie when I had to take away Abby's kong. The kong is how we feed Abby and it usually has traces of dog food and peanut butter on it. I'd like to limit how much dog food Maisie eats.

All this time happily going after toys on the floor has granted me a few minutes to do things with both hands (like typing) and we made muffins and I finished Maisie's winter sweater. I love these toggles. I got them in Victoria when we were there a few years ago and they are just right for this sweater.

Rob took Maisie and I hid in my sewing room for a bit of total me time on the weekend. I made myself a cup of tea (Rob added the cookies to my tray - isn't he sweet) and started Maisie's Christmas stocking. My sense of time is so off right now I really had no idea how close to Christmas it already is. Hopefully I will finish the stocking on time but Maisie won't know the difference if I don't. I've also started a little striped jumper for Maisie's Christmas dress. Every little girl deserves a special dress for Christmas. I know that really it should be red velvet but I think candy cane stripes will be pretty darn cute and a little more wearable after the holiday.

Maisie and Abby have spent a lot of time watching for squirrels in the back yard. The couch in the family room is just right for Maisie to stand on to look out the window without extra support from me. We finally had a squirrel show up and fill his belly with seeds and nuts. I had two very happy girls glued to the window the whole time.

A quick list of some things I've been thankful for in the last few weeks:

- a birthday
- a big family dinner
- hard frosts
- frozen ponds
- handknit hats and mittens
- tomatoes ripening
- a little sweater nearing completion
- watching Maisie try to crawl (not quite there yet)
- the look of triumph when she finally manages to grab the cat toy she's been after
- produce from the garden
- a little basket of toys and some sewing time
- tiny toes and a Jolly Jumper
- watching Maisie enjoy new foods
- her expression as she tries to get sticky rice off her fingers
- hot tea
- Abby with a new stuffy (or two)

September is a time of change any year but this year it's so much more noticeable for me. Last week Maisie was curious about food and watching us eat; this week she is chewing on pieces of carrot and banana. She's getting bigger and will outgrow some more of her pajamas soon. She's also getting really good at doing crunches and grabbing onto things on purpose. She celebrated turning six months old on Sunday by rolling onto her tummy and being happy there for a full ten minutes. I celebrated by waking up with a sore throat and developing a fever which wasn't nearly as fun and meant I had to put off some plans to met up with a friend and her son today.

We're still seeing some grackles at the feeder but now it is mostly just our squirrel. He comes to the feeder for a peanut and then runs off to hide it. I'm curious how many peanut are hidden in my garden pots. I know for sure he's also burying them in the potato box. Abby and Ollie and Maisie have a great time watching him run back and forth across the deck. Every so often he changes his route and runs down the side of the house instead of the back steps and there is much scurrying to get to the appropriate window in time to see him go by.

September makes me want to make. I made biscuits inspired by welsh cakes (which just means I added currents and nutmeg) for my lunch one day last week and had the leftovers for breakfast the next morning. I made a slight variation on fairy bread with a spare hot dog bun on evening just for fun (by the way I love hot dog buns - they're so soft and sweet and just so good). A friend in my knitting group is recently back from a year in New Zealand and was telling us about some of the different foods they make there. There has been a little more knitting. My Ravelry notebook shows 18 works-in-progress! I really need to work more on getting things finished and less on getting them started. Especially before the yarn for Maisie's winter sweater arrives. I made a little pair of pants for Maisie. I used Rae's basic newborn pants pattern. She says they have a lot of ease so I figured I could make them up as is and see where I need to adjust things to make them Maisie sized. It looks like they mostly just need a bit of length in the leg and maybe a smidge in the rise. Maisie was pretty thrilled about them when I tried them on  her - lots of wiggles and smiles.

My mum came over this afternoon and went for a walk with us. I took the big camera along and got her to take a picture of me, Maisie and Abby the way we usually look when we're out for a walk. We'll have to do it again in the winter. I managed to take a picture of the fireweed along part of the path. I've been admiring it all summer through its different phases. I think I might like the fall colours the best.