Fall Fun

The Fall colors around here are insanely beautiful. Many of the trees are vibrant red, orange and yellow, and the leaves have started really falling off the trees. So sometimes the ground under a tree is just as pretty as the tree itself. At the beginning of Fall, I wasn't too impressed, but now I see why people enjoy the season so much. I want to compare it to Spring in Phoenix, when you are on one of the mountain preserves and the wild flowers surround you and stretch out forever. It's kind of like that, but its on a much grander scale because the trees are everywhere. This is the first time I've ever experienced a real Fall (South TX doesn't have this many deciduous trees), and I don't want it to end.

It was a beautiful afternoon. It's been cloudy and rainy for the last two days, so we took advantage of the sun and mild weather. We went around the neighborhood collecting leaves. Maybe we'll do an art project with them.

Payton's ear seems just fine. She slept through the night on Monday and it hasn't hurt since Monday. But we still have to finish the antibiotics which she doesn't care for. We have to promise her a treat after she takes it, so she will take it.

Yesterday, Payton didn't have school because they've been conducting parent-teacher conferences instead. So we had ours yesterday. Payton's teacher said that she is super-sweet, smiles alot, and gets along well with everyone. The teachers did 36 month old evaluation. The evaluation scores each child in areas like gross and fine motor skills, communication, personal/social relationships, and problem solving. Payton did very well in the evaluation, but I found one thing kind of funny. Under the Communication heading, the teacher wrote, 'Doesn't talk very much.' I had to take a double take. Were we talking about the same little girl? Payton will talk your ear off if you let her, but evidently at school she is shy and quiet.

Scott is on the Medicine ICU service so he is on-call every other 24 hours for 24 hours. He usually gets home between 6:30 and 7 pm, so it makes for a long day for all of us.