Great Lake Swimmers

We saw these guys (and a girl) play last night at the Ladies Literary Club. It's not just for ladies any more.

I bought their first album a few years ago after hearing it at a friend's house. It made me feel all whispy and haunted and melancholy and good. They're from Toronto, they were captivating live, and I'm getting more of their albums STAT.

Listen here. If you want.

A Hike with Pops

That's his happy sound.

11 Months!

I'm a little late on a 10-month update for Jude, so here's one for 11 months instead.

New Stuff:

• Creeping (aka "army crawl' on his tummy)
• Tooth Sprouting (he now has 1.25 toofers)
• Garbled Word-Saying (he said "uh-oh" the other day after I said it, with the exact same inflection; "momo" when Mona came into the room; "ba ba ba" for bye-bye)
• Move Busting (the kid loves to dance)
• Yelling (at the top of his lungs, for fun)
• "Contributing to the Conversation" (he randomly says some sort of nonsense while we're talking amongst ourselves and acts like it was a normal part of the discussion)

I can't believe he'll be ONE in a month. Little Man.

Our "No-TV Rule"

Ahem.

Jude was real crabby the other day, so we sat him down on the living room floor and put in a baby DVD. We've only done this once before when he was sick. (Generally he's not allowed to watch TV, but we made an exception because he was in the foulest of foul moods. Plus an age-appropriate DVD doesn't count as TV, does it? I'm saying it doesn't).

It definitely looks like we let him watch the Kardashians on a daily basis. But these were so stinkin' cute and he looks so tiny in them, I couldn't resist (with the necessary explanation, or course). Click to enlarge.

P.S. We try not to be totally anal about things. Once Jude has passed his major developmental milestones (around age 3 or so) we'll be a little more lax on the TV viewing. A little. As in Sesame Street. But not Barney. "But what if he likes it?" I don't care. He won't know whether he likes it or not. Because he'll NEVER SEE IT :)

Smear Campaign

He pretty much smeared it everywhere.

Giant Pumpkins, $35

Throw in a small child for $5. Yellow hood and stripey socks are extra.

It's Jude's first Fall on this earth so we're doing our best to make it AWESOME. I love October in Michigan.

Mostly I hate how quickly Fall goes though. It's my favorite season, but as soon as I've taken note of the first bright red leaf there's snow on the ground and the Michigan deep-freeze that is guaranteed to last the next six months has begun. I love it here three seasons out of four, but honestly. In March and April I usually want to pitch myself off a very tall building.

Anywho...we went to Robinette's a few days ago, an orchard just outside of town that has hiking trails and sells apples, cider, pumpkins, weird warty gords and all that. Oh, and we must also mention: freshly-made doughnuts and hot cider. Jono's Grandma Klooster came too. This is us about to do orchard stuff:

Enjoy it while it lasts.

Pickles

Jude hearts pickles. Dill ones. When he sees a pickle, he'll grab it and gnaw on it frantically until there's nothing left but the skin.

Here he is eating one in Chicago where we went to see my aunt and cousin run the marathon last weekend. (They did great, but most of you are here for the pickle. I'll cut to the chase.)

I'm getting heckled about how much this blog sucks lately. There. Stick a pickle in it.

P.S. Tyler, pics 3 and 4 blow up when you click on them.

Handmade Baby Bling

Jude has two new pairs of booties from friends and family that I need to show off.

These are his Mongolian baby boots that we got from Rhoda and Johan, friends who just finished up a stint teaching in Korea and went to Mongolia before they came home. (First of all, jealous, secondly, thankful they thought of Jude while there). Apparently many a Mongolian babe toddles around in these. I think they are made of wool and leather and are handmade by someone. Nice.

Here's a pic of J & J before church a few Sundays ago. Bambino is wearing a fantastic pair of hand-knit booties that were made by Jono's cousin Rachel. (Please note: he is also wearing a sweater.) My favorite part are the teeny wooden buttons. Rachel quick stitched them out during the few days we spent at their place in Seattle. Skillz.

I know most mama blogs tend to showcase the mama's own crafty abilities. Maybe you noticed that mine does not follow this trend. Someday I'll hone my fine motor skills and learn to sew and knit something other than a scarf that requires the same stitch over and over. Meanwhile I'll continue on that rust-orange scarf I started, like, two years ago.

Have yourself a cliche little Christmas

My blog is in a bit of a famine period right now. I know this. And I'm sorry. But you all know why. I'll take every opportunity to post a little something that might make you giggle. It might make you frown. But either way, it's something you may be able to mull over and ponder throughout your day.

On that note, I recently wrote to my far-flung brothers about what to do about Christmas gifts this year, considering we're all broke. I got almost immediate responses from all three of them.

What I suggested was that it would be a good idea to draw names, and to save even more money, Mom and I thought we might also toss around doing homemade gifts: anything from knitted potholders (see photo: tackiest one I could find) to homegrown canned tomato sauce to a little ditty about your person accompanied by a glockenspiel.

Anyway, since no one in my family (other than Mom) takes any suggestion from anyone seriously, the responses are worth sharing.

Geertsma Family Christmas: Gift Ideas for 2009

1. "that sounds great to me. I already bought personalized m&m's for all of you that say, "live, laugh, love" on them but i guess i can make something too." (Grant)
2. "i've already made embroidered christmas sweaters for everyone so i'm way ahead of the game. love, Tyler"
3. "I'm fine with this. As long as each one of you gets my name... twice. But in all seriousness yes, I'm ok with this. I'm not much of a susie homemaker so I probably won't be making anything myself, but I'm OK with somebody making something for me. As long as it looks and acts like a new car. Brett"

Happy Fall everyone!