We’ve officially hit one month: one month in my new job, one month of Tess in school and Remy in playschool, one month into fall. Our routine – well, first of all, we have one. Our routine has become comfortable; not easy, but manageable and from time to time even instinctual. We can actually get two toddlers up, dressed, fed, packed in car seats into separate cars and on the road in 20 minutes. We can get all four in the car in 30 to 40. We have shaved about an hour off our time!

After a month of busy evenings and days, we had a lovely night in with casserole and our first fire of the season. We watched Tess dance in her princess dress and held Remy, who’s feeling under the weather. Griffin slept soundly on his play mat, Lilou slept soundly upstairs.

It has definitively not been an easy month. We’re still going through a lot of transitions everywhere. It has, however, been a beautiful month full of lovely surprises, peaceful moments, hugs from little arms and exuberant laughter. A lot of that happened today!

Today we celebrated the feast of Saint Michael, I think. Michaelmas is the festival of Courage. At Tess’ school, they planned a whole morning of activities for the preschoolers on that the theme. They enjoyed a popcorn picnic, made jingle bells sticks, wore capes and crowns, and ran an obstacle course which ended in them being knighted.

The cuteness of the day belies the true complexity of the concept. This festival stems from a need for all of us to challenge the status quo, to embrace change to make sure our lives aren’t stagnant. Our life is  changing so quickly that it couldn’t be stagnant if we wanted it to! But I imagine routine stops being helpful and starts limiting creative living at some point. We’re not there yet.

This month, Griffin had his first taste of solids (beets, blueberries and apples) and figured out how to roll over. Lilou learned to stand and to walk! She also just started her first swimming class. Now we need to teach her to get down the stairs safely. Remy suddenly learn to share, and Tess is learning how to make friends in English. We are learning to label all children’s clothing and how to pack lunches.

This is a different fall than we’ve ever had before. As young as our kids are, they’re getting older. And yet it’s beautiful to see Tess in a class setting and to see Remy hero worshiping his teachers. So our lives are changing along with the leaves. We’re having fun picking them up, giving them to each other, and generally exploring the seasons. Screaming and diapers aside, life with four is awesome.