the leaves are falling!

Ohhhh, there is nothing quite like a nice pile of leaves to convince a child that it is once again fun to go outside. And of course, this being Nicole, that also means finding something to run in circles around. We don’t know why.

Lots of little girls want to be princesses.
Mine wants to be a dragon.

  She flip flops back and forth between telling me she’s scared because there’s an alligator, and telling me she has a pet alligator. She loves flowers and dancing and soccer (SOCCER! OH SHE LOVES SOCCER.) and painting and stepping in mud. Strange little mix of tomboy and girlie girl. I don’t always ‘get’ her but if she wants to wear purple heels and have a tea party one minute, and then turn around and ROAR! I’m a monster mommy! Well, bless her little heart. But lets not forget that monsters are scared of mommy.

(I don’t bother trying to convince her monsters don’t exist or crocodiles don’t live in the prairies. I just assure her that monsters and crocodiles aren’t allowed in the house and they won’t come in because they’re scared of mommy because mommy will spank them.  Sometimes she still pulls out the scared-of-monsters line at bedtime, but then I remind her that they wouldn’t dare come in the house, and she smiles smugly. “Yes, monsters are scared of mommy, because they know that mommy will SPANK THEM.”)

Falling leaves has me beyond excited this year. Leaves falling means pregnancy is almost over! Soon I get a baby! No, I do not want to talk about sleeplessness or tarry poop, thanks. I don’t want to talk about sibling rivalry, or transitional periods, or jealousy. I want to talk about family snuggle sessions with a new baby. I want to talk about New Baby Smell, and tiny little shoes, and soft little sweaters. I want to talk about touching my toes and having an adult-sized bladder. About rolling over in bed without putting any thought into it. About watching a tiny little miracle sleep and marvelling over how small and perfectly formed they are. Discovering a new little personality, day by day. Rediscovering again how fascinating things like ceiling fans and mobiles are. And this time also watching Nicole grow as a big sister and delight in introducing new things to ‘her’ new baby. I’m not worried about Nicole not liking the baby. She’s more likely to over-like the new baby. She’s already tried telling me it will be HER new baby and not mine and papa’s. Um, no, we’re going to share.

(If you’re curious what she found to run circles around, it was the rake I propped up against the garage after raking up a pile of leaves for her.)