HA HA HA!!! (Click the link!)
We're knee-high in fall leaves around here, and just last weekend I swapped all but two short-sleeved shirts for long-sleeved options. I even washed an armful of wool sweaters. Just preparing for the inevitable!
The boys often have a hard time coming straight in from preschool for lunchtime (unless they're absolutely starving), so they frequently spend a little time winding down in the backyard pushing trucks and dirt, scooping buckets of rainwater (sorry, Californians), or raking the freshly fallen leaves! Christopher likes to create many small piles and count how many there are, but of course. Colin likes to mow right through the carefully created piles, but of course.
In all sincerity, they are a fantastic pair and on days when they've both been to school in the mornings, it's obvious how much they like to reconvene and play together in the familiarity of home. It occurred to me yesterday, as I watched them raking and negotiating over piles and division of labor, that by the time raking leaves has lost its novelty, they'll be close to shoveling piles of snow!
If there's one thing I've learned in my five short years of little kid parenting, it's that a healthy dose of Outside Manual Labor is both healthy and necessary. It's even better if I get myself suited up and head out there with them. Look for Evelyn bundled up in the Kelty backpack this winter... she'll be shoveling and tossing a few snowballs, too!
