Fuddy-duddy Mom

I'm not always a fuddy-duddy mom.

After seeing the leaves pile up in the yard and driveway, I decided I'd surprise Jeff by raking them up. Plus, I had to find a get-the-wiggles-out activity for Cole to do before I went crazy! So I took him outside, found him a pint-sized rake, and went to work. Cole was thrilled to be outside and helping me. He was actually a pretty good little helper too. He watched what I did and then copied it. We were having a good time and then Pearl came running out of the house in tears, telling me "it's your fault Mom" for leaving her alone to watch a movie. I tried to remind her that she told me she didn't want to go outside but she had her mind made up that I'd abandoned her with nothing to eat but a tub of popcorn. She still didn't want to help but I sent her inside anyway to get socks, shoes, and a coat on.

Pearl showed no interest whatsoever in helping us rake up all the leaves. That is, until she saw how big of a pile we were making. A light bulb must have gone off in her head once she realized this "work" could actually be fun. She looked at me with this little "do you think Mom will let me?" look at which point I told her we were going to jump in them once we had a great, big, huge pile of leaves. She forgot all about me abandoning her in front of the movie she begged me to watch. Soon we had a ginormous pile of leaves... we have a huge yard! The suspense of waiting for the go-ahead was almost too much for Pearl to handle. Here she comes! It was so much fun to watch Pearl jump into the pile of leaves over and over again. She laughed and smiled and jumped and buried herself in the leaves. And when I say buried, I mean buried... she completely disappeared, face and all. Then she'd jump out yelling "raaaarrrr!"I didn't really expect Cole to want any part of the leaf pile jumping - what with him trying to rake up the plants and bark in the flower beds - but pretty soon he came over squealing in delight and plopped right down in the pile. He was so funny to watch jump in the leaves. He didn't really jump, but just stood next to the pile and then fell forward. Pretty soon all three of us were throwing leaves at each other and jumping in them. I was kind of surprised at how much fun I was having jumping in the leaves. I'd glance over at the cars on the street and see people pointing and laughing at us. We must have looked ridiculous but we were having too much fun to care. Besides, I know they were all just wishing their mom was as cool as me, obviously! It sounds dumb, but it was pure joy playing with my kids in a big pile of leaves. And it makes my heart smile to see these pictures, especially these next two.We tried playing in the leaves until Jeff got home from work - Pearl wanted to hide in them and scare him and I wanted him to see I'm not an old, fuddy-duddy all the time - but it got dark, cold, and hunger set in. But the three of us tracked in enough leaves on our clothes, in our shoes, down our pants, and in our hair that he knew exactly what we'd been doing. What surprised him though, was my response when he asked if I'd jumped in the leaves too.

Maybe I really am a fuddy-duddy after all.