Baby trees and cuddly book time

While Ben was at Memorial for an evening play date with Claire and Lisa and Josiah were attending the final day of Kindermusik for the year, Gabriella and I spent some time together outside. Step one - swinging

"Higher daddy!" she exclaims, her hair tussled gently by the breeze. The evening sun illuminates her wispy curls and toddler cheeks with warm, golden highlights.

"I have my baby pants on. Lookit daddy!" (little green short pants that are longer than shorts but shorter than most pairs of pants)

"Oh! My nose is running. Stop the swing." catch the swing and hold it while wiping her nose with a handy Kleenex... One. Two. Ready, let go! Higher daddy!"

When she tired of swinging (her arms were getting chilly), we set Skipperdee (the painted turtle) in the grass for some free roaming time and I started pulling grass while Gabriella climbed on my back. For 5 or 10 minutes I pulled little tree sprouts while G hung on. Finally, she asked me what I was doing.

"Pulling up baby trees - because there are too many of them in the wrong places."
"Baby trees?! Can I see them?"
"Yes, here they are." as I show her the handful of young trees ranging between 2" and 6".
"Ohhhh! Baby trees! Soooo cuute!"

We returned Skipperdee to the egress pit and spent some time out front edging and sweeping. G was a great helper, lifting the dustpan full of grass and dirt and carefully dumping it in the lawn waste bag.

With Ben gone until late evening, Josiah and I had a wonderful time cuddling on the couch reading a couple of bedtime stories, Baloney (Henry P.) and On Beyond Zebra.

:)