Friday, the first of the month

Splashing in puddles.

I do not remember being able to splash in puddles growing up. As a matter of fact, all I do remember from growing up is the obsession with keeping my clothes neat, clean and tidy. No crumbs on the floor. No stains on my clothes. No scratches on my shoes. That was how my mother raised me. A neat house goes with it as well~

I am a little like my mom now. I like a neat house and prefer that JR's clothes remain unstained. But I have a toddler and I know these things happen. Although I do rush to the stain remover as fast as I can when opportunity arises, I sometimes force myself to back off because I am already seeing that part of me in JR as well. She does not like dirty clothes, dirty hands or dirty shoes. She is forever asking me to wipe her hands every time she takes a bit and gets really upset when she drops something on her clothes. So, in an effort to have the "buck stop here," I decided to put JR in her rain boots and take her on a puddle expedition.

We went around the building looking for puddles for her to jump in. I did try to keep her out of the mud, but that was asking too much. And, of course she then wanted me to clean her lady bug rain boots to which I instructed her to splash in more puddles.

It was a contained mess, a conrolled experiment, but it was fun. It worked. I pushed the envelope and she enjoyed herself. I see more of that in both our futures!