The Joys of Fall

For many people, the thought of "fall" reminds us of times when we were young, running around in our backyard or at the park, red-cheeked, laughing, jumping into piles of leaves.... and then there's Addison.

Addison and I recently came back to Pennsylvania for a 2-week visit, getting our stuff settled in and situated for our impending move to the area while my husband finishes grad school. Excited at the thought of being able to take my daughter outside to play (we currently live in a large city in Massachusetts, which doesn't allow for a lot of outdoor exploration), I got her all suited up on a mild fall day and took her outside. I believe her expression in this first photo betrays her true feelings about the season, the outdoors, and the leaves on the ground.

Another day, we went to the middle school where my father-in-law teaches, and on our way back to the car, Addison was trying desperately to pick up the leaves that had fallen on the walkway and move them back into the grass where, in her mind, they belonged. I finally had to carry her out to the car, fearing that we would never make it there if she was left to her own devices.

After her nap, I took her outside to try again. My dad was home from work for the day, and was more than willing-- even eager-- to jump into piles of leaves with his grandchild. I hope he enjoyed playing in the leaves himself, because Addison was less than thrilled with this turn of events, as demonstrated by the following images:

My diva-princess-girlygirl was very upset, even appalled, by the bits of leaves that were clinging to her coat, pants, and shoes, and painstakingly removed every tiny leaf fragment as quickly as she could. She watched in horror as my Dad buried himself in leaves, covering his hair, face, shirt, and pants. She kept muttering "no! no!" and trying desperately to free herself from the pile without actually having to touch anything.

I'm beginning to get the feeling that, if she doesn't get over this "I don't want to be messy" thing, I'll be seeing a repeat of last winter: