Down & Dirty

Most days we keep it pretty clean.  But not this day.

Sometimes you just have to get messy.  You are the most curious and determined child I've known.  I spend countless hours talking you out of getting into trouble, carrying you away from trouble or cleaning up messes after you've found trouble anyway.  If it opens, you must open it.  If it can be moved, you must move it.  If it looks remotely edible, you must taste it.  And if it is higher than ground level, you must climb it.  It is exhausting and exhilarating all at the same time.  Every once in a while I just let you do what you are determined to do.  Even if it's not the wisest thing.  Because some lessons can only be learned through experience.  Like, oh, I don't know...eating dirt, maybe?

Maybe because it's the color of chocolate?  What else explains this?

It's on my finger.  Now what to do with it.

This is so funny!  I can't believe mom is letting me get away with this!!

Even though I do my best to find the balance between allowing you to safely explore and protecting you from the perils of being an inquisitive toddler, you find yourself in precarious situations anyway.  You even have your very first knee scrape to prove this.  (By contrast, Sydney got her first one last year.)  Currently, we are living with half of our furniture turned over on its side. Seriously.  Both rocking chairs (big & little), the toy box, the giant stuffed elephant.  They all lie flat on the ground.  The safest possible position.  If we accidentally leave them upright, you scramble up them, rocking precariously close to the edge, sitting backwards, standing...whichever dangerous option seems the most fun.  

Okay, it's now or never. 

Goin' in!

Hmmm...not what I was expecting.

We'll call it a success because I pulled it off.  Um, can we go wash this off of me now?

I have mixed emotions about this part of you.  I love and admire your adventurous spirit.  Your older sisters have been more cautious and reserved than you.  Admittedly, this has been easier on your dad and me.  But there is something beautiful about the reckless abandon with which you go through life.  I love that you throw caution to the wind and just dive into things.  I realize there may be repercussions, but I also believe you will have experiences that you would otherwise miss.  I don't want you to miss a thing.  That being said, it's always in the back of my mind that you will be the one with the eventual broken bone, or worse, broken heart.  Still, I will enjoy every moment of watching you soar.  Just know that I will be standing directly beneath you, with a safety net.  Always.

Pre-dirt.  Clean babe.