Chihuahua

As some of you know, I am a working mama now.  I care for 3 year old Pal half-time.  Bubby and Pal have become great friends--they love to run and jump and giggle together, and Bubby even seems more clingy on the days Pal is not with us: he seems to be missing his playmate.  Today is another gorgeous day, and we headed off to our favorite local waterfall this morning.  I couldn't believe that I had once again forgotten just how steep that hill is, and I must admit I was feeling some of the same feelings that I felt on this day (2nd half of the post) as I attempted to get the children to focus on walking and/or riding in the stroller instead of listening to the leaves fall (oh yes, they were).  Oh, but what a lovely day, and a lovely place to spend a part of it.

 Both of this kids walked up (and back down) that massive staircase.  I was so impressed with both of them.  I kept telling Pal, "you can do anything if you believe in yourself," and, "you're a strong girl," hoping that my few choice words would stick and see her through her growing up years (I don't think I have anything to worry about, since her parents are fabulous).

 As we were walking back toward our vehicle, a couple passed us, walking their dog.  He looked like a German Shepherd to me, but Pal insisted that he was a Chihuahua (yes, she did...and after a few minutes of bearing the onslought of her insistence, I admitted that his ears did look somewhat Chihuahua-ish).  After that, as we were walking up that long, steep hill, Pal and Bubby would stop and peer intently up the trail, and then they would whisper, "I think there's another Chihuahua coming."  It was so, so funny--oh my word!  There must have been at least 20 Chihuahuas lurking on that path and in the surrounding woods.

I had to include this pic, since all the others were of the kids' backs--I did tell you they love to run together (and they are fast)!

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This morning 2/3 of my children did not have clean pants to wear.  When I asked Code-man why he and Logo hadn't brought their dirty laundry upstairs yesterday (which is one of their Thursday morning tasks), he told me he didn't feel like it!  Well, Code-man, that's good, because I didn't feel like washing it either :)

Unfortunately, mama gets the raw end of the deal yet again, because I'm the one who's going to be reported for child neglect if those kids show up at school naked (or even extremely dirty, if it's often enough)... I don't know that they'd accept "natural consequences" as a good enough excuse.

(I can't get spell-check to work, so sorry, folks, if onslought is misspelled.  It looks misspelled.  Hope you can figure out what I meant)