mighty mouse

Now that the kids are more convenient (meaning, don't have to urinate every half hour), we're trying to explore the local parks system each weekend. Today we discovered a new path that's been cleared since last spring, and has brand new benches and picnic tables and whatnot. It winds through the woods along the water, and it's just beautiful.

The park trip went well, mostly. P had to hide from a few leashed dogs, but he whispered sweet nothings to himself until each dog threat had passed. I like that, at age 4.5, he's finally learning to self-soothe. We made poor footwear choices in the form of fake crocs, and at one point P body-slammed A into the water, but they patched things up quickly.

As we wandered the path, Haney-Jane narrated our movements with a little song. She chirped, "Uppa heel, uppa heel, uppa heel," as we climbed. "Downa heel, we doe-in downa heel, downa heel," she sang on our descent. Jason began to race the older kids, so Jane and I started our on race.

"I wunnin' fattah!" My toddler can already smack-talk.

"Want to hold hands?" I asked.

"No! I wunnin' fattah!" she asserted, then wiped out face-first onto the crumbled shale path.

My poor baby. She is by far the toughest of our kids. Most of the time she falls, she gets up smiling. When I ask if she's okay, she smiles and says, "Yah," all bored-like, then runs away. She'll cry for a hard dinger on the head, or if she draws blood.

We'd just taken the bandaids off her knees from her Memorial Day wipe-out, and the fall on the path opened new wounds on her tender pink skin. I gathered her up and carried her, and she cried so hard until Jason asked if ice cream would make her feel better.

She sniffled. "Yah."

We went back to the car and headed to Dairy Queen, where we enjoyed cones and sundaes. Jane and I shared.

She is so small and fun. I think she's hovering just over 23 lbs., and she's strong and will wrap her arms around my neck and hold on, and I can walk around hands-free. Or I can hold her with one hand -- not one arm, just one hand. She insists she is a baby, and whenever she sees an infant she'll squeak, "Yook! A baby yike me!"

On Monday we will have health insurance with a normal-sized deductible! I will have to take her in for a check-up and shots -- she's nearly 7 months overdue. Casey and her wonderful playgroup sent me boxes and boxes of clothes for the kids, including 6-12 and 12-18 month shorts for Jane, since she is way too small for any of the things I had for her. She's tiny, but she's so tough, and I adore her.