Fall Leaves

Days like today, when Audra takes a short nap and wakes up very cranky, make me thankful for a yard where Audra can safely play.  This girl LOVES being outside... bring her outdoors to the fresh air and the grumpiness disappears! 

I raked up a child-size pile of leaves for Audra to play in, but she was mostly interested in rake.  So after a little bit of instruction I let Audra rake some leaves herself.  She took her work seriously, and seemed to enjoy being able to do what Mama did.

I loved watching how hard she would concentrate on picking the leaves out of the rake.  I've been told that her expression of intense focus (and especially sticking out her tongue!) is exactly how David looked when he played as a toddler.

After a lot of raking, Audra decided to play in the leaves.  She enjoyed throwing the leaves at Sophie (which Sophie enjoyed, too!), trying to put them on her head and sitting in the big pile.