Falling in Love

...with FALL!!! Is it just me, or did it feel like winter already until today? I was about to prematurely crawl into my anti-winter hole and wait for spring. (I'm pretty much a wimp when it comes to cold weather. I don't enjoy it at all.) But today is AMAZING. It's warm and wonderful... and perfect for pictures. I just love the trees in front of my house this time of year. I let Jay run around for a few minutes before conning him into some portraits. I'm not looking forward to the day when Jay realizes a leaf is not a real bribe. Even with my clever trickery, he was not in a smiling mood. I did, however, earn this reaction for acting like Elmo and quacking like a duck: Other than that I ended up with mostly leaf interaction.... Jay's a leaf whisperer. It was so fun to get outside and play finally. We're pretty lucky to live in a place with so much room outside for Jay to explore. I really love this next picture of our shadows on the road to our house. It kind of sums up life for me right now. Me, my backpack, my camera, and Jay. If only I could have gotten Joe and my computer in there, it would have been complete. It probably sums up Jay's life too. I guess that's all part of having a camera obsessed Mom. Unfortunately, so is this next picture: I probably have more pictures like this than of him smiling. Poor kid. Does the government take your kids away for taking too many pictures of them?.. I hope not. They might get me for taking a picture of Jay running toward a busy street though. (Don't worry. He's still slow enough that I can catch him.) He was fascinated by that road and every time I turned around he took off. Here he is headed toward Amity screaming something about liberation: We're so proud... not so much about his suicide attempts but his language skills are taking off.

We also have a bunch of pumps around the yard from our well. I thought I'd see what Jay thought of the water. (He has a history of being terrified of moving water.) Here's a sequence of pictures that says it all...

First he's not so sure... Then he throws caution to the wind and sticks his hand in. He's loving it... Loving it.. And then...

..mmmm... not so much.

Fun day. I love Fall.