Mud

On the days that Tom picks up the girls (most of them) I call my mom on my way home to see how her day with Olivia went.

Tom, great dad that he is, is still a guy, and so isn’t as likely to have asked if Olivia had a good potty day, or if she ate well, etc. So I call to see how it all went.

Alyssa gets off the bus at my mom’s and spends at least an hour there before Tom comes to get her and Olivia. She always does her homework the minute she gets home and then, if the weather is above 20 degrees, she’s begging to go outside.
With the temperature hovering just above freezing these days, there is a lot of water and mud outside. And Alyssa is in heaven.

One day last week during one of my calls, my mom mentioned that while outside, Alyssa got her pants wet.

I didn’t think anything of it. It’s almost spring, it’s muddy and there’s been a lot of rain.

And…she’s eight.

Then my mom said, “I think she did it on purpose.”

Which, again, she’s eight, she probably did.

Except, my mom continued with, “I think she sat in the puddle.”

At which point, I laughed. Because of course she sat in the puddle. That’s my girl. I love that she sat in the mud. I know that it means more laundry, but hey, part of being a kid is getting to sit in the mud and not get in too much trouble.
I love that this girl is all about horses and dogs and mud and being outside and swinging from a rope. I love that she would be outside in the mud and the cold and the rain and sun all the time if she didn’t have to do things like eat and go to school and do homework and sleep.

When I asked Alyssa later that day if she had sat in the mud on purpose, she said without a trace of apology, “Yep.”

I want this young stage, this pressure-free stage to last as long as possible. I want her to be unselfconscious and unpretentious for as long as she can. I want her continue to enjoy the simple things like mud and playing in the rain. Adulthood seems to come faster and faster these days.

She’s amazing, my girl. Muddy pants and all.