Counting Down

As the gestational weeks fly by, and we pass the 30-week mark, I have a sense of urgency with regard to spending quality time with my Tigger. I realize that he won't be ignored once his sister is born, but I also realize that the days of "him and me" will be gone forever.

Add to this the fact that the cold weather is threatening to stick around pretty soon, so our days of easy outdoor access are limited.

This feeling of urgency has also been encouraged by the daunting thought of taking more than one child out to do grocery shopping and other errands. Especially after speaking to friends with several young children, I find new resolve to appreciate my relative ease-of-mobility at this stage of life.

And finally, the desire to make the best of this time has also been encouraged by Tigger himself, and his rapid development of playfulness and communication of late.

He plays more interactively every week, and can tell me more certainly how he would like activities to be run. We've enjoyed many little outings in the past few weeks... a rainy trip to Costco where we found all the puddles in the parking lot between the car and the store,... multiple trips to the dog park where he's learning to jump off of some tree stumps, as well as play with other dogs... a trip to the zoo,... a trip to the aquarium,... not to mention all the fun we've been having on sunny days in our own backyard, kicking a soccer ball around, repeatedly setting up his football so he can perform "kick-off," and playing fetch with our own dog.

Yesterday, my plan was to initiate him into the joys of jumping into autumn foliage. It was a worthwhile endeavor on the practical side of things, too, since the tree out front has ejected all of its lovely ornamentation onto our lawn. I had forgotten the wonderful smell that rises from the ground when one gathers the dry, papery, fallen leaves together, as well as the more pronounced whiffs of the season when bending down every so often to remove whole pieces pierced through by the rake's prongs.

Tigger was only marginally interested in the raking task itself, but he thought the "one - two - three - JUMP!" was hilarious when I demonstrated it. So hilarious, in fact, that he was thrilled to watch ME do it over and over again.

"You're turn! You do one-two-three-jump," I tried to prompt him.
Shaking his head, he repeatedly responded, "Ma-ma-ma-ma," while pointing to the huge pile of leaves.
"You want Mama to do it again?"
"Heh?!" he answered every time, which is his particular signification for "yes."
It must have been a funny sight, were any of the neighbors watching, to see a 7-month pregnant mother jumping repeatedly into a pile of leaves, while her toddler stood by and laughed with delight.

That's one thing I won't be doing for too much longer!