Here is Kyla with her leaf collecting bag, ready to get started
And here is just a small look at what the trails at Happy Hollow park look like....so beautiful and so many leaves.
It is funny as your child starts to get older, that you begin to notice parts of their temperament and personality that they were just born with....it is just part of them. One of those things I am noticing about Kyla is that she is a perfectionist....no doubt about it. I have always kind of seen this in her, but a couple of weeks ago she was coloring (something she is very into these days) in our front living room while we were in the kitchen and I heard lots of crying and panic....I wondered if something was really wrong. I went in there to find that all of the commotion was due to the fact that she got outside one of the lines while she was coloring. Seriously....she takes coloring very seriously and will sit and do it with great precision. So, in that moment I knew, it just really bothers her when things aren't done just perfectly.
So, fast forward a couple of weeks later and her and I are talking about her homework assignment of leaf collecting. She began to tell me that she wants to find three red leaves....three because she is 3 and red because it is her favorite color. I knew at the time she was just talking, but she is very organized and specific in her thinking that way. Anyway, we got to the park to begin getting the leaves and found out just how serious she was. She had that idea in her head and it was really hard for her to let it go.....three red leaves. We were trying to tell her she could get as many leaves as she wanted....any size or any color. Not happening.
I was laughing to myself on the inside because I wanted to say, "Oh, Kyla.....honey, do you realize that someday your homework assignments will involve things like figuring out what "x" equals? And, do you realize that if you are anything like me, you will probably have to have a tutor work with you to help you understand how to even begin to understand how to find what "x" equals? And, do you also realize that if you are anything like me you will probably come home one day and ask me when you are ever going to use this in your life and I will have to make something up because I will know good and well that you never will use it in your life? So, right now, let's just enjoy the fact that all your homework entails is finding leaves and putting them in a bag." However, at the rate we are going, Kyla might just be the one helping her friends figure out what "x" equals.
Anyway, we all finally accepted the fact that Kyla really did just want three red leaves....she found those and they are tucked safely away in her backpack right now, ready to go to preschool tomorrow. After we got past that little glitch, we had such a fun time.
Here is my Kyla....a happy girl with her three red leaves. I love this girl!
And, here is my other girl....Ashlyn checking out the leaves...no discrimination on color at this point
Kyla showing some of the leaves to Ashlyn
After finishing up with the leaves, we moved on to other things.....like,
swinging!
And, when it was all said and done, we had one really tired girl on the way home:
Yes, my oldest is showing some perfectionist tendencies. And, yes, it will be our job as her parents to encourage her just as she is, but to also make sure that she can enjoy life, even when things aren't perfect or exactly as how she had hoped.....because they certainly won't always be. I love watching these two little girls we have been given and seeing all of the unique ways God made them. And, I am sure one day, when Kyla is a mommy and one of her kids gets all out of sorts over these kinds of things, I can tell her the story about her and the three red leaves. And, I will also most certainly tell her how much I love her and how thankful I am she is my girl.
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