I Can Clearly See Your Nuts

It's unseasonably warm today; like almost sixty degrees...very very warm. After a nice work out at the gym while Bits played with some other kiddos and a fitting at the dance shop for her new shoes (this child is going to make us broke with her ballet shoe issue. She seems to think it's OKAY to keep growing, when clearly it's not. Shoes cost money :P) Since it was so warm and HH needed to get some sleep (I don't know why he only worked 56 hours this week the slacker) we took a walk...and an hour later just got back to the house.

We have a really great park near the house that happens to go around a super old cemetery (which Gabe is fascinated by, but that's another post for another day) and we decided to take a walk on the path around the cemetery and see where it led. It led us to thru a gorgeous patch of woods where we saw two small red headed woodpeckers who seemed to think we were no threat because they landed on branches no further than ten feet from us-almost as if to say "oh sure, take a look at us!" They were gorgeous.

As we walked my leg got snagged on a picker bush and I hollered OUCH! Bits, ever the little momma, asked "oh what's wrong momma?" I told her a picker bush got me and she wrapped her arm around my leg and pulled me close and said "ok then, just walk with me, I won't let the pickers get you anymore, ok?" and at that moment I realized something...

I realized that in just a few short months my little momma, my shadow for the last nearly five years, my itty bitty baby girl is going to be going to school and for the first time since she was born, I'm going to be on my own for a few hours every.single.day. I almost can't fathom this. When Gabe went to school I was relieved; he was so bored at home and I had Bits to take care of. He settled into school very easily; he loves to learn, he loves being surrounded by other kids, the whole bit. He's very independent, always has been.

Bits, on the other hand, has always been a momma's girl. Never wanting to be further than a few arm lengths away from me, even at night. She never wanted to go to dance by herself, never wanted to go on playdates...all of that is changing though. She loves dance class with "the big girls". She ASKS to go to the gym so she can play with her friends, and she doesn't seem to need me 24/7 anymore, something I thought would never happen. Something I swore I would rejoice over when it finally happened but yet...I can't help feeling like I'm not really ready for this. I'm not ready for my itty bitty to be not so itty bitty.

As we walked along the path with her arm wrapped around my leg, chatting about what we saw and what we thought, I realized that she really IS independent and it happened in the blink of an eye. We continued on with our walk, seeing ducks and geese, petting dogs, and stopping for a good five minutes to watch a nutkins (that'd be a squirrel in this family) chew on a black walnut, only leaving when he tossed the empty nut shell down and Bits was able to pick it up and put it in her pocket. We sat and talked to ducks, we saw ANOTHER woodpecker (busy birds today) and then we saw a gorgeous red tailed hawk before crossing the street and finding our way back into our neighborhood.

The above picture was taken by mini momma; she thought it would be cool to see what the nutshells looked like in a picture. Turned out pretty well I think, just like her...and hopefully, me too, when I'm on my own picking up nutshells and watching birds with no one to protect me from the picker bushes.