Monday, October 18, 2010

fallish

Okay, seriously, I love a good fall festival as much as the next guy. But the HEIGHT of Southern silliness to me is clothing monogrammed with pumpkin patch motifs - particularly turtlenecks and sweaters. A. You already know it's going to be 80* out there, and B. Why in the world would you pay that kind of money for something a kid can only conceivably wear for a week or two, especially considering A? We went to a pumpkin patch on Saturday, and I was instantly perturbed by the mothers hovering with expensive cameras around overdressed children, scolding them for PLAYING the games specifically designed for them, for fear they might smudge their monogrammed sweaters.

Come on, ya'll.

Determined not to be That Mom, I did not hover (any more than I normally would in a crowd, which is far less than some, a little more than others), nor did I screech "SMILE!", nor did I scold them for getting dirty. Which means I did not get many good pictures.

But they had a great time.

(They DID have on color-coordinated clothes, but purely for safety reasons. This is the only parenting trick I ever took from Jon & Kate - if you have them all in the same distinctive color, you can count the number of blonde curls in orange shirts in the bouncy house and determine that everyone is safe. Good call.)

Want to see?

A corn box. Way better than sand.



Sliding down the hay.



Silas following a baby goat. He was so intrigued by a little critter exactly his size.



Riding a toddler-sized tractor.




And a cow?



And, of course, picking out their pumpkins.



This one might be my favorite. There was a man with a guitar singing outdated, out of tune camp songs. But they just can't help themselves. Even bad music deserved their undivided attention.



And like all good things, when it's over, it's OVER. To avoid the inevitable I'm-too-tired-to-possibly-walk-to-the-car meltdown, almost everything we do ends like this.



Happy Tuesday.

5 comments:

Kim said...

Silas looks so much like your sister :)

Stephanie said...

Yes he does, Kim.

Kendra said...

Good thing Brian has another arm to carry Emmy =).

Your description of children being scolded for PLAYING at the pumpkin patch reminds me of one of my all time favorites...parents who grab their child after said child has hit someone, spank them, and then say "don't hit!".

Classic.

Although far be it from me to sound prideful in my parenting. As you well know, I have NO idea what I am doing on a day to day basis =)

Susan Shehane said...

Parenting is an experiment. That's why we keep working on it, generation after generation, etc.

mamamama

Ella said...

love your description of the south...so true!! and sadly, i sometimes feel the pressure to do the same just so i feel like i fit in here. but i don't. we went to the pumpkin patch last week in basketball and spiderman t-shirts. exactly what they dressed themselves in that morning. not fall-ish and cute at all. i was hoping their "orange" hair made up for the lack of matchy monogramming, which will never ever happen. i did take some pictures, but thankfully in the midst of their playing. please don't ever let me be that mom that scolds her boys for being boys!!