Fall, Fell

Okay, I'm busy cleaning house (again - amazing how once is never enough with a three year old around). All of us in the house are feeling better and looking forward to houseguests this weekend, thank goodness! So I'm just going to do a quick and dirty list here.

Reasons I Love Fall:

1. Long Pants. On a toddler. I have spent the last three months chasing down a screaming kid who's just skinned his knees (again), wrangling him as he screams even louder three inches from my ear because he doesn't "want me to touch his boo-boo," liberally applying antibiotic creams (more screams), and applying cartoon character bandaids to make it all better (none of which ever stay on long enough for anything to actually heal). While cooler weather doesn't mean he won't keep kissing the ground at top speed, it does mean that there's that all important layer of fabric between unforgiving concrete and too-forgiving skin. (I don't even want to talk about how my knees weep in sympathy to watch his joints tangle with every solid surface. That's another blog.)

2. Jackets. I'm what you might lovingly describe as "all woman" - as in, shopping in the Woman's section of department stores. And while I've really come to grips with most of my body issues (who has time to obsess when bandaids have to be reapplied?), summer is not my best fashion season. There are lots of people in this world who look really good in shorts and a tank top. I am not one of these people. But give me some well-cut trousers and a structured jacket, and I'm ready to take on the town!!! (and yes, I love "What Not To Wear." Love it!)

3. The Impending Death of Mosquitoes and All Their Blood-Sucking Relatives. Oh, I know, they don't really die, they go into some cruel form of hibernating stasis, because they have to come from somewhere on that first day the temp hits 70 in the spring. And they all come to me. This year was spectacularly bad with all the flooding on the Mississippi (Second only to the Great Flood of '93, by less than an inch) (Have you donated to the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund yet?). Seriously, it was 60 degrees out last night, I talked to my neighbor putting up his Halloween decorations for five minutes, and got two mosquito bites. Plus, they discovered the toddler this year, so we were both miserable. Nothing says "hot" in a tank top and shorts like open sores that itch. And yes, it was that bad.

4. Halloween. Yes, they started putting out candy three months ago, before even the back to school sales got really going, but now it's time to get serious. And serious is the toddler insisting he's going as a "construction ghostie" this year (a tablecloth with holes a la Charlie Brown, but jauntily topped off with a hard hat I found at a yard sale for a quarter.) It's like Bob the Builder died and came back to haunt me this year, and I can't wait to share that with the world. And I can't wait for the toddler to share some of his candy with me. (Oh, come on. You know you do this too - rifle through your kid's loot. You spy your weakness - mine's those big Reese's Peanut Butter cups - and unilaterally declare that you're kid isn't old enough to eat the big kid candy. And then you eat them all before that poor kid notices you swiped five of them.) (You do too!)

5. Fall Color. This is an obvious, obligatory mention, but I really do groove on maples that explode in reds and oranges over night. And then I rake the leaves with the 'help' of a toddler who's none-to-clear on the concept. And then I throw him in the leaves. And repeat until bath time, because by then, we've both got leaves in our underoos.

So there you have it. Reasons to love fall.