Now I know why we had this third baby: To help with the leaf situation on the lawn.

They say it’s hard to do yard work and watch the baby at the same time. But I say, 19 months old is not too young to start helping out around here. And dang it if Lilly doesn’t agree.

If she sees me picking up armloads of leaves and hefting them into the huge green trash can, then she herself bends down (while grunting like me), scoops about three leaves in her gigantic tiny fist, and holds them up, miles from the top of the trash can. She’s so enthusiastic, I have to then heave her 25 pound body up and hold her over the top of the can so she can have the victory of releasing her grasp and watching one of the three leaves actually fall INTO the trash can, while the other two float off to decorate the clean area where I had just raked. I start regretting that I taught her to help after hefting her up and down about twenty times, and my leaf pile is laying there huge, not getting any smaller, laughing at me. And now my arms are tired.

But this is where the baby really comes in handy. I just set her IN the trash can, where she happily jumps on the leaves, packing them down rather nicely. And my arms get a rest. And look at that bright smile and rosy cheeks.

So it takes us about forty times as long to clear one tiny section of the yard of leaf piles. There’s a lot of dancing, and she’s so cute. She’s the best part of the yard work. And she’s only going to fit in the trash can for a few more years. -JJ