I fell down the stairs today

You know when you see something, and think to yourself, hmmm, that looks like an accident waiting to happen, but then go on your merry way and do nothing about it? Well, don't let your son throw his ducky rain boots down the stairs and leave them on the steps. Its NOT a good idea. Yes, I fell down the stairs today. My kids heard me fall and yell stuff (and can't tell you what words came out, because I can't remember, but they were probably not the ones you want your kids to hear). They were trapped upstairs on the other side of the puppy gate, and laughing hysterically, while I laid there in pain. I shouted to them, to quit laughting because I was hurt. They responded soon afterwards by kissing my boo-boos, so I forgave them for being so heartless. I came away with a sore ankle and some bumps and bruises, so it turned out ok. But, just like your mother told you, "Don't leave stuff on the stairs!" Oh yeah, I'm the mom now, aren't I.

My daughter is obsessed with growing stuff. I have my heart in the right place, but I'm not a very good gardener. Her pumpkins are wilting and have some kind of mold on the leaves. She is expecting a big crop. So far, there are four pumpkins, and they are hanging on for dear life (literally) while all the vines around them are dying. Our cherry tomatoes are doing really well. And, we got one bell pepper. Just one. And the other pepper - no one knows what kind it is. It was suppose to be a bell pepper, but it isn't. My husband doesn't think its a hot pepper, but then he can tolerate much hotter stuff than the rest of us, so I'm just leaving them there for now.

Back to pumpkins. The plants all have names. I think my daughter believed that pumpkins- orange and round- would simply pop up from the ground. When you are five, the concept of waiting for four months for a vegetable to possible grow, is really hard. When I say the plants have names, well, each plant has a labelled stake, "Molly Kirk", "Daddy Kirk", "Elmo Kirk" etc. She told us in June, "These pumpkins with be my class. I will be the teacher, and I will teach my pumpkins how to read. I will teach them how to jump and stuff like that too." All this imagining was happening as I started to homeschool her. She was teaching stuffed toys too.

So, we had the talk about how the pumpkin plants were wilting, and they might not make it to her birthday in November. She was ok with that, as long as I bought nine pumpkins to replace the nine pumpkin plants that she was growing. I thought we were on the same page. Until tonight. My son had preschool orientation at the church. He will be going two mornings a week. The teacher invited the families and had a craft for the kids and their siblings. My daughter heard the teacher talking about a Halloween party, and the pumpkin discussion began. The preschool teacher is growing a pumpkin patch, and having great success. She talked about bringing in pumpkins from her garden for the kids to paint, and one huge pumpkin that was already as big as a basketball. My daughter misunderstood and thought the teacher was going to bring the pumpkins in NOW. Now as in, "Oh yeah, I've got a trunk full of pumpkins outside in my car." Ummm, no, pumpkins two months from now, honey.

So, my daughter cried the whole way home. She cried and screamed for 45 minutes, and yelled about how it was going to be a really long time until October, and it wasn't fair! Oh, how I wish all the pumpkins in Northern Michigan still weren't green. But, such is life, and we all can't have what we want whenever we want it. Life lessons are hard. Even if the life lesson is about growing a pumpkin patch so that you can teach pumpkins how to read.

Now, I'm going to take some Motrin for all the aches and pains I have from falling down the stairs. Goodnight!