In Her Rain Boots

  Lillian (“you can just call me Lil, it’s short for Lillian”) enjoys the rain, especially clomping around in rain boots, jumping into puddles. 

Fashion News

Lillian’s mom Amy surprised her with a new and very fashionable raincoat, which she got to wear during this week’s downpours. That’s an alien and a spaceship on the bottom of it and the hood looks like a space helmet. Lillian wore it every chance she got — outside and inside. She likes it. A lot.

Spring Rain

A late cold front blew into Houston today, dropping temperatures 20 degrees in a couple of hours, and sprinkling rain over our favorite playgrounds. Certain small girls think rain and cold need investigation, and so we visited the pool in the JCC’s Mystic Garden while one of her great-grandmothers did her physical therapy.

Lillian helpfully pulled leaves (“leaves wet,” she observed) and bamboo shoots (“bamboo wet,” she noted) and rocks (“rocks wet,” she opined) from the edge of the pool (“water wet,” she concluded). She turned her face to the sky and, as the raindrops splashed on her face, announced that the rain, too, was wet.

Puddles

I don’t know whether I’ve got more pictures of Lillian swinging or of her standing in puddles. Yesterday was cold, wet and dreary, but we went walking anyway and no puddle went unexplored.

All-Weather Girl

Lillian believes that rain is something created simply to bring her delight. If her grand father would allow it, she’d be out in the rain and cold all day, running and shouting and singing (she finds his careful scientific explanations of the effects of lightning strikes on two-year old girls to be less than convincing). When walking through wet parking lots, she jumps in every puddle she passes to test it for effectiveness — sometimes other passers-by are in too close proximity to be completely charmed by this.

The fact is, she likes being outside: when the cold north wind blows in winter, she points her face to the wind and laughs; when it’s hot and humid in the summer, she lies in the grass and sings. When flowers bloom in the spring, she plucks their petals; when leaves fall in the autumn, she squats on the ground to study them. She’s happy to chase or be chased by dogs or aunts or cousins; and she’s always up for half an hour of swinging.

She is a joy.

Walking in the Rain

My grandma Nancy and I like to walk in the rain…