tutus and lizards

My friend needed to run some errands on Friday and she dropped her son off at the house to play. When she got here, Annabelle was wearing every tutu she owns (3--one from the dollar store that my mom got her, one that was Audrey's when we were in ballet, and one I got her from target ) and several purses. She had put a headband and two bows in her hair. We had been playing dress up. My friend commented that I had a real girly girl on my hands.

Well, maybe.

We removed the tutus so we could play outside. Annabelle took off her shoes and was walking barefoot on the driveway--which is littered with half eaten green pecans that the squirrels have impatiently stolen. She found a lizard and chased it about for a while before she figured out how to catch it with her bare hands. We put him in a Tupperware with some grass and she named him Japi-yo. She played garden in her sandbox and planted cauliflower. Then she gathered sticks for her "firecamp." We had to sleep by the "firecamp" and while she gathered the sticks she said cowboy things like "giddyyap" and "ki-yi-yipee-yipee-yay." She also used her "cowboy rope" (aka the rope to her spinning top) to slap at things which is apparently integral at being a cowboy.

I told the kids that Japi-yo needed water with the hopes that he would escape while they were filling his house from the spout. He had turned green by this time and he did escape, but Annabelle was now an expert at catching lizards and he was quickly put back in his house and almost drowned before I could explain that he just needed a drop of water. He escaped again while they dumped the water but was caught once more by my girly-girl.

Then we had popsicles and got really, really dirty and had to go inside to wash off the sand, syrup, and assorted yard dirt.

Hyphen distracted them while I freed Japi-yo. Incidentally putting a red popsicle stick in his house did not make him turn red as we had hoped, he was just brown with a rather grumpy expression.