Mowing Mayhem

There are a lot of things I can do with GBaby in tow. Some are easier than others. I decided that today I would give mowing the lawn a shot. I have a play pen for the back yard- I nice gate system that provides about a 6 x6 play area for an active toddler. If G could adequately articulate her feelings I think she'd say its a baby penitentiary- instead she just voices her lack of appreciation for confining boundaries. Loudly. And sometimes angrily.

Into the pen she went - it was equipped with shallow containers filled with water, balls and other sundry toys for her amusement and I set out to mow. As the mower fired up, so did G. I figured I'd give her a few minutes to settle and as I moved away from her I looked over my shoulder. Sure enough, she was off exploring the toys and water. I got to the end of the yard and moved back towards her. G was still content. Went to empty the bag, mower stops. G wails. Ugh. I empty the bag at the far end of the yard, fire up the mower and head back to the side of the yard where G is confined. I can see the continued distress on her face so I killed the mower and moved up the hill towards her.

As I reached her I heard a noise and turned just in time to see the lawn mower rolling down the hill heading straight for the one area of the bank of the creek that is not overgrown with stuff to block it's decent into the creek. OH [insertbadwordhere]!

I take off running. G screams louder. The mower topples into the creek landing upside down.

I right the mower, empty the bag right there in the creek (thank you yesterday's thunderstorms) and haul the mower up the creek bank (yeah, I'm going to be paying for that tomorrow!) G is still wailing because now she's confined and mommy ran away.

I spent some time consoling the poor kid over juice on the back porch. We repeated the cycle (minus the mower taking a swim) a few more times and finally the back yard was mowed and my free spirit of a child was free to roam again-until she grabbed a handful of dirt where I have spinach planted!
~sjt

P.S. My gardening and kitchen adventures are all over at ThrivingMama. Check it out if it's your cup of tea.