Mud-licious and Puddle Wonderful?

"The world is mud-licious and puddle wonderful!" -E.E.Cummings

After having such a drought the last couple of years in Georgia I'd have to say I agree with that statement. Its nice to have mud and puddles again instead of dry dusty cracked earth. We hope the rains will keep coming. We desperately need it in this part of the country.

All the mud is fun for the kids too. Kids love the mud, its squishy and messy. When you grow up into an adult you do NOT (normally-I know there's an exception to every rule) love mud. Mud becomes one of those things you DON'T want on your clothes, body, or hair-that is unless you've paid for that sort of thing at a swanky day spa. When your child insists on splashing in the puddles on your way into a store or running through the mud before you take them into school-it does nothing but make you want to scold them for getting dirty. We parents take the joy out of everything do we not?

Well, when I walked in to Red's pre-school this afternoon, the kids were all out playing in the yard around back. They were in the far back corner and I couldn't see Red right off the bat. The teacher walked up to me and you could tell she was nervous as she started to tell me, "Um do you see that big mud puddle right there?"

I shook my head yes...and watched as her face grew bright red.

"Well, he just went over and dunked his head into it and then slid right in."

At first I did that parental sigh when you have just heard that your child did something wrong. Then I looked over and saw him-he was laughing and playing. His clothes were covered in mud-but his face was covered with a smile. So I laughed too. I mean we were going straight home. The clothes can be washed, and so can his body. That's what being a kid is all about. Experimenting, playing, laughing and getting messy along the way.

I think the teacher was relieved that I laughed about it. They must get sick to death of parents coming in expecting their kids to be shiney and spotless everytime they get picked up. Now, I wouldn't have wanted them to let him stay that way-that's what the change of clothes is for in his cubby box at school.

There's a muddy pair of shoes, socks, jeans, and shirt in the washer right now and there's a kid in the tub smiling thinking about the squishy mud he rolled around in today.