Naked Determination

Bug didn't do it. Mom said I never did it. Neither did my brother. But Buglette definitely does it. What does she do you ask? Oh, it's bad; it's worse than taking off her shoes all the time; it's worse than being fiercely independent; it's worse than screaming at the top of her lungs when she wants to see something. "What on earth is it?!?" you're screaming... well, she strips. Yep, my fifteen month-old likes to take off all her clothes down to her diaper. I have no idea why. Is she hot? Is she bored? Is she itchy? Does she love her physique? (she does have a cute physique if I do say so myself, not that I'm partial) Is she proud that she can do it? This last explanation is most likely the correct one. She is doing things that I would expect a two-year-old to do, not a fifteen month- old so I'm assuming that when she finds out she can do something new and that mommy usually does for her she is pretty proud of herself. Of course, the frustration hit when she couldn't get herself dressed again... shorts on the head doesn't cut it, even she knows this. But heaven knows, she tried and tried, oh, and tried again. I love that girl's determination! But me telling her "bring the clothes to Mommy, I'll help you", just made her mad, I could hear her saying in her curl-covered head, "No, Mommy, I DO IT MYSELF"! So, needless to say, she went naked except for the diaper for the rest of the morning. I hope this naked phase doesn't last long!

We are in the throws of fire-season here in So Cal. There's a pretty huge fire burning the hills behind our house on the other side. It's probably about 5-7 miles 'as the crow flies' from us. We aren't worried, yet, but are praying for our neighbors in the neighboring town from us who are. The smoke and ash are thick like blankets of smelly, hot snow. The helicopters and water dropping planes make our once-quiet area sound like a war zone. The last time I went through anything like this I was a child of maybe eight years of age. We lived back up against hills in a different part of So Cal and I remember the soot and ash falling on our neighborhood. As a kid, you have little regard for the true danger and instead I remember feeling excited at everything happening. All the dads got to be home from work and we all were outside till late in the night playing. In the morning someone went and got donuts. Talk about fun! If anything gets worse around here I'll have to go get a few dozen to share with my neighbors as we watch the hills burn. Please pray I get to stick to my diet...