Got Dirt?

Last night Riley was in the backyard while Scot worked on a few small projects back there. He related to me later that he felt like everything he did took twice as long as it should have because Riley kept getting in his way as she tried to "help". I could empathize, and told him this was why I always feel like I can't get anything done around the house unless it's naptime. Either Riley is under my feet and getting in the way, or she's off getting into something in another room.

Then just this morning she helped me prove my point. I was outside pulling weeds in the remains of our garden and Riley just couldn't stay away. Leaves have started to fall off one of the trees back there, and some had blown into the garden. I tried to direct Riley's efforts by asking her to pick out all the leaves and throw them back onto the lawn. But she was having much more fun tossing handfuls of dirt.


After being out there for a few minutes I remembered that I was waiting for a call, so I ran inside to grab the phone. When I got back outside, less than a minute later, this was the face that greeted me.


"Riley, did you eat the dirt?"
"No."
"Why did you eat dirt?"
"Yucky."

That was about the end of working outside for the two of us today.