Lydia came over to spend time with me on Saturday. We decided to spend time in my back yard to take advantage of the beautiful fall weather. I asked Lydia what she wanted to do. Her response was “Athena, you should decide, your ideas are always more exciting than mine.” After thinking for a minute I suggested climbing the big Birch tree.
I was shocked when nature loving Lydia said that the tree was too big to climb. She stuck to her story even after I assured her that I had been in it just last week. We have climbed smaller trees together before so when she explained that there are many ways to enjoy trees without climbing them, I began to wonder if she was a little afraid of heights. When she suggested that I could climb the tree and she would stay on the ground to cheer me on it sparked an idea.
I pointed up into the tree and pointed out a branch, then dared Lydia to climb to it. I assured her I would stay on the ground to make sure everything was ok and would coach her up.
On the first big branch she looked down, and asked if I was sure it was a good idea. After a little reassurance and a reminder not to look down any more, Lydia continued to climb.
When she got to the branch I had pointed out she sat down to rest with a huge smile on her face. Lydia can be reluctant to try new things, but once she does she usually enjoys herself.
When Lydia got back to the ground I gave her a high five for facing her fear. We sat down on the grass and I asked her what her favorite thing about fall is.
Our lists were a bit different, but and both agreed that jumping in piles of leaves was in our top three fall activities. We were a bit bummed that the birch tree hasn’t dropped enough leaves to make a good jumping pile yet.
Talk of fall soon turned to talk of Halloween costumes. We talked about going together on a themed costume this year but couldn’t come up with anything that we were both excited about, plus Lydia has a great idea for her costume, I can’t wait to see how it turns out.
Even though our costumes won’t coordinate we agreed to go trick-or-treating together this year. I am excited that Halloween falls on a Friday this year, since it isn’t a school night I think I may be able to convince my parents to extend my trick-or-treating time.
What is your favorite part of fall? Are you excited about Halloween?