Leaves

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She picks them up slowly, always by their stems, examining, pressing them firmly to her sweater. "Leev," she says. "Leev, mama! Leev!" She crunches small piles with boots barely worn, choosing among the mess beneath them which ones are for keeps. Within moments her hands are full, and then, so are mine.

Finding a street lined with fallen leaves is like stumbling upon fall in an endless summer. We take pause, move slowly down.
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Suddenly a squirrel crosses the street and she gasps, dropping her leaves, leaves them there. "Fable," I say. "You forgot..." But they've already blown away. "Ba-bye leev," she says and I follow her around the corner where the sidewalks are once again leafless, clean paths onward.

Bored, we turn around. Start again. Crunch. Choose. Examine. Keep. "Leev," she says, over and over and up and down, until finally, we do.
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GGC

21 comments:

Desiree | 7:55 PM

Such a cutie ^_^ We've been having tons of fun in the leaves here (Ontario)! This is def. my favourite season!

Nancy@ifevolutionworks.com | 7:58 PM

That outfit AND her...are beyond adorable!

Cave Momma | 8:13 PM

Absolutely adorable! I love going to El Dorado Park in LB in the fall because the grass is completely covered in leaves and the kids can just go nuts! This is definitely my favorite time of year.

Anonymous | 8:57 PM

She is incredibly cute. And so is her outfit. Your children are always so beautiful(ly dressed)

Amy K | 10:20 PM

So cute! I've had the same Hanna Andersson sweater sitting in a drawer for months waiting for the weather to get cool enough for my daughter to wear it.

k foxman | 10:58 PM

oh i love this! a transplant to LA, i miss all the leevs too and savor the ones i can find. :)

Ann | 6:24 AM

I love her expressions! In all your pictures of Fable she's got the greatest faces!

kelli(q) | 6:25 AM

I think my son is in love with Fable. He's a couple months older than her, and pointed at her pictures and said, "Who's dat?" I told him her name and he replied, "Bable. Bable. Bable. Bable." He wouldn't stop looking at her pictures.

Lindy | 7:11 AM

So beautiful (Fabe, too, though I was thinking of your writing!).

You really capture what it's like to spend an hour with a toddler--and I think I needed to read this today. I've been too frustrated and in a hurry this week and haven't wanted to indulge my almost-16-month-old as he picks up every single pebble in the playground and says "wock, Mama, wock." And then tries to eat it.

But it's actually kind of amazing--this little bitty person is able to see these pebbles and be captivated by them in a way that I have long since forgotten. Instead of rushing through those moments and wishing for the future, I should pay more attention to the pebbles, and to my sweet, funny, curious little guy.

Thanks for the reminder. I think I'm going to go outside and crunch some leaves with my son when I get home from work today!

Kelly | 7:38 AM

Pssst... where oh where did you get that hat?!

GIRL'S GONE CHILD | 7:54 AM

Kelly- The monkey hat was found at a local boutique. The tag says "Maison Chic."

Her ensemble, as Amy K mentioned is Hanna Andersson, a birthday gift from Fable's grandma.

Love to all!

Lady | 8:55 AM

I know Archer's in school during the day, but it seems your kids are often having individual outings with you and/or Hal. Why is that? Is there some benefit to the kids that comes from not having the sibling(s) around all the time? I'd be interested to know where the idea comes from.

Sarai | 10:48 AM

I love this! That outfit is irresistably adorable and so are those expressions!
I have a one year old, and it's so fun to see glimpses into what he'll be doing a year down the road. So many mom blogs are whiny- I love how you capture the magic of it all.
As always, thanks for sharing!

Unknown | 12:52 PM

Soooo adorable. Beautiful images. (Hard not to take gorgeous shots when you have such a gorgeous model.) She's precious. As if you didn't know.

We have to wait a bit here in the desert for fall to really hit, but I'll enjoy it vicariously here.

Nadalie | 3:40 PM

Holy cow, she could not be any more adorable in that "big-girl onesie"! And her little expressions are too cute. Oh how we love fall and the leaves!

PopMommy Pam | 5:26 PM

Love this post! I have such an affection for leaves falling especially since I live in Florida now and I don't get to really experience Autumm weather. And she is the cutest little fashionista!

Anonymous | 7:47 PM

fable is always adorable it really doesn't matter what she adorns herself with.
i wanted to point out the fact that instead of a baby, she is now looking a real live KID in this post.
its like her second birthday magically turned her little baby body into a little person body.
i love it- shes just the brightest ray of sunshine that sidewalk was blessed with on this day.

GIRL'S GONE CHILD | 8:08 PM

Aw, thank you. She really is a sunny soul. Much love to all of you and thanks for kind words.

S. | 7:28 AM

Adorable. The colors of fall are really coming out- it's such a beautiful time of year!

Unknown | 7:47 AM

Fable's outfit is to die for -- bananas, if you will. Sorry, couldn't resist a Zoe-ism.

My Q loves crunching in the leaves, too. Such a perfect fall post!

Alyssa | 9:40 AM

Love that cute little outfit!!!!!! She's gotten so big since I went on hiatus from the blogging world!