Leaves

There is a very fine baby/toddler-focused playground in Chinatown which Mabel enjoys very much. One thing she likes to do while she is there is to go barefoot. Another, and this is something she'll do any place she gets the chance--park, public square, friend or relative's backyard--is to play with leaves. Perhaps because she is very thoroughly a city baby, and so does not have so very much greenery in her life, she has a great affection for romping on the grass and for picking up leaves of all sorts (both fresh, as the ones she's pulling off the bamboo above, and dead, as the dessicated ones she tends to find on any lawn you put her down on). Also worth noting are the Guatemalan lederhosen she is wearing in this picture--a very odd but endearing garment, and this is the one and only time she wore them, as she was already outgrowing them practically from the moment they were handed down to her.