My own, personal Al Roker

So, I've admitted before that I'm obsessed with the weather. I love to know what the days ahead are going to have in store. Living in Kansas, you can never bet that the next day will be similar to the last. We have drastic swings in temperatures and conditions within days or even hours. I like to be prepared (as best I can), so I like to watch the weather.

In the mornings, Molly will often want to watch a show while I shower and get ready. She asks to watch Dora, and my usual answer is, "ok, just let me watch the weather, first." For Mother's Day, I went to a Mother's Day tea at her preschool. The teacher helped the kids fill out questionnaires about their moms. I really shouldn't have been surprised when, for the "What's Mom's favorite TV show?" question, Molly answered "the weather." Yes, yes, she did. In fact, she actually calls the entire Today Show, the weather.

I should always be aware that I'm raising little sponges, because I'm afraid this obsession of mine with the weather has created a monster. A tiny, little Al-Roker-wannabe monster.

A couple days ago, while watching the weather on The Today Show, the local weather guy happened to mention rain was a possibility for Monday. Now, keep in mind, this was like last Wednesday. Every day since then, Molly has said, "It's going to rain on Monday, Mommy!" Or, "We can't go to the pool on Monday, because it's going to rain." Or, "I hope my camp is inside on Monday, because it's going to rain."


It was just easier to agree with her than try to explain that while the weather guy said it was going to rain, it was entirely possible that it would not in fact rain. That the weather forecast can change daily, and you never know it what was forecast last Wednesday would in fact come to fruition. So, I just nodded and smiled and shook my head at the monster.

Then, Sunday morning, Molly decided she needed to bring in the tablecloth from the outside table and all the cushions in from the chairs on our deck. Because, as you can guess, it was going to rain on Monday. We had a busy Sunday, and all three of us girls napped Sunday afternoon. While we napped, Cory brought the cushions back outside in order to actually enjoy the deck.

8:30pm Sunday night - Molly realizes that the cushions are back outside. Meltdown city! "Daddy," she cried, "Why did you put all the cushions outside? It's. Going. To. Rain!" Just imagine that in a really, really whiny, tired, crying voice. I had to turn my head away so she wouldn't see that I was trying really hard to not hysterically laugh at the anguish in her demeanor. I mean, we're talking about a 5-year-old fretting desperately over the possibility of our outdoor furniture cushions getting wet.

So, Cory went back outside and brought them all back in. We went to bed just smiling at our peculiar little child.

Imagine my surprise when lightning, thunder and rain woke me up at 5:00 this morning. It was raining. Pouring in fact. Molly had been right all along.

My little weather girl. Protector of outdoor cushions everywhere.

Al Roker better watch out, here comes Molly Lafferty!