wildflower walk

Unwilling, or perhaps unable, to spend another morning in the house with you as you whined from not feeling well or fussed if I moved further than a foot away from you or cried if you got frustrated with a toy or tugged on me if I trained less than 100% of my attention on you… you get the picture. Unable to endure that again, I was determined to distract you, but I couldn’t come up with any ideas. Daddy’s thought was to go for a walk at Shelby Bottoms, and while it has been gray all day, the weather forecast only showed a 20-30% chance of rain, and I thought we could weather those odds. You played on the playground, made a new friend named Kingston who is 18 months old, strolled along the greenway, listened to the trees talk to us and tottered along the trail back to the car. It was in this last adventure that your trippy Crocs toppled you, and you got your first-ever knee scrape. You handled it bravely and did not want to take my hand so I could help you with the rest of the tricky terrain. You are becoming quite the fierce and independent spirit, lil man. I lifted you up to pick a leaf off of a tree that was turning colors, an early reminder that fall creeps nearer. You fell in love with this leaf, playing with it in the backseat, turning it over, giggling, waving it. It was so wonderful to watch.

science schmience

You visited the Adventure Science Center for the first time yesterday afternoon. Due to your whopping three and a half hour nap, we didn’t get there until a little over an hour before they were set to close, so your momma, being the frugal momma that I am, asked if there was an “hour before closing discount,” and indeed there was. That is really satisfying to me: fun at a discount. We met Sara Jane and her brood there, and before I could even pay, the boys had dragged you by the hand to a room of fun… yards away from me. You never even looked back. You were off to fun with other kids, and you didn’t need me. Not until one of the displays made a loud whooshing noise, then you came running, face contorted with fear, arms stretched out in desperation for me to pick you up quickly to save you from that vicious thing making the noise that was sure to get you. That sounds like an exaggeration, but really it was not. While I’m not sure you learned anything (most of the exhibits are geared for older kids), you were definitely hands-on, and you had a blast. Daddy joined in on the fun, surprising us after a meeting in the area, and both your proud parents got to follow along behind you as you tottered all over the museum exploring.