Outside!

We’ve had a couple of days in the 60s here in the Pacific Northwest.  We don’t mind at all!  Two days ago the kids and I decided to get out and do some garden preparation, so headed outside.  The girls were overjoyed at not needing their heavier jackets:  “It’s SPRING!  It’s SPRING!”  I’m anticipating some major sadness when the next cold weather comes.

Simeon has not had a lot of time on the ground since he’s become mobile.  He’s on the floor a lot inside, of course, but outside it’s pretty muddy, so he’s mostly stuck in his stroller.  However, it was a drier day when we went out, and I had some water resistant pants on him, so I let him down.  It’s hard to say who was more excited about it – Hannah and Naomi, or Simeon himself. 

Hannah spent most of her time unearthing worms and collecting them.  She got a total of 18 in the hour we were out there.  She would carry them, laughing about how tickly they were on her palm, and place them carefully in a container.  Then she’d observe them for a while.  Then she’d go find more.  It was too bad she had to let them all go at the end, but worms don’t make great pets, and they do make great soil, so she’ll be doing more worm-hunting in the near future if she wants to do further observations.

Naomi divided her time between helping me with weeding and chasing a ball.  She kept a running commentary going on her activities:  “Oh, I’ve dug up a good weed here!  I’m going to put it in the bucket.  I’m a good weeder.  It’s good to get the weeds out.”  She’d found a little pink soccer ball and threw that around for a while.  She also got her little trowel out of the garage and did some digging. 

Simeon crawled around, picking up rocks and sticks, chasing the ball, and generally being pleased about being down.  He also discovered (of course!) how fun it is to climb the back porch steps.  Sigh.  At least there are only 3 steps.  Sim then found the pots that are ready for planting – dirt, but not plants.  This was totally intriguing.  He picked up a handful of dirt and then tried to carry it somewhere, just like he was doing with the rocks and sticks.  He noticed that it was falling out of his hand, so he tried to go back and pick it up – highly amusing for those of us watching.  I was watching fairly closely, but he wasn’t eating it, just trying to carry it places.  Until we’d been out for about an hour, when I turned around to see Sim with a nasty look on his face and dirt in his mouth. 

I would say that Sim won’t try it again, but I’ve seen his sisters at that age.  It will probably take at least a few more tastes before he decides that it’s not good to eat.