toddler’s-eye view

Going on a walk with a toddler is great because everything is so interesting to them. It’s refreshing to see joy in things I would normally walk past without noticing.

Some interesting things we saw with BB this weekend:

• Birds. The park features a lot of free-growing plant areas, especially in and around the ponds, and birds are plentiful. There’s also a lot of birds on and around the front balcony, since the row of houses runs alongside a shallow creek. We saw red-winged blackbirds, sparrows, geese, a pudgy dove, and a crane. BB’s got this high-pitched squeal that means I Saw a Bird and it’s exciting every time. It’s a house rule that if you see a bird outside, you stop everything to watch the bird. It’s absolute top priority.
• Airplanes & a helicopter. This one’s just obvious. Airplanes and helicopters are cool.
• Rocks. The tennis court is ringed by a bed of rocks. Most of them are a uniform slate blue (meh), but there’s one patch of multicolored river rocks. They have different patterns and shapes; some are jagged and some are smooth; some have rings. It’s also fun to find the biggest rock and try to pick it up.
• Tennis balls. Another obvious one. We found three stray tennis balls this weekend. BB’s going to get quite a collection at this rate. He hasn’t yet figured out how to throw a ball. That’s fine. I’m sure it’s on some kindergarten readiness checklist, but maybe we don’t want him learning that particular skill too soon.
• Corn kernels. At the park, there were a couple of dried corn kernels on a bench. BB had to pick them up because of his sense of order (the same way he sweeps stray wood chips off the slide; they aren’t supposed to be there). One kernel was easy, but the other was wedged between the slats and neither of us could get ahold of it. So I found a nearby twig and used it to wedge the kernel free. Mission success! A couple minutes later he handed me the kernels and I dumped them somewhere.
• Berries. At the conclusion of our park visit on Sunday, my parents wanted to return to the house so we could pack and leave—but wait! There’s berries on the ground! We had to stop and look at all the ba-ba. (And point at each one. “Ba-ba. Ba-ba. Ba-ba.” And then there was a bug, so we had to look at that too…) I picked BB up to show him the berries on the tree and explained they fell from there. I’m not sure if he got all that, but he’s smart so I figure he got the gist.