What lovely weather we have had for the past few days! Hannah attends an in-home preschool one afternoon a week. This week, I felt inspired by the warm, sunny day, so after we dropped off Hannah, I came home and put Becca down for a nap, and then Ben and I had a picnic in the back yard.
As we ate, I began to point out the many signs of spring. I showed him the green buds on the bushes and the violets peeking their bold purple heads up over the blades of grass. He seemed especially enthralled by the multitude of sparrows fluttering and chirping loudly in the hedges. After he finished, he raced over to them, and turned to me, crestfallen, when they all flew away. "Mama," he cried, "Why did the birds all fly away?" I tried to explain that they were probably scared of him. "No, mama," he insisted, "I just want to hug them!" My sweet little boy!
I got up from our picnic blanket and we meandered slowly around the house looking at all of the new flowers poking through the dirt. I showed him daffodils and hyacinths, nearly ready to bloom. He examined tulips, lamb's ear, rhododendron, yarrow, bleeding heart, and some flowers I cannot identify. He carefully felt the thorns on our rose bush and pulled some of the baby thistle plants, already poised to invade our otherwise lovely garden.
Then, we pulled the tricycle out of the garage, and Ben grinned triumphantly when he finally succeeded in pedaling down our gently sloping driveway without my help.
After about an hour outside, we packed up our blanket and put away the tricycle, heading inside to get ready to pick Hannah up from preschool. I loved my one-on-one time with my little guy, and he had such an adventure, exploring and enjoying the newly showing signs of spring.
