First Sand, First Grass

Today I brought Greyson to the West Portal Playground and he experienced sand and grass for the first time. He wasn't crazy about sand. When I first set him down on in the sand pit, he immediately wanted "up" again. It took a while before he started sifting it gingerly through his fingers. Still, he wouldn't crawl in it, he walked willingly but as soon as he sat down, he stayed put. Grass, on the other hand, was a huge hit! He just took off crawling at top speed, stopping occasionally to hand me a twig or a piece of garbage. Lovely. I finally had to call an end to the fun when his pants soaked through completely with grass juices and mud. I was proud of myself for letting him get as dirty as that. That was not easy for me. When I picked him up to get cleaned up and back in his stroller, he had a huge tantrum. Yes, tantrums, we're in that land now. He kicked, screamed, cried and tried to bolt out of the stroller before I could get the safety straps on. Man, that kid is huge. I think I'm going to have to start giving him countdowns when we go to the playground for now on, "Five more minutes and we're leaving!"








Last weekend, we brought Greyson's Pack and Play outside so he could hang out with us while we worked on our yard. He jumped up and down as he watched us mow the lawn, rake the leaves and trim bushes. When I was a kid, gardening was one of our chores, and boy did I dread it. We'd get bitten rotten by mosquitoes in 90 degree heat and humidity, sweating bullets whilst pulling up weeds. What a difference climate makes. Here it's cool, bug-free, and almost therapeutic, especially since our new neighborhood is so quiet. Roque and I love working on our yard. It's such a tranquil time, punctuated of course by our son's boisterous discourse. Hopefully our neighbors aren't too bothered by him. I promised Greyson as soon as we're certain the lawn is thorn-free, we'll give him free reign.