nature – Days With Grandma

You probably don’t remember but about 7 months ago, I took you for a walk in this woods? Same woods, same stroller, but now you are a bigger baby! It’s a beautiful spring day; the perfect kind of day for another walk in the woods with Grandma. Let’s see what we see this time, shall we? First, you are now 17 months old. You don’t say many real words but you communicate just the same. It starts with you pointing to things. So, I decided to take a picture of everything you pointed to. First were the branches way up high, then the trees and path straight ahead. I didn’t judge. I just accommodated, labeling everything that you pointed to.

With the next photo, you pointed towards the pond and said “uck”; your word for duck and goose. You couldn’t see them but you could hear them.

Yes, we’ll find a duck soon. Let’s keep looking.

Remember no judgement!

You don’t say owl but you make an owl sound with you mouth closed. Try it. Say “Hoo-Hoo” with your mouth closed. That’s the word for owl right now; any owl, every owl you see. You seem to find them everywhere.

Time to get out of the stroller.

Last fall, you crawled into this little house. I think you stayed about as long this time as last time still.

10 seconds into the house,

5 seconds to look out the window, and

2 seconds to get out.

You were far more interested in continuing the walk. So, onward! Back into the stroller, you went.

A duck, a duck, we finally spot a duck.

Well, it’s a goose

but remember,

to you,

duck, duck, goose…

one and the same.

Then, time to get out of the stroller again.

Now this is something more interesting than the “uck”. You spot a ramp!

Up and Down,

the ramp you went.

I grew tired of this activity. You probably would still be there going up and down, up and down.

But with a bit of protest, I got you back in the stroller and in no time, your fingers were pointing again. This time…

Yea! Your way of saying flower is in sign language. You put your fingers up to your nose and sniff. Mmmmm, pretty flowers. Man after my own heart.

Then, you spotted a trail marker post. So, I pointed to both of the colors but then gave you a job.

“Which path are we going to follow, little man? How about if we follow the yellow. Can you be on the lookout for the yellow markers?” You were doing a great job until you became distracted with this:

You liked this…a lot! When I tried to move you away, you pointed right back.

Ok, finally on the path again and you are on duty, pointing to every yellow marker you find.

But then all of a sudden you GASP! This deserved a two finger pointing!

You spotted

Not one

but TWO

at the same time!

GOODNESS!

Ok, so it doesn’t take much to get you excited! But, that sure entertained Grandma 🙂

Now that we were clear of the water and big rocks, it was time to get you out of the stroller for the last time.

Time for a snack, Grandma. This fresh air makes me hungry!

And then it’s already time to find the paths back home. This was tricky but we did it!

After following all the different paths, we finally found our way back home. One last stop before we call it a day.

And then, you rang the wind chimes to let everyone know we were back home, safe and sound.

What a beautiful day with you little man. Let’s walk in the woods again real soon, ok?

It was a beautiful fall day. I decided it would be great to take you to my favorite place these days, the woods behind my apartment. This photo looks like I sent you sailing down the hill on your own. Not to worry, you were braked.

As we walked along, I tried to point out the things that I loved. You were not necessarily impressed. So, I decided to get you out of the stroller so you could actually FEEL the textures.

You were interested, a little. You humored me anyway. But then, a stranger wandered by and you waved to him. I caught that in a photo and when I looked back at it, you looked more like you were begging for someone to rescue you from this pile of dried stuff. So, needless to say, we moved on.