Learning a new pace

Hello. This is my first post and I feel a little bit like a blog dunce - I am boarding this bandwagon a few years late, but here I am... ready to share some random thoughts from time to time with family and friends.

I am a busy mom with two little boys and the experience has been a wonderful adventure so far. What a privilege and responsibility to observe and help these small people as they discover the world.

Along the way I have been learning a lot about myself (good and not so good) and facing many challenges which can be hilarious, disgusting, frightening and profound. Many of them may make for entertaining stories and I will share some of them here.

Right now it is Spring. Here in Alberta that doesn't mean daffodils and love in the air. No. Here, the snow melts and leaves in its absense mud, sand, brown grass and a winter's worth of litter and dog poop. Potholes and puddles abound. Aside from the return of longer days and the sun's warming influence, Spring is not an appealing season here. In fact, until this year I have wished away March and April in Alberta longing for the more attractive days to come in May.

This year I have a two year old and have re-discovered the sheer ecstacy of puddle season. Nearly every day my oldest son wants to go for a walk in the afternoon. It's nice to be outside again with minimal bundling after a long winter. On our walks we stop at every puddle for him to dip his toes and then exhuberantly plant both his rain-booted feet into the muddy water. He stomps. He splashes. He tells me he wants to live in the puddle. We walk to the next one and repeat the process. Then he picks up some gravel and plunks it carefully into the puddle. He gets another handful and tries it again. Some puddles are deep. Some are shallow. Some are little rivers flowing in the gutter toward a drain. What fun! Some are gooey and mucky. They make neat suction sounds when you stick in a foot. He doesn't really like the gooey ones but does find them intriguing. Every puddle requires some examination. It can easily take us a full hour to travel once around our block. It's amazing the things you notice about your neighbourhood when you spend that much time going such a short distance!

Puddle season is just one example of my toddler's ability to remind me to appreciate the simple things. I am thankful for the lesson.