Walks

I like to take Leah outside on a walk most days. Here is how it went today:

After lunch, I pick Leah up and say, "Leah, do you want to go........ outside?"

"Saass!" This is her interesting word for 'outside'.

We get on our shoes ("shoosh") and I help her out the front step. Immediately she sees the container of bubbles on the porch rail. "Pop. Pop!"

"Leah, let's go for a walk first, and then we can do bubbles."

"No!"

"Want to go see the doggies?"

"Dah-gee! WUFF!" She is persuaded to follow me off the porch and begin our walk.

Just a few steps out, I hear "bee!" and sure enough, an unidentified insect flies by. "Hap!" I look down, and Leah is holding up her hand for me to 'help' her. Unable to refuse, I hold her hand and guide her to the dog kennel. We turn the corner at the side of the house and come within view of the doggies.

"Dah-gee!" Leah starts dancing away towards the dogs.

We stay and play by the dogs for a while, and then head for the back patio. As we walk past the windows, Leah points and says, "Bah-bah", her word for all of her grandparents. "Yes, Leah! Bah-bah" (whichever one) "is in there!"

We get to the edge of the patio, and Leah does something she has never done before. She voluntarily plops herself in the middle of a patch of buttercups. (It just so happens that I had done something I have never done before too. I left my camera inside.)

Here Leah discovers the joy that all kids everywhere discover at some point in their childhood--picking grass. I sit down next to her and am taken back to those late summer days about fifteen years ago, sitting in the middle of the field with my soccer team, listening to the coach explain a new drill... and picking grass.

Leah snaps me out of my flashback with "Fa-wa?" I look down and she is holding a flower out for me to take. Well, I can't pass this up. I accept the flower and pull out my cell phone to take what pictures I can. After one or two, Leah reaches for the phone and says "Day-goo!" ('Thank you', here meaning 'Give that to me'.) I hand her my phone, and she sees the picture of Matthew on it. "Daddee!"

After we get our fill of grass-picking, we get up and visit the doggies once more. Then we make our way back to the front door, but not without Leah remembering the bubbles. "Pop!"

"Okay, we'll play with the bubbles for a while." I don't know who enjoys this more, but we both have a fun time. Before my head gets too light, though, I put the bubbles away and bring Leah inside. And now it's nap time. But that's another story.