Here Comes the Sun (little darlin')

Yesterday, it was finally warm enough to walk E-Man to preschool. I enrolled him in a neighborhood program in January (the first time I've done something other than Joy School). So far, I have loved it. And, it's only about 1/2 mile away. A nice two-mile jaunt for me after walking both ways round trip and a good workout for the E-Man on his scooter. I tried walking him to school once before. But, his scooter wouldn't scoot through all the snow and since his school is in the direction of the canyon, we were blasted by a strong arctic canyon wind for the last block. Being the non-fan of cold that I am, I vowed never to ever, ever break my winter hibernation rule and try walking anywhere in the cold ever again for the rest of my life. Wow, that was cold! But, not yesterday. Yesterday was beautiful and signs of spring were everywhere.

For the first round trip and on the way to pick E-Man up, I pushed AiAi in the baby jogger because, well, why do we push kids in strollers and joggers when they are old enough to walk? I'll tell you why. For our own convenience. Have you ever tried to walk a half-mile with a two-year-old? It can take days.

On the way home, AiAi jumped out and demanded that he would walk. This kind of defeated the whole "I missed the gym this morning so at least now I'm getting some exercise" plan, but it proved to be it's own kind of magical experience. Though we moved along at a painfully slow snail's pace (at least E-Man could ride circles on his scooter when he got too far ahead), it was fun to watch my littlest discover every small detail for the first time as we went along. Our children make the world new to us again. Of course, he had to walk in every snowbank that we passed by. Why do things the easy way? Some of the gutters were filled with water from the melting snow. Murky brown water and lots of leftover leaves from last fall. And, he just had to splash through every gutter too.

It was hard, as a mom, to resist pulling him out of the gutters. On the one hand, he did have his rain boots on. Why do I buy my kids rain boots if not for the fact that I wholeheartedly believe in puddle jumping? I guess freshly fallen rain puddles are more my style than murky leaf-filled gutters. In the end, I conceded that it was harmless and a whole lot of fun. We did, after all, have many changes of clothes waiting in the drawer at home.

Then, we came to the grassy incline. AiAi ran up to the top, stomped through a patch of snow, and then ran down the grass where the snow had already melted. E-Man, tired of riding his scooter in circles, came back to urge his brother onward. But, in the process, he too became caught up in the small hill and started to roll down. AiAi immediately followed his example. Meanwhile, I watched on and actively restrained myself from stopping them. "Don't roll down that hill!" I thought. "You'll get all grass stained and maybe even muddy." I worried. "How can I let you do that?" I wondered. But, at the same time, how could I not?