Little Explorer.

There's times that this little toddler can drive me absolutely up the wall. The days when he pulls all the washing out the machine just to tell me it's cold & wet before leaving it all on the floor, the days he runs the opposite direction whilst we're out for a walk so he can go back to that place he once saw a cat, and the days when he comes home with pockets full of stones which are often unnoticed until they're in the washing machine. All of which are met with a blank look or a stern "no" when I tell him not to do them. Those are the days that I count down the minutes to bed time, the days when tea is turkey dinosaurs & chips and the days when bath time comes forward by half an hour as I've simply had enough. A toddler's mind is unpredictable and full of mischief.

Then there's the days when he just wants to be outside. When he wants to explore the garden in all it's wonder. So we put David in his car seat and head on out. He could happily potter about picking "flowers" (or as we'd commonly know them as; weeds), searching for spiders in the bushes & snails in the neighbours washing pole hole, shouting at birds as the fly on over... He's in his absolute element discovering nature, asking me what everything is as he picks it up is. Last week he discovered ladybirds and since then he's always on the look out for them.

It's when he's out in the garden on his journey of discovery that I realise. All this is new to him. He doesn't see dandelions as ugly, he sees them a beautiful yellow flowers that he wants to share with his Mummy & little brother. The fact that spiders & snails love to play hide & seek is an exciting game for a little boy who doesn't see them a creepy crawlies but as new friends waiting to be found. And he's shouting at the birds out of curiosity of where they're going, where they've been and why they aren't stopping to play.

And it's the same on those days when he's driving up the wall. He's not emptying the washing machine just to let me pick it off the floor - he's emptying it to simply find out what's hiding inside, not to mention it's fascinating that clothes go in dry & dirty and come out clean & wet! He's not just running away - he's trying to locate that one place that he once made friends with a cat, a cat that he now sees as a good friend that he needs to catch up with.  And he's not collecting stones in an attempt to break my washing machine - well, actually, I think he might be. I've no idea what that's about really. Makka Pakka has a lot to answer for, really.

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