Play Day

At one point while he was playing,
I said, "Say, 'Cheese,' Jones!"
Instead, he made a gun with his hand
and said, "Pow Pow." To those
who think boys and girls are
the same ... NO.

At 9 o'clock this morning, it was already 65 degrees in Greenville, SC.  Knowing I could take the boys outside WITHOUT packing a jacket was all the motivation I needed. The three of us hit the road and headed to Cleveland Park.

Not surprisingly, Jones's favorite part of the park was the slide. Up and down, back and around he'd go, over and over and always hesitating for a split second before pushing himself down the slide but always laughing by the time he reached the bottom.

Freddie's favorite was most definitely the swing. In fact, they'd swung in side-by-side toddler swings before Jones went back to the slides. When I told him it was time to go swing again, he pitched the kind of fit that would put to shame the wild animals in the adjacent Greenville Zoo. The screaming, the arched back (to keep me from putting him in the stroller), all of it. And when I said, "Look at my face, Jones," he said, "NO, Mama,"and looked in the opposite direction, so we had to cut our fun short (did the GORGEOUS WEATHER MEAN NOTHING TO HIM?!?!?).

"Jones," I told him very calmly, "we are leaving SOLELY because you pitched a fit." I'm sure his guilt completely overwhelmed him.

Though we had to leave the park, we didn't have to head home. From there, I drove to Furman, thinking we'd walk around the lake.

And that's what we did.

When we pulled on campus, I said, "This is where Mama went to college and where I used to teach!" When we passed the Amphitheatre, I said, "This is where Mama and Daddy got married." Both statements, I'm sure, had the same "dramatic" impact as when I told him that his fit prompted our early park departure.

The lakeside stroll was just beautiful. On the walk back to the car, I picked a greenspace and figured I'd let the boys run around some. Jones immediately gravitated to the lake. The ducks were very vocal today, and he'd "kack kack" right back at 'em. Freddie sat on my lap for several minutes, and then I sat him right beside Jones. They sat there, side by side, quiet (except for Jones's intermittent "kack kacking") for about five minutes. Then, when I said it was time to go, Jones said, "bye, kack kack" and went sweetly and without incident to his side of the double stroller.

I will NEVER understand the mind of a toddler.

Which is probably a good thing.

Also of note is that Jones counted to five yesterday!  He still refuses to say "one," but once he hears someone else say it, he can take it from there ... all the way up to five.

I know that I take a lot of
pictures of them in the kitchen,
but the light coming through that
window is just perfect,
in my opinion.
This picture is actually from yesterday.

These pictures were taken yesterday, too.

This was today, of course.
It's Jones saying, "Tum on, Ma-ma"
and making that precious little gesture. 

I now have not one but TWO
little Chick-fil-A tea addicts.