As we get settled into our new lives here, I’m finding that I need to work fairly long days to keep up with my students. So, the kids and I have done less roaming and running errands together and hunting up new playgrounds than I might have liked. But one thing we have done a fair amount of is walking around campus. Katherine and Nathaniel seem to really love walking from home to my office (where they occasionally have lunch before nursery) and then from my school to theirs. They have their entire world mapped out with their feet.
One evening recently, when the kids were still bouncing off the walls even after the walk from school and supper, I took them out for a loop around town with small flashlights in hand. We circled the soccer field (stopping to observe the game and hop up and down the bleachers) and collected pine cones and leaves. Now that it’s getting dark so early in the evening, I think we’ll be taking a lot more walks with flashlights.
On the day of the picture below, we took a morning hike at the equine center that’s down the road (nice wooded trails, gentle horses to pat) and then stopped by campus for a picnic before heading home. Yes, Katherine seems to think that frilled socks and skirts are proper hiking gear; having “discussions” about clothes is one of our main activities in recent weeks. As you can see, the kids are too busy munching to pause for a photo. Since the bench they chose is directly in front of the library, we saw a number of my students over the course of half an hour.
During their morning time with Sydney, Nathaniel’s been making use of Sydney’s leftover wood pieces to make tracks for his cars. He can turn pretty much anything into a pretend train set.
His time with Sydney is also reflected in some of his favorite words. Nathaniel loves to repeat things we say, so instead of a dart frog, Nathaniel will tell you that he has a Dendrobates tinctorius on his shirt:
Erin
Alan Schmierer