Creekside Magic

PDG and I had this kind of magical moment today.

The day, honestly, started a little rough.  While I love summer vacation, it's definitely an adjustment to be back home - just me and the kid.

I was all "I have no friends" and "I'm bad at being a SAHM" and "poor me with 9 weeks paid vacation" when I put him down for his first nap.  Yeah, we're transitioning from two naps down to one, it all depends on how many distractions he has in the morning and if he starts throwing tantrums.  Tantrums = morning nap. I don't know if great disciplinarians would commend me for this approach, but it's keeping us sane and he's still sleeping at night.

But anyway, while he napped, I remembered my free meal at Cafe Rio.  And the fact that there was a park I'd been meaning to go back to that we visited months ago.  And we still needed some more spaghetti sauce.

I woke him at a reasonable time, and we headed out.  We devoured a totally free meal that fed us both, and I even indulged in a Cherry Coke.  Probably the reason I'm writing now instead of napping with him.  Cherry Cokes are delicious, no?

We headed to Bluemont Park, found the hidden entryway to the  playground area, and explored our way through the big toys.  After nearly an hour, which has to be a record for him since he usually gets bored or hungry by 30 minutes, we headed to the car.  He was stinky, I was sweaty, and we both needed to save just a little energy for the grocery store.

Right by our car was a babbling creek, and I couldn't just walk right by it.  I mean, I could, but it's a babbling creek.  I had to.  We sat on down, swinging our legs over the little cement bridge connecting the parking lot to the baseball field, and watched all the bubbles.  The man-made dam below us kept the water going at just the right speed and my little PDG does love any kind of bubbles.

Holding him on my lap, feeling a few little flutters of MDG in my belly, I thought to myself how perfect my world is.  Yes, I was uncomfortably sitting on both my keys and cell phone.  Yes, the heat of my boys inside and outside had me sweating like crazy.  Yes, PDG really, really needed a fresh diaper.  But in the semi-shade on a sunny, summer day, thinking about the world and all its miracles, as tiny as bubbles in a babbling creek that form and combine and shift and fade by the second, everything felt just so, so perfect.

I stood up to get going, but PDG refused to hold my hand and sat down stubbornly reaching for the water.  He must've felt it too, because he didn't want to leave.  So again we sat silently, legs dangling, and kept watching the continual flow of bubbles and creek water.  Passersby came and went, and he didn't even notice a dog that walked right by us.  Finally, I guess he decided he was done, so we stood and ambled back to the car, got ourselves cleaned up, and headed to the store, home, and after plenty of ice water, to bed.

I have no clue what we'll do when he wakes up.  Maybe legos?  Elmo videos?  Drawing (aka pulling crayons out of the box then attempting to put them back in again - over.and.over.and.over)?

Whatever.  My day is happily complete.