Counting and the creek

We wanted to go to the park yesterday. Actually, Hubby wanted a big huge walk that my pregnant self just isn't up to these days. So we were going to walk to the local park and play with Quint. But when we went outside, he wanted to play in the yard. For quite a while now, he has wanted to explore the usually dry creek bed just behind our property. I haven't taken him down there because it's steep, there are sticker bushes, and I'm a little uncoordinated right now.

But Hubby had none of those reservations!

AND the big rain we had 3 days ago meant that there was actually water trickling by! Loads of fun for a little boy! Or a little girl, for that matter. The water was about a half inch deep, so we let him walk in it a bit. We pointed out the water fall, showed him how things float downstream, named all the objects nearby (moss, rock, leaf, mud, gunk), and let him feel of the water with his hand.



But most importantly, we sat his little butt down on a flat rock, put his feet toward the water (not really in the water) and handed him a stick! This alone provided at least 45 minutes of unending entertainment! And yes he got filthy, and one leg got soaked. And half of his coat, and some of me, which seemed to be the most fun of all.

It may look like he's not happy in these pictures, but he was laughing his little heart out every time I shrieked from getting splashed.

And then awe at how the cloudy mud he just made would quickly dissipate and the water would look clear again. Tons of fun for all of us. When he started looking board, we took him back up to our yard where he played with moss and the cold fire pit for a while. We started teaching him the joy of gathering sticks, and patting the soft, carpety moss that covers our yard.

We all had a lot of fun, and it was about 20 minutes after he confirmed that his wet feet felt icky that he actually wanted to go in and get out of his wet clothes. It was 62 degrees out, so we certainly didn't feel bad. We kept asking him if he was cold and he was too busy to answer. He spent the next hour in the house running around in his diaper and T-shirt, much to his delight.

Also yesterday, there was quite a bit of throwing the baby on the bed with lots of begging to do it again. Especially after I positioned the enormous pregnancy pillow just right and threw him into that over and over. This was accompanied by counting to three and throwing him on three.

Later on in the evening, we were playing with a toy that turned inside out. While I was doing that over and over, I would count to three and pop it out on three. After a while, we noticed that he was saying "none, twoo,..." and then pausing for me to say three. We locked eyes in settlement and encouraged him to count with us. He didn't right then, but a couple minutes later, he was crawling around his blue recliner and was saying, "none, twoo, tree, (pause), none, twoo, tree". SO MY LITTLE BOY IS COUNTING!!! AT 17 MONTHS!!!

Ok, granted, he has no idea how many three is, and this little display really only proves that he understands the concept of "ready, set, go". But he knows what order those words go in! And gosh darn it, I'M COUNTING THIS AS COUNTING AT 17 MONTHS OLD!

He does know the colors yellow, green, and red. Blue is a bit more confusing since there are several shades amongst his toys and flash cards. And why should sky blue and navy blue be called the same thing? Maybe I need to work on light blue and dark blue. He has said the word purple at daycare, but not really at home.

So of course I have the most brilliant little boy on the planet! Doesn't every mother say that!