IN MUD AND WATER

I have said it before, and I will say it again.  When you get your child, boy or girl, in the great outdoors, it doesn’t take long for their own creativity to start running wild.  What amazes me more is when a child is outside, has all of the toys and objects to keep themselves entertained for weeks, yet still chooses to chase butterflies, hunt for frogs and toads, or even seek out a puddle at the end of the driveway.  Last week I had the chance to witness this first hand with my daughter Brinley.  When Reese is outside I fully expect him to get into some sort of mischief, but my sweet, innocent little girl?  Who am I kidding?!  She is usually the first one to dive into a new adventure or squish an unsuspecting bug with her finger and then laugh about it.  So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I saw her staring at the mud puddle at the end of the driveway as she slowly and methodically made her way in that direction.  Greta was completely unaware of Brinley’s intentions as she was wrapped up in an intense game of PIG with Reese.  I on the other hand, although consumed with planting a few new arrangements that Greta had picked up at the local greenery, happened to catch Brinley out of the corner of my eye moving ever so calmly towards the mud puddle.  I didn’t think much of it at the time.  My sweet little girl, while still dressed in her PJs from the night before, wouldn’t want to succumb to the depths of mud and rain water.  Just as I was finishing that thought, there was my little girl, legs loaded, arms stretched back as if she was mimicking some standing long jumper from the Olympics that had just concluded, right into the middle of the mud puddle she landed.

Jumping, splashing, and giggling!  She went for minutes and eventually plopped right down, clothes, diaper and all.

Soon thereafter Reese had given up on the intense game of PIG with his mother to join in on the madness.  He at least took off his shirt before entering this bath hardly fit for birds, although eventually plopping right down next to his sister.  Laughing, cheering, and covered in mud they sat.  They were proud sitting there flexing their muscles as if champions of some tall feat.

I was actually quite proud that in a world filled with ever changing technology, the Evenson kids were happier than pigs in mud, sitting in a mud puddle.  That was until they heard Greta yell, “bath time”!