The past weekend we fled the city to enjoy a beautiful weekend in the country. This included a few days of packing lists - "How much can a baby need?!" was greeted with the grinding of my teeth a million and one times. I discovered with a little one you try your best to be prepared, and with weather being so up and down, I had to cover all bases. Warm clothes, cold clothes, hats, sunglasses, sunscreen, toys, books, towels, facecloths, bath products, diapers, wipes, baby food processor, dishes, spoons, formula, bottles.. the list goes on, and on.
Many firsts were held in this great spot up north. Nature, nature, nature. I'm not going to say I live in a industrial area, surrounded by not even a blade of grass. However, you cannot compare a sandbox of sand to a full beach and park, or a backyard of grass to several fields, or a few trees on our street to dirt paths meandering through an entire forest. You can't. So the first time he felt sand in between his toes, the first time he lounged in the grass (and picked mommy her first flower!), and the first time he went for a walk with the sounds of hundreds of woodland creatures greeting every crunch of the rocks and sticks underneath my feet - and his tires - all happened in the span of two days.
His reactions to such simple things made me sit back and admire my child. Back from a "oh my goodness, is my baby the cutest thing in this world, or what?!" standpoint, but as a person who's looking at any child and smiling at how small their world is right now. He has no idea how complicated things will get. He has no idea of all the difficult decisions he will one day have to make, all the people he will meet and all the different places he will encounter. In that moment, I grinned at my son.. his innocence and curiosity being such a beautiful thing. Something I pray every day he will hold on to as long as possible, and I wish he could remember how simple these things are but how happy they made him. I guess that's why I take so many photographs of him, so when he doesn't.. I can show him.
Six months in two days. Yikes!
