Nice Day
Yesterday Sam woke me up with coffee and a plate of french toast with apple topping. Every word of that sentence is nice, but the nicest part is the phrase “woke me up,” indicating as it does that I got to sleep in while he was making breakfast with the boys.
We all ate french toast in our pyjamas, and then we got dressed and went to feed celery to the animals at Tilden Little Farm:
Robin was super good all day. We looked at the cows, sheep, goats, chickens, geese, ducks, and turkeys:
But his favorite were the pigs. He kept talking about pigs for the rest of the day. In fact he’s still talking about pigs now. He just came running up to me and said “two pigs!” (there were two pigs at the farm–we counted, many times).
I did not take any pictures of the pigs.
When it was time to go Robin didn’t protest at all, which is sort of amazing. We decided to take a short hike on a broad trail around Jewel Lake. I don’t know what sort of weird dance move Robin is doing in the background of this picture, but that’s Sam carrying Davy in the Ergo:
Robin was doing so well at walking by himself that we actually split off onto a more intermediate-level trail that wound up into the hills some. It was really fun because it had some places where you had to clamber over big tree roots, or duck under thick old trunks that were leaning across the trail. Robin walked the whole way although he did trip over roots a few times, and towards the end he was starting to get tired, which he would demonstrate by sitting down in the middle of the path. But it only took a bit of encouragement to get him to finish the trail.
I think there must be a word or phrase for the feeling that’s the opposite (in a way) of cognitive dissonance: the pleasant feeling you get when you find yourself engaging in activities that confirm your own sense of self. I think of us as the sort of family that goes on hikes with our dog on the weekends, despite the fact that we don’t have a dog and that our actual behavioral patterns would peg us as the sort of family that sits around and plays video games on the weekends. So it was not only very pleasant to be walking in the woods, it was ego-affirming on a deep level. It felt very much as if the dog had just bounded ahead for a moment.
October 11th, 2010 at 11:40 am
What a lovely story. What do you suppose it is about the pigs that captured Robin’s attention? Did Davy seem to like them?
October 11th, 2010 at 3:45 pm
Davy didn’t spend much time looking at the animals. He did seem to like the contrast of leaves against sunlight when we were in the woods. I think baby vision is still not great at three months.
I have no idea why the pigs were the big draw. They didn’t even eat the celery!
October 11th, 2010 at 12:32 pm
This is beautiful! Lovely photos and a beautiful family. Y’all seem to have your flow on.
October 11th, 2010 at 3:47 pm
Aw, thanks!
You are going to have to post more about your new hubby!
October 11th, 2010 at 2:18 pm
Cognitive harmony?
I like the shot of Robin at the top. As though he’s about to say “Never mind me mum, there’s an ACTUAL GOAT RIGHT THERE!”.
October 11th, 2010 at 3:46 pm
Hah! Yes, I think that’s a pretty accurate glimpse into his head.
October 12th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Sam and Sara really had a thing about pigs when they were around Robin’s age. We had gone to Arkansas to see family and one of the sow’s had just given birth and they were certain we were going to bring one little piglet home!
October 13th, 2010 at 11:14 am
Aww! Little piglets!
There weren’t any piglets at the farm, but Robin is very interested in the concept. As he says, “Baby pig! Piglet!”