One of the pleasures of life is viewing day-to-day living through the eyes of children. It is a sure way to be uplifted, amused and often, a method to bring joy into one’s life, thereby being able to pass it through to others. We mentioned in an earlier blog that for us, action is the way to create contentment and smelly armpits, too. Hey, you can’t have everything.
Ellie a little pensive; Mr. Cool greets his new friends.
Shortly before embarking on Hike-about 20, we visited an indoor entertainment establishment and a few days later, the park at Poway Lake, below Mount Woodson. We enjoyed running around Chuck-e-Cheese and riding Dumbo the elephant so much, we decided to take the kids the next time. Fortunately, the kids are not ready for the mountain; we were too tired that day to climb. In our opinion, the outdoor playtime in nature is superior to indoor games and electronic doo-dahs, whatever that means. It's a treat playing with the kids (mostly) and observing the various interactions.
More bread, I'm hungry and so are the ducks.
We arrived with a bag of bread rolls for the ducks. Mommy Natalie had sent sufficient to keep the birds of San Diego fed for a week. Had we had butter and jam available, we might have sat at one of the benches and enjoyed them for lunch (the bread, not birds). After a while, we realized why Natalie sent so much food. The system worked as follows: one bite for Benny, a smaller handful for the ducks. We should have thought of that but we’ve been ‘out the parenting game’ too long—thank goodness.
Ellie lobs a long crumb.
An incident occurred that struck us as poignant, showing a little brainpower of a two year old and commonsense in personal relationships. It occurred when we left the birds for the 'Jungle Jen'. We climbed to the top where three young girls were talking. They were of Mexican origin, speaking English clearly. We always encourage the kids to greet and play with others. ‘Say hi to the girls, Benny”, we encouraged him.
"Hey, Gaga, am I cute or what?"
He turned to each and greeted them sweetly ("Hi! Hi! Hi!"). They ignored him. We found the snub surprising as their ages ranged from five to ten years old. At the time, we wondered what he thought of the incident. We went down the slide and to the usual exclamation of “more”, we went again and again.
When we reached the top, he walked up to the girls who were still conversing in English and he said in a loud voice, “Hola”. This time they smiled and greeted him back. It tickled us but also said a lot about natural perception. Leave it to kids and they'll work it out without 'social laws' and agendas.
"And now..."
Cheers,
Gaga and Papa
We left this to last hoping the Park Ranger or the parents don't see it. (We lost control of the two-year old.)
