golden hour, being present, caterpillars
We spent yesterday evening in the yard. As usual, Roman was playing; M. was watching over him; and I was holding Marina. After awhile, my back and shoulders were killing me, so I asked M. to hold Marina for a bit. He walked her down to the bottom of the yard, away from Roman & me, so that she would fall asleep. And fall asleep, she did.
That is when the fun began. For the first time in a very long time, I put all of my worries down and just played. I pulled Roman around the yard in his wagon. We climbed on top of an ancient tree stump. We played hide ‘n’ seek. The air was perfectly late-spring warm. The golden sun was setting, far away beyond the tree tops. The earth was cast in a warm, pink glow. Everything was perfect, and nothing hurt.*
I desperately wanted to run inside and grab my phone so that I could snap a picture, but I decided against it. That moment was going to be ours, belonging to nobody else except my precious little family — spread around the yard, warm, happy, and safe.
In other news, it’s been an epic year for caterpillars around here! They are everywhere. We live in the woods and there are always creatures about, from giant furry ones to all manners of insects. Each year, one species of insect seems to rule supreme. One year it is cicadas, one year spiders, and so on. This year it’s caterpillars. The exterior of our house and yard are swarming with thousands of them at all times.
This explosion of caterpillars, naturally, has led to a wild fascination in my two-year-old boy. He’s been collecting (and releasing) caterpillars all spring. We did let him keep one and we made a little Tupperware house for it. About a week after we adopted it, it spun itself into a cocoon and it’s been wrapped up in there for a couple of weeks now. We’re not sure when (or if) it will emerge, but we’re hoping it does — how exciting that would be.
These photographs are not from yesterday evening. They’re from another afternoon of play earlier this week. They illustrate Roman’s love for the caterpillars and also what a great help he is with watering the garden.
xo
Comments (2)
Tina
June 12, 2015 at 7:24 am
Aw I’m happy you had a good time letting loose and playing with Roman! Those are the best times 🙂
Expertmom
June 13, 2015 at 3:34 pm
I didn’t think the pics could have been from evening time 🙂 I actually like the color ones better than the black and white. Yes, I agree with you that it is so cool when you finally get the chance to just play. It is so healthy and good both for you and for the child. Nice sharing!