Recently I took our son to the park. It was a cold day. I’d finished my exams and I was quite pleased with the idea that we might head outside to spend some good quality time with one another. One of the things I had forgotten was how much fun it was to not worry about some rapidly approaching deadline or exam. While certainly the topic of another post, it is hard to underestimate the effect that passing my qualifying exams has had on me. The last nine months had been a terrible time for my family centered on coping with the inordinate amount of reading and study required each day in preparation for the exams. With the testing behind me I was able to focus on my son. He was sitting in the back seat and we had just said goodbye to Mom who was headed for a full day of work. Despite the cold I decided that I’d find a park for us to visit. I’m very glad I did.
One of the first animals our son became interested in was the duck. His grandparents purchased this lovely stuffed animal with beatiful bells for feet (it looks sort of weird but sounds amazing and is quite soothing). Since he’s now learning language he has started to focus on saying words. “Duck” is one of the words that he is attempting. He also associates the work with “quack quack quack” sounds that I happily, if embarassingly, shout at any moment I am able. I happily found a park my wife and I had visited with friends before our son was born. They’d completely redone the playground with new equipment to my surprise. There is also a body of water nearby. While the body of water doesn’t contain any ducks it does house a gaggle of geese (I can’t tell you how happy I am to type that phrase). When we got there he was asleep in the back seat (Mom gets to work early) but I roused him and the cold wind seemed to wake him up quickly. We walked, slowly, towards the water. I told him we were going to see the ducks and he didn’t really understand. Then he noticed that we were outside in a large open space and he became very happy and awake. This was only the beginning of his happiness!