First of all, let me just tell you that Hank *loves* being outside! I seriously think he would take a nap under the large oak tree in our backyard every day if he could get away with it.
Hank loves being outside
Of course, Hank doesn’t usually want to nap when we’re outside, he’s all about playing and exploration at the moment. We take him on walks with us all the time and I have to say that while it’ll be great fun for him once he’s not in his infant carrier in the stroller and can sit facing forward, it’ll be a somewhat sad day for us as we won’t be able to make eye contact without stopping the stroller or to see his face light up as we pass under trees or he spies a bird or what have you… So we’re enjoying those moments to their fullest right now. On Thursday we went for a jog with Hank, who, by the way, is a major fan of speed. Sometimes, particularly when he’s tired, he’ll actually fuss if we’re going slowly and laugh delightedly when we start running again. Anyway, we ran/walked at a vast park and ended up stopping for a break near some swings. Hank swung in a “big” swing for the first time and he loved it! He was all smiles. Ty took this photo with his cell phone, so its not the best quality, but you can see that Hank is definitely enjoying himself!
Hank swings in a "big" swing
Our backyard is presently in full bloom and we’re trying to enjoy as much time there as we can before the summer heat makes hanging out in the yard unbearable and dries everything out. We were thrilled to discover that our blackberry bush is *finally* yielding fruit and we happened to beat the birds to it. Today, Hank and I harvested some blackberries. He was quite taken with the texture and Tyler and I are very happy that we decided not to use chemicals in our garden as Hank wanted to eat the berries directly.
Hank's first blackberry harvest
Of course, he’s not up for that much texture yet (he’s still mostly eating stage 2 texture foods which are fairly well pureed) but he did enjoy licking the juice off his fingers… There is something so satisfying about going into your yard and picking some produce. We aren’t growing much at the moment, but hopefully in the future we will have more of a veg garden. We’re also hoping to put in an area just for the butterflies and hummingbirds. It’ll be fun to sit and observe them. Presently, Hank’s favorite bird is the cardinal, perhaps because it is red. He’s very drawn to red these days. We often sit and observe the birds and squirrels.
The blackberries Hank picked
Sometimes he’ll stare out of the window while he’s supposed to be eating, watching the jays and cardinals eating sunflower seeds from one of our feeders and seeing the squirrels attempt to eat from the feeder and plummet to the ground (that’s hilarious if you’ve never seen it). Our family is so blessed to have so much nature right outside our door. And Tyler and I are blessed to have a son who seems to enjoy nature as much as we do. He has been perfectly content to play on a blanket on the grass while we work near him in the yard. Its so pleasant and I hope something he will never grow out of.
Swinging
Yum!