Foggy Day

Spring is very wet and mucky here, and yesterday was a harbinger of the muddy months to come. It wasn't raining, but a gray mist clung to the hills just above the lake, making for a moody day. Despite the chill, I had to get the boys out to the park. I had reneged on my promise to take them to play on Friday because we didn't get out before the rain started, so I knew we'd be facing a mutiny if I didn't get out of the house yesterday.



Our ritual at the park is to feed the ducks first. At the inlet where we usually feed the ducks, we were surprised to see that the water had receded from the shore by about six feet. I suppose that some of the water is still bound up in ice. We walked along the bank until the inlet narrowed and the water was in easier reach. We had just started tossing stale bread to two ducks when a mob of seagulls descended upon us. The boys were not pleased to feed such grabby, greedy birds, so we walked back to the playground.



And this is where our excursion turned sour. My three-year-old was examining a puddle in the middle of the path, and my older son, who is nine, walked up right behind him and with a deliberate shove, pushed the little one down into the puddle. I was tempted to pack them right up, head home, and lock the older boy in a closet for the next century, but I decided that nothing would be gained by that course of action. I figured that the impulsive, aggressive action meant that the older one especially needed the time to work off his extra energy and work through some of his jealousy through play.



And I'm glad that I decided to stay at the park. I'm constantly amazed at how being able to move about freely outside and engage in imaginative play allows children to work out their issues. The boys ended up playing *together*, pretending that one structure was a yellow submarine and playing Open Sesame on it. My older one was the door keeper, allowing him to be dominant, and the younger one was delighted to say the secret password to gain entry. Another child wanted to join the fun, and my younger one, feeling territorial, started spitting at him. (Such primal reactions from these two!!) After some give-and-take with the other child, and a little intervention from me, the three boys ended up happily playing Cruise Ship on a larger structure.

We concluded our time at the park by exploring the paved trails along the lake. My older one rode his bike, and the younger one scootered along and pretended to be a scooter cop. My older one, who has a hard time verbalizing his feelings and experiences, was relaxed enough to open up to me about something special he had made earlier in the week.

When we packed up to go home, the younger one fell asleep in his car seat instantly. As we headed out of the park, the skies finally opened up and the rain started pouring down. I shared a little smile with my older one, and he said, "Great timing!" And I knew at that moment that it was indeed one of those rare afternoons when everything had in fact come together nicely, allowing the fog to lift and the held-back torrent to be released.