Boys and Nature and the Nature of Boys

Sticks. Dirt. Dig. Dump. Dig. That is what it is about for my boys.  We spent hours each week in the park across the street digging in the dirt and playing with sticks.  We use our plastic construction trucks from Walgreens (these are the BEST by the way) digging holes, lifting a load, dumping that load into the dump truck over and over again.  And the sticks, who knew there were so many uses for them-- digging, scraping, swatting, building, sweeping, writing, piling- you name it, we have done it with a stick.  I sit with them and try to see what they see.  There is a whole world going on. For Tucker, it is mostly the action of using the digger to pick up the dirt, to dump it into the truck and then to dump that load to the ground.  He does it in such a slow, methodical manner as if every millimeter he moves is vitally important.  Cooper, on the other hand, is telling a story. Whether it is an intricate story of the happenings at a construction site or a simple story of a digger doing its job, it completely becomes his world for that moment in time.  I do enjoy digging with them for a while. It is fun to get down into the dirt and to feel the earth in my hands. But my story is not the same as either of the boys' stories. My story is simply being with my boys.

Boys and Nature and the Nature of Boys

Sticks. Dirt. Dig. Dump. Dig. That is what it is about for my boys.  We spent hours each week in the park across the street digging in the dirt and playing with sticks.  We use our plastic construction trucks from Walgreens (these are the BEST by the way) digging holes, lifting a load, dumping that load into the dump truck over and over again.  And the sticks, who knew there were so many uses for them-- digging, scraping, swatting, building, sweeping, writing, piling- you name it, we have done it with a stick.  I sit with them and try to see what they see.  There is a whole world going on. For Tucker, it is mostly the action of using the digger to pick up the dirt, to dump it into the truck and then to dump that load to the ground.  He does it in such a slow, methodical manner as if every millimeter he moves is vitally important.  Cooper, on the other hand, is telling a story. Whether it is an intricate story of the happenings at a construction site or a simple story of a digger doing its job, it completely becomes his world for that moment in time.  I do enjoy digging with them for a while. It is fun to get down into the dirt and to feel the earth in my hands. But my story is not the same as either of the boys' stories. My story is simply being with my boys.

A Morning Walk and Rainbow Lorikeets

Moon, moon, moon,

Shining bright.

Moon, moon, moon,

My night light.

Moon, moon, moon,

I can see.

Moon, moon, moon,

You're taking care of me.

(Laurie Berkner)

Tucker loves the moon. He looks for it all day long and when he cannot find it he gets a sad look on his face, puts his hands in the air, shrugs his shoulders and says, "Moon?"  We sing the song (above) every night before he goes to bed and when he wants to hear it he says, "Moon, Moon." 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Tucker has been getting up very early these days. Since it is the weekend and Doug is home, Tuck and I have been going out for a morning walk and enjoying some time together.  He is such a happy little boy. He talks almost as much as Cooper (can you believe it?) just without so many words. :)

It was a particularly beautiful morning this morning.  The skies were blue with tons of fluffy, white clouds scattered about. The temperature was just perfect for being outside- not too hot and not too cold. We walked (well, I walked and he rode) over to Darling Harbour. I felt a need to be by the water this morning.  The city was pretty quiet at that hour. The only people out were those doing the walk of shame (hee) and some homeless people.  The streets were littered with rubbish from people out and about last night.  That bothered me, so I concentrated on the sky and the beauty of the water that lay ahead. As we approached the harbour, Tucker got so excited. "Birds! Birds!"  He kept saying over and over. There were a ton of the Australian Ibises flying around and making a terrible ruckus.  Not sure what was going on, maybe they were enjoying the peace of the morning too and having their say!  It is amazing to see such a large and awkward looking bird fly so gracefully and land on a limb of a palm tree with out toppling over. I had to stop and watch that a while.

Darling Harbour at 8 at 7:30 am...

Our first stop on our walk was Starbucks. Tucker walked right in and greeted everyone with an enthusiastic, "Hi!" Several of the employees did a double take when they realised that that little peanut (Tucker) greeted them with such confidence and poise! We sat down and I had some tea and Tucker had a cinnamon roll- a favourite of the boys. We laughed a lot while we sat there.  He is such a character!  He danced to the music, played "Peek-a-boo" with the customers and even grabbed a wipe and did some cleaning.  We then walked around the harbour a bit enjoying the area without the usual crowds of tourists.  

As we were walking home, I heard a bird singing. It was not a sound I had heard since I'd been here so I knew it was not one of the usual suspects. I spent a lot of time looking and listening and then I saw them-- the Rainbow Lorikeets! I have been looking high and low for them wondering just where they could be found. Well, there were! Probably 6-8 of them. They have a beautiful song- very different than the Ibis, Pigeon, Magpie and Noisy Miners that we have become so familiar with.  We watched them for quite some time. They are very hard to photograph since they prefer to be high up in the trees. Thank goodness for my super-duper zoom lens! I was able to snap a few pictures.  Gorgeous birds!

A Morning Walk and Rainbow Lorikeets

Moon, moon, moon,

Shining bright.

Moon, moon, moon,

My night light.

Moon, moon, moon,

I can see.

Moon, moon, moon,

You're taking care of me.

(Laurie Berkner)

Tucker loves the moon. He looks for it all day long and when he cannot find it he gets a sad look on his face, puts his hands in the air, shrugs his shoulders and says, "Moon?"  We sing the song (above) every night before he goes to bed and when he wants to hear it he says, "Moon, Moon." 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

Tucker has been getting up very early these days. Since it is the weekend and Doug is home, Tuck and I have been going out for a morning walk and enjoying some time together.  He is such a happy little boy. He talks almost as much as Cooper (can you believe it?) just without so many words. :)

It was a particularly beautiful morning this morning.  The skies were blue with tons of fluffy, white clouds scattered about. The temperature was just perfect for being outside- not too hot and not too cold. We walked (well, I walked and he rode) over to Darling Harbour. I felt a need to be by the water this morning.  The city was pretty quiet at that hour. The only people out were those doing the walk of shame (hee) and some homeless people.  The streets were littered with rubbish from people out and about last night.  That bothered me, so I concentrated on the sky and the beauty of the water that lay ahead. As we approached the harbour, Tucker got so excited. "Birds! Birds!"  He kept saying over and over. There were a ton of the Australian Ibises flying around and making a terrible ruckus.  Not sure what was going on, maybe they were enjoying the peace of the morning too and having their say!  It is amazing to see such a large and awkward looking bird fly so gracefully and land on a limb of a palm tree with out toppling over. I had to stop and watch that a while.

Darling Harbour at 8 at 7:30 am...

Our first stop on our walk was Starbucks. Tucker walked right in and greeted everyone with an enthusiastic, "Hi!" Several of the employees did a double take when they realised that that little peanut (Tucker) greeted them with such confidence and poise! We sat down and I had some tea and Tucker had a cinnamon roll- a favourite of the boys. We laughed a lot while we sat there.  He is such a character!  He danced to the music, played "Peek-a-boo" with the customers and even grabbed a wipe and did some cleaning.  We then walked around the harbour a bit enjoying the area without the usual crowds of tourists.  

As we were walking home, I heard a bird singing. It was not a sound I had heard since I'd been here so I knew it was not one of the usual suspects. I spent a lot of time looking and listening and then I saw them-- the Rainbow Lorikeets! I have been looking high and low for them wondering just where they could be found. Well, there were! Probably 6-8 of them. They have a beautiful song- very different than the Ibis, Pigeon, Magpie and Noisy Miners that we have become so familiar with.  We watched them for quite some time. They are very hard to photograph since they prefer to be high up in the trees. Thank goodness for my super-duper zoom lens! I was able to snap a few pictures.  Gorgeous birds!

Playing Cars and Trucks

I can play most anything with the boys. I can play with Playdough, paint pictures, create contraptions, collect sticks in the park, dig in the sand, do puzzles, play board games, build with blocks and play in the pool, but the one thing that I do not enjoy playing is "cars and trucks."  Maybe this is why I was blessed with two boys.  Somewhere out in the universe it is my task to learn to enjoy playing with cars and trucks.

But what is playing "cars and trucks" really?  It is not like the things I enjoyed doing as a little girl.  It is not dressing up dolls in different outfits- I can do that. It is not like playing house or doctor's office- these I can do as well.  Cars and trucks are simply a bunch of vehicles, in a pile on my living room floor (that will not be cleaned up at the end of the day by anyone other than me). They do not speak to me. They do not entice me like a new box of markers, fresh paint or even the acres of sand at the beach. Cars and trucks just go back and forth.  They cannot be built into cities and parks like blocks or Duplos.  They just go and then they stop. But, to Cooper, they are much more than "just" anything. They are where he acts out his fears, where he experiences power, where he makes sense of his world. They are fun.


I have tried, really. I have created traffic jams from one end of the room to the other, made parking garages filled with rows and rows of various kinds of vehicles and have had races galore and yet, I still do not enjoy playing cars and trucks.  Maybe I am not supposed to enjoy it. Maybe this is the burden I must carry as a mom of boys. Who knows.  What I do know is that I cannot wait until Tucker is a bit older and he can play these car and truck games with Cooper. He can build parking garages, traffic jams and have races until the sun goes down and I can just sit back and ENJOY watching them play "cars and trucks."

Playing Cars and Trucks

I can play most anything with the boys. I can play with Playdough, paint pictures, create contraptions, collect sticks in the park, dig in the sand, do puzzles, play board games, build with blocks and play in the pool, but the one thing that I do not enjoy playing is "cars and trucks."  Maybe this is why I was blessed with two boys.  Somewhere out in the universe it is my task to learn to enjoy playing with cars and trucks.

But what is playing "cars and trucks" really?  It is not like the things I enjoyed doing as a little girl.  It is not dressing up dolls in different outfits- I can do that. It is not like playing house or doctor's office- these I can do as well.  Cars and trucks are simply a bunch of vehicles, in a pile on my living room floor (that will not be cleaned up at the end of the day by anyone other than me). They do not speak to me. They do not entice me like a new box of markers, fresh paint or even the acres of sand at the beach. Cars and trucks just go back and forth.  They cannot be built into cities and parks like blocks or Duplos.  They just go and then they stop. But, to Cooper, they are much more than "just" anything. They are where he acts out his fears, where he experiences power, where he makes sense of his world. They are fun.


I have tried, really. I have created traffic jams from one end of the room to the other, made parking garages filled with rows and rows of various kinds of vehicles and have had races galore and yet, I still do not enjoy playing cars and trucks.  Maybe I am not supposed to enjoy it. Maybe this is the burden I must carry as a mom of boys. Who knows.  What I do know is that I cannot wait until Tucker is a bit older and he can play these car and truck games with Cooper. He can build parking garages, traffic jams and have races until the sun goes down and I can just sit back and ENJOY watching them play "cars and trucks."