ME: Some dinosaws awe big. Some awe small. Some dinosaws awe fast. Some awe slow.

DADDY: Some dinosaurs can fly. Some can’t.

ME: Good obsewvation Daddy.

DADDY: *Silent with mouth kinda open*.

ME: What?

My story has a toddler point somewhere in there. I like to explore outside. Duh. I like to learn new things. Who doesn’t???   We don’t have many houses around us where I live, so I get to run all over hills, on rocks, up trees, through leaves, over tree stumps, even to a creek! Even when I’m not at my home, it is fun to walk around and look for things. When I’m riding in the car, I like to find things out my window. My big people have always showed me things on a walk or a drive. We have to look for birds, airplanes, trees, pick up garbage, talk about flowers we see, cloud shapes, cars that go by, colors of houses, buildings on the road, and more more more. When Momma and Daddy are taking pictures, we always look around at things and see lots that other people just walk by. Sometimes we even tell stories about all the stuff we see.

I …don’t…think…everybody does this. (Said with finger on head and thinking face.)

I say this because of Preschool. I’m in Preschool now, and I still am not sure how I feel about it. I can tell you more later.

Okay. Here is what I’m talking about.

KID #1: Let’s be animals on the grass.

ME: Um…what gwass?

KID #1: Over there! (points to bark chips)

ME: Um…that is bawk, not gwass.

KID #1: What?

KID #2: What are you looking at?

ME: (bending over on sidewalk) The cool cwacks in the concwete. Look at that one!!! It looks like a cwicket!

KID #2: (runs away and doesn’t talk to me again)

KID #3: (playing in sand box- maybe eating some of it). Wanna play with these trucks?

ME: That’s not a twuck, it’s a bulldozaw.

KID #3: Ok. Wanna play? The sand feels good!

ME: No it doesn’t. It feels gwitty and cold and messy.

KID #3: (eats some more sand). Ok. Wanna play? It tastes good.

See!! It seems like other people just aren’t paying attention. I told Momma later that other kids don’t talk with me or know what I’m saying. She asked more questions. I told her what I thought…that they just don’t pay attention or look for things maybe. Like maybe they need someone to help them explore. “Good observation Nate,” she said.

See!!!

P.S. I did NOT eat the sand.

Now that Lyla is 2 years old, she has to help with chores. I find this slightly annoying. She doesn’t really “help” that much.   She just comes along…slowly…and gets in the way. In fact, when I’m trying to feed the chickens, she growls at them like some animal and scares them away.   When I’m trying to sweep, she spreads my pile all over. When I’m collecting eggs, she tries to grab them from me. When I feed the cat, she tries to eat the cat food. When I water the plants, she tries to run through the hose water, gets all wet, and then I get yelled at!! And don’t get me started on cameras and pictures.

Okay- I’ll start. I have a camera. Clearly I can handle it and take pretty artistic pictures. I had to earn it. But she is still learning, and clearly CAN NOT take pictures. She licks the camera. LICKS IT!!! She still thinks a tape measure is a phone for toys’ sake!!! (Head shake. Fist to forehead.)  Okay, okay. I’m done.

So, a couple weeks ago, I figured I could just leave her in the chicken pen for a while…or a day…or two. Whaat??!!! I was going to leave her food. I just needed a break!!!   After I let the chickens out and fed them, I grabbed Lyla from behind and started to drag her (nicely) back into the pen. Seemed a good plan.

But, true to form, she fought me.   She pulled away and started to walk…then run. The thing with Lyla is that she doesn’t have the best balance yet. And we have many hills. So running + hills + Lyla = disaster.   Yep. It happened so fast that it felt slow. I grabbed. She twisted and turned. She walked…which turned into a run…which turned into a really fast, out of control run…which turned into a flying Lyla. She was on the ground, and then she was in the air. A plane!! A Lyla plane!! Unfortunately, Daddy now saw what was happening. He watched her fly too. Then he watched her stop flying. Against the side of a wheelbarrow. Who left THAT there??!!!

It was NOT pretty. I was so scared and sorry that I burst into tears when I heard the bonk of her head. Lyla cried too, but I cried harder and longer. Was she okay? Was she trying to fly? How high did she get? The rest was a blur. There was running, yelling, ice packs, and then Daddy and Lyla were gone to the big doctor place.

Turns out she bonked her brain just like I did. The bump on her head was so big it looked like she was growing another head!!! Gross. Alien gross. I could tell that Momma was upset, but she just squeezed the scared and sad right out of me with hugs.   And if I know Momma, she was also thinking about what cool pictures this would be. I almost said something to her, but then thought it probably wasn’t the best time. Yea. Probably not the best idea.

When Lyla got home, she gave me a hug and kiss so I knew she wasn’t mad at me. Maybe I should let her help with chores. Only because I feel bad. Plus she flew like a plane! Now THAT was cool. She just has to work on her landings.

I DID get a picture of her bump and the pretty colors.  Great texture.

Oh wait! I forgot to tell you…she has, like, super hero healing powers…kind of creepy. AND, she is tough!!! I wouldn’t want to mess with her. I should remember that. And I better keep an eye on her.

I really like cars. No no. I love cars. LOVE them. I love them little. I love them big. I love them racing. I love them working. I love them fast. I love them slow. I love EVERY thing about them. I have so many. So so many. Sometimes I take them to bed and find them under my pillow. Sometimes I forget to put them ALL away and Momma or Daddy step on one, or two, or many…or sit on them on the couch. I get cars for pooping. I get cars for filling up my chart. I get cars for doing my chores all week.

Cars. Cars. Cars.

I can’t imagine a life without cars. And I can imagine A LOT!!!

So, imagine my surprise when we went on a field adventure a little bit ago, and Momma showed me someplace called a Pony stop…no… an Expires stop…no…a Pony Express Stop!! Get this…cars didn’t USED to be here. Like…there were no cars. Wai…wai…wai…wait!!! NO CARS???? Mind = blown. People used to ride around on horses to take notes and mail and stuff to other people! Whaaat?! Why??!!!

I guess it is true because there was a building and stuff and a bunch of words on a sign that say so.

I have to think about this for awhile. No cars…pfff. Horses!?