Mandatory Mud Puddle

Toe is learning how to ride a bike, and in the meantime is also using this amazing device called a Skuut. It is like a bike, but with no pedals. He learns balance but uses his feet to push along. It's pretty ingenious. The other day we took the Skuut down the Riverwalk. It was sunny but the wind was pretty icy. Toe began complaining right away and my wonderful friend (who had been invited for a walk, not to serve as a pack mule) ended up carrying said Skuut. We continued to walk. Toe always talks as he goes, so when things got quiet, we turned around to see how far he had fallen behind. 

There he stood, completely entranced by a puddle. He said, "Look, Mom! I'm making mud!" Many nature writers talk about the importance of having unstructured time in nature, for a variety of reasons. One is that nature provides items that can be used for a variety of purposes and spark the imagination (Mud can become mudpies, paint, or an entire village to squish. Pine cones can be eggs, grenades, building materials, etc.). Another is that natural surroundings provide calming and focusing effects. It doesn't have to be capital N nature - the beach or the grand canyon. An empty lot or back yard also provide these benefits. As do mud puddles on the sidewalk, apparently.

I saw it all in action. Toe found a stick, which he used first to stir mud and gravel into the puddle. My friend and I sat down to watch. Next, he wanted to have us put gravel into the pond with him, which we politely declined. The stick became a magic wand to make us do what he wanted. Said wand was defective on that account, but we did have fun seeing what else the wand could do. As I recall, it worked some mojo on a huge clump of blackberry bushes behind us. We stayed at the puddle for more than ten minutes, with our backs to a glorious view of the river, watching a more intimate connection with the natural world. Or, some of the elements of the natural world: water, mud, rocks, sticks. Doesn't get much simpler than that.