digging in the dirt

From top to bottom are squash, zucchini, strawberries, onions, lavender, basil, eggplant, and a pepper plant. Today we transplanted a few things from indoor growth to outdoor containers. I still have green beans, okra, oregano, broccoli and a tomato plant to transplant - we may do that tomorrow. I never figured out the mystery plant - I'm hoping it will continue to grow and eventually it will be obvious.

The boys and I were outside at 945am - Ezra is not an outdoor boy, so he was in and out alot. He prefers to build lego's and bring them to me after he's completed a new project. While Ezra built 4 'pod-racers' from Lego's, Jesse did something new. Literally from 945am until 11:15am Jesse sat in front of two containers of soil with a toddler trowel and shovel. First he helped me put rock in the bottoms of each container with his shovel. He did this 100% on his own! I didn't do a thing, I read a book!! I dumped the soil into the containers and when I saw how interested he was in the dirt, I didn't plant anything in them, instead he sat quietly and transferred dirt from one side to another. For 1.5 hours he played with dirt, rocks, and shovels. His socks are black from soil, his hands and legs were filthy, and the driveway was speckled with toddler dirt droppings all over the place. None of that mattered - what mattered is that he discovered! He enjoyed himself; both boys did. Ezra kept coming out and saying he couldn't believe how much Jesse liked dirt; I reminded Ezra he was digging on his own in Lego's! Both boys like to dig. I found myself oddly surprised because a doctor recently handed me a developmental checklist that said "2-2.5 years old - Can focus on one activity for 6-8 minutes at a time". No problems there :).

We spent the entire morning outside until nap time, then after nap we had lunch and headed out to the airport overlook to watch planes land. It was a beautiful day - I wish for more days like today. 80 degrees, a nice breeze, and my family outdoors enjoying ourselves.