(Second try) Today: Rocks and Sticks and Letters, oh my!

You know how sometimes you can write something GREAT?!?! And just as you’re editing the last picture to put in the most hilarious, well-written post in the history of blogs, your computer dies and you lose it?  Yeah.  This is the post AFTER that post.

So we’ve moved into the toddler stage where the Little Scientist needs to have something in his hands at ALL times.  Usually this manifests itself as stick and rock gathering, particularly as we head into fall and spend a MILLION hours a day trail walking.  (What?  It’s free!  And exercise!  And did I mention FREE?!)  A brief overview of the last few weeks:

So today, when he demanded to bring a blue plastic cup in the car, I assumed it was to fulfill this hand-full need. Wrong.  He wanted to GATHER ROCKS.  Mechanical advantage, FTW.

See that giant field of rocks? 3 rocks made the cut. 3. Discerning toddler, he is. And Yoda am I, apparently.

And then, to melt me into a puddle of goo, he spent the post-walk drive to the store “counting” his treasure. Not with real words or numbers, but with definitive purpose.

“zsa Zsa ZSA!” For some reason my son counts like he’s the missing Gabor sister. I have no explanation.

Which brings me to our pre-lunch home activity. He’s been identifying numbers and letters in environmental print now for a week or two. I catch him “reading” all manners of things – his wall paper, his socks, the lettered bum of the sorority girl at the mall… (sorry ma’am. He was reading, not feeling you up. Promise.)

So while we were outside, I wrote part of the alphabet “life-sized” on the back fence. I figured the whole thing would be a bit overwhelming. And I ran out of orange chalk. And my arm got tired. The result:

Holy crapp, does my lawn need to be mowed! Who’s in charge of that around here? *crickets* Right… *blush*
ZSA-ZSA-ZSA-ZSAZSAZSAZSA!
(for size comparison, the kid is 3 feet tall)

And then he had to make some letters of his own:

Good times. Now to find some more orange chalk…

I linked up to the #iPPP group this week – you (yes, YOU) should go check out their Awesome McAwesomeness.

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