It's the Little Things...

We hit a milestone around here this week.  My little guy (who from here on out I'll be referring to as "Steele," a nickname he earned recovering from a nasty fall as a baby) learned to pedal his tricycle.  This is big for several reasons, not the least of which is that it ends the back-breaking job of bending down to push him.

So today, we took a little tricycle ride.  By little, I mean approximately 25 feet, 50% of which was downhill.  Hard work for a 2 1/2 year old who just learned to pedal!  And there I was, walking beside him and cheering him on (from a standing-straight-up-non-back-breaking position, no less!), encouraging him to keep going and try to make it "all the way to the driveway!!"

He couldn't have cared less about how far he got, because he was too busy enjoying the ride.

After about three feet, he slowed to a stop.  As I reached out to give him a small nudge and get him going again, he said "No, Mommy.  Look!"  He climbed down and examined a tiny (by tiny I mean maybe 3/4 inch tall) root-like thing growing between the sidewalk cracks.  "Whose beanstalk is it?!"  (We've been watching "Mickey and the Beanstalk" lately.)  Steele examined the "beanstalk" for a few minutes, tugging on it and trying to make it grow, and then resumed his ride.

For about three feet that is.  This time he climbed off of the trike and noticed a slug.  This was the first slug he has ever seen.  He spent a few minutes just looking at it and it's gooey trail, cheering it to "Go!  Go, Slug!  Get to the grass!" before he realized just how slow that slug was moving and climbed right back on that trike.

As I'm encouraging him speed a long to make it to his destination, he is busy marveling at the little things along the way.  The little things I wouldn't have noticed without him pointing them out to me.

Thanks for the reminder, little guy.