Friday, September 5, 2008

"hi, crickets"

this morning maddie and i took an early trip to the park around 9am. i had to bundle her up a little because it was 50s/60s after all the rain yesterday. we had the park all to ourselves and i was glad that i had the foresight to bring a towel to wipe down all the equipment that was still wet.

we actually spent more time enjoying the wildlife than playing on the equipment. madelyn likes to gather up all the fallen sticks and leaves blown down from the wind. and then she was strolling all over the open field part of the park. she kept squatting down to examine things on the ground and pointing at things asking, "what's that?".

"what's that?" madelyn asked with a general gesture at the wooded area.
"where?"
"what's that?" madelyn asked with a more specific point and a little frustration.
"trees."
"what's that?!" this time with a little scream in the question and pointing in the same place.

that was when i realized that she was pointing at the sound of crickets coming from the woods.

"that is bugs saying 'hi' to you."
"hi" with a wave at the woods.

isn't that cute? madelyn has been way more into noises. earlier she had been asking me about the various bird calls - that is how i figured out that she was asking about the cricket sound. matt and i are going to have to hone our listening skills to satisfy madelyn's quest for knowledge.

we went to the park several times today. it turned into a really nice day and i am facing the fact that we are running out of 'park' weather so every day counts. when we went this afternoon there were a lot of maddie's neighborhood friends to play with. her friend ava is almost two and was saying "bye" to everyone as she and her dad were leaving. i was asking maddie to say 'bye' to ava and in typical maddie fashion she was waving to ava from her swing. and then she called out "bye" clear as a bell to ava while waving! it toally surprised me! she said 'bye' once or twice several months ago, but this was the first time she had said it on request to someone who was leaving. and she said it in her big girl voice, not a soft baby voice. that voice surprises me every time. love.

2 comments:

Machala said...

It's so neat when they discover and recognize sounds...James will hear something, and if I don't react or respond, he'll say, "You heard that?"

Lorelai and Kinley call me Mom said...

I remember realizing Lorelai was hearing things... but she didn't realize she was hearing, with her ears, so we went through this whole, see with your eyes, hear with your ears 'lesson' - I think she got it, sort of :) Now I'll ask her if she hears things or sees them....