Fall Leaves

The last little while we've had such beautiful weather. It's been sunny and warm with just a touch of fall crispness to the air. The trees around our apartment complex have been in fine form as well, with their bright yellow, orange, and red leaves. There is one maple tree in particular that sits behind our building that I absolutely love. It actually sits outside our bedroom window, and I love seeing its bright orange and red leaves each morning when I open the blinds.

We haven't spent much time outside around our complex this last year because our downstairs neighbors have had a pit bull that scares me. They always kept it outside and it always barked at us when we walked by, and strained at it's leash/tie. I would take Connor on walks so we could get some fresh air and get out of the apartment, but I never felt comfortable sitting/playing on the grass around our building because I didn't trust that dog. They just moved out last week, and we're really happy about that for more than one reason. Now that the dog is gone, I plan to spend as much time outside with Connor as I can before the weather gets too cold.

The weather was just too perfect this last Tuesday, so Connor and I spent a good part of the day outside playing in the leaves from that maple tree. I took far too many pictures, but the day was so pretty and Connor is always so adorable that I couldn't help it.  

He wasn't sure about the grass and leaves at first. He was so funny just sitting there, not moving a muscle. He stiffly held his arms up so as not to come in contact with the grass. 

Slowly he began to relax as he started to look around, trying to figure out his surroundings. He still wouldn't touch anything, but he took notice of the leaves falling every so often from the branches, and was curious about the sound they made when they hit the leaves already on the ground. 

     

     

I talked to him, telling him about the leaves, and pointing out the different colored trees. I picked up a few leaves to show him, and crunched a handful or two together to pique his curiosity. It worked. He wanted to get in on the action, and tentatively reached down to touch some leaves.

     

Connor started by examining a single leaf very closely. He turned it over and around, felt its surface, rubbed it on his face and even tried to eat it.

     

After thoroughly, and very seriously, examining the first leaf, he picked up another...and then another. Touching, rubbing, smelling, crunching, poking, and tasting (or trying to before I could stop him) went on for quite awhile. All of this was done with such concentration and intensity. I always love watching him explore and discover new things. 

   

Suddenly, he started to smile and get so excited. He began to shake the leaves he was holding up and down. A decision had been made...he approved of the whole experience. 

I helped him stand up and he tottered around taking a few steps, getting excited as the leaves rustled and crunched underneath his feet.

Although it was warm, we'd been in the shade for awhile and his arms were feeling a little cold, so we moved out into the sunshine and I put his jacket on him. We stayed there for a while, playing with some bigger leaves until we got too warm, then we headed back to the shade where there were more leaves. I wish I had a rake cause I'd scoop them all into a pile for him.

He actually crawled across the grass...with no problem. This is a huge achievement for him, as up to now he's hated grass and wouldn't touch it. I was quite excited about that.

     

Connor discovered the tree trunk and loved playing in the surrounding dirt. He may have tasted a little bit of dirt, and tried to eat a piece of bark that he pulled off the trunk. I got rid of the bark and got as much dirt out of his mouth that I could. he was left brown and black smears on his face and dirt all over his pants. A quintessential little boy. It was great!  

He got quite excited about the tree trunk. It was a new texture to explore.

He decided he liked it. His little squeals were great.

     

I held him up to get a closer look at the leaves and he reached up to touch them. When he realized he could pull them off the tree, that's all he wanted to do. My idea of trying to get a selfie with both of us looking at the camera didn't work because he was so focused on getting at the leaves.

   

He was quite the happy little guy when I put him back on the ground. I finally was able to distract him enough from the leaves to get him to smile for a picture. 

He noticed the leaves overhead again and got even more smiley and excited. Oh how I love this kid.

     

I hated to go inside because we were both having so much fun, but it was time to feed Connor lunch and get him down for a nap. After eating, he fell right to sleep...all that fresh air did him good and wore him out. Now if only it would be warm enough around 7 pm for me to take him outside and get him good and tired so he would fall right asleep at bedtime. 

I love fall so much. It's my favorite season, and I'm so glad we got some time to enjoy it this week. It's supposed to be warm all next week as well, so hopefully we'll get to have quite a few more outside adventures before the snow falls.