The Picnic Lizard

A couple weeks ago we went to a local park for a picnic. We stopped at KFC after Kiernan's nap and picked up some stuff for lunch, then headed up to Chatsworth to the park. Wendy had just discovered the place the day before when she and Kiernan attended a birthday party for a friend of his.

Our first order of business, while Wendy unpacked and set up the food, was to throw the balls Kiernan had brought along up into the air over and over again. Much of our days are taken up with this activity. Whereas a few months ago we were predominately concerned with spraying water on everything in the world, these days we have to throw balls up into the air as high as we can. For hours on end. Kiernan is getting really good this, which I find interesting because it reminds me of one of the many games I came up with when I was growing up to amuse myself, particularly when we lived in Texas, and then later in Colorado. I was far removed from friends in both locales much of the time, so I came up with various single player games, including throwing footballs to myself.

Thing is, Kiernan does not view this game as a solo activity. If we try to sit down while he is throwing the balls up in the air, he stops, points at the grass, and says, "Daddy! Grass! Play!"

He's also getting very good at using the imperative.

After throwing the balls we ate our lunch. As we cleaned up our lunch, I noticed some movement on the blanket. It was a lizard. The little guy scurried up onto Kiernan's diaper bag and hung out for awhile. Then he took off and Kiernan followed him onto the grass until he lost him. A few minutes later the lizard returned and hung out with us for awhile longer.

Eventually he took off for good and we all went over to the play area. Wendy wanted to show me Kiernan's new skills on the slide. Up until this point I had only seen him go down the slide with help. Now he can do it himself. It's cool to see him do this at school now. He climbs the steps up into the little play structure, toddles over the slide, carefully sits down, and says "Ready. Set. Go!" And then he slides down. Often he is in cahoots with one of his classmates. One day it was a little girl named Bella. Another day it was a boy named Cameron (whose name Kiernan pronounces, "Cram-on"). He is just as insistent that his accomplice continue sliding with him as he is that we continue throwing balls in the air with him at home. Bella tried running off to find her twin sister at the swing, and Kiernan refused to continue playing without her. "Bella go? Bella go? Bella go?"

After sliding for awhile we packed up our stuff and went for a hike. Upon reentering the park, Kiernan saw another family having a picnic. More to the point, he saw their big blue soccer ball. He made a beeline for the ball, saying, over and over again, "Kiernan turn! Kiernan turn! Kiernan turn!" Wendy kicked into high gear, attempting to head him off at the pass. Luckily the little boy in the family was interested in sharing. He got up from his meal and brought the ball to Kiernan, letting him play with it. It was nice, especially since we'd had a rather ugly encounter with some other children before the hike. We played with the soccer ball for a bit before giving it back, at which time Kiernan practiced a few Spanish words with the family.

He's such a cool little boy.