This post is part of a series in which I share how Mushroom and I make the most of the opportunities we find to interact with nature in the city. The first post in this series was all about Blackberry picking, which was an intentional nature mission of mine, being an activity I loved as a child.
This little nature adventure, however, was never meant to be! We were just popping to the corner shop to buy something and I thought I’d make a bit of a walk of it, telling Mushroom to bring his balance bike so he could practice riding as we walked the long way round (it’s only a couple of streets away).
He rode the bike to the corner of the road and stopped. “Mummy! Fella” (feather). He handed this to me then got back on his bike. About 10 seconds later he stopped again “Flower!” He handed me a leaf. He still doesn’t quite get the difference between flowers and leaves.
When we reached the corner he stopped and became very excited. “Mummy look Mummy look!” I looked.
“Yes, it’s a tree.” He frowned at me. “No. High! Pretty! Sweetie?” I looked again.
“What is it Mushroom? Show me.” He practically rolled his eyes and threw his bike down at the base of the tree.
“Up Mummy.” I lifted him up and he pointed.
“Ah… It’s sap.”
“Sap. More?” And he started looking for sap on every tree we passed. Fascinated by it, he asked for some to take home so I broke a little off for him and he stared at it, fascinated. “Smooth. Nice.”
So our trip to the corner shop ended up being a lovely little nature trail looking for tree sap. I have lived here with Mr B for years but it’s only through Mushroom’s eyes that I noticed this, which must have always been there. It’s amazing what we miss when we’re not looking.
I’m linking up with Coombe Mill‘s Country Kids blog linky with this series. To find out more and/or add your own, click on the image below:
Awesome! You do see the world differently when you have a toddler in tow don’t you!
We recently got very excited by finding acorns in the park by the London eye. Before these things would have just passed me by.
Oh accidental poetry.
Oh yes, things look very different through a toddler’s eyes!
Love the accidental poetry 🙂
it astounds me how much of our world we miss going around with our daily business sometimes its lovely to stop and look 🙂 x
Yes, even though some days I feel like hurrying him up there is wisdom in the slowing down to really look at things… He’s a constant reminder for mindfulness practice!
Sounds like a great journey! 🙂 xx
It was, an unexpected treat!
As a parent it’s wonderful to experience our children’s discoveries and look at the world through their eyes! It’s surprising how a little trip down the road to turn into a nature spotting activity. Thanks for linking up and sharing with Country Kids.
isn’t it? e always look for the tree sap now! Thanks for commenting 🙂 Some lovely autumn posts in last week’s linky… It may not be this week but we’ll be back for more countrykids soon!