Fresh Air Every Day Keeps the Doctor Away

It was warm and sunny this morning. As I was getting myself and the kids ready for the day I kept looking out the windows, wishing for more time to play outside. It occurred to me as I finished up my breakfast, that the fact we only had fifteen minutes or so before we had to be out the door shouldn’t stop us from playing outside. So I walked out the door.

E. and M. followed me out and ran to the hammock, one of their favorite places to play right now. I’m debating on whether or not we move it into the woods or leave it on our porch.

They will play on this hammock for ages, just swinging back and forth, imagining they are on any number of things, from a boat to a rocket to a spider web.

I wandered around the yard, taking deep breaths, smelling the new green that had come up after the last few days of rain. It feels as though this spring has taken it’s time to get going, despite our lackluster winter.

There is a dilapidated rock wall that separates our grassy backyard from the woods, and I started plucking rocks and walking them up to where I had put my Mother’s Day herbs to catch some sun. I placed each rock in the bottom of a pot I had purchased to plant the herbs in, asking E. and M. to help me. Although initially reluctant to be industrious before starting a busy day, it didn’t take much coaxing to get them to find me a wide variety of rocks to fill out the bottom of the pot.

While we were prying rocks from the dirt a worm was found. I love this age where the littlest natural discovery is like discovering a new species. For M., the love was instant. He sat in the hammock with the worm, talking to his new little friend, kissing him goodbye before gently returning it to the soil.

The car ride that followed was filled with plans for later this afternoon.

“Let’s look for more salamanders!”

“Yeah, and then we can feed them the worms!” Giggles.

“No, not my wormies! Mama, she said she’s going to feed the salamanders my worms!”

Despite some concerns about the well-being of the worms, this was such a satisfying way to start our day. Like oatmeal that sticks to your ribs, the fifteen minutes we spent out side was fortifying and boosted everyone’s moods. Lately I’ve been hearing the term “vitamin N” being used more and more in conjunction with talking about people needing to get more outside time. This boost of sunlight and fresh air before we got our day under way truly felt as beneficial as taking my multivitamin (if not more so).