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Nicholas and the Mulch

It is beautiful outside today. Close to 60 degrees Fahrenheit, sunny and warm. Definitely not January weather, so when the boys asked to go to the park after school today, I was up for it too.

Now, I don’t know about your kids, but whenever we go to the park one of the boys somehow ends up with mulch in his hands. It’s as though they have little mulch-magnets imbedded in their skin. No matter how many times I tell them to leave the mulch alone, they are drawn to it like bees to honey. Why? No idea. Mulch is pieces of wood for goodness sake. Basically, they’re picking up handfuls of splinters-waiting-to-happen. And yet, they cannot resist.

So, it came as no surprise when Nicholas ran to me yelling that Benjamin had stuffed mulch down the back of his coat. Benjamin was sent to stand against the park fence in time-out while I cleaned the mulch from Nicholas’ back. On our way home, I gave both boys the umpteenth talk about why we do not play with mulch (think it’ll sink-in? Me neither!). I ended the talk by saying that the only part of their bodies that should ever come into contact with mulch are the bottoms of their feet (in their shoes!!). There was complete silence for about 30 seconds before Nicholas piped-up:

“But Mommy, what if we trip?”

Smarty-pants.

I composed myself for a minute before replying that if one of the two of them should ever trip, then their hands and knees could touch the mulch, BUT that when they pick themselves back up, the mulch had better not come up with them.

There were no more questions about mulch.

Until the next visit to the park…

xo Naomi

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