through the window

since the weather is getting warmer, i am letting nate go forth into the world of our unfenced yard to play unsupervised. he's old enough now that i can *somewhat* trust him not to do himself too much bodily harm, not to run off, not to go near the street, and on and on.

today he got to go outside with expression permission to make mud. we have a 20 gal trash can (the trash can we used before the county switched to roll carts) that catches roof run off. it doesn't catch all of the water that runs off, but it catches some and we use that water on our plants--or for play. 

through the living room window i watched nate fill his little bucket with water, walk over to the playhouse, put the bucket on the roof, climb on top of the playhouse, then pour the water down the other side of the roof, then get down and repeat. one time he landed on his bucket and bent it, but i watched him fix it on his own without a tear. 

it was fun to watch him when he couldn't see me. i know he made mud, climbed up somewhere, poured water in his wagon. all things i would probably would have said "no" to or cautioned against, but since he was outside playing quietly by himself, i let it go. he is learning and growing and problem-solving and becoming a real boy, before my very eyes. 

today kind of makes up for the meltdown yesterday evening. throw in a nap today and we'll be good as new.