Hunting for Coyotes

"Mommy, will you go to the woods with me?" asked Emmett.
"Sure, baby, why do you want to go to the woods?"
"'Cause we're going hunting for coyotes!" he replied.
"Well lets go then!"

I helped him find his hat and his boots (he had already put on his sister's sweater before he came to ask me to go outside...) and out we went. He grabbed a basket on the way out, and when I asked him what he was going to use the basket for, he told me "stuff".

We wandered through the trees, talking about things like birds and squirrels. He noticed how loud our walking was as we crunched through the dry leaves. "Walk like this Mommy" he ordered, marching with his feet raised high to maximize the sound. So we marched for a while.

He found nuts, chewed by squirrels and mice, and put them in his basket. He discovered a hole dug underneath the roots of a cut tree stump.

He rolled all of his collected nuts down into the hole and when I asked him why he did that he replied "just 'cause." Well that sounded like a good reason to me.

Then we wandered past a patch of moss, he collected a tiny bit and examined it closely then tucked it into his basket.

Eventually we found our way to the trampoline. He climbed onto it and began doing somersaults. Between the dry winter air, the wool sweater and the nylon trampoline mat he developed quite a charge of static electricity. His fine curly hair was standing on end. Claire saw us playing there and ran over to join us. After a few minutes of playing together Emmett noticed her hair...

"Sissy" he proclaimed "You look like a happy octopus!"

We never found those coyotes he was looking for, but I'd say it was a great trip outside after all!

Meanwhile in the house: