The Obsessive Neurotic Gardener

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I have a 6 year old daughter and a 9 year old son. I love them dearly but they can get on my very last nerve when they are in full on bickering mode. 
Some times I just yell or threaten even though I know that rarely puts an end to it.
Other times I follow the parenting handbook and encourage them to resolve their dispute. Even I laughed when I typed that last sentence. 
Pretending I don’t hear them is not an option because the volume only goes up as the argument continues.
So … the absolute best option is to simple separate them which results in my wife taking one to do something and me taking the other. Kind of like man to man defense in basketball.   
This morning, the fighting commenced almost immediately after they woke up. Without hesitation, I grabbed my daughter and convinced her to go outside on our playground. I made sure to take my coffee and camera with me so I could entertain myself while my daughter swung, slid and climbed. 
She was having an awesome time all by herself when I had the idea to play around with my camera settings and started taking photos of her. She won’t be 6 for long and these are the moments I’ll look back on fondly.  I did my best to take in the moment and savor this time together. 
I attempted a bunch of pics using the “shutter speed” function and while I am clearly still an amateur, I was happy with some of the results:                   

I obviously need to work on my knowledge of lighting and how to adjust the camera settings while not in “Auto” mode, but I still love some of the detail in the two photos above. No more blurry photos for this guy.

We decided to then go on to some additional adventures.

First it was a hunt for pine cones under our pine trees. We scored only four.

Then it was a search for deer in our back woods. No luck.

And finally, it was time to ride the scooter to the end of our street, which is part woods/part construction zone. My daughter went nuts over the large pile of rocks we found and climbed to the top:    

While there, we found a large stone that had “gems” inside (nicely played on my part) which sent her imagination flying:

I soon joined her on top of the rock pile and we hung out for a long time; just dad and daughter:

It was the perfect perch to snap photos of the newly arriving birds, including this Eastern Bluebird (?):

And this Robin:

It was the perfect morning until this dope explained to my daughter that the photo below was either a crudely created sacrificial site by a the local satanists or a fire pit where some local teenagers get drunk each night:

My little joke lead to numerous follow-up questions and I hope I successfully erased the memory from her mind.

It was a fantastic time spent with my little girl and something I need to do more often. These times are precious and fleeting.

John

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6 Responses

  1. What a wonderful day and some great pics too! Yes that does look like an Eastern Bluebird to me. But, I am not a bird expert at all.

    I remember those days of the kids bickering constantly. It seems to go in spirts and at certain ages. Then they will be fine for a while or maybe even a year or two or more! I used to make mine sit on the couch quietly. They were not allowed to get up until they made up. If they didn’t make up. They had to hug each other! They totally wanted to avoid the hugging process. So, they usually made up!

  2. I can totally relate! My kids are 6 and 4 now. It’s insane how quickly time is flying. I spend have the time wishing things would hurry up because of all the challenges parenting brings, and the other half pleading with them to stop growing up on me! I feel bi-polar.
    You’ll cherish the pics you took in the years to come 🙂 Cheers, Jenni

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