highland and campus

i was riding home from school today when, for no good reason, an intersection in madison popped into my mind.  one i'd been through... sat at... plenty of times, and the memory of it seemed so completely familiar, as if i'd been there not so very long ago.  it was then i realized it has been exactly one year since we left madison.  when coupled with the image of, or the feeling of being at that random intersection, the knowledge of this little anniversary had me feeling a little sad, but when thinking about everything that's happened since we left, since we arrived, i felt something bordering on pride, which didn't seem quite right either.  we've just been here for about a year, that's it.  either way of thinking about it felt all too serious, so to bring some levity to my ride home i did something i felt like i should be able to do after riding my bike around for a year, but something i've been too scared to try until today, something i often did as a child... i took both hands off the handle bars.  that made me happy.

one year-marker that really does seem to be having a difference is henry's recent venture into year (as in age) two.  i don't know why, but it does feel different to me.  we went to the pirate park today after school (which william now calls the mary park because he's figured out that the pirate ship is actually rasmus klump's ship, the good ship mary.  and rasmus klump is a danish cartoon bear who loves eating pancakes, not a pirate).

as henry alternately walked...

and 'rode' his bike...

it dawned on me that he is not in any sense, a baby, anymore.  i have two children who can get themselves, and their bikes, to the park.  woah.  which is not to say they will go off by themselves to the park, but they could probably do it.  each time we've been there in the past i've climbed up onto the ship with henry, and it's rather uncomfortable, because the opening to get into the ship is so small and i don't really like doing it.  but today, i let henry go up by himself, though he needed a boost to get up there.  it felt suddenly like i didn't need to be up there with him anymore.

in between the park play, we decided to explore a huge fallen tree (or is it two trees... for some reason it isn't really clear to me) that usually seems off limits because the gate on the electric fence enclosing the field it's in, is usually closed.

again, it felt like henry was big enough to, for the first time, explore like a little kid...

though when he started climbing up on one of the trunks like his big brother and i stumbled up after him, and there was snow to contend with and big clunky boots and mittens and coats, i realized he and i were, at least for now, better off watching his brother climb from the safety of the ground...

besides, he can still get a little climbing in at home, and he's not too young now to have an opinion about his pajamas...