Puttering

Yesterday the boys and I were outside most of the day.  It went from slightly blustery and rainy in the morning to beautiful spring sunshine.   While we finished a few tasks in the yard more moving dirt, pulling weeds, and planting some patio thyme we also just played.

The boys are amazing at finding things to do and invent.  At one moment S was "riding"our upside down wheelbarrow and he had pulled his bike onto to it and said,"I am Santa fixing a bike that someone returned."  T was working diligently on his roads and mountains.

Meanhwhile the boys were also "harvesting water" from wherever they could find it in the yard and adding it to their dirt to make mud and then using various toys/ tools for funnels.

At one point the boys next door asked us "what we were doing."
I replid, "puttering."
He said, "What it that?"
I said, "it's just doing stuff."

I am not sure that definition is adequate, but it made me realize how happy I am to know that I can putter and how happy it makes me to look out and see my boys putter about, making inventions, rolling down the hill, and then moving things about.

We invited the neighbors over and the play changed from quiet puttering to active building and chasing, laughing and occasional crying...thats what happens during unstructured freeplay.    In the end the boys also built "cobblestone" roads  and this lovely campfire made of stones and flowers.