Swing!

Miles loves the swings. We started taking him to the little park near our house as soon as the weather turned nice in early March. It was the first nice day after an entire month of snow, three feet or more on the ground. We couldn't wait to be in the outdoors, together as a family. Miles had just started to be a good sitter then, and the swing seemed incredibly new and fancy to him.

Now, even when they could be old hat, he loves them even more. He is getting braver in those little bucket swings, bending his body forward and nearly tipping out if we aren't careful. He loves it when we duck our heads out of the way and pretend he chopped them off as he swung past.

One of the sets of swings near our house has a picnic table nearby. Depending what time of day I happen down there, big kids are sitting at the picnic table smoking pot and drinking coffee, which seems like a strange combination to me. While I wish they wouldn't smoke their pot in the park where young babies swing, sometimes I feel incredibly tempted to just walk over and ask for a puff.

How many years has it been since I smoked pot? Wouldn't it be amazing to play on the swings afterward? Who am I kidding. I would likely fall off the swing and be too stoned to care as I lay there on the playground.

Instead of joining them, I just turn about and head for another location, maybe another set of swings, where Miles can feel the wind whipping back his fluffy hair. When I watch him enjoying the swings like that, I realize that these are the moments parents live for. Small, seemingly mundane things like a day on the swings can feel so, so miraculous when it's YOUR baby giggling his face off at the feeling of weightlessness.