Playing in the rain...

Today Austin received some much needed rain.

This week, my sweet baby Nathan has been waking up from his afternoon naps and crying inconsolably. He’s been putting all of his new found energy into a full-fledged toddler tantrum. This afternoon, Dave’s was in his office on a conference call and all Nathan wanted to do was lay down by his office door and scream for his Daddy. Already exhausted by trying to console him, I did the only thing I could think of to distract him…I opened the front door hoping that the sound of rain would sooth him.

Instantly, he stopped crying and just listened to the rain. We stood there for a while when I asked, half kidding “Do you want to play in the rain?” He seemed to understood and started wiggling his way to the ground.

Now, Nathan hates showers, so I wasn’t sure he would particularly like the rain. He walked out from underneath the porch and put his hands out and looked up while doing the “it’s raining” squint. He looked back for reassurance then did his signature giggle. He was sold. This was awesome.

I watched him play in the rain, jump in the puddles and throw muddy landscaping rocks. He was getting soaked, but didn’t care. I watched him thinking… I should get him now before he gets too messy…too wet. Then it occurred to me that he was already too messy so I should double the fun and invite William to get in on the action.

William is my cautious one. He pointed out that Nathan was “berry, berry” wet before asking permission to join in. William showed Nathan the best way to puddle jump and how to maximize fun in the rain. I decided to bring them in when Nathan stepped on a rock and needed a Mommy hug. I figured, I could “fix it” better if he wasn’t getting me soaked too.

I love simple little moments like this. As a photographer I usually want to photograph these moments. However, that can sometimes ruin what is natural and lovely about it. So today I took a mental photograph and decided to jot this down so that hopefully I can look back at this and remember that sometimes difficult moments can be solved just by opening a door.