"Castles!"

Saturday was another trip to the park to run in the grass, feed the ducks and geese, swing, and something new...sand!

As Zoe first began stomping around in the sand pit, she announced "No!" We finally figured out that she was saying "Snow." When we told her it was sand, she pondered for a minute before getting busy stirring it with a stick, pressing her fingers into it, and examining the tiny granules. Later, she began saying "Castles!" We had a hard time at first figuring out what she was saying, and then realized that she was associating the sand with the picture of a sandcastle in one of her favorite picture books. She stayed busy playing with the "castles" for quite some time, transferring the sand to a pile on a swing, digging and gripping and grabbing and dropping it, wiping her hands repeatedly on her overalls, and excitedly telling anyone who came near her about the "castles." By the time we got her herded back into the family-mobile, she was covered from head to toe with "castles." It was another day full of toddler adventure.