Sound

The littlest residents of City House wanted to play outside this morning. The one Baby was off to an appointment, so I switched to preschool play time just as the pre-K set headed out to the spacious fenced backyard. This is not an institutional play yard, but a giant expanse of green grass surrounding a shade tree. A covered and paved play patio for ride-on toys and bikes, and a long covered porch complete with rocking chairs make the great outdoors an all-weather play place. Pulling a red wagon around and around the yard for what may well have been miles we sang our ABC's loud and proud, and the little people giggled while I sang "Do Your Ears Hang Low?".
The music came to an end as a helicopter flew low overhead. The boy residents were delighted with the opportunity to crow, "helly-copper" at a real, live whirly bird. There was plenty of time for lots of pointing and naming as the helicopter passed over, and the general excitement remained even after it was out of sight. All the glee of the helicopter sighting was repeated with the appearance of an airplane. The little people were so overcome with joy at the sightings that we began to search the sky. Imagine how pleased we all were to discover that there were many planes headed places that required them to fly right over our heads.

Eventually the time came to go inside for snacks, but we were all right back outside as soon as everyone had finished eating. One of the girls took hold of my hands, and pulled me along looking for more planes. Since there were no more flying machines to entertain us, we put our arms out and became the planes. There were great aerial feats performed all over the grounds at City House's children's shelter this morning. We zoomed and soared until another plane obliged us by flying over so we could resume our grounded pointing and naming.
Too soon 11:30 rolled around, and it was time for me to leave. Fortunately, my shift occurs on the 1st, 3rd, and 5th Wednesdays of each month, so I will be back next week to join in the adventures again right away. The 2nd and 4th weeks will no doubt see Wednesdays that are a little dull in comparison. Still, I may just find my heart beating a little faster and a smile spreading across my face in response to future notice of a random plane in the sky.