But raindrops are TOUCHING ME!

Amiri and I took a big walk down Fanshawe St., chased each other through Victoria Park, made close examination of various leaves and sticks along the way, and ended up at New World, our other neighborhood grocery store.  New World is more expensive than Foodtown for most items, but we wanted to take advantage of their good sales on blueberries, brown rice, and baby formula.

Amiri got hungry in the store so I let him have a slice of bread from the loaf I had put in our cart.  He mmm'd and mmm'd over it like it was an amazing treat.  I also got him some strawberry milk to drink on the walk home.

I ended up buying way too much stuff.  Filled both our backpacks, and had two plastic bags to carry in my hands besides.   Hoped I wouldn't regret overloading myself like that on a long walk home.

As we were walking back through Victoria Park, it started to sprinkle.  Uh oh.  The sky got dark quickly.  Soon we were being pelted with big fat rain.  We ran for the trees.   By the time we got under cover, Amiri was complaining of being cold and was extremely concerned that we were being rained on.  It had been a lovely, sunny day when we left the house so I hadn't brought along a sweatshirt or umbrella.

I squatted down to give him some comforting (my heavy backpack nearly overbalanced me and the bags I was carrying got all muddy on the outside).  We waited for a few minutes for the heavy squall to pass, and when it went back to sprinkling we headed out at full speed for home.

During our hugs under the tree Amiri had agreed that rain wasn't scary and that he would walk very quickly with mama to get home fast.  He changed his mind on both of these points once we were out again in the weather.

He expressed his displeasure that the rain continued to exist.
He communicated his worry about the effect of raindrops on the integrity of his backpack.
He found it unacceptable that leaves and grasses stuck to his damp skin, particularly after one trip-and-fall incident.
He opined that walking quickly was not, in fact, the solution to reducing exposure to the rain nor to warming one's self.

The outward expression of these issues was loud, mournful ululations and occasional, counter-productive rag-doll drops to the sidewalk.  It was a long walk home.

Daddy was waiting at home for us with a towel warmed in the dryer.  Amiri got dry clothes (although we honestly didn't get that wet) and then some warm milk with honey.  We did some sweet hugs and reassured him that his backpack wasn't ruined.   He then went to his room for a nap and slept for three and a half hours.  What a busy morning for a little boy.