…when it’s finally warm enough for little boys to spend hours outside, puttering and digging.
…and then they do.
It’s amazing how much happier they are when they have that freedom to be outdors, which, even the tameness of our backyard, seems to be a place with so much more excitement for them. It’s just dirt and sticks, sand and an open sky, but it absorbs them so much more deeply than almost anything they can find outside. Even though, when they are inside, no one instructs them what to do with their toys or directs them how to play, when they are outdoors, they have such a greater sense of freedom, even though they’re fenced in.
It’s worth every filthy handprint or sand-dusted scalp.