Outside: Golden leaves glistening in the late afternoon sunlight on a warm autumn day.
Inside: One baby-on-the-mend who had been quiet in his PJs all day. One papa that could be convinced to quit work 20 mins early, provided we opt for a loop around his favorite park, not mine. Sold (to the cooped up woman holding the sick baby)!

It was time for us to get out there.

Papa went for a run. I walked with our boy in the opposite direction.
We usually race towards each other. That’s what you get when you marry a fellow type-A personality (don’t do this to yourself!).

Sometimes it’s good to slow down and walk.
To slow down and enjoy the journey.
To slow down and rediscover the world through Ayo’s eyes.

It’s a world where:

*Leaves reflecting the light shimmer endlessly for me. I don’t know what to look at first, it’s all so beautiful.
*I know no evil. In fact, everyone who walks towards me, smiles at me!
*I am lulled by the sound of the stroller wheels pressing in the ground but startled by the sound of crushing leaves.
*I am reassured when I look up to check who is pushing me and I see that lady who always talks to me, smiling at me. She stops and lets me play with a leaf in my stroller. If I’m lucky, she reaches me up to a tree so I can play with the leaves myself. Don’t worry, if she forgets, papa will let me play with them. He’ll even take me to the baby swing set. If he forgets, mama will remember.
*My teddy bears crawl around and get mad at me. For real! My world is again at rest when my mama tells me that’s ça va mon ange, ce n’est qu’un chien (it’s alright, my angel, it’s just a dog).
*My world is complete again when I hear mama bending down and frantically pointing saying je le vois, je le vois, est-ce que tu vois papa, Ayo? (I see him, I see him, can you see papa, Ayo?) and I see my daddy running towards ME.

Ayo and I reached papa and he of course wanted to carry his boy. So, I figured I’d jump up and down and point to show Ayo his favorite thing (another tree) in the warm amber sunlight. After many enthusiastic but pointless regarde, Ayo, regarde! (look, Ayo, look!), he never saw the tree. But that’s okay, he saw my pointing finger and eventually, the lady attached to the finger. He found mama so funny, he started to laugh at mama jumping up and down.

Today, I am reminded how much good it does me to slow down enough to see life through the eyes of my son.