Walks with Britton

One of my favorite things that I get to do everyday is walk to school with Britton. It is about a 10 minute walk from our apartment to school. I really enjoy the time that we get to spend just walking and talking. It's so fun to see how his little mind works. Somedays, I'm just drilling him on how he needs to act at school or nagging him to hurry up because we're late, but most days I just try to walk slowly and enjoy the moment. He stops to examine dead bugs on the sidewalk being eaten by other bugs. He notices and takes in things all around us, things I would probably just pass by. Almost everyday he wants me to tell him which plants are poisonous on the way to school. (The very first day of school, Jason and Haley walked with us too and Haley picked a plant and started putting it in her mouth, I told her not to because it might be poisonous, so since then, Britton has been really concerned about which plants are poisonous.) Finally, I had to tell him that probably none of the plants are poisonous because they are planted right next to a school but that it still wasn't a good idea to put plants in our mouths if we don't know what it is. He still seems to bring up the plants at least once a week though.
Jason picks Britton up during lunch and takes him back after lunch because his lunchbreak is an hour longer than mine. Britton rides on Jason's back on his bike the whole way home. It's quite the spectacle. Here in China, people use the craziest transportation--bikes, mopeds, golf carts, tractors, anything with wheels. And they pile as many people on as possible. I've seen whole families on one bicycle or moped. Or they carry HUGE bags of garbage on their backs or ladders or other big things that we would never carry on a bicycle. They just strap it on somehow. So, we thought we would fit right in with Britton on Jason's back. But instead, everyone stops and stares and laughs when they ride by. It's pretty funny.
Yesterday on the way to school, Britton told me all the names that he and Jason have for the different roads on the way home. There's "bumpy road", "crickity crackity road", "smooth road", "speed bump road", etc. It was so cute.
I'm glad that Jason and I both get to be so involved with Britton's first year of school experience. And that we both get to spend a special alone time with him on the way to and from school.