A Walk in the Park

I'm still loving my park. (It doesn't hurt that it's been perfect summer weather recently. Can you say 78 degrees?!) As I was enjoying a walk yesterday evening, I saw a cute, pudgy little girl come trotting along the trail right in front of me. She had just arrived with her parents and she made a bee-line to a puddle left over from a Seattle summer rainstorm the other day. The little blondie pranced right up to the edge of the puddle, she dabbed the toe of her shoe into the muddy water, then hesitated as she looked to her mom. Mom was oblivious and the girl took this as a green light. She energetically jumped in with two feet and splashed a few times. Then, as she exited the puddle, she proudly raised her arms above her head in a two handed salute that would make any Olympic gymnast proud.

The questions begs to be asked...Why do kids LOVE jumping into puddles so much? I see it in my line of work more often than I would care to (remember this is Seattle). I am forced to be mean by insisting shoes stay ON at all time--I don't care that your socks are wet, you should have thought of that before jumping in every puddle on the school grounds, no you may not call home, or go to the office, or spend 20 minute cleaning your shoes. And still they jump in puddles. A mystery of the universe.