Dogs at Duke Gardens

Dogs Are Silly

Those who know me well, know I am not the outdoorsy type. By outdoorsy I mean I don't enjoy roughing it in the woods for a week away from the luxury of indoor plumbing. When spring arrives, however, I am all about spending time outside. I love taking long strolls around the neighborhood, exploring nature, going to parks, and anything else that gets me out of the house and away from a busy, "plugged in" life. Thus, I couldn't wait for warm weather to arrive so I could spend time introducing Edmund to the wonders of the great outside world.

The past three years Steven and I have made it a tradition to visit Duke Gardens when the weather turns mild. The last few weekends have brought much rain. This weekend was sunny and clear, so we decided to head to Durham to see what was in bloom at the gardens.

Duke Gardens has several mini pagodas "hidden" along its paths. Last year I found a stuffed bunny peering out from one of the pagodas. So taken was I with this bunny that I had Steven take a picture to preserve the memory. For me, the bunny which I named "secret bunny," invoked images of the final scene from The Velveteen Rabbit, a favorite story of mine from childhood. Though improbable, I hoped the toy would be there upon our return this year. No such luck. Edmund did not get to witness "secret bunny." Perhaps next year we will have to hide a small stuffed bunny for him to find.

After spending a few minutes at "secret bunny" pagoda we commenced our walk around the gardens, stopping here and there to point out the sights to Edmund. I'm not sure what kind of reaction I expect from Edmund. He is still at the point where he takes everything in at once. Soon will be the days where he stops to examine the minutiae of life, but we're not quite there yet. I stooped to point out some large tadpoles near the edge of a pond, and Edmund's eyes wandered to some trees. I pointed out a large, goldfish. Edmund followed the swimming fish with his eyes for a few seconds, then began gazing at the dog next to us. Now Edmund was in heaven. In the last few weeks Edmund has fallen in love with the furry, four legged creatures. He has gone from ignoring dogs, to watching them briefly, to beyond smitten with them. A dog can invoke a laugh in Edmund, that no one, not even his mom or dad, is capable of. Steven's family dog Sparky, though he has little interest in Edmund, is truly Edmund's best pal. I've done little to encourage this dog infatuation, other than casually pointing out a dog when we see one. Perhaps this love of dogs is a trait inherited from me. My first word did just so happen to be "dog." For now we'll simply play to Edmund's love of dogs. An interest that causes my baby to laugh like that is worthy of further explanation.

As we continued our stroll around the gardens we became ever more aware of dogs, enthusiastically pointing them out to Edmund any time one came in view. Towards the end of our stroll three beagles happened to walk out in front of us. Edmund went into hysterics. People who passed us "oohed" and "awwed" at the "adorable laughing baby." Little did they know the dogs in front of us were producing the giggle fits coming out of our son. Eventually the dogs veered off our path. Edmund turned his head as far as he could trying to catch one more glimpse of his beloved dogs. "But mommy and daddy, why can't we go with them?" he seemed to plead. We were headed to find a nice spot to snap a few garden pictures of Edmund. We lucked out when the spot we chose had an adorable Scottie dog in Edmund's line of vision. Despite Edmund not facing the camera, because he was lovingly gazing at the dog, the pictures turned out great. Steven and I now know where we'll be spending our spring weekends. As per suggestion of Grandma Nancy, dog park here we come!