May 8, 2017
The boat rocked gently back and forth. I looked up from the book I’d been reading for the past fifteen minutes or so and saw Liam sitting quietly in his seat gazing up as Matt cast his rod out over the water. Liam seemed to be taking in Matt’s every move as if to memorize just what to do for when he was older. From the corner of my eye I saw Tippet sit up straight and gaze out over the water. I reached down to pet her as she laid down for me to rub her belly.
OK, so that’s not exactly how our first trip on the boat went.
After floating down the Madison River for about four hours, here’s my take on taking a toddler out on a drift boat.
- Take rocks. While throwing rocks in the river is not exactly ideal for catching fish, it is the number one thing that kept Liam most entertained. Thank goodness we knew this ahead of time as he throws rocks into any body of water he can find. He’d throw them into the bathtub if they were accessible to him. At the beginning of the float, he was spotting every rock imaginable: on the banks, across the way, in the water. Matt had grabbed a grocery bag on our way out of the house and filled it full of gravel rocks. So we had plenty of rocks to last us the four hours. Although, let’s be real. I pretended numerous times that “Oh no! No more rocks! Let’s _____.” He never quite caught on to the magic bag of rocks that appeared every time he wanted to throw them again.
- Start a family choir. That’s right. At one point we were floating down the river singing “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” under the leadership of Liam who would dictate “No Mommy. Just Daddy.” or “Mommy, Daddy, Liam sing!” or “Louder! No, louder!” And, ladies, there is nothing better than watching your husband singing loudly on the open water with your son (though let’s be real, he probably looked to see that no one was close by…at least I did!)
- Point. At. EVERYTHING. At the birds, planes, rocks, boats, people, animals, motorcycles, trucks, cars, fisherman, trees, bugs. You name it and we pointed at it.
- Count, count and count some more. If you point at it you might as well count them too. We counted rocks. We counted birds. We counted boats…and people in boats…and dogs in boats…and kids in boats…and people wearing hats on boats. We counted the Goldfish that dropped onto the floor of the boat. Liam can count upwards of 15 and he finds no boredom in practicing his numbers over and over.
- Let ’em row. While we didn’t get far or fast with him as captain he had great joy in rowing the boat. And it was NOT okay if Matt was helping. “Myself!” is what he’d yell.
- Lunch…I mean Goldfish. And pretzels. And Cheerios. And fruit packs. And Pringles. And Capri Suns. And milk. Yes, I packed us some sandwiches and pasta salad but he had no interest in those. He just wanted to graze all of the other snack foods we had on board.
- Become a naturalist. Liam and I would point at birds and trees and flowers. “Blackbird!” Liam would say. “Yes, that blackbird has red on its belly,” I’d say. And Matt’s response was, “It’s a Rose-breasted Grosbeak.” I’m amazed at all the names of birds, trees, and fish Matt knows. But, maybe one day Liam will acquire that knowledge as well because I simply know simple bird names like: duck, goose, flamingo, woodpecker–and I only know its a woodpecker if it’s pecking on a tree!
- Catch a fish. While I know our float down the river did not provide Matt with the ample fishing time it normally would have, he was able to catch one fish and Liam was so excited. He kept telling Matt, “‘Nother fish.” as if he could snap his fingers and make another appearance. But the entertainment lasted until the fish was back in the water – much to Liam’s disappointment.
- Throw potty training out the window. Trying to get your two-year-old to pee off a boat while it’s rocking, the dog won’t sit down and there are a million things to look at is virtually impossible. And the same goes for on the side of the road as ants are crawling up your leg. Just give it a rest for the day.
The float trip was not exactly like the last time Matt and I went where he fished and I sunbathed while reading a book….but it was a wonderful time in a whole new way (just as everything with a toddler is)!