For the Love of Mud | Alexandria, VA Child Photographer

If you were to ask me to describe my son in terms of animal characteristics, I would say that he's part monkey, part fish, and most definitely part piggy, as he LOVES LOVES LOVES to play with dirt and mud.

I generally try to avoid mud play for obvious reasons, but every once in a while, I let him have some fun, especially if he's been miserably holed up indoors after several scorching summer days in a row.  So after a recent thunderstorm that brought some mild relief from the heat, I let the kids put on their rain boots to venture out into a nearby dirt parking lot to explore the big puddles.

It wasn't long before my son started collecting mud with his bare hands into some random cup that he had found and was proudly making "mud ice cream". My daughter is usually the clean one who avoids things like finger paints because it gets her hands too dirty.  But during this one afternoon, I think the thrill of being outdoors and getting to wear her purple butterfly boots got her to temporarily forget about her distaste of mud and she happily followed her big brother around, somewhat fascinated and intrigued by his mud concoctions.

And of course, my little piggy was as happy as could be, covered from head to toe in mud and grinning from ear to ear. And THAT, made the mama in me very happy.