Yesterday, Hunter and I went on a long walk around a neighborhood we were visiting. We saw a fire engine and crumbled dry leaves in our hands and picked up small rocks and listened to birds singing and found the birds sitting on the powerlines and jumped up and down on metal plates covering the sewer entrances.

At one point, Hunter was walking on a strip of grass. I pointed out the closed oxalis blooms near his feet, saying, "Do you see the yellow flowers? They're sleeping!"

As soon as I said that, I remembered The Fish Incident and immediately wished I'd said it a different way. If Hunter really is that sensitive, what if my anthropomorphization (?) of the flowers upset him? What if he became afraid of hurting the grass and could no longer walk on it? What if -- ?

As all these concerns were flitting through my head, Hunter walked up to the gentle, sleeping flowers and determinedly stomped on them.

Um, I think I'm relieved....