Chatterbox Beethan

As June fades and July blossoms we are in prep mode for Acadia. Every year we go on vacation with Nanna and P-Pa and the mornings and afternoons are spent hiking. To get ready we like to do some hiking, in full gear. This past weekend, the glorious four day weekend thanks to a Tuesday 4th of the July, we climbed Crows Hill Ledge. This is the first time we did it with a two year old Beethan and the weight was pretty different. Last fall we did the hike a few times and it was not bad at all. Beeth was basically a slightly heavier than normal backpack. But this time, whoa baby. He is chunk of baby at 28 pounds and change and so with that weight plus the pack and it is contents, I probably bear an extra 35-40 pounds. At first it was exhausting. This is right at the time when Isaac was transitioning out of the pack, maybe a few months later (but those few months matter when a baby is born in June--four more months puts you into the cooler October weather). I was worried I wasn't going to make it. Then I started getting a constant stream of chatter. It was like listening to a tiny (more) unintelligible auctioneer in my ear. Beeth was non-stop with the chatter. "Daddy look at this." "Daddy did you see our chipmunk friend?" "Daddy, touch the blue (he like his brother likes to touch trail marker)?" "Daddy, let's climb that." "Daddy is that pooop." "Daddy, where Mommy?" "Daddy, where Isaac?" "Let's go find Isaac and Mommy?" "Go faster." "Jump, please!" It was a forty minute hike up and a forty minute hike back and he talked for probably 38 at minutes each way. Isaac, on the other hand, almost always fell asleep in the backpack. I was delighted to have a little play by play announcer with me every step of the way. On the way down, I did start to lag a bit. It was hot and the "Devil's staircase" portion of the hike is especially brutal going down. I was slowing and breathing heavier. Ethan could tell. So he mustered up his most powerful special ability--his chant. The boy can start a chant better than a drunk guy in the outfield at Fenway. And this particular chant pulled at my heart strings and powered me through the final steps: "DA-DEE, DA-DEE, DA-DEE." With that chant going how could you not keep going?