Too close for comfort

Instead of trying to do two things during Natalie's therapy today, I chose to just go to a park so the boys could play while I fed Dominik.

But that trip was not without its own excitement.

After we got out of the car, Konrad ran ahead to the playground, then Lukas, then I followed carrying Dominik.  I saw a woman with two dogs yelling something, so I ran to look for Konrad and found him face to face with a coyote.

There was a park bench between Konrad and the coyote, but the total distance between the boy and the wild animal was no more than 10 feet (3 meters).  Konrad was pointing to the coyote and saying, "Mom, doggy!"

I said, "Konrad, come now!" and he came to me, but still pointing at the "dog".  After I had a hand on Konrad (with Dominik in the car carrier at my feet and Lukas in the playground equipment), I yelled at the coyote.  He didn't move.  When I clapped and yelled, he flinched a little, but still didn't move for several seconds.  Then he trotted off toward the woman with the two dogs, not at all scared of them.  He stayed in the area for several minutes, and I thought we would have to leave, but maybe he finally decided there were too many large people and trotted away.  Before he left, I had Lukas get a good look at the coyote and talked to him about how to identify it (and not think it's just a dog).  Praise God that we were all safe!

This was a great object lesson for Lukas and Konrad about the importance of obeying immediately, the first time.  I also talked with Lukas about other animals that we might see that would be dangerous: skunks and snakes.

And we have a new rule about going to this park (which is surrounded on three sides by homes...but that fourth side leads to a quasi-nature preserve area):  Mom goes first and scouts out the area.  I usually do this at every park, just to check for garbage, but I will now ALWAYS do this, because even if there's not a coyote, there could be a stray dog.