Saturday, February 18, 2012

Day Dreaming of Spring

I usually have a hard time with this time of year as I'm dying for spring, but its been easy so far with our mild winter. We've only been stuck in due to snow a few times. I've only had to push the stroller through snow and ice a couple times as well.

Still, I'm day dreaming of spring and summer. This year, that is taking the form of playing with the kids in the back yard. William will be starting to crawl and walk led by the hands, and Natalie will be able to entertain herself quite a bit.

Last summer, out back yard had a wadding pool, a patch of dirt, a collection of pebbles, and a storage container lid that collected rain water. Natalie also enjoyed hiding behind the tree, picking up mini pine cones, and knocking on the shed door.

But I have big plans for this year. I plan to move her Cozy Coupe car and her smaller ride on toy outside. Also going outside is the mini basketball hoop and the balls. We might even bring out the picnic table and replace it with something smaller (though I worry about William dealing with small chairs as he learns to climb and walk).
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New to our house is a plastic cabin from Mike's aunt. It is almost 20 years old and needs to be reessembled, but otherwise it will be awesome. She also has some sort of climber with a slide we can have.

We plan to purchase a sand and water table, so Natalie will be upgraded from a patch of dirt where a tree once grew and a puddle. These come with covers so we won't have to worry about animals getting into it. I really regretted not getting one last year.

Smaller items on the to get list include a sprinkler and more yard toys, and hopefully a deck box to store them. We'll get some toddler sized chairs if we don't move the picnic table outside.

Lastly, we'll bring the colapseable platic play yard we use around the Christmas tree outside for William. We'll be able to check it for rocks and such, then plop him there to play..

Playing in the yard will be so awesome if the weather permits. Natlie will have room to run and so much to explore in terms of nature. And we can do lots of messy things. Learn to drink from a cup. Make mud pies. Paint. Plant seeds. Eat popsicles. Try undies without cleaning up the floor or furniture.

Maine spring and summer can be very disappointing, either rainy and gray or uncomfortably humid or hot. But for now I'm envisioning my little family enjoying a grassy back yard in cute shades, shorts, and sandles in perfect 75 degree weather.

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