Mid-winter Blahs

About this time of year, I am ready for spring. The holidays are over and it seems like I've been cooped up in the house for ages. And especially so this year since Benjamin was born in late September prematurely, I didn't really take him outside for the first four or five weeks. By then, it was too chilly to take him out. However today we are having a reasonably nice day so I decided we would go do a few things to let all of us get some fresh air.

Our first stop was at a preschool to get information about enrollment. Emily is showing lots of signs of being ready for some new intellectual challenges and I think school a few mornings a week would be great for her. Unfortunately we learned that there are no spaces in the three year old class so we'll need to wait until next fall to start.

Then we went to the park to play at the playground. Here are some shots of my brave girl climbing the "rock wall" all by herself and then being rather pleased with herself at the top; walking on the movable discs (have no idea what they are called); and swinging. We were only there maybe a total of 20 minutes as it had at that time not warmed up enough and Emily complained of her hands being cold. Mine were, too, so we headed to our little mall instead for some indoor fun and the Children's Museum there.

Our mall is very tiny, although a decent size for the little town we live in. When we got there we realized the museum is closed on Mondays...bummer! But there are a few little rides in the same area of the mall and Emily always asks to ride the Barney tractor ride. She rode that twice. The photo shows her hands blurred. That's how fast she was steering the tractor. Hang on, Barney! Then she needed to potty. Having made great strides in potty training the last few weeks, we went immediately to the potty. As we were on our way, she shouted very loudly, "This place is awesome!" Don't know where she got that but apparently she thought being at our little mall was pretty neat. Once in the potty we realized they were automatic flush potties and therefore, she refused to go. Months ago, her first time on an auto flush one, it flushed while she was sitting on it and she freaked. Therefore, she will not use them. So, no successes today so far but we'll get back on track now that we are home.

A quick stop at Hobby Lobby to pick up two Christmas stocking hangers for our mantle for next year (all Christmas items are 80% off so I literally got these for like $2 a piece--yippee!!) and we were on our way home for lunch and naptime. With rain/snow in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow, this will likely be the last day for a while we will get out to the park. I CAN'T WAIT FOR SPRING!!