ahhhh

The weather has finally picked up around here. It is so nice to be out in the warm sunshine without shoes on your feet.

Snacks are so much better out on the porch, especially when enjoyed with a friend. And by enjoyed I mean having your slice of juicy pear stolen right out of your hand by a thieving feline with no sense of personal space.

I was going through some of Evelyn’s toys the other day, rotating some forgotten ones into play, and realized almost all of them are very baby-ish. Rattles, teething toys, and taggy books filled her bins.  She has some good blocks and stacking toys but she really isn’t into them. She seems to be in a strange place, past being a baby but not quite ready for most of the toddler things. She prefers sorting games and has a small basket that she keeps different animals in and spends a lot of time dumping them out and putting them back in the basket. I’m all for kids being bored because it leads to imaginary play and inventiveness and I know they don’t actually need a lot of toys to keep them occupied but it seems like she has no interest in things unless I get her started.  She spends a lot of time whining and tangled in my legs until I sit down and start playing with her.  After awhile, when I think she’s forgotten that I’m there, I get up and within minutes she is back at my legs. Maybe it’s just her age.

After all of that rambling I’m trying to tell you that we went out yesterday and got a few bigger-girl toys.  A dolly and stroller to start out with.

She loves them. She hugs and cuddles the baby and pushes it all over the house. She even brought it up in the chair last night to read stories with us before bedtime.

We also got a new ball after Olive popped our last one.

But some of the best things to do don’t involve toys.

Tearing apart my flowers, for instance.

Or taking all of the smooth, black stones from the bird bath and putting them into an empty plant container. Then dumping them out again.

They also work well for smooshing ants, if she is fast enough.

Whatever we’re doing it is just nice that we can be doing it outside without our mittens.