For the Dogs

Poor Teeny was a bundle of excess energy this past weekend, in part because I wasn't feeling well and wasn't able to play with him as much as I usually do. Thankfully, I was on the mend by Sunday and finally able to take him outside to play. We had the most unexpectedly fun experience that I can't wait to do it again!

Rather than walking to the little park with the play equipment, just down the road from us, we walked (in Teeny's case, ran) to the park way about six blocks in the other direction. This is a wooded and scenic area, with a few open fields sprinkled throughout it. We brought along bubbles and went to the nearest open field on the park way.

Blowing bubbles with Teeny is really funny, because he's torn between wanting to blow them (a skill hasn't quite mastered yet) and chase/pop them. He got to do a lot of both on Sunday. To add to the fun, various folks from around the neighborhood started showing up in the same field with their dogs. Turns out that open fields are as good for exercising dogs as they are for exercising little kids! One dog in particular really dug the bubbles, and would leap several feet into the air to catch them in her mouth. There had to have been at least six dogs there running and playing with the bubbles with Teeny. He was in heaven!

After staying well past dinner time to play with the dogs and the bubbles, I finally convinced Teeny that it was time to go home. He wasn't happy about it, but his hunger overruled his objections! He then ran most of the way home, taking the time to run up the steps from the sidewalk to most of the neighbors' houses. The kid got a bigger workout that day than I used to when I played high school volleyball!

Teeny's been asking to go back to the park with the dogs. I can't wait to go again, we had such a blast. It's a rare thing for such spontaneous fun to occur, but I wholeheartedly embrace it. It reminds me why I love being a mom so much!

Where Frosty Go?

I've learned an unintended consequence to instilling my love of Christmas into my son. Now that it's long over, he can't let it go. He's still somewhat distressed that "his" Christmas tree is in a box in the basement, and wonders when we can put it back up. He looks every day for the inflatable snowman in our neighbors' yard and asks, "Where Frosty go?" And at least twice a week he requests his favorite Christmas tunes when we are in the car (he predictably loves "Frosty the Snowman" and "Little Drummer Boy.")

Part of me wants to keep playing the music for him, because there is nothing cuter than watching your two year old jamming in the back seat to "Rum pum pum" as he calls it. But - I also got a little burned out on my favorite holiday this year. We had four Christmases this year - one with each of my in-laws (who are divorced), one with my family and then one of our own. As much fun as it was for Teeny, it was exhausting and stressful for me to try to juggle all of that and make sure all of our families got enough of our time. I was ready to put it all away a couple of weeks after Christmas.

So - for the most part, Christmas is over at our house. Now if I could just get Teeny to agree to let me put away his Santa placemat (he won't use any other at dinner time) and reindeer antlers we could finally start gearing up for Valentine's Day!