Spring! Or, the last month of winter

The locals keep telling me this is an especially cold winter. I wouldn't have known the difference since I couldn't remember what southeastern winters were like after being away three years. But it sure has seemed cold! It's harder keeping a toddler occupied when he a) won't wear a hat or gloves or any jacket other than his brown one outside and b) won't get in the car. At least he has an excellent imagination and plenty of little people animals, Mickeys, Legos, and coloring books inside.

But it has warmed up! At least temporarily. So we have gotten to spend more time outside, chalking up the driveway again, digging in the flower beds, and filling the "we-cycle gahbage can" again and again. H actually knows what gets thrown in the trash and what gets recycled already. Good little environmentalist.  

Besides our crayola 48 pack(s) of chalk (we go through them quickly), other art supplies that we love for use indoors (for next week when it gets cold again) are our crayola window markers and gel markers. Finally a white marker that works! I had one as a kid, in the shape of a mouse, that didn't really do much, so the technology has improved! The best crayons are still our Melissa & Dougs. They are squared off and impossible to break, as hard as a toddler might try. We have a Melissa & Doug sticker book with vinyl restickable stickers. There are 5 different landscapes and about 100 stickers for each. Very loved. And yet another Melissa & Doug product we have is a stamp kit with washable ink. Our animal stencils have come in handy for making shapes out of our fingerprints. We have a little more playdough in the fridge (I will never buy playdough it's so easy to make), but we keep accidentally leaving it out, rendering it useless. Or actually it is useful for making painful indentations in the bottom of feet when it is stepped on.

I have enjoyed a few warm runs, just in time for a half marathon taper. This time I will try not to completely stop exercising in the 10 days before the race. I don't step on the scale too often, but when I did last time, there they were, 2 winter pounds that must have been put on with all the heavy winter gear. But never taken off. Wow these 4 months between half marathons went quickly. As always, I should've done more! With spring comes a little more motivation to get outside running, and maybe even to get to the pool more than once every 2 weeks. Ah we'll see. Which, growing up, always meant "not gonna happen." But I bought a shiny new swimsuit in case it does ever happen again.

 little hands at work

just before the jump

 

clever little one knows he's cute