Outdoor Play Yard

What a fun FUN weekend!!!

As I stated in my last post, we were picking up a new outdoor toy for Rachel, which Jason and I were both really excited about. Let me share with you how much fun we had this weekend.

It started on Friday night when I headed out after Rachel was in bed to pick up my dad's truck. I wish I had a picture of me driving it so you would understand how small I felt driving what I can only describe as a Minotaur as far as pick ups are concerned. (It was awesome. I wouldn't want one every day, but it was sure fun to drive!) I thought my parents had already gone out of town but I was surprised when they were still there and mom gave me a bag of clothes for Rachel that we really needed. All of her 2T clothes have suffered the wrath that is Rachel + Day Care = stained clothes. Thankfully, none of them were that expensive, but I was getting tired of seeing clothes on her that have become really worn and are now full of paint, food and dirt stains. Thanks GramE!

The next day Rachel and I set out to run our usual Saturday errands and met up with Jason on the road to meet the guy that we bought this new toy from. We loaded it up and got it home:

Oh! There's the truck. You can't see the size in this, but it's big. Rachel was SOOOO excited as we put this thing together. She was hopping around, picking up pieces, helping us unload the truck and just all a twitter. Saturday morning was still a little chilly, but she didn't seem to mind. As we assembled her new toy she played on it even though it wasn't stable. She couldn't contain herself. And she actually kept her pigtails in!!!

The finished product in our backyard!

I think it was just after we had completed the assembly that she fell face first on the corner of her slide and bit her lip. Her mouth filled with blood and she cried a bit. So I took her inside and fixed her up with a cold, wet wash cloth and lots of hugs and kisses. She didn't cry long and it wasn't long after that we were all back outside playing like nothing had happened. Thankfully, her lip didn't bruise or bleed long.

Jason and I both played outside with her for hours. We ran, chased and giggled all afternoon. She ended up taking a much later and much longer nap: 3.5 hours. It was so much fun to see her so excited and so worn out. Notice no pacifier. Notice all the smiles. She was smiling from ear to ear, screaming and giggling the whole day. She ate well. She played hard. This was such a great way to start off the first really nice weekend of the year! This toy will probably last through some of next summer before we go ahead and sell it off again because she'll be too big. And hopefully by then it'll still be in great shape and we can sell it for nearly as much as we paid for it. (For my own memory....I'll throw it out there that we only paid $350 for this item and it originally cost around $1200 - $1500.) These toys aren't cheap, so when we can find them discounted like this, I lose my fear of anything damaging it. It means I can relax and just let her be her own toddler self. I can just enjoy this time with her, which we have. And now I have wonderful pictures and wonderful memories of this weekend.

Sunday was another really fun day. She and I got up early as we always do and got ready to go to church. As we were getting ready I found a dress in her closet I had purchased but had written off that she would be too big to wear when it got warm again. I am thrilled she was able to wear this cute dress today!

She found that puzzle in her closet as I was digging out the dress and we opened it for the first time. She lost interest when I ran off to get my camera, but was really excited initially. We didn't put it together this time, but we still. It's a huge floor puzzle with an ocean theme that I'd purchased (for full prize....eek....I didn't really want her to play with it) for her first birthday. Yup, we're just now getting around to dragging it out. Which is fine. I bought it more for me than her.

After church we played for a little bit before she got fussy and I put her down for a nap. I ran around and did errands while she slept (returning dad's truck) and came home to find she didn't have a very long nap today. Not a big deal, she slept a lot yesterday and slept really well last night.

Jason and I have both (okay....Jason talked me into it really) have decided it's time to start trying to get rid of the pacifier. It's becoming a nuisance at night and we notice she talks more when she doesn't have it in her mouth. We both have agreed to try the sticker method, which I've heard works really well. Tonight I encouraged her to watch tv without it in exchange for a bowl of cookie crisp (tookies!) She can do just fine all day at day care and even at nap time without it. So we need to find more times that she's without it and hopefully get her worked in to only needing it to go to bed at night. From there we'll work on having her sleep without it as well. We'd like to have her weened of it before we leave for vacation in June.

After her nap I wanted to be outside and she wanted to walk around the yard, so I had her "help" me pull weeds. (Which consisted of her walking on our landscape rocks and me pointing out different bugs and letting her touch them). This was working really well until I cleaned the leaves out of one of the window wells for our basement windows when I uncovered rocks. I tried to explain to her that I need the rocks down there, let's not touch them. I'd moved about 5 feet when I heard her chatting away, scream and noticed she'd disappeared. Yup, she'd tried to reach into the window well and fell in head first. Instantly panicked I reached in and pulled her out and laid her on the ground to make sure nothing was bleeding or broken. When I realized she was okay, just shaken, I carried her in the house all the while mentally scolding myself for thinking a toddler would understand she wouldn't be able to reach the rocks like mommy can. *sigh* On the plus side, I don't have to worry about her falling in there again. I have confidence she'll be terrified of those window wells enough to stay away from them. Good grief.

Jason even managed to get his car out and drive around for a bit. It's so nice that winter is officially over and nice weather is here to stay! We've all needed to let the house air out and for us to get out of the house!

Right before bed time as I was cleaning up the kitchen Rachel opened the fridge and she picked the following item for her snack. I repeat: SHE PICKED IT:

She took a couple of bites and then just carried it around the house with her for a while. Still, it makes this mama proud that she will choose some healthy choices on her own. All the fighting to get her to eat veggies and meat have paid off!!!

Such a fun weekend and such a happy family. Very little fussing and being in the corner. We've needed a great weekend like this.