Can we all agree there is something beautiful about winter? Yes; snow can be beautiful and there is something so cozy and sweet about staying warm inside our house, drinking hot chocolate and eating soup. Can we all agree there is something challenging about having small children in the winter? Double yes. I'm having to get more and more creative as the weeks pass and the temperatures plunge even further. And I'm not even going to get in to the fun of chasing down my toddlers so I can bundle them up in coats, hats, mittens, etc. every time we leave the house. (Don't they know it's for their own good?!? Sheesh!)
If you follow me on Instagram you've seen most of these but I can only elaborate on them so much on there so that's why I'm reposting them.
Daytime bath times used to just be for extreme diaper blow outs. Now, they're a great opportunity to pass the time, practice letters and numbers, draw all over the tub and splish and splash. My kids play in that tub until the water is WAY too cold and their hands and feet are totally wrinkled.
This picture says a lot about what we've been up to. We don't always have that blue table upstairs but when we do, I need to pay extra close attention to my sweet little Wyatt. He's such a monkey. Lainey has been SO in to watercolors lately. She asks to paint multiple times a day. In fact, we had to go out and buy new paint this week because she had literally used up that palatte. It's so fun to watch her paint and paint with her. I know it's great for her fine motor skills and it's just fun. I've been drawing outlines of things in sharpie marker and then letting her paint them in. I need to get better at drawing though because I'm running out of ideas of what to draw for her! I have a huge stack of Lainey originals if anyone is interested! :)
I'm so thankful we have a play area set up in our basement. This allows us to play with different toys on each of the three floors of the house, which helps when we're stuck inside so much! That teddy bear Lainey is serving tea to was mine when I was a baby. She loves when I tell her things like that ("This was yours, Mommy?"). We enjoy lots of tea parties in the basement as well as playing on all of our big outside ride on toys down there too!
Wyatt's room is also a popular place to play. His new rug and vehicle garage (made by his Grandpa Johnson!) keep us busy. I'm not sure how such a little guy acquired so many cars, trucks, tractors and dump trucks in such a short amount of time between his birthday and Christmas, but we play with most of them almost every day so I guess it's a good thing!
I don't know if the employees at Petco appreciate us treating their store as a zoo, but my kids sure enjoy it and they do behave well while we're there. We usually pick up a treat or toy for Simon while we're there too so I suppose it's okay!
Let's not forget one of the best parts of cold weather and small children... footie pajamas!
Afternoon naps are the best way to spend a winter afternoon!
We enjoyed a really warm Saturday afternoon at the zoo a few weeks ago before things got super cold. Love that zoo membership all year round!
Books are a FAVORITE past time of Wyatt's this winter. One of these days I need to count the number of books he brings to me in a day. The number is surely no less than 20. I'm really thankful he loves books and loves to be read to because I think it will help his vocabulary... if he ever starts talking! :) I picked up this book for him for Christmas and it seriously looks like it's been read for years it's so worn already. Wyatt may love his superheros but funny enough, one of the other books he brings me constantly is a Disney princess book. I think it's so funny that he can pick it out among all of the other books on the bookshelf. He also loves any books that have touch and feel spots about animals.
We're only halfway through January so I know we still have many weeks of winter left to endure enjoy but at least we get to enjoy them together :)
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